The Misfits

Cassidy

Cassidy woke up, after having a terrible dream. Her eyelids felt like lead. She hurt like she had slept in one position too long.

The right side of her face was sore, and her right arm throbbed right along with her heart. She managed to open one eye and saw white.

White walls and electronic machines that were beeping; alarms that were set off with her thundering heart.

She was back in the Facility.

How? What about Myra and Jaden?

She was starting to panic, causing everything around her to start shaking as her power was unrestrained.

“Cass?” a familiar voice said. A familiar white-blond haired head appeared in her vision. A small bandage was taped to her forehead.

“Myra?” she croaked, trying to reach for her.

“Cass, calm down,” Myra said, taking her hand and squeezing it. “You need to calm down. Nurses are on their way and floating objects around the room might kinda freak them out.”

Myra’s hand in hers calmed her some, and things began to settle just in time for the first nurse to arrive.

“She’s awake,” Myra said to the nurse who was looking for the cause of Cassidy’s reaction. “She doesn’t like hospitals,” the girl explained as the nurse looked at the elfin girl, thinking she did something.

“The Facility?” Cass asked.

Myra patted her hand. “The facility you’re in in Saint Matthews. Hospital. We were in an accident.”

Cass’s pulse was dropping, and the alarms silenced automatically.

Myra had ahold of Cass’s left hand, so Cass raised her right to touch the gauze that was taped to the girl’s head and pain shot up her arm.

She saw a pink hued cast going from the last half of her palm below her thumb, to nearly her elbow.

Without realizing it, she must have made a noise as the nurse was holding a small white cup to her mouth. “Pain pill,” she said, tipping it into Cass’s mouth.

Myra picked up a cup of water with a straw in it and Cass sipped to wash down the pill.

“Try to keep her calm,” the nurse told Myra, not liking the girl was there.

The nurse left and Cass asked, “Wh – what happened?”

“Someone hit us. Police say the truck was stolen and they found alcohol in it, but the driver disappeared.”

“You okay?” Cass asked.

“Glass cut my forehead. Bruised ribs on my right side. My dress was ruined,” she said, finally frowning. “So was yours, I’m sorry to say.”

“Others?”

“You broke your arm. Your radius to be exact. So, your cast is to stop you from twisting your arm. Your right side is bruised up, and your face… isn’t so pretty.” She quickly added, “But the bruising will go away and you’ll be back to your pretty self soon. Jaden is okay. Some minor cuts and bruising. Her van is totaled though.”

“Robbie?” Cass asked.

Myra looked down, squeezing her hand again.

“What?” Cass asked.

“Robbie was a little more seriously hurt. Promise me you won’t freak out, because if you do, they’ll kick me out. Mom had to prove I’m your sister already. They didn’t believe me.”

“Robbie?” Cass asked again.

“They think he’ll be fine, but it seems that the accident pinballed your head off of his, and his in turn off the window. That’s how your face was messed up. Robbie had some swelling in his brain, they say from the violent motion and the sudden stops. So right now, he’s in a medically induced coma.”

“What?” Cass gasped, tears falling down the sides of her face.

“Easy,” Myra cautioned. “They did it to give his brain time for the swelling to go down on its own. He’ll be okay Cass. Everyone will.”

“How – how long have I been here?”

“It’s Monday afternoon, so a day and a half,” Myra told her.

“Finals…”

“Mom has already talked to the school. You and Robbie will be able to take them as soon as you’re ready. Both of you have passing grades, so you’ll be okay no matter what. I called Maggie and told her the trip will be postponed for a bit and told them why. I, um, checked your mail. Lyle said he forwarded another email, so I’ve been looking into it. It seems this boy Elias is sending more information now. I’m not sure what it means, but I’m working on it.”

Myra looked around the room, then went to the door, looking out. She closed it most of the way, then walked back to Cassidy. “Cass, there was something strange about Saturday night. The truck came out of nowhere That street is straight and no one saw the lights until just before it hit us. And whoever was in the truck got out right away and they didn’t just run away. I didn’t tell the police and neither did Jaden, but the person got out and searched for your purse.

“He left everything but took your phone. Why?”

“Call Gem. Tell her and Wanda to keep everyone safe. It might be Facility people, or the drug dealers. I had the address I got from David on my phone. Thankfully I emailed it to myself, so they might be after my computer too.”

