Chapter 9: Brainwashed Them All

Melissa's POV.

They dragged me down the hallway in the direction of the restroom, and just when we got to the door of the other restroom, they opened it and pushed me in.

There was a huge demarcation in the very big restroom space; one side was a restroom for boys, and the other was a restroom for girls.

I fell so hard to the floor that my knees began bleeding again.

"Why am I here?" I asked as one of them followed me inside while the other hung outside the door.

"If you really want to go home like every other student, you have one task to do, and you must finish it before you leave."

"What task?"

He walks away from me to a corner where cleaning materials were stored in the restroom, bringing out a mop and bucket. He came back and dropped them in front of me.

"Start cleaning," he commanded.

My eyes darted around the restroom. I wanted to be sure he was speaking to me because why would he ask me to clean the school restroom, which is used by everyone?

"What? Me? Why do you think you can make me do that? This restroom is used by everybody in this school; why am I supposed to clean it alone?"

My voice was loud and angry. I glared at him, looking out for what his next action will be.

"Did you just say you are not going to do it?" He asked me to take slow steps towards him as I began to recoil.

"I asked you why I am going to do that; why will you ask me to do that when it is not my job? I know Lex is putting you all through this, but it's not fair; you can't have me clean an entire restroom because he's angry with me."

My words were obviously falling on deaf ears as he slowly took out his belt while approaching me.

"You're not going to use that on me," I said to him, trying to be bold, but before I could blink, he whipped me with the belt so hard on my arm that I went down crying.

"Now are you going to clean the washroom or not?" He asked me in a loud voice.

I stared up at him, my eyes clouded with tears. I didn't respond, but I knew that there was nothing else I could do. Despite being new to the system of this school, I could already tell that no one was going to be on my side.

It was as if the entire school were all on one side, and that side was definitely not mine.

"Why are you people doing this to me? I didn't do anything wrong; all I did was try to help someone who was being humiliated, and now you hold it against me?"

I had almost forgotten that the person I was trying to talk to was deaf and inconsiderate.

He raised his belt to hit me again, but I rolled off on the floor, standing up some steps away from him as I began to recoil faster into the washroom.

"I will be outside, and I'll lock this door from the outside. If you are not done cleaning up in an hour, you should know that you'll spend the rest of the day here. No one will open up for you because by then I'll be long gone."

It wasn't fair, it was just too unfair, i glanced around scanning the place he had asked me to clean up in an hour and it was a very large space for a single person to clean up in such a short period of time.

"Are you kidding me? I can't finish this up in an hour."

He didn't bother listening to me; he just walked out of the door and closed it while I stood there. I could hear him locking the door from the outside.

I wanted to hesitate, but then I knew they had no mercy in them, and I might really be spending the rest of the day in that restroom if I did not hurry up.

I picked up the mop and bucket and started from the first room on my right, and in the next hour I was already drained. I was checking the time on my wristwatch, and just as it clocked an hour, I rushed to the door and knocked on it.

At first there was no response, and I feared that he might have left, leaving me in there, but after about 10 seconds I heard a key begin to move in the door. I quickly stepped aside, waiting for him to open up.

Immediately he did. I did not wait for him to say a word to me; I walked out without looking back.

By the time I was out of the school building, I felt like I was going to pass out. I took a cab directly home, and at the sight of the unlocked door at home, I knew immediately that it was not my lucky day.

"You're finally back. I heard your school dismissed an hour ago, or is there a different dismissal time for scholarship students?" Sussana asked before I could fully enter our tiny single-room apartment.

At the moment I realised she was home, I knew she would give me a tough time, wanting me to explain how I got those injuries on my body.

I was about to cook up a story for my late coming when suddenly she screamed.

"Oh my goodness, Lisa, what happened to you?" She said, rushing over to me as she began to take off my shirt.

"Stop it, Susan, stop it," I said, trying to pull myself away from her, but she wouldn't stop trying to take off my shirt.

"What the heck is going on with you, Lisa? You have not been yourself since you resumed at that school, and now you're coming home with injuries? Tell me right now who did this to you?" She questions, and I knew that she was concerned about me, but there was no way I could tell her the truth; I mean, the whole truth will break her.