Why Are You My Remedy? [Book 1]

16

As soon as I'm in the room, I head to the closet and yank the purple dress off the hanger before I remember I'm being watched.

The cameras.

I wonder if Luka was punished for telling me about the cameras.

I wonder if he's taken any other risks for me.

I wonder why he would.

I touch the silky material on the dress.

I touch the dress the same way Luka did.

I can't help but wonder why he likes this dress so much.

Why it has to be this one.

Why I even have to wear a dress.

I am not a doll... but I'm going to wear this cause it's cute.

I accidentally step on the dress and stumble backwards. Catching myself but holding on to the dresser.

I grab onto the top of the dresser to try and stable myself but I feel a familiar rough texture.

I stand up to take a closer look at what it might be.

It's my journal.

He saved my journal.

Luka saved the only thing I own.

I look around and quickly shove the journal into my dress pockets.

The bathroom is where there are no cameras.

The bathroom is where there are no cameras.

The bathroom is where there are no cameras.

He was trying to tell me, I realize.

Before, in the bathroom.

He was trying to tell me something and I was so scared that I scared him away.

I scared him away.

I close the bathroom door behind me and flip through the pages of the one thing that kept me sane in the asylum.

I skim through it just to make sure it's all still there.

I look at my most recent entry.

It's not written in my handwriting.

A new sentence that must have come from him.

'It's not what you think.'

I stand still while trying to think of a possible reason. A possible reason why one would write this.

Luka can't be trying to reach out to me. It would be crazy to even consider the possibility.

I rip out the page and clutch it close to me.

I put the journal back into the dress pocket, along with the piece of paper.

The pocket Luka must have put it in.

The pocket it must have fallen out of.

The pocket of the purple dress.

The pocket of the purple dress.

Hope is a pocket of possibility.

And I'm holding it in my hand.

*Time Skip*

Agreste is not late.

He doesn't knock either.

I'm putting my heels on when he walks in the room.

He doesn't say a single word.

We instantly make eye contact and I tighten my jaw.

"You hurt him." I say.

"You shouldn't care." He replies as he tilts his head, gesturing to my dress. "But it's obvious you do."

I close my mouth and pray my hands aren't shaking too much.

I don't know where Luka is.

I don't know how badly he's hurt.

I don't know what Agreste will do, or how far he'll go in order to get what he wants.

But the thought of Luka sacrificing himself for me feels like a punch in the stomach.

If Luka is trying to help me it could cost him his life.

I touch the piece of paper tucked into my pocket.

Breathe.

Agreste's eyes are on my window.

Breathe.

"It's time to go." He says.

Breathe.

"Where are we going?"

He doesn't answer.

We step out the door.

I look around. The hallway seems abandoned; empty. "Where is Luka everyone?"

"I really like that dress." Agreste says as he slips an arm around my waist.

I try jerking away but his grip is too sturdy. He ends up guiding me towards the elevator.

"The fit is spectacular. It helps me distract myself from all of your questions." He says smugly.

"Your poor mother."

Agreste almost trips over his feet.

His eyes are wide; alarmed.

He spins around. "What do you mean?"

The look on his face... he looks horrified.

Very tense.

'I was trying to make a joke,' is what I don't tell  him.

'I feel sorry for your poor mother, sense she has to deal with such a miserable, pathetic son.' Is what I was going to say, but I don't.

He grabs my hand and focuses on my eyes. "What do you mean?" He insists.

"N-nothing." I stammer. "I didn't- It was just a joke- I-"

Agreste drops my hands as if I've burned him.

He looks away and speed walks towards the elevator. He doesn't slow down for me either.

I wonder what he's not telling me.

I eventually catch up to him. We're on the elevator, riding down in silence.

Once we get to our destination he offers me four words.

"Welcome to your future."