Page 32 of Of Sinners & Salvation
She scowls at me in a way that makes it clear that she does not share my doubts about my mental state. “Dr. Augustine deals with our medical needs, not maintenance issues.”
“Can you just tell him?” I beg as she stops to unlock my room.
“I’ll pass along the message,” she says, making no effort to sound sincere.
After a month of integrating into the daily routine, they promise to move me to a room upstairs, where everyone else stays. I don’t plan on being here that long, but I already hate feeling like I’m in a fishtank, always able to be observed not just from the window into the hallway but the camera in the corner of the room. Plus it’s creepy down here. Sometimes I hear screams, ranting, racing footsteps when a patient escapes their room at night.
Sarah opens my door, and I step inside and pull up short. There’s a man sitting on my bed.
“Hi,” he says, awkwardly adjusting his tie. He’s thin to the point of being bony, with waxy pale skin, protruding eyes, and a prominent Adam’s apple.
“Who are you?” I demand, not moving from the door.
“I’m Ron,” he says, licking his lips and darting his eyes around the room. “I picked you out from the website.”
“Go on in,” Miss Sarah says, and she nudges me forward and pulls the door closed behind me.
“Wait,” I cry, spinning back and grabbing for the edge of the sliding door. I hear it seal shut a second too soon. I yank atthe handle, but it doesn’t budge. I pound my fists on the inside of the door. “Hey! Let me out.”
All I hear on the other side is the quiet shuffle of footsteps muted by the door between us as the other girls who were with me are led away. How many of them will find someone waiting for them?
My heart is racing as I turn back.
“You’re supposed to fight me?” I ask, an edge of incredulity in my voice. Despite his gangly figure, I guess he could have muscles under his expensively cut, expertly tailored suit. Judging from the looks of his clothes and the six-figure watch on his wrist, he could afford to pay a premium for whatever he wanted. But if Dr. Augustine expects me to put on a good show for him and then let him win, he’s in for a rude awakening.
The man blinks his bulging eyes at me like he didn’t comprehend my words. “Fight you?” he asks at last, his pallid skin pinkening. “No, we’re supposed to—You’re supposed to—”
I glance up at the camera in the corner of the room, then back to Ron. “Yes? What am I supposed to do, exactly?”
“You know what to do.”
“But I’m new here,” I say, batting my lashes. “Isn’t that why you picked me? Surely if you wanted me out of all the girls on the website, you must know what you wanted me for.”
“Service me,” he says, tugging at his tie and stretching his long neck back and forth.
“I’m afraid I haven’t received any training on how to do that,” I say. “But if you come here, I’ll show you what I do know.”
I step forward, trying to sway my hips seductively, though I feel more like a predator prowling in for a kill. After a second, Ron stands and comes toward me. When he reaches the middle of the room, I close the space between us in two quick stridesand hit him with an uppercut to the jaw. He crashes to the floor like a sack of potatoes.
I step over him and march to the corner, where I look up into the camera. “Did you really think I’d just go along with that?” I demand. “I thought you were going to give me a challenge.”
The intercom crackles on, and I know I was right. He was watching us, and the camera has sound too.
“What made you think that?” Dr. Augustine asks.
“It’s a good idea,” I say, barely resisting the urge to grit my teeth. He knows I’m right, but instead of admitting it and doing something new, he insulted me by sending some boring guy who probably just wanted sex without having to put in the effort of having a conversation over dinner.
“I could strap you to the bed for them, like you were for me,” Dr. Augustine says.
“You could,” I agree, staring up into the camera. “But where’s the fun in that?”
Maybe I’m playing with fire, but being an obedient little lamb isn’t going to get his attention. I need to stand out from the other girls, even if it’s for being a troublemaker. I need to pique his interest, even if it puts me in danger. I’m not going to find Eternity by playing it safe, and I’m not going to save myself either way. It’s too late for that. One of these days, someone is going to overpower me, or he’ll get tired of my antics and drug me or strap me down like he said. My only chance is to strike fast, before that happens.
I’ve already gotten further with him than with Julian, who never even gave me a chance. He drugged me from the moment we met, uninterested in anything but transporting me here. The doctor must have paid a good amount for me if he’d go to all that trouble when he could have just killed me and dumped my body in the river. I’d be an easier target than Eternity, whoseonly fault was being poor and insignificant to the gang. I’m an orphan twice over, unwanted by both my birth parents and my adoptive ones. Who would even care enough to look for me if I disappeared?
That makes it even more important that I stand out, that I make something of myself. I’m all I have at this point.
The thought twists my insides like it always does. I want so badly to have someone. I was close this time. Closer that I’ve been since the Quint.
