Sorry if this part isn't very good. I don't know how I feel about this part, but I wanted to put something up. Please comment and tell me what you think.
PLAY SONG ON THE RIGHT>>>
As the morning sun shined on my face, I slipped into the shower. My wounds were healing, but muscles felt constricted. Everything felt so raw and brittle. I needed a good shift. I hadn't been able to transform since I've been here. I stepped under the faucet of running water and moaned as hot water pounced against my swollen, blotchy skin.
I hated having to leave my shower, but I had to get dressed. I quickly dried off and walked back into the room. I sat on the bed as I got dressed. I slipped on my bra and some clean underwear. Then I pulled on the hideous plaid green dress with the brown flats.
I was worried. I have gotten myself into a hole that I cannot climb out of. How the hell am I supposed to plan this? It was stupid of me to think that I could plan something like this. What was I thinking? I cannot lead the five of us to freedom. What in the world made me think that I could do this?
I blame it on the pain. It made me delusional.
I turned to look at Jillian. She was rustling, but at least not crying because some guy was on top of her. I looked up to check the clock; It was only 5:30a.m. I didn't really it was so early. It didn't matter. I couldn't go back to sleep even though my eyes were screaming for me to close them. Since I was up early, maybe I could think of some ideas and write them down.
I began thinking and…I got nothing. What if there was an alarm I could trigger and we could escape in all the haywire. No, that wouldn’t work. They’d let us die in a fire before letting us outside. Come on Mason, you can do this, I hit my head repeatedly hoping that something would arise. My words of encouragement were dulling. I felt like a failure. I felt like I was taking a test that I already failed.
“Mason?” Jillian sat up and rubbed her eyes. “What are you doing up? It’s like five in the morning,” she yawned while stretching.
“I’m trying to find a way to get us out of here,” I rubbed both my thighs with my palms. “I want us to get out but I don’t know if I could do it Jillian,” I said honestly. “I thought I could do this. I want so badly or us all to get out o here. But now I'm afraid that I could be leading us all to our deaths."
It surprised me a little at how open I was with Jillian. Sure she was my roommate, but we've only known each other for a few days. Everything seems to be going too fast. These girls will be the last people I see or talk to before this thing goes down. I think now I finally understand why when we first arrives those girl's--complete strangers--were holding hands.
“Look, I’m just as afraid as you are, but I’m willing to risk it if I could just see my mom and my baby brother one last time. I’m counting on you Mason. We’re all counting on you. I don’t have a doubt in my mind that you can get us out of here. I know it sounds weird but I trust you,” she whispered. "I know that your scare that you will make a mistake, but I'm scared that you won't even try."
“Please don’t!” I shook my head and she smiled. "Please don't have so much confidence in me. I don't know what to do."
Jillian sighed then said, "This is not a time for doubting yourself Mason. I am counting on you and I will be until the end," she said sternly. “Well I’m going to get dressed and then I will help you as best as I can, okay?” Jillian smirk then went into the bathroom.”
By the time Jillian had finished showering, I had a pile of crumpled up paper on the floor. With each passing one, I lost hope. Some of my plans consisted of putting red fire ants in Keega'n's underwear. I just have no clue as to how that would help us escape.
So now I was back to the drawing board. My pencil scribbled fiercely against the paper as I thought of ideas and lost ideas. I was getting nowhere.
Just as I was about to lie down, Jillian came up to me while drying her hair with the towel. “Any ideas yet?” She looked hopeful.
“Nada,” I said and she sighed. “I could really use your help. I just want this to work.”
“Okay,” she sat down next to me. “What are some ways that we can actually get access to the downstairs area without being noticed or questioned?”
“I don’t know,” I shook my head. “I’ve only been here for a couple of days. I don’t know anything. What about you? You’ve been here longer than I have.”
“Mason, the whole time I’ve been here…” she began to whisper. “I was beat up by my last roommate, raped repeatedly, and told that I was nothing without a mate. I didn’t exactly take in the scenery or ask a lot of questions.”
“Okay, so we have nothing… again,” I muttered. This was nerve-racking. “Great!”
Knock, knock
Jillian got up and answered the door. It was our breakfast. Again the Staff lady didn't say much and left without a thank you. Jillian passed me my food and we took a break to eat. “I’m so hungry,” I took a large bite into my sandwich. I was so hungry that they could have served me dog food and I would have eaten it, which is how most of the food here taste.
“Mason?” Jillian wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
“Yeah,” I said with food in my mouth.
“Is your wolf getting agitated?” she looked up at me.
“All the time. I hadn’t shift in a while,” I admitted. She smile when I said that and I just shrugged it off.
