Darlings (23 page)

No. Gwen made eye contact with the now almost
blind Rynnal. No, she thought to herself. No. She needed him. She
yanked once more on the heavy chain holding her, stuck to the thick
dreary concrete slab. “Let’s go,” the tall pirate growled, as he
led Ry to the steel doors. He didn’t resist. He didn’t struggle. He
only smiled and shouted, “We will meet again! Again I say, Again!”
and Gwen swore. She swore she saw him wink just before he
disappeared to meet his death.

Chapter 9

The words crazy and mad escaped the solemn
lips of the remaining onlookers, though Gwen knew Rynnal was not
mad, she knew he was not crazy…at least she hoped she knew. What
would they do when they couldn’t get power from Rynnal? Gwen didn’t
know.  “Get back to work, you pissants!” a guard bellowed as
the crowd stood lifeless, watching two of their own get hauled off
to meet their frightful fates.  Gwen stood still. Not able to
move or breathe. She had killed them. She was responsible for two
deaths again. They would die, so her captors could uncover her
ability. Why didn’t she just tell them? Tiger, Lily, Pete, Andrew,
her brothers…that’s why she reminded herself, still unable to shake
the gut wrenching guilt. A slight wind blew her wavy hair across
her lips. 

“Get,” the guard said as Gwen heard the click
of her shackle’s lock, as it fell from her bony ankle. “It’ll take
until tomorrow to charge this thing. Then we’ll see the goodies.”
He smiled a crooked smile as he shoved Gwen down the cement stairs.
Realizing the horrific scene was over, everyone got back to
work…that is everyone except Marriam. She stood, sobbing, beside a
wash bucket filled with her mother’s killers’ attire…that she was
expected to scrub clean and hang perfectly to dry. 

Gwen clenched her teeth as she walked to meet
Lily and Tiger once more at the rock pile. She picked up a rock and
began scraping ferociously. Sensing Gwen’s hostility, Lily grabbed
her wrist. “Don’t take it out here. Take it out tonight. The last
thing you want to do is chop off a finger.” 

Gwen jerked her hand away. She would take her
anger out when night fell, just not at all how Lily expected her
to. They were quiet as they worked. Gwen got up and decided to work
alone on the far side of the huge circular arena, and Lily
patiently let her go. 

She sat examining the dirt and saw a few
springs of plant creeping through the dust floor. It was turquoise
and soft as silk. Grass, she assumed, though much prettier than the
grass she’d known. She studied the cement walls wondering what it
was like on the outside. Remembering the scene in Pete’s room, she
imagined she was there, a soft breeze blowing the sparkling water
up around her ankles. Would she ever get to see Everland for what
it really was? It didn’t matter anymore. She had a much more
important task to focus on now, and it kept getting more difficult
every time she turned around. Just then, the horn sounded and Gwen
threw down her rocks, stomping to the line-up. 

“Breakfast,” Lily said
succinctly.  

Gwen nodded. They marched slowly through the
long halls and out into the cow shoot. Manticans were slaving way
in the open field. Gwen searched through the yard and saw
Andrew

working in his animal form in his usual
cart-pulling harness. She felt the tug inside pulling her his way.
Forcing herself to look away, she marched on. Even though she knew
he couldn’t hear her, she touched her mark anyways and shouted
madly behind the mental walls,
Tonight!  We’ll be out
tonight…one way or another.
  Throwing her hand back to her
side, Gwen kept pace in the single file line. 

They entered the gloomy dining hall, as
Gwen’s stomach growled at the thought of food. She hadn’t realized
how little she’d eaten since arriving. Her mind wandered to fluffy
scrambled eggs lightly salted placed next to a heaping pile of
sweet blueberry pancakes drizzled with maple syrup. She could
almost smell the citrusy aroma of freshly squeezed orange juice.
Orange juice. She would have died for a glass of orange juice.
Instead of the scrumptious morning feast she had imagined, she was
met with a scoop of foul smelling, gel-like substance being slopped
into her tin bowel in the breakfast line. Gwen had no idea what it
was. She poked it with her finger and cringed as it jiggled like a
slimy, thick Jello paste. Rotten eggs and wet decaying fall leaves.
Yes, that’s what it is, she thought to herself as she keened down
to smell it. 

