Taking one of the socks off, I replace it with a leg of the jumpsuit so my skin it’s exposed for longer than it needs to. The last thing I need is someone walking in and seeing the scars.
When I have both legs in I button the jumpsuit up to my hips and then undo my skirt to pull over my head. Half-waydone. Undoing the buttons of my shirt, I keep my back towards the door and pull the jumpsuit up over my shoulders before shimmying out of my school shirt and pulling it out from its trapped position between my back and the jumpsuit.
Once that’s done I shove my hands through the sleeves of the jumpsuit and finish buttoning the rest of the buttons. The top one stops right beneath where my collarbones are. Barefoot, I walk over to the full length mirror beside the lockers and stare at myself.
My hair is already tied up in a messy low bun so I just need my shoes and cap and then I’ll be done. The only problem is that one of the bitemarks is very clearly visible just over the neckline of the jumpsuit.
Motherfucker.
I need this job. I can’t not work and it’s required to wear the jumpsuit. I could wear my school shirt but. . .
Grabbing the boots and hat, I slap the locker shut and shove my feet into the shoes. I cringe at not wearing socks, but I only have the thigh high ones and I’m not wearing those. After lacing them up I click the lock in place, pull the hat over my head, and go over to the chart on the wall to sign my name. It’ll let whoever comes in here know I’m out with a cart full of all the cleaning supplies I’ll need.
Wheeling it out I exit the room and pull the neckline up with one hand while I steer the cart with another. Hopefully – I’ve been saying that too much recently – but hopefully no one wants to stay after to keep practicing.
Jullia is still near the doorway and she jumps as I stop beside her with the cart.
“Holy goddesses! Don’t sneak up on a girl.”
Rolling my eyes, Asher skips over to us without a scratch or bruise on him. He cocks his head at me and his eyes glance down to where my hand is clutching the neckline.
“I see you got the job. . . you gonna be good?”
I don’t see Thorne or anyone else behind him so I drop my hand for a moment and rub at my face. I can feel Jullia stiffen next to me but she just hums quietly to herself.
“I’ll be fine. I used to clean all the time in all sorts of unpleasant places. Is there anyone going to be staying after?”
I grip and pull the neckline back up as I look past Asher again. There’s still a few guys working out upstairs but that doesn’t bother me. Most of them look like they have earbuds or headphones on. Hopefully – there I go with that damn word again – it’s like the gyms in America and people don’t give two shits about who’s next to them.
“No, there’s more parties tonight so everyone’s cutting their after training workouts. The place should be empty in about thirty more minutes.”
I nod. Good. I’ll start in the back where there’s nobody and work my way here. I’ll do upstairs last in case there’s any stragglers left.
“Well,” I announce in a burst of energy, “you guys have fun tonight.”
Jullia smiles at me and then holds up her hands. She has them cupped together so I’m assuming there’s something in them and I really hope she isn’t going to give me something.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she grumbles. Opening her hand she reveals wired earbuds and what looks like a small mp3 player. “So you can at least listen to something while you work. I downloaded the songs you’ve saved on your tablet to it so you can listen to your music and I downloaded that list of songs you wrote down too. The one of all the songs from Earth. I have a universal converter which allows me to download songs, shows, and movies from Earth so I can play them here.”
Warmth from both gratitude and guilt invade my chest. She’s told me that before. It’s how she’s able to watch all her anime shows and read all her e-books. Jullia thrusts the device into my chest and gives me no choice but to take it.
“Don’t even think about giving it back. It’s an old thing I don’t use anymore so you might as well put it to use.”
Unwrapping the wire I click on the screen and it’s more or less like an mp3 player. The screen lights up with a playlist titledMavyn’s Essentials.
Needles prick at my nose and my eyes burn as I mumble out, “Thank you.”
Jullia waves it off but gives me a hug before she and Asher leave. I put the earbuds in and press play on the playlist. Buffalo Traffic Jam’sFool’s Goldstarts playing and I have to close my eyes for a moment to stop myself from allowing any tears to spill over.
People take music for granted. The power of melodies and lyrics and beats. There’s magic in music. It can heal the spirit and soul. It can give hope to those in despair and shield the mind when there’s nothing to shield your body.
I lied to Thorne when I said I used to harm myself to distract from the devil. A good enough coverup to explain thescars. What I really did was hum melodies. I’d trap my conscious in my mind and surround it with songs.
Then afterward when the nightmares would take over I’d play music to help keep them away. Ms. Elaycia gave me a music box that would repeat over and over and a majority of the time it would stop the nightmares.
Music has saved me more times than I can count.
The song ends and I finally open my eyes.You Againby Jonah Kagen starts playing, and despite it being a sad song I smile. I can’t relate to it but I can feel the movement of it anyway.