Myra pulled out her phone and texted Gemma.

Cass was still foggy, and the pain pill made it worse, but talking about the drug dealers reminded her. “Beryl?” she asked.

“She went to the police. It made the news and several more girls came forward and said it happened to them as well. No one would have known, and it would have continued if Beryl had stayed quiet. Or if you hadn’t confronted her. She publicly thanked you for all you did and your support,” Myra told her.

“So, it could have been either,” Cass said, sighing.

“Well, it wasn’t the football players I don’t think. Right now, they are all in jail and being charged as adults. None of them looked like they had been in a car accident.”

Myra’s phone buzzed and she looked at it. “Moms on her way with Jaden and Alex, Gemma said,” Myra told her.

The door to Cass’s room opened and a nurse walked in. “Now that you’re up hon, the doctor ordered a CAT scan of both your head and torso, so we can make sure everything is okay. We wouldn’t want any internal bleeding to cause problems and not know it. Transportation will be here in a few minutes. Your… sister can wait here for you. Or go get something to eat. It’ll take about a half hour or so.”

Myra glared at the nurse, then said, “I’ll wait for mom, so she knows where you went,” to Cass. She leaned over Cass, giving her a light hug and kissed her left cheek.

Transportation came and got Cass, taking her bed and all to radiology. They moved her to the built-in table and ran her through a big, white, open, squarish donut.

The machine whirred and clicked as it worked, and Cass dozed despite all the noise. When the scans were done, Cass was put back on the bed and brought back up to her room.

Cass slept for a while, and when she woke up, she was surrounded by her friends and family. Her mom hugged her carefully, as did Jaden, who had several scrapes and cuts on his face.

“I’m so sorry Cassidy,” Jaden said to her.

“Not your fault,” Cass mumbled.

Alex simply held her good hand, not wanting to hurt her by accident.

While they were all there, Beryl came in, bringing flowers.

“Gemma told me at school today,” she said. “A lot of people wanted to come, but restrictions wouldn’t allow it, so they all signed a card for you. And one for Robbie too.”

“Thanks,” Cass said.

“I did what I promised. It was humiliating, especially having more strangers watching that video, but it had to be done. After I came forward, more girls did too, saying the same happened to them. Not all of them were as drugged as I was, and some remember what happened to them. They were more traumatized than I was. Thankfully I don’t remember it, but they will never forget.”

“Thank you for keeping your word. Your courage will help all those other girls as well. Be there for them, like I’m here for you. That experience will permanently bond you together and being able to lean on one another will help. One will be strong when another isn’t and needs someone,” Cass said.

“I will,” Beryl promised.

She hugged Cassidy and said she would see her at school, or if not, she’d keep in touch over the summer, and then left.

Not long after, the doctor came in, looking at everyone in the room.

“Family,” Cass said. “It’s okay.”

The doctor nodded. “I’m happy to say that the scans came back, and everything looks normal. At least in what we were looking for. There was one minor anomality. If I may,” he said, pointing to Cass’s head on the right. “It looks like we might have overlooked some debris or minor injury.”

He adjusted Cass’s hair, looking behind here ear. “Hmm,” he said, not finding what he expected.

The doctor began to probe, pushing lightly. “Have you been in a prior accident? Anything that might have gotten a small piece of metal lodged in your skin?”

Cass couldn’t recall anything, so she looked at her mom. “Not that I’m aware of,” her mom said.

The doctor pushed slightly harder, rolling a small object under his finger. “Well, there’s definitely something there that shouldn’t be. I’ll come back later and remove it.”

The doctor left and Cass said to Jaden, “I’m sorry about your van.”

Jaden shrugged. “It was insured. Plus, my dad’s been trying to buy me the new electric one since it came out. To be eco-friendly and all that. So, I guess now he can.”

Cass was feeling sleepy, so everyone said goodbye, leaving Cass to sleep.

As some point in her sleep, she felt – dreamt? – a little burn behind her left ear, but didn’t bother to worry about it.

Cass opened her eyes later, saw a familiar, small face several inches from hers, violet eyes looking at her.

The eyes blinked – a normal, human blink.

Using her stiff, casted arm, she traced a finger over Myra’s cheek. “Such a nice dream. Such pretty eyes for a pretty girl. You even blink normal. I’m so sorry it’s all not normal.”

