Emily (9 page)

The memory was fresh and as Valeskia stood in the bedroom of the manor, she realised that her life was going to be hard, but she resolved within herself that she would never give up.

The next day the men came into her room and took her to a cold room that stank of chemicals. As they were strapping her down to the cold metal bench, Valeskia had cried. But her tears were silent, she didn’t beg or plead. She knew that it wouldn’t make a difference to the men holding her.

The dark purple fluid hurt with a pain she had never experienced before in her life as it slowly entered her body. She could feel her blood burn hot and she screamed with terror, then her body went so cold that she was sure she would never be warm again. After a while she slipped
mercifully into a slumber in which she stayed for two days.

When she woke up her body was sore and
tired, her limbs like lead. Over the next couple of days different men came in and poked and prodded her. In a way they seemed disappointed. After a week she was moved to another small cell. Men still came to look at her but mostly it was to test her reflexes. They rarely spoke but this didn’t matter to Valeskia, she knew they were not the kind of people she wanted to talk to anyway.

It was a month before Varrick came to see her. She had prayed that he had forgotten all about her, but now he stood before her with a parcel that was large and had a ribbon tied around it.

‘I looked up your birth records,’ Varrick told her smugly. ‘Did you know that it is your sixteenth birthday today?’

Valeskia was stunned and she thought to herself,
I have been here so long
. Her birthday seemed so surreal. In the past, with her father, it had seemed like such a big thing – now it was frivolous.

‘
Here, I got this for you,’ and he placed the parcel on her cot. ‘Go on, open it.’ His voice was soft, he wanted to be gentle with her.

Prompted by the need to move more than wanting the gift, Valeskia slowly untied the ribbon. Inside the parcel were some clothes and underneath the clothes were a couple of books. Valeskia lifted them up, eyeing them hungrily. One was on flowers and the other on herbs. After so long of having been deprived of everything, Valeskia yearned to pick up the books and begin to read them. Turning to face Varrick again, she almost said
‘thank you’ before remembering the horror that Varrick had put her through.

Realising that she wasn
’t going to speak to him, Varrick stiffened. ‘My men will take you to have a bath and then you will join me for dinner.’ Pointing to the clothes, he said, ‘Wear those,’ and stalked out of her cell. Reaching the end of the hallway he smashed his fist into the wall, chipping the stone. He hated the emotions the girl invoked in him. He wanted to touch her so badly but he wasn’t sure if it was for pleasure or pain – but he would find out.

Over the next week he had dined with her every night. Her conversation was intelligent and knowledgeable
. While he knew he could have her at anytime, he wanted her to want him. Her reluctance only made him want her more. He thought about her all the time and began to hate that he only felt good in her presence.

A call came with a message for Varrick to go to Germany. It looked like he would be gone a month so he left orders for Valeskia to join the general populace in his compound. On the morning of his departure men had come to her cell, packed up her possessions and taken her to the compound at the back of the manor.

It was wonderful to be in natural light again. Her cell had been underground and there were moments when Valeskia had not known what time it was, or even if it was day or night. As she was pushed through the gate, Valeskia looked at the people in the camp. They looked normal but the stories from Varrick about the gene treatment had frightened her.

The guards dropped her possessions on the ground and left her standing alone. For a moment Valeskia was scared. She had only lived in one place her whole life, knowing everyone around her. There was no one familiar here but as she bent down to gather her possessions a young man approached her, helping her gather them.

‘Are you alright?’ he asked in a soft, quiet voice. Looking into his blue eyes Valeskia knew that she could trust this man. His hair was dark red and Valeskia thought that it looked nice, it was a colour she had never seen before.

‘
I’m not sure,’ she replied truthfully. ‘Where am I and who are all these people?’

Reaching his hand out to help her stand the man replied,
‘I’m Jonas and most of the people here are like us.’

‘
Like us?’ Valeskia asked, not sure what he meant.

‘
Scared,’ Jonas replied smiling. He had a kind face and looked only a little older than her.

Valeskia laughed and her whole body relaxed, knowing she had found a friend.
‘Yes,’ she said, ‘like us.’

‘
Come,’ he said. ‘Let’s find you a place to stay,’ and he led her through the tents until he came to one that looked like the rest.

‘
How do you tell which tent is which?’ she asked him, confused as to where they were.

‘
Small things but most of the time I just wander around until I’ve found where I need to go,’ Jonas replied shyly, his voice kind.

Valeskia doubted this as he seemed the sort of man that would know exactly where he was. Opening the flap to the tent, Jonas poked his head inside, talking softly and then he beckoned for Valeskia to enter. Feeling nervous, she bent her head down to go inside.

The tent was surprisingly neat inside, the floor looked freshly swept and a woman was sitting on a chair by a small table. The tent also held three cots with two pushed to the side of the tent and tipped on their side to make the room bigger, the one laying down had a pillow on it. Gesturing for Valeskia to sit on the cot, the woman introduced herself.

‘
My name is Thora and I am from a small village to the south.’ Thora smiled kindly at the girl knowing that she would be frightened.

‘
My name is Valeskia. I am from the small village that is close to here. My father runs a laundry, or did. I think he is dead and I...’ Valeskia couldn’t hold on any longer. The tears ran down her face as the horror of the last month hit her so hard she couldn’t bear another moment.

Thora helped her to sit down and asked Jonas to go and fetch some water. She knew the best thing for the girl was to let the tears fall, shock always needs to be released from the body. Looking at the poor girl, Thora noticed how young she was and from the bruises on her arms and face Thora guessed at how she had been
given the treatment. After Jonas returned with the water, Thora wet a rag and placed it on Valeskia’s face. The cold water slowly brought her to her senses. The grief was just so unbearable and up until now Valeskia had tried to put the whole experience down to a bad dream. She put her knees up and rocked slowly back and forth.