“Once I was going so crazy that I shifted in my room. It was after the first time Keegan had..." she shook her head as if trying to get rid of a bad memory. "Anyways, my roommate was so furious. I left claw marks all over her bed. After that she never tried to hit me again,” by the end of the story, we were both laughing.
“What happened to your roommate?” I asked.
“Her six weeks were up and she was auctioned almost a month ago. She was something though. An evil bitch actually. I heard that she was sold for a hundred buck to a garbage man,” she began to chuckle then I couldn’t contain myself. I looked up at the clock it was almost time for class.
After our first two classes together, Jillian and I parted ways. Now I had no one to help me with the plan. Next class was Home Economics. Great, cooking! Note my sarcasm. Too bad I couldn’t miss out on this class again. I entered the classroom and it smelled of something sweet and rich. Chocolate! Immediately my mouth began to water.
Inside the room were at the most ten work stations filled with cooking utensils. It looked like something out of an old 2000's magazine. Everything looked so clean and new.
“Hello class, my name is Mrs. Marsden and I will be your Home Ec. teacher," I took a seat at one of the stations as she start talking. "For all new students, welcome!” her voice was a bit nasally. She was a big, stubby-looking woman with brown hair and hazel eyes. “Today we will be making a cake. After I show all of you how, I want you to do the same with any other kind of cake you want. We have, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, sponge cake, and spice cake. Now let’s get started."
*
*
Thirty-five minutes later...
I thought that once I came into this room, I would have nothing but trouble, but that's not what happened at all. I actually liked this class. My cake came out perfectly. It was chocolate, my favorite. I cut a hole through the middle then filled it up with whip cream. Yum, whipped cream. I was having so much fun backing that I didn't notice the crowd forming around me and my cake. The other girls were eye raping it. I had pride in my cake so I held it out like a trophy.
“Want some?” I asked them. About six other girls rushed over to my table. I started slicing it and I passed them out. I could hear the approval in their voices. It made me smile for a short period of time.
“We’ll I guess we all know who made the best dessert today?” Mrs. Marsden beamed.
After Home Ec., the announcement of lunch blasted over the intercom system. All girls had the same lunchtime and I hoped I wouldn’t have to sit next to the girl that couldn’t stop farting on my first night here. As I came into the dining room, I was blasted with hundreds of voices. It seemed that they all had there different cliques. That was fast, but them again what are Jillian, Angela, Sammy, Caroline, and I?
“Mason!” Jillian waved her hands in the air reminding me of a monkey I once saw on TV. “Over here!” I walked towards her then I saw Angela, Caroline, and Sammy. “We were just telling Angela that throwing cake mix in someone face is not the same thing as giving them a facial.”
“It can be,” she snorted. I sat next to Caroline and we all laughed at Angela as we ate…we ate...well I don’t know what we ate. It tasted like a cross between chicken and ham, but it was yellow and had skin.
After thirty minutes or eating mystery meat, the dining room bell rung, it was time for us to leave. I took a look at my schedule and I had Woman to Mate Living next. Ugh! A useless class at best. I walked down the corridor until I reached a room filled with desks. Beside the desks, there seemed like millions of pictures on the wall of female and male anatomy. This was going to be just another Sex-Ed class.
I took a seat in the back and waited for the teacher to start talking. There were a lot of girls spilling into the classroom. Some looked scared. Some looked curious and other just looked lost. I categorized myself in the 'I don't give a damn' group. It's members consisted of me, myself, and I.
“Good morning class,” a man who looked to be in his thirties came into the classroom. He had short brown hair, a small beard and green eyes, average height, very attractive. “I am Mr. Wester and I will be your Women to Mate Living teacher. Since we have girls coming in almost every day, I will have to introduce myself every day. Some of you were here last class and we talked about marriage. Today we will be discussing commitment.”
You got to be freaking kidding me. How the hell did a man get to teach this class? How can he teach girls how to be girls? I crossed my arms and refused to look at him. For the rest of the class all I heard was blah blah blah. I looked up only when he came down the aisle and touched my shoulder. I would have thought it was to keep my attention if he didn’t do it three more times and each time was longer than the last. I wasn't the only one either. This man had a problem with keeping his hand to himself.
When class was over, I practically ran out the door. I need to get out of that room and to stay out.
Next up was dancing. Oh boy. This was going to be bad. I had two left feet. I'm an uncoordinated. I trip over air. My schedule said the class was located in the ballroom. When I miraculously found my way there in time, there was over thirty of us in here. I counted.