“It’s alright Cass. I don’t mind being different. But you’re not dreaming. I’ve got the contacts that Jaden got me in. Too many people might notice and ask questions here.”

“Not dreaming? Oh, okay,” she said smiling.

“The drugs are making you loopy. The doctor came in while you were sleeping and took out the object behind your ear. I convinced him to let you keep it,” Myra said, holding up her small hand, opening it in front of Cass’s face. In her palm was a shiny silver object a little bigger than a grain of rice.

Cass’s eyes widened and her head cleared a bit as alarm set in. “What is it?” she asked.

“Dunno. The doctor doesn’t seem to know either. But if I had to guess, it’s some sort of tracking chip. Doc said the tissue buildup around it indicated whatever happened, happened several years ago. Four maybe. Ring any bells?”

“Crap. They’ve been tracking us this whole time?” Cass asked.

Myra shrugged. “Maybe. Or just keeping tabs.”

“Destroy it. We have to tell Gemma. And Rudi.”

“I think it’s better to keep it. If they are checking, then they will know where it is and not you. And I’ve already called Gemma, who called Rudi. I think Gem had Jaden remove hers,” Myra said, making a face. “At least you had anesthetic.”

Myra got up from laying next to Cass. “Gotta pee,” she said going to the restroom.

A nurse came in the room and looked around. “Your sister finally leave?”

“Finally?” Cass asked.

“She hasn’t left the room since you were brought here. They had to treat her in the same room as you in the ER. She didn’t seem to care so much about your privacy as your… well-being. She’s very… protective. Also demanding. But very protective. We’ve pretty much decided to treat her like a patient. We bring her food and check up on her. Maybe it’s that bang to her head.”

Cass laughed. “She’s got a thick skull. She’s fine, but that’s just how she is. Myra is my stepsister and usually I’m the one looking after her. I guess this is her way of repaying me.”

The nurse nodded. “She’s very careful not to hurt you, but she won’t follow any of our rules. Visiting hours, privacy during exams. She even insisted on sleeping with you once she had enough room. The only thing she cared about was if it would hurt you.

“Someone was silly enough to say no, as long as it was on your left side, and that was all she needed. So, because she can be a little aggressive, we decided to pretend she isn’t here when she shouldn’t be, rather than, say, call security to have her removed.

“ I wouldn’t imagine she would go quietly, and it wouldn’t be good for you. So, we bent the rules. We can all tell she loves you very much,” the nurse finished as the toilet flushed.

Myra came out of the restroom, looked at the nurse and climbed into the bed next to Cass.

Cassidy saw Myra was waiting for the nurse to say something, but Cass put her good arm around Myra and pulled her closer, kissing the girl’s head.

The nurse said nothing and finished checking whatever it was she was checking and left.

“You haven’t left since I got here, why?” Cass asked.

“I don’t trust doctors. Or hospitals. So, I stayed to make sure you’re taken care of.”

“What about you? Who’s taking care of you?”

“I’m old enough to take care of myself. The hospital feeds me and there’s a bathroom with a shower in it. What else do I need?”

“I love you sweet pea.”

“I love you too,” Myra said taking a hold of her hand, moving closer.

Cass dozed more and finally woke up, a little more clear headed. Myra sat in a chair watching her.

Cass could tell she had just got out of the shower, plus she had on scrubs. This would have caused Cass to freak out normally, but these weren’t the sterile white scrubs like the Facility made them wear.

These were off-white and a little dingy and had little cartoon animals all over them. They must have come from pediatrics, Cass realized.

The nurses were looking out for Myra it seemed.

Once Cass was awake enough, the nurse came into help her clean up. Cass tried to insist that she could take care of herself, but that proved to be impossible with a broken arm and ribs that made her want to cry if she twisted wrong.

Myra growled at the nurse – literally – telling her she would take care of Cass.

The nurse looked at Cass, who just nodded, and left, saying, “Hit the call button if you need anything.”

She left towels and washcloths, along with a non-rinse soap, so Myra helped Cassidy clean herself where she couldn’t do it herself. When she finished, she changed gowns, put on a second one backwards to cover her butt, and told Myra she wanted to see Robbie.

Myra didn’t look too convinced it was a good idea. “I don’t know if you’re strong enough,” Myra told her.