She took her place next to Lily as she opened
her mouth and ceased breathing while stuffing the paste to the back
of her tongue. Don’t chew, just swallow, she coached herself. Lily
did the same. Tiger seemed not to mind the vulgar meal. Gwen
figured she had probably never tasted the sweet juice of a
perfectly ripe Georgia peach, or the crunch of flawlessly golden
brown fried chicken paired with a cloud of mashed potatoes and
sweet creamy butter. Good slop, okay slop, and sloppy slop were on
the girl’s daily, weekly, and yearly menu. 

“When we get out, first thing on our agenda
is to get Tiger some real food,” Gwen stated as she fought back
vomit.

“I’ve thought of that often,” Lily replied.
“I miss food. Real delicious food,” she trailed off as she closed
her chocolate eyes, imagining her favorite meals now not so far
away. “What do you think about Rynnal. How will we do it without
him?” 

Gwen shook her head and shrugged her slender
shoulders. “I don’t know. Something seemed…off though didn’t it? It
was as if he had gone crazy.” 

Lily nodded slowly as she choked down her
last glop of breakfast. “I’ve seen it before. Prisoners losing it
before being brought to their deaths. It happens.” 

“Yah. I suppose it would,” Gwen agreed,
furrowing her thin eyebrows in thought, “but the way he said it.
He’d see us again. It was as if he were mocking it. Like he wasn’t
serious. Like he knew something we didn’t but couldn’t tell
us.” 

The dark haired beauty set her tin bowl aside
and considered it. “Possible, but what?” 

“That’s the question. He was too smart, too
controlled to go out that way. “The more I think about it the more
I am sure he had a plan.” Gwen reiterated that statement to
herself. He had a plan, she thought. He had to have a plan…God let
him have a plan. Gwen knew she couldn’t do it without him. She knew
she’d be able to borrow Tiger’s ability but using it and giving it
back were the parts she wasn’t so sure of.

“True. I guess we’ll find out.” 

The horn sounded and back to the lineup they
went. Gwen’s hunger was now dulled to a loud growl instead of the
rumbling roar of before. They walked out the now familiar doors
once more and into the cow shoot. Andrew was still slaving away,
though this time he was closer to the fence. They made eye contact
as Gwen marched past. She heard it like static as she saw him raise
his massive paw to his chest.
Be...careful
.  She
stopped in her tracks and stared at him as he nodded to her. She
heard him.  

A boy behind her pushed her ahead. “Go,” he
said. “I don’t want whipped.” Gwen stumbled forward as she was
swept away by the long serpent of fellow prisoners.  She had
really heard him. The wall was cracking. Her ability was getting
stronger. For the first time, Gwen had felt somewhat…proud of her
extraordinary gift. She was splintering the boundaries her enemies
had built around her. She was breaking through. Hold on Andrew.
Hold on, she thought as he disappeared out of
sight.  

It was finally full fledge daylight Gwen
noticed as they marched back into the arena. There were two suns in
the sky that day. One was a pinkish color and one definitely
orange. Gwen was confused, but decided that was a topic she could
save for a later date. It was significantly warmer than yesterday
and she began to feel sweat drip down the sway of her lower back.
Gwen looked at her once soft hands now covered in oozing blisters
from long hours of scraping with the knife. She shuttered at the
idea of picked up the tool for hours more of grueling monotonous
work. Lily noticed the wounds and tore off a piece of brown fabric
from the bottom of her skirt. 

“Here,” she said grabbing Gwen’s hands. Lily
wrapped her raw hands in the fabric creating a sort of
glove. 

“Thanks,” she answered. Lily nodded and they
went to work. After several minutes of scraping, Gwen honestly
asked, “Why do you love him?” 

“Why don’t you?” she replied not bothering to
look up from her work. Gwen wondered the same thing. 

“I…I’m not sure if I do.” Gwen hesitantly
answered. 

Lily stopped and looked at Gwen. “You have
to.” 

“I don’t have to do anything, and I most
certainly do not have to love someone.” 

“Oh you stupid girl. You don’t even know what
you have. I’d do anything, anything to make him love me the way…he
loves you.” Gwen was offended, but as she heard the passion in
Lily’s voice, she suddenly felt bad for her. She felt guilty. “It
won’t work you know,” she said shaking her head getting back to her
work. “It will never work.” 

Gwen wasn’t sure they were on the same page.
“What won’t?” 

“I saw the way he looked at you. They way my
brother touched you. Don’t begin to think it could ever work. I
wouldn’t let anyone see you two like that either.” Lily said thin
black eyebrow raised.

