987 (Complex Series, #3)

Chapter Eight

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I wake up in the dim light with no idea what time it is. I roll over and glance in Sienna’s direction. She’s curled up on the bare mattress, murmuring something in her sleep.

I realize that the room no longer reeks of vomit. I peer into the corner where Sienna put the sheet full of vomit. The sheet’s missing, an Official must have taken it.

I roll on to my back and stare at the dark ceiling.

I have to stay strong. I can’t give into Derek’s manipulations. Today he will most likely meet with me and tell me all the details behind my ‘escape’. It will be all lies.

I lose myself in the whirlwind of my own anxious thoughts.

I’m jolted back to awareness when the door slides open. I have no idea how long I slept and how long I was awake.

I squint at the figure in the doorway. It’s Jonathan.

Jonathan sets brings in a tray of food. He sets it down on my cot and whispers, “You’re probably wondering why you haven’t been hungry recently. When you went unconscious we gave you all the needed nutrients and proteins through your IV, so you haven’t had a need for food.”

Hunger was the last thing on my mind. My stomach aches from worry, not hunger.  Besides, after seeing Sienna empty her stomach, I haven’t wanted to see food again.

Jonathan motions to the food, “Eat about half, save the rest for her.”

Then he slips back out of the room.

I squint in the dim light at the tray. There are a couple pieces of bread and two small bowls of oatmeal. I pick up the oatmeal and look for silverware. There is none.

How am I supposed to eat without silverware? From an early age in the Complex, we were taught in Etiquette Teaching the proper and only way to eat food. You use your fork and knife to cut small bites and chew politely with your mouth closed. For the crackers, you bring precisely one cracker to your mouth at a time with your thumb and forefinger.  For the oatmeal, you use the spoon to neatly bring it to your mouth. Even in the Unknown, we still ate politely. We couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. I didn’t even come into my mind that you could eat without silverware.

What do I do without it?

I can’t just pick up the oatmeal with my hands, like the crackers. It will easily fall out of my fingers and be extremely messy.

I nibble on a piece of dry bread while I think. I wince when it hits my tongue. I’ve gotten so used to the bread of the Unknown, rich with flavor, that I forgot how bland the Complex bread is. I chew the stale dough, resisting the urge to spit it out.

I hear Sienna stir. I glance over as she sits up. She gives me a sleepy smile and asks, “Do you have food?”

I nod, “Yeah, the Official brought it in. Don’t worry, I’m saving some for you.”

Sienna stumbles off her cot and joins me on my cot. She leans against the wall, drawing her knees up to her chest. She yawns and takes a piece of bread off the tray.

It disappears into her mouth in seconds. She’s already lost the etiquette of the Complex. She unceremoniously shoves it into her mouth.

She picks up a bowl of the oatmeal. I watch her, seeing how she’ll eat it without silverware.

She rests it on her knees as she yawns again. Then, she carefully takes the bowl, puts it up to her mouth, and the tips the bowl back. The oatmeal slowly spills into her mouth.

She glances at me and I realize I’m staring. I shift my eyes away and pick up the other bowl of oatmeal. Even though I’m not the hungry, I don’t know when I’ll be able to eat again. They may be trying to keep Sienna healthy for experiments, but there is no reason not to starve me.

I try to mimic Sienna. I bring the bowl up to my lips and slowly tilt it back. Some oatmeal makes it in my mouth but more slips down my chin. I wipe it away, but continue eating.

Is this how they used to do it in the outside? Without our technology and civilized nator??

Sienna finishes eating long before I do.

We sit in comfortable silence before Sienna says, “I’m glad it’s so dark in here.”

I frown, “What do you mean?”

“Well,” Sienna explains, “when they torture me for information, they do it in this super bright room that has mirrors everywhere. I hate it, because I can see my skin…or what’s left of it.”

I don’t know how to respond. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Sienna shrugs, “That’s okay. I don’t think it will go on much longer now. Ellen seems more and more excited every day. I think she’s getting really close to a poison that will kill me.”