‘
Don’t cry, please,’ a new voice spoke softly. Valeskia looked up and saw a young girl of around nine standing in front of her. The girl was perhaps the most beautiful child that Valeskia had ever seen. Her hair was the colour of wheat and she had the palest blue eyes, however, she was dressed like a boy and was very dirty.

‘
Dusana, where have you been? You were clean when you left here this morning,’ Thora scolded.

‘
Just having fun with my friends,’ Dusana replied, looking down at her clothes liking that they were especially dirty. She showed Thora some nuts she had found, pulling them out of her pocket. ‘Can we eat these?’ she asked, her face very hopeful.

Thora sighed and said,
‘At least you have the good sense to ask before you eat something strange.’ Pausing to look at the nuts, Thora handed them back Dusana.

‘
Yes, you can eat these. They’ll be good for you.’

Dusana turned to Valeskia, who had stopped crying and was watching the girl.

‘You can share my nuts but only if you smile,’ the girl said, and she held out a nut to Valeskia, who was stunned with the request. But the child’s blue eyes demanded compliance and carried the look of mischief. So Valeskia gave her one of her rare smiles and Dusana sat down beside her and began to ramble on as to what she had been up to.

After a while she patted Valeskia
’s arm and said, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be alright. It’s all a bit strange to start with but the mean men leave us alone.’ Pausing, she added ‘Mostly, that is.’

‘
Have you been here a long time?’ Valeskia asked Dusana.

‘
Oh yes, since I was six years old. I’m nine now. Can you tell?’ And she stood up, standing on her toes to make herself taller.

Valeskia laughed, the child
’s mood was infectious. ‘Mmm, I would’ve thought you were ten.’

‘
Really?’ Dusana squealed. ‘I look ten?’

‘
At least,’ Valeskia said and the little girl jumped into her arms for a hug.

Feeling the child
’s heart beating against her, Valeskia realised that she was in love and vowed to protect the girl.

Thora looked at them both and realised that they had bonded. It was a relief for her that the child would have someone else to protect her. Thora was in her fifties and felt it. Dusana had been thrown into the camp with no one to look after her, so Thora had picked her up and taken her into her care. Standing up Thora spoke to the girls.

‘Come, we’ll go to the food tent to get some dinner. You’ll meet my husband Sven, and Jonas will be there as well.’ Dusana reached for Valeskia’s hand and it was so natural to be holding it.

Leaving their tent, Thora turned to Valeskia and said,
‘It can be chaos in the food tent as we’re all hungry, but the men will see that we get some food.’

Inside the food tent there was a long bench at one side and the rest of the tent had plain wooden tables and benches. The food was in two large pots and it smelled awful, but the worst of it was the people, all yelling and pushing. Some of the younger men were grabbing food out of women
’s and children’s hands. It was chaos. Valeskia was shocked at how desperate everyone was. Looking at the guards for help was pointless as they just stood back and laughed.

‘
The guards won’t let anyone leave with more than one bowl so we all have to be here,’ Thora said to Valeskia. It was awful to watch the struggle for food but Jonas and Sven eventually pushed through the crowd to get food for the girls. Valeskia felt so guilty when Jonas handed her a bowl. After all the trouble he had gone through to get it for her, it smelled so awful that she honestly wasn’t hungry enough to eat it.

Seeing the look on her face Jonas said,
‘I know it’s not good food but it’s all we get every day.’ Valeskia looked at what was in her bowl and saw that there was a little meat and some vegetables but mostly it was just broth.

‘
How on earth do you survive on this?’ she asked the small group. Sven was the one to reply.

‘
Not all of us survive. It’s only the strongest ones that do.’ Valeskia’s mind was racing.
How could Varrick treat them all so badly? This was madness
.

After the group had eaten they left the tent. As the shock began to fade, Valeskia looked around at the people in the camp. She could see how wretched they had all become
– normal people, kind people, driven to such desperate measures.

Turning to Sven and Jonas, Valeskia asked,
‘I don’t see any guards around except the ones that came to give us food.’

Sven replied,
‘They stand guard around the fences. There’s no need for them to come in. If we don’t do as we’re told they just stop the food for a couple of days.’

‘
Where do they get the food from?’ she asked.

‘
I don’t know,’ Sven replied, ‘they just bring in the pots once a day.’

Dusana piped up,
‘I have a friend, his name is Thomas. He gives me food sometimes. Last time he gave me an apple and it was delicious,’ and she pretended to eat one.

‘
Who’s Thomas?’ Valeskia asked, worried for Dusana but smiling at the young girl’s playfulness.

Knowing what she was thinking, Thora replied,
‘He’s the son of one of the guards. He’s just twelve – he’s alright. They’re just friends and he’s good at getting her more food,’ and then Thora smiled and added, placing her arms around Dusana’s shoulders, ‘Which is just as well as she’s a guts.’ Dusana laughed and the rest of the adults smiled at her innocence.

‘
We must get back to our tents now, the guards will shoot us if we’re out of our tents after dark,’ Jonas stated, breaking the mood.

‘
No,’ Valeskia breathed, every moment this place got worst.

‘
They usually miss,’ Dusana added, trying to sound wise, ‘but it’s scary.’

Arriving at their tent, Valeskia asked Jonas,
‘Which tent is yours?’

‘
We stay in the next one,’ he said, pointing to a tent to the left of theirs.

‘
It’s not as tidy as ours,’ Dusana joked.