Was it obvious? Was it true? Did she really
have feelings for Andrew? She wasn’t sure…or at least she didn’t
want to be. 

“There’s nothing going on between us. It’s
just intense here, you know?”  Gwen lied to herself. 

“Remember that,” Lily snipped as she walked
away.

Andrew. Pete. It was all a mess. Gwen
couldn’t tell reality from fantasy anymore. All she knew was she
wanted, needed, to get out of there and get back the lives she had
taken. There would be time for sorting feelings out. 

Ugh, Andrew. She tried to block him from her
mind as she worked. Every time she tried she saw his face. His dark
eyes peering longingly into hers through the steel fence. His large
hand cupping her blush and ivory cheek every so softly. The way he
could barely stand from all the hours of attempted survival and
mind control keeping her from feeling the pain. She knew him from
the inside. She’d visited his mind and he had visited hers. Shaking
her head she tried to concentrate on something, anything else, it
was no use. The touch. It could very well be the only time Gwen
could ever feel Andrews touch on her soft skin again. The fucking
collar. The thing that held her captive, in a way, gave her
freedom. It enabled the touch. It enabled Gwen to turn down her
ability by a thousand…hopefully enough to spare Tiger’s life. Yes,
she hated it…but she respected it. 

The thought of the collar reminded her of
Nana. How she missed her big fluffy friend. Gwen wondered if the
poor dog was alright. If anyone remembered to feed her, let her
out, throw her big red ball and give her a nightly walk around the
block. No, she figured. Nana would be lucky to be fed. Her mother.
She wondered if by now her mother knew of her whereabouts…if she
numbed herself with pills of all sizes. If her father had any clue.
She hoped her brothers were holding up…she hoped they were
ok. 

Gwen spent the rest of the morning attempting
to keep terrible thoughts from entering her mind. Her scraping
skills were improving but she was damn happy she wouldn’t have to
use them ever again, one way or another. Lily kept her distance,
which was fine with Gwen. She wasn’t up for any more difficult
conversation. 

“Hi Gwen,” a little voice said from behind
her. 

“Oh, hi Tiger. What are you working on?” Gwen
asked making conversation with the petite girl. 

“Scraping this red one. I like the red ones,
they smell good and they’re pretty. Here smell,” Tiger held the
shiny red rock up to Gwen’s face. She inhaled, surprised at the
sweet aroma of the stone. It smelled like strawberries. Not the
kind from the grocery store, but the artificial kind she remembered
certain dolls smelling like when she was a girl.

“That does smell good,” Gwen said forcing a
smile. The girl had such rough hands. They didn’t fit her puffy
pink lips and striking black hair. She was surely the most
beautiful little girl Gwen had ever seen, even in the rags she
wore. Her green eyes sparkled as she beamed, proud Gwen enjoyed her
rock. Pete’s eyes. It was the only part of her that wasn’t the
spitting image of Lily, and apparently Lily’s mother. 

“Guess what?” the girl asked. 

“What?” 

Tiger shifted onto her knees and whispered in
Gwen’s ear placing her tiny hands in front of her pretty lips, “You
get to use my power tonight,” she sat back on her feet and giggled,
completely oblivious to the severity of the situation. 

Gwen felt her heart sink. “That’s what I
hear. Thank you. You’re very sweet for letting me use it,” she said
fake excitement glossing her otherwise cracking voice. 

“Sure. Mama says you’ll give it right back,
but I have to be asleep for the whole thing,” she pouted her
perfect lips and crossed her arms. 

Give it right back. Oh how Gwen wished she
could promise that. “Oh that’s alright, you don’t want to be sleepy
the next day do you?” 

Tiger shook her head. “Oh…there’s Marriam.
Maybe she’ll want to play but maybe not since her mommy’s dead now.
I’ll go see.” 

What horrors Tiger had seen
already. 

The day drug on as the suns beat down on
Gwen’s bare shoulders. Feeling the hunger return to her aching
stomach, she made her way back to Lily, who was making her way to
the water pump line. 

“Is it past lunch?” Gwen asked
exhausted. 

“Yes. I think it is. Sometimes they do that,
skip lunch on us if we’re falling behind.” 

Gwen couldn’t wait until nightfall but
fortunately she didn’t have to.  The horn sounded twice and a
guard too his place upon the podium. “Work’s done early today. Get
back to your sleeping quarters.” And that was it. No explanation.
He hobbled down and took his place at the head of the
lineup.