Location - The Center, Siberia
Lila's Age - 9
I sit against the cell.
It's so so so cold in this room why am I in the snow I don't know why
I am so so stupid.
Why did I yell? Why did I fight?
Now that I am bloody and broken, I can't remember.
Blood on walls blood on clothes blood on floor
It was silly to refuse.
28 told me so.
He told me plainly when I first came here "Don't be dumb here, 102, dumb ones are shot" but did I listen to his wise words? No
No
No
No
I hate myself sometimes
All the time, daily, every day
The woman is still alive but I won't be for much longer
I run my fingers along the trail of blood
It drips into a puddle on my feet like the ocean
Drowning in waves
Sinking under sinking sinking under
What does it feel like to drown? To fall below the water and never arise again? I think it would feel peaceful
Nothing to startle, nothing to worry, nothing to move
One day
One day it will be me
I know it will because if it's not I will do it myself
Guards come and drag me away
Women come and dunk my head under water for a long time
The water burns.
I wish they were drowning me but they aren't they take my head out and dunk again and again until they drag me out
I am dressed in the same black clothes and sent on my way to Sir's office. I open the door and see Valentin there, next to Sir.
I want to smile but I don't. I can't. Not allowed.
Valentin smiles at me, though. He's allowed to because Sir doesn't own him. Sir says he owns me and all of the others here.
We're property, he says. Made to be used as he sees best. The numbers on our necks say so. They have been engraved into us, this lesson.
"My darling, come here to me," Sir exclaims in a joyous tone. I swiftly go in his direction and Sir places his hands on my shoulders. "Mr. Aigner wants you again."
Valentin doesn't use me.
I'm not his property.
I am a person with him. He thinks I am special.
Valentin smiles and nods anyway to what Sir says. No one dares question Sir. Sir is powerful, even outside the base.
A blindfold wraps around my eyes and I am transported into Valentin's jet for the fifth time in only a few months.
I remove the blindfold when I feel the surroundings of Valentin's jet. He sits across from me again, a smile on his face.
Light pours into the jet.
"Hello, my little prodigy," He greets. He holds out a cup of milk, and I eagerly take it and gulp down the contents of the cup.
"Hi," I whisper through sips of milk.
"Are you ready to train?"
A smile lifts onto my lips and I nod.
———
I punch the dummy over and over until my knuckles have bruised.
I slice up traitors in the basement until they beg for mercy.
I go through simulation after simulation to prepare for any battles.
Training at Valentin's manor in Vienna is more fun than Sir's dull bases. I can do whatever I want and for how long I want.
He said he wants me to be strong for the future. He gives me plenty of food and I can't eat it all but it always tastes good.
I love it here. I love being able to be free. But I know this place won't last forever.
Valentin stops me when I try to go off and shoot up targets. I spin around and glare at him. "Don't you want me to be strong?" I ask.
He chuckles. "Of course. But you don't need to overdo it." He leads me into the bathroom and lets me clean the blood off my clothes.
Valentin and I sit at the counter of his home.
I kick my feet in the air.
One of his cooks—a nice old lady named Monika—places a plate of unknown food in front of me. Valentin's food isn't like Sir's mush.
I am never allowed outside here.
But I can eat food.
Valentin and I talk about anything and everything. He loves philosophy and science and math and history. He likes to quiz me.
"Do you remember learning about gravity?"
I laugh. "I learned about it when I was five!"
Valentin flashes me a smile. "Alright then, little Miss I-know-everything," He replies, taking a sip of a hot drink out of a mug.
I grin. "But I do know everything."
Valentin rolls his eyes playfully. He sets down the cup, and his eyes gloss over with something more serious. I straighten up.
"Lila, do you know where you're from?"
I shake my head. "The asylum is all I've known before the Center."
He nods. "You are the German Mafia's only hope, Lila. Do you know that? You are the only one worthy of being my heiress."
My eyes widen.
He had implied it before, but never outwardly said it.
"I am going to be your heiress? But why?"
Valentin pushes himself off the counter, leaning against the other one. "Lila, you are perfect for this life. You are the best person I've ever met."
"I'll never be able to escape the Center. Sir likes me too much. I don't think that Sir will ever let me go."
Valentin shakes his head. "Even if you weren't my heiress, Lila, I'd still break you out. You are one beautiful soul. You don't deserve that life."
"Well how do you plan on getting me out?"
Valentin smiles and leans forward. "All in due time, Heiress. Now, finish your food and we might still have time for the guns."
———
Hello, my loves!
I'm trying out something new. I think adding more bits and pieces of Lila's life at the insane asylum/the Center will give her more depth.
Let me know if you like this style.
I'll be updating the main story very soon! Hang in!
Vote and comment!
Au revoir,
Eva