“If you won’t help me, I’ll do it myself even if I have to float down the halls,” Cass said rising slightly.

It was an empty threat, since Cass’s head throbbed along with her arm, making it hard to concentrate.

“I’ll help, you know that. I can even carry you if you need it. But are you sure you want to do this?”

Cass nodded.

“Fine,” Myra said, putting the non-slip socks on Cass’s feet.

She pulled off the monitor wires on Cass’s chest and fingers, causing beeping alarms to sound. The nurse came back into the room in a hurry, looking at Cass, who was sitting up.

“She’s going for a walk. I’ll make sure she’s not gone long, and nothing happens to her. When we get back, I’ll put everything back on and let you know,” Myra said, her tone inviting no argument.

The rasp always came back in Myra’s voice when she was emotional.

The nurse left, giving Myra a withering look before she left.

Once Cass stood, she realized she had to use the bathroom – bad. It had been two days, although she hadn’t had much to drink. She didn’t realize that she had had a catheter in until she started to pee, and it burned, causing her to curse.

Cass finished, and shuffled out, where Myra was waiting for her. The girl took her left arm, and put it over her shoulder, so Cass could put her weight on Myra should she need to while she put her arm loosely around Cass’s waist.

“Ready?” she asked Cass, who nodded.

They moved slowly through the halls, following the signs to the ICU. It was enclosed and you had to push a button and talk to someone to get in.

The person who answered asked who they were there to see.

“Robbie Joss,” Cass said.

“One minute,” the person said. A nurse came to the door, looking at them. “Only immediate family can visit,” she said to them.

Myra put on her puppy dog face and said, “I know you have rules, but we were all in the accident together. And Cass here is his girlfriend. We know he’s in a coma, but can we come in for just a minute? To see him. We won’t get in the way and won’t stay long. And we won’t tell.”

The nurse looked at Cass, noting the cast on her arm and that half her face was purple, and relented. “Not too long.”

“Thank you. I’m not sure I could stay too long even if I wanted to,” Cass said.

The nurse stepped aside to let them in the door, and then led them to where Robbie was.

He laid there in a hospital bed, mostly covered in a sheet, with tubes and wires connected all over.

“A few minutes only,” the nurse said before walking away.

Cass sagged a little onto Myra, holding back tears. She reached out her casted arm as if to touch him but didn’t.

There was a rhythmic hiss-whoosh as a machine did the breathing for Robbie, along with the beeps of monitors and pumps.

“He’ll be okay,” Myra whispered as she looked up at Cass, seeing a tear run down her face.

Cass touched Robbie’s hand, careful of the wires and tubes around, squeezing Myra as well. “Come on, we better go,” Cass said.

They left and walked back to Cass’s room, and after Myra hooked everything back up, she went and told the nurse.

Later Cass went home, spending two more days in the hospital. When she got home, Gemma, Jaden, Wanda, and Alex were waiting for her.

Harley didn’t quite wait, but he didn’t jump on her, he merely nudged his head into her thigh so she would pet him, which she did.

They all helped Cass up to her room and helped her get comfortable.

Her mom made her some food and Gemma brought it up to her.

Myra put Cass’s tracker into a plastic container and set it next to Gemma’s.

Gemma showed Cass the small incision Jaden had made to get it out.

“Hurt like hell,” she said.

“Lucky I was doped up, Cass replied.

“I’m just glad we found out about them. Rudi had his taken out too. I’m guessing they put them in when we were first taken,” Gem said.

“If they haven’t done anything in this long, maybe they won’t,” Wanda said.

“Not their style,” Cass answered.

“I wouldn’t put it past them to arrange the accident,” Gemma said.

Cass shook her head carefully. “I don’t think it was them. If it wasn’t an accident, and Myra said it looked like it might have been intentional, then it’s possible it’s related to drug dealers. Either they caught wind of it from the person Robbie got the video from, heard I was talking to Beryl, or that she was going to the police. Something like that. It can’t be coincidence that they took my phone. It had the address of where the guy who drugged Beryl had gotten the drugs.”

Everyone but Myra and Alex looked wide-eyed. It was obvious that Myra hadn’t told them, so Cass spent a few minutes giving them the story of what had happened.

“I don’t think he warned them. He was unconscious when I left him.”

“Unless he lawyered up and had his lawyer pass word on to them,” Gemma said.