All the girls were lined up against the wall like they were waiting for their mug shots. I joined them and settled in the back. The next thing I know, guys started pouring in not two minutes later. They all range from late teen to mid-thirties. They just couldn't wait until the auctions. The guys our ages just weren't enough. I was going to make a fool out of myself.
Alright ladies,” a woman with long, silky red hair came into the ballroom. “My name is Mrs. Baxter and I am your dance teacher. Over there at the piano is Noah Reddick. Stand up and introduce yourself Noah.”
I kept my eyes on him. He was handsome in a boyishly cute way. He had curly blonde hair and green eyes. He smiled when he got up and I couldn’t help but smile back. It was like he was doing it just for me. “Uh…hi,” he scrunched his nose, “I’m Noah and I’ll be your pianist for the next few months. It’s nice to meet you ladies,” he sat and began playing music.
Behind me, some of the girls were giggling and murmuring about how cute he was. I want to say that they were stupid because they're going to be auctioned, but i was very close to joining them. There was just something about this Noah.
“Today we will be doing the Waltz. Any new students will need to find a partner.” She clapped her hands and girls started walking towards the guys with a startling familiarity. I watched as the guys arms laced around the girls backsides and they began to sway to the music.
“I don’t have a partner,” I raise my hand. Why did I do that? Well its simple, I am stupid. I would have been happy sitting in a corner listening to the music until class ended.
“Everyone listen up. Do we have any free males?” Mrs. Baxter asked. One boy raised his hand. Well I guess boy would be an understatement. He looked to be a few years older than me. He had spiky blonde hair and brown eyes. His face looked hard like a soldier. He walked over to me and I had to look up at him. He grabbed my hand and waist. I squirmed but he squeezed my waist until I settled.
As the dance continued, I couldn’t stop stepping on his feet and he kept scowling at me. Inside I wanted to laugh very loudly. Serves him right. Asshole. Even while we were dancing I couldn’t stop watching the boy playing the piano. The music was so graceful and although I couldn’t dance, I could watching him play for hours. Whoa, what was I saying? He was just the guy playing the piano. All men who aren't in my family have proved to be inhuman. Spiky hair here is a prime example.
Once it was time to leave I got the strange urge to go thank the piano guy. That wouldn’t be weird, right? Before I knew what I was doing I was already standing in front of him. He looked up and smiled and I did the same. “Can I help you?” He asked. His smile was so intoxicating that I wanted to melt at his feet.
“Uh, I like you’re playing. You—you were r-really good,” I stuttered.
“I would hope so, after nine years of training,” he chuckled.
“Okay, bye,” I said before walking off. Why did I do that? It's not normal to walk of in the middle of a conversation, is it?
I walked to the dining hall for dinner. Again, it was packed and I had to keep looking for Jillian and the others. Then I spotted them. They all turned as I sat down next to Sammy. “So like I was saying, we gon’ come to your room after dinner,” Sammy said in her southern twang.
“Okay,” Jillian agreed and I nodded.
*
After dinner...
*
Knock…knock, knock.
Jillian got up and went to the door. “Okay, come in,” Jillian whispered. I looked over my shoulder and there was Sammy, Angela and Caroline coming into the room. They stood in a semi-circle staring at me, waiting for answers I didn't have.
“What?” I shrugged. I didn't have anything to give them.
“The plan,” Sammy said as a matter of fact.
“Well you see what had happened was…” I trailed off. I was hoping that they could fill in the blanks with heir own assumptions, but that's not what happened.
“Huh?” Caroline and Angela said in unison.
“I got nothing,” I sighed. “I been trying since this morning but I got nothing. I tried but everything keeps coming up as a blank and I know that the plan has to be perfect because our lives are at stake. Do any of you have ideas?"
“What if we disguise ourselves? We could walk right out this building and…” Sammy trailed off.
“And nothing. Where would we find disguises? They’re not going to let someone leave who didn’t come in,” Angela stressed. "If anything, that would draw more attention to ourselves."
“Well what other options do we have?” Sammy crossed her arms frowning.
“I have an idea!” I interrupted. I was a little excited because it was the only one that seemed worthwhile.“Do we have any vents, like big vents? There has to be a basement in this place, right? Places this big almost always have one.” It was my only sane plan so far.
“I think there’s some stairs in the back that lead to the basement,” Angela stated. “My old roommate was brought back and they have her working in the kitchen until she gives birth.” As soon as I heard that, I felt sick. I quickly fixed my face before anyone saw. There were no words at how disgusting this place made me feel. How could they just use us up then return us like clothes?
“Do you think you can get in touch with her?” I ask. “She could probably help us a lot. She would have access to that area.”
“But if she get involved, she will want to escape with us,” Sammy murmured. “More people, more risk, a greater chance of getting caught and being severely punished. I saw what happened to you Mason and it was just your first strike. I don’t want my first strike to be the same or worse. If someone catches us, it could mean a third strike for all of us. Three strikes and you’re out…permanently.”
After that the room grew so quiet that I could her Jillian swallowing. I knew what I was risking and I thought it was worth it. If I could make a plan perfect enough, we will be free in no time. It hurt knowing that the others didn’t have much hope in me like Jillian did. I needed all the motivation I could get. I couldn’t do this alone. Heck, I don't even know if we can do this period.
“Look, I’m going to be auctioned in a few days, I have nothing left to lose. I haven't seen my parents in almost six weeks, I haven't been outside, haven't shifted and I'm itching to get my hands on the ones who put me here. I say we show them bitches what we’re made of,” Angela gloated. “I want to see the look on their faces when they find out that we escaped. We beat them. Four teenage girls beat the system or law or whatever.”
“Hey,” Caroline called and got our attention, “we still have to figure out what time we’re going to go. Timing is everything.” She was right. Going at night was out of the question. Although, being a werewolf has it's perks, we still have limited abilities. We can't see perfectly in the dark. The only option was to go in the afternoon.
“How about during lunch,” Caroline contributed. “The kitchen will be busy and they won’t even pay us any attention. I really think we can do this,” her lips quirked into a smile. “So what do you say?”
“I say…your freaking awesome. We can do this,” Angela complimented.
If were really going to do this, there has to be no regrets,” Jillian said. “Oh God, what if we don’t make it and Keegan decides to send his dogs after us?” So much for Jillian having faith in me.
“Dogs?” we all said in unison.
“Yeah Rottweilers.”
“S-so what, we’re wolves for fuck sakes. We can handle a few lousy dogs,” Angela stated. “Besides, if we wave some meat in their faces, they’ll leave us alone.”
Even though I may have to adjust the plan a little, we could make it work. I knew how we were going to get out of here. It was our only chance and it had to work. I knew how to handle the dogs, the teacher, and even Keegan and his goons.
“Guys!” I shouted and they all turned towards me with hope-filled eyes. “I have a plan.” I smirked.
Once I told them the plan, they all looked at me silently. I knew what they were thinking. It was our only hope. They knew it and so did I.
“Y-you’re crazy!” Sammy shout/whispered. “This is getting too dangerous. I-I can’t do this,” she stuttered. “We’re going to die! Ohmigosh, we’re going to die!”
Smack…
“Shut up!” Jillian shouted. “We all decided to do this. There’s no going back now. We’re all scared, not just you. But I want to see my mom and my little brother again.” Tears ran down her face. “And I want to have family dinners again. I want to ride bikes with my cousins again. If we don’t leave we will never see them again. Never!” Sammy rubbed her face and dropped her head. I was surprised. Even though I hadn’t known Jillian long, it seemed like this was the first time she’d spoken up for herself.
“She’s right,” I muttered. “I want to see my mom and dad again too. I want to hug them and to spend more time with them. I am their only child. This is the only way.”
“Me too,” Angela said. “I want to see my mom again too. Ever since my bastard of a father died, it’s been just me and her. The day I left, she was very unbalanced and I’m afraid she might do something stupid.” She wiped away a few stray tears.
“It’s just me, my mom, and my two older brothers. I never met my dad. That was a good thing,” Caroline sat on Jillian’s bed. “My dad was sixty-three when he bought her. She was only sixteen and that same year she got pregnant with my oldest brother.” We all listened in on her story.
“There was no love in their relationship. All that he wanted from her were children. He had two other mates and a wife who became nursemaids and they and a few children too. I never met them. My mom said that he wanted to keep all of his families separate. Well I don’t want to be separate from my family!”
“I know how you feel,” I said. “What happened to family…to love?”
“You know, I hoped one day that I would get to meet my other siblings. To see what they’re like or if they look like me. But right now, I’d be happy just to see my mom and brothers. I just want to go home,” Caroline began sobbing. “I just want to go home. We’re only kids, we shouldn’t be here. Before they made that law thirty some years ago, we were allowed to marry whoever we wanted. We weren’t given away to creepy old men with too much money in their pockets. Fifteen year olds forced to have babies,” she spat out.
“This is it,” I shrugged. “If we don’t leave, then we may not ever see our families again. And I’m just not ready to do that.”
“Okay, I’m in,” Sammy muttered. “Let’s get this party started.”
“Okay then,” I gave them a lopsided smile and we talked about the plan more. This is it. In four days we would leave. In four days we will risk everything.