Wanted

Adjusting

After all the paperwork was filled out we were free to leave. Getting up from my seated position proved to be difficult considering I hadn't used my legs in quite some time. It's not as if the butterflies in my stomach helped me to lift out of the chair. Seeing me struggle to stand Hoffman called for Taylor. Not even a minute later Taylor came into the office with a wheelchair, she helped me settle into the moving chair. All the while Mr.Riley and Hoffman were exchanging goodbyes and handshakes. I didn't feel as if a goodbye was needed to the man that held me capture and sold me off. After I left this building I never wanted to look back.

As I was being wheeled out towards the exit I wondered why the name Thea. Was it because I looked like a Thea or had he known someone who was named that. Maybe Mr.Riley had an ex he couldn't forget about, as the minutes went by I became more distressed about the name I was given. He had said the name with a smile-a very sweet and radiant smile-and it stayed on his face as he wrote it down on the paper. My thoughts came to a screeching halt as we approached the front doors. Behind the doors that lay in front of me was another world, one that I had not been a part of my whole life, and now I was going to see it for the first time. The light from outside was seeping through from under the door, it was the first time I had seen such a pure color. 

Dr. Hoffman opened the right side of the double door and it protested with a loud squeak. Within seconds my eyes had adjusted to how bright it was outside. I smelt the fresh air, not harsh plastic and stale oxygen like I usually did. I heard birds chirping in a tree off in the distance along with the wind rustling the colorful leaves on them. A peaceful steady silence fell over me as I sat there taking it all in. So many sounds I have never heard and colors I've never seen. A life I'd never had until then and I was more ready than I'd ever been.

"Are you alright?" a voice came from behind me and brought me out of my daydream. I turned around to see Mr. Riley, "Yes."

"You're crying, Thea." He said with a smile in his voice which gave me a warm feeling. He then moved to kneel in front of me raising a hand to my cheek and wiping the few tears that streamed down my face. "Happy tears. I'm free. Thank you."

"Don't thank me just yet, I could turn out to be a horrible person." Mr. Riley says with a minuscule smile which seemed very forced. 

I contemplated what he had said to me, as we started our journey, it was the only thing that was on my mind. I looked out the tinted windows, of the small black car we were driving in, not really taking in my surroundings. Nor did I ask who the man was driving the car. I wanted to know why he thought he wasn't a nice man. Mr. Riley had chosen me, surely out of pity, knowing that I was never going to be freed from my tank and eventually having to be put down. That thought alone brought up unwanted memories. I've heard many girls that screamed and begged for their life the best they could to no avail. I prayed every day I wasn't next

He had given me a beautiful name, something I could call myself. What had he done to others for him to think that he was a bad person?

"If you keep creasing your brow like that you'll get wrinkles," he said with a sigh. I looked at him wondering why he was telling me this when he himself had deep lines in between his eyebrows. 

"You do the same thing." I retorted. His entire demeanor changed in an instant, his once calm eyes had a fire burning behind them now. His entire body was now facing mine with his arm draped over the seat I was sitting in.

"Are you saying I have wrinkles?" Mr. Riley asked leaning in so I could see every pore in his face. 

"Yes, " there was a few moments of stiff silence before I added, "you think a lot." He leaned away from me, now looking intently at my eyes, searching for something unknown to me. I wasn't going to lie to him by saying he was gifted by the gods with perfect skin; he had imperfections. This was apparently a touchy subject because he now faced the window and gave me nothing but silence with the occasional mumble. This makes it twice that he has lost his temper with me. I probably won't even make it a week before he returns me.