#Chapter 4: At Least You're Alive

Amelia

I rush to stop Director Crane, but she’s already bursting through the door I was too distracted to close behind me. No sooner does she see me than a whip lashes out across my body. I bite back the pain, still trying to block the director from seeing the man I saved.

Director Crane shoves me aside, and I fall to the ground, freezing in fear of what she’ll do when she finds the stranger. When I look up, he’s gone, probably hiding in my room. Director Crane marches in there, and I wait helplessly like the failure I am.

I can hear her ripping my blanket off the floor and kicking around my pathetic pile of hay. I listen for a yelp or a groan, but I hear none of that. Then Director Crane fills the threshold to my room, towering over me.

“I know you stole food from the kitchen!” she accuses. “Stop trying to keep me from finding what you stole!”

I cower beneath her. I’ve learned over the years to neither admit nor deny my crimes.

There’s always a chance she won’t be able to prove them, in which case admitting to them does me no good. But if she can find proof, and I denied it, I’ll be doubly punished for lying, too.

In this case, however, the director already caught me on my way into the kitchen. I hadn’t broken the rules yet, but I was clearly about to. She whipped me several times right there.

I pretended to drag myself back down to the basement, only to sneak back into the kitchen once she was gone.

“You’ve already punished me for attempting to steal food. I admit to that crime. Isn’t that enough?”

Half-truths and lies of omissions are my bread and butter – I’ve depended on them to survive my entire life.

Director Crane leans down like she so enjoys doing, getting right in my face as she smiles venomously. “You think I don’t know you returned to the kitchen once my back was turned? You think you’re so smart, but how do you know it wasn’t a trap?”

I school my expression to hide how much that thought scares me. I realize how much I’ve grown used to believing I’m smarter than her, that my wits will grant me the freedom she keeps from me.

But what if I’m wrong?

“I know you’ve hidden food down here,” she sneers, suddenly straightening to her full height. “Get in here!” she bellows.

Zella, Julius, and a couple other of her favorites file in.

“Search the entire basement. Any food is considered contraband and should be brought immediately to me.”

The kids scatter, and I struggle not to worry. Where could that man have gone? Does he have the food I dropped as he approached me naked?

“There’s nothing here,” Zella reports as all the kids come up empty handed.

Director Crane shoots me a glare. “Don’t forget that your new masters will be here in two days to collect you. And if you try to escape again, I’ll make sure to hand you over to them as a slave instead of a pet.”

The director storms up the stairs, her little minions trailing after and slamming the basement door shut behind them.

I have no idea where that stranger disappeared to. Which means I also have no idea where he took the food I was planning to escape with.

“Damn it!” I yell, slamming my hand into the stone floor. The sting of the impact sooths my frayed nerves for a moment, but then it just hurts.

“Why so glum?” I snap my head up at the male voice to find the strange man leaning against the threshold to my room. “I thought that went rather well.”

“Where…? How…?” I sputter, taking in the sight of the man who I thought had disappeared for good.

He’s wearing clothes again, thank goodness, but the sleeves of his shirt do nothing to conceal the bulging muscles of his arms. Or that honey color in his eyes.

My gaze dips to the bundle of food in his hands and the little half loaf I offered him earlier sitting right on top. “You hid all that for me?”

“You said you weren’t allowed to have guests or food.” He pushes off the threshold, cocking his head and eyeing my back as if he can somehow see the fresh lashes beneath my shirt. “So is that the person who gave you all those scars?”

I pull myself up to stand in front of him. Even with the food I’ve managed to steal, I’m still dizzy from being underfed.

“The scars from this place will surely pale in comparison to where I’m being sent next. Which is why I have to leave. Now.”

I take a few steps closer, grasping his forearms tightly. “Come with me. We’ll help each other escape our pasts and create better futures for ourselves.”

My eyes lock with his again, his amber irises seeming to call to me, drawing me in.

“No.”

I recoil at his unyielding refusal.

“And you shouldn’t run away either.”

I blink in shock, taking a step back. “Excuse me?”

His eyes darken. “You don’t know what it’s like out there.”

“I know what it’s like in here,” I retort. “Anything has to be better than this.”

He scoffs. “You’re—”

He stops himself, glowering at me. “Humans do not survive on their own, ever. Maybe they beat you a little here, but at least you’re alive.”

“Surviving isn’t the same thing as living,” I shoot back, confused about why I have to defend myself to a slave. “I can’t wait any longer. In two days, I will be property to someone even worse.”

I cross my arms over my chest, mind made up. “This is my last chance. I’m leaving tonight.”

The stranger I nursed back to health drops my bundle of food on the floor, the crusty piece of bread balanced on top rolling off across the disgusting stone floor. He approaches me like he did before, but this time, there’s no playfulness in his tone or his manner as he grips my arms and shoves me against the wall.

“It’s. Too. Risky.”

I realize then that he won’t be convinced. I realize then that he’s just another obstacle.

“Okay,” I sigh. “You’ve spent more time out there than I have. I guess it only makes sense to trust you.”

Another half-truth.

Seemingly convinced, he lets go of me, and his breathing grows labored. “You have to rest,” I say, leading him back to my bed. “You haven’t yet regained all your strength.”

He doesn’t argue with me as I lay the flimsy blanket over him. “Just stay,” he murmurs as he fights to keep his eyes open.

“I will,” I say, even if I only plan to stay as long as it takes to finish preparing my escape.

Once he’s asleep, I leave the basement for a few more provisions, deciding that I’ll say goodbye to the strange man in my bed before I leave. Maybe I’ll even ask him his name. He did save me today after all by hiding himself and all my stolen food.

When I return to the basement though, it’s empty. I search the entire floor, but he has disappeared again without a trace.

At least he left me all my food this time.

With the few belongings I can risk carrying, I run into the forest.

Only to find Director Crane there, waiting for me.

And I wonder if I’m not as much smarter than her as I thought.