This is one out of three parts of Jillian's Story
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“You want to tell me about it?” I asked. "I'm all ears."
Jillian hesitated for a second before saying, “yeah...sure.” She thought back to the day the Academy driver came to pick her up.
*~ Jillian’s POV~*
*4 ½ weeks ago*
It was scorching outside. I was sweating so profusely that my shirt clung to my back. The driver grunted a few times before telling me that I had only five minutes left to say my goodbyes. _Ha, five minutes!_ I almost laughed in his face. I turned to my family and said goodbye. I know that saying it for the billionth time was getting annoying, but it was justifiable. I knew the chances of