Page 31 of Mama Si's Paradise

Nine

The week wentby in a blink. Six days, and I was sleeping every night. I was eating better than ever before, though Claus had gone extremely strict with my diet the past three days. No more croissants in the morning, just eggs and oats and fat-free milk. Not even freshly squeezed juices because apparently there was a lot of sugar in oranges, and he’d ratherspend the calorieson my lunch and dinner. Since I had no clue how any of it worked, I went along. After all, he fed all the girls at the Paradise, and all of them looked like they were paintings on a canvas.

Jennifer was still taking it easy on me, though. I was still doing mostly cardio in the gym room, so my muscles weren’t overly sore. And every single day, we spent time at the pool together with the girls as long as it was warm outside.

I was having the time of my life. I woke up and had breakfast, put on makeup and did my hair, and I wasthrilledto pick what to wear for the day, absolutely over the moon to walk around my huge closet trying to decide what I wanted to look like for the pool, and then for dinner as well.

Some girls joined us on some days, and some werebusyworking—and when I asked the others what that was, they laughed, waved me off, and said,why, entertaining our guests, of course.

I guess in the back of my mind I knew exactly whatentertainingmeant, so I didn’t really ask any more questions. I just enjoyed their company, and most seemed to like me—except Hannah. She still refused to speak to me directly or listen whenever I was telling a story—or simply look at me without showing me how much she wanted to murder me in my sleep.

Mama Si was nowhere to be seen, but apparently, that was normal. She rarely came outside in the daytime like she had the day she met me. She’d beenpissedthat day, had been cursing and shouting and breaking things, but I didn’t really mention it to anyone. I didn’t think about it myself, either.

I definitely should have.

The curiosity to explore the place wasn’t as persistent as I initially thought it would be. There was just so much to do already. I read the books I’d brought with—the only things Mama Si had let me keep from my life outside the Paradise—every night before bed for a sense of familiarity. I went with the girls to the spa and the gym and the game room, where they played billiards and poker and darts.

But there were other people in the mansion,clientsMarissa called them, and I saw them with the girls by the pools sometimes. The other ones—nobody came to the Heart Pool except us. That was ours only and I was glad for it. The water was so warm and heavenly, like it was infused with good feelings so that every time I went for a swim, I came out brand new.

But the girls joined the clients, men and sometimes women of all ages, not just by the pools but in other rooms I hadn’t seen before that they told me about.

It was inevitable, though. I knew it was just a matter of time before I’d be shown those rooms and found out exactlywhy I was being given this life. Why I was living like royalty. Why I had so many privileges. Why I had a team of people to handle my every need and every whim—like that time I said I could use a foot massage, and by the time I returned to my room after lunch, the masseuse was waiting for me by the door.

Yes, I knew that I’d be shown exactly why. I just had no idea it would be tonight.

Preparing for dinner had become one of my favorite things to do now. How could I not, when there was no need to cook or clean or think about the dishes, or what to eat or whether I had everything I needed to prepare it—no, no, all I had to do was dress up and look nice and show up at a fully set table where the help didn’t let me even pour my own glass of water. I ate the most delicious food possibly in the whole world, too, so it was no wonder the evening had become my favorite time of the day.

That night, I was just putting on a pair of star-shaped earrings when there was a knock on my door. I thought for sure it was one of the girls come to get me for dinner. We weren’t exactly best friends,but Amber and I were pretty close already, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the others came to pick me up. After all, there were fifteen of us here and over twenty other women whom we never saw or interacted with. They slept and ate in a different part of the mansion, and theyentertainedas well, but for some reason were separate from us. They weren’tdolls,just staff, the girls said.

But that night when I opened the door, it was Mama Si’s smiling face that greeted me, and I knew that my time was already up.

“Come with me, Fall Doll.”

She wore a midnight blue dress that hugged her frame likeit was made for her. It probably was. Her hand was bare when she reached for me, no glove in sight.

My heart fell all the way to my heels. I could have sworn I heard it crashing. “Where are we going?” I asked with barely any voice.

Mama Si smiled like she knew I knew, but she was happy to indulge me, anyway.

“Just to stroll around the Paradise and show you a few things. I think you’re ready,” she said, and her eyes were no longer that red they had been at the masquerade party, but their usual colorful selves.

I’m not, I wanted to say.I’m not ready. Please let me stay here…

That was the first time I realized I did not want to leave the Paradise.

Not only that, but I wanted to do everything in my power to make sure Mama Si didn’t kick me out, even if I found I couldn’t do thejobshe had planned for me. I could do something else—anythingelse, as long as I got to stay here. As long as I got to live like this.

A week, and the Paradise had already gotten to my head, it seemed, but I couldn’t find it in myself to even regret it.

“Fall Doll, look at me,” Mama Si said, when I was stuck staring at her outstretched hands, her perfectly manicured claws of fingernails painted a bloody red, and I refused to move for the longest moment.

So, I did. I looked at those eyes again and found her soft smile.

Mama Si stepped closer and took my hand in hers.

The effect was instant. Whatever it was about this woman, when she was touching me, life just became easier. The thoughts in my head had order. Reality no longer seemed all that bad.

“It’s just a walk,” she said, but she didn’t pull me outside the room. “Join me.”

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