Page 25 of Chosen
“With all due respect, Miss, I don’t care whether you eat or not. Lord Draken has ordered it and it’s my duty to follow those orders.” Johra’s words were curt but his face remained expressionless. He was still less offensive than the two maids. If I had to deal with him on occasion, I figure things could be much worse.
“Fine. Would you mind if I’m left alone or is there something else, expected of me right now?” I don’t bother hiding the hostility from my tone.
My nerves are on edge and all I want to do is lie down and curl myself up in a ball.
“Of course. In the meantime, you can use the voice activated system in the room to contact me if you need anything or if you need to reach the Sector Leader.”
I shrug. “Okay.”
He heads to the door and stops and faces me again. “There are people here who don’t want you here and they may try to make things difficult for you. I suggest you watch your back.”
I’m finally left alone to wonder what the hell did he mean by that?
Chapter
Eleven
JAMIE
Iwake up. I sit in my room and stare out the window. Sometimes, I eat the food the maids bring in, sometimes I leave it untouched, especially when it appears tampered with. I don’t have much of an appetite anyway.
The highlight of my day is using the large sunken tub in my bathing room. I sit in the water until my skin puckers and the water gets too cold for me to stand it. I then stare out the window some more until I get sleepy and go to bed.
I restart the cycle the next day.
This is my new life.
I don’t know how many days have passed but at this point I’ve counted five sunsets. I may have missed a few. These past couple days, however, I’ve spent most of my time in bed not moving, and just staring at the wall.
Johra hasn’t returned since that first night and I haven’t seen the Sector Leader since we parted ways upon our arrival.
If he’s forgotten about me, it’s for the best. He confuses me. I’ve heard rumors about his terrifying reputation but our brief interaction didn’t give me that impression.
With all this time spent alone in my room, I sometimes think about my family. Is my dad taking care of himself? He suffersfrom a bad back because of the hard labor he’d endured as punishment for living off grid. Does my mom still like to take long walks? She used to love gardening and I know there’s a bountiful array of flowers on Magnus’s estate.
And Noah. Is she being taken care of as her due date gets closer? When I’d last seen Noah, her belly had been large and round as if she was ready to pop at any second.
I thought about the disappointment on their faces when we parted ways and how I must have hurt them.
In the long run, they would see it was better to make a clean break.
The remainder of my time is spent fighting off the dark thoughts that invade my mind. Memories I wish to forget, yet they continue to plague me.
It’s why I sit in the tub for hours at a time, to feel clean despite knowing I’ll never be clean again.
Perched on the edge of the chair, I stare out the window and look at the white landscape of the estate. It snowed the night before. The old me would have admired the beauty of the frozen wonderland but instead it just gives me something to focus on while I mentally fight the darkness warring in my head.
Rhia had made an offhand comment about there being a bio-dome on the other side of the fortress of where the grounds were green and full of vegetation. I’d seen plenty of that in sector 2. I preferred the snow.
The sound of door opening doesn’t cause me alarm because the only ones who have entered these past several days has been either Rhia or Sahra. Usually, it’s one or the other who brings me food or sometimes both. They often come into my room and pretend to tidy up but they don’t do much besides whisper to each other.
They still clearly resent me, neither of them bothering to hide their contempt. It shows in the food they’ve delivered to me sofar. Once it appeared as if a bite had been taken of the meat on my plate. Another time it looked like the food had fallen on the floor and was hastily put back on the plate. Another time there was a glob of something wet and phlegmy in the middle of my food.
I stuck to eating the bread that came with the meal and I drank my water straight from the sink in my bathing room whenever I was thirsty.
I don’t bother to look up when I hear footsteps approach. But something feels different. The hairs on the back of my neck stands on end and I’m instantly aware of a presence I can’t ignore.
“You haven’t left this room all week, and you’ve been returning your food to the kitchen untouched.” His words are not a question but more so of an accusation.