“Possible,” Cass said, thinking about it. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“So now what?” Gemma asked.

“I pay a visit to the address,” Cass said.

“No. You. Don’t.” The tone in Myra’s voice gave Cass pause. “You’re in no shape to do anything right now. Your priority right now is getting better and finishing school. All the rest can wait a few weeks. Then, if after you’re a bit better, you still insist, we’ll all go,” Myra said.

“No sweet pea. You won’t. It’s too dangerous. I won’t put you in more danger. Any of you,” Cass said.

“I have the address. If you go without me, I’ll follow you. If you won’t wait, or let us go, I’ll go first, without you,” Myra said bluntly.

Cass lifted Myra off the bed. The girl scrabbled arms and legs, trying to grab something, but nothing worked. She looked like a cartoon character just before he fell off a cliff.

Cass dropped Myra back onto the bed and winced as the bed jolted enough to bounce her ribs.

“Not funny,” Myra growled, although everyone but Alex was laughing.

“We’ll talk about it later Myra,” Cass said, knowing she was right as far as having to wait. She wasn’t strong enough to do what needed to be done with her head like it was.

Cass rested and relaxed the rest of the week, going to school that Friday, the last day of school. Several people greeted her, telling her to get better soon, although she didn’t know them.

Beryl met her at her locker, although she had gotten a ride from Jaden in her new electric VW van, knowing she was back.

She gave Cass a careful hug, looking critically at Cass’s face. Brushing some loose hair from Cass’s face, she said, “It’s already starting to look better.”

Cass took her hand with her casted arm. “Thank you, Beryl, but I do own a mirror. I know what I really look like. But I appreciate the thought however.”

They talked briefly about how things were proceeding with the investigation, and as Cass predicted, the boys were claiming she agreed to it before she passed out, and that none of them knew she had been drugged. It was too bad the video contradicted most of that.

The boy David, who had drugged her, denied it, but had been caught pretty much red handed with the girl in his car who had been drugged.

Cass had just stopped him before he could do what he had intended. Because of Cass’s call to 9-1-1, telling them it was a drug overdose, they had done a toxicology test and found out what was in the girl’s system, and once she regained consciousness and was questioned, he told the police what she remembered.

This implicated him in yet another case of drugging a girl.

Cass’s mom had replaced her phone and Beryl had told her to call if she needed anything. Cass said the same and went to class.

For the other students, the day was a day of signing yearbooks and just hanging out, but Cass had to take all her finals among all that.

After lunch, Jessie told her, in class, that they had removed Robbie from life support and reversed the induced coma, and he was now breathing on his own. They were just waiting for him to wake up on his own.

That relieved a little tension in Cassidy. She finished out the day and Jaden drove her and Gemma home.

Gwynne Gray had a little celebration setup for Cass, Gemma, Jaden, and, although Myra helped, Myra, all for graduation.

It wasn’t much, just cupcakes and soda, but it was a little something to celebrate the end of another year of school.

Cass was the only one that had celebrated like that before. After, Cass wanted to relax, so she changed, having Myra help her with her bikini top, and she settled into the hot tub after Myra insisted on double bagging her arm and taping it closed.

With her side multi-hued in shades of blue, purple, black, and yellow, and one arm out of commission, Myra insisted on joining her.

Cass knew that Myra would just sit quietly if Cass told her she wanted quiet to relax, Cass couldn’t do that to the faithful, loving girl.

She waited by the hot tub for Myra to join her.

When Myra came down, Cass hugged her, telling her how much she appreciated all of her help and for being such a good sister.

Myra helped Cass in, then got in, sitting across from her.

“Come here sweet pea,” Cass said and moved next to her on the right where Cass indicated.

Cass put her bag covered arm around the girl’s shoulders to keep it out of the water, and talked to her about little things, just making idle chatter to spend time with her.

It had been a while since the two had just talked.

Soon, Jaden had joined them, then Wanda and Alex, and finally Gemma.

They all sat around and just talked about random things.

That night, Myra joined Cass in bed, not to be comforted, but to comfort and be there if Cass needed anything.

The following week went by, and Robbie woke up, and test showed that there should be no lasting physical effects. He was released at the end of the week with bruising, but other than some headaches that should eventually go away, he didn’t seem any worse for the wear.

In the week that followed, he went to school and took his finals to finish off his sophomore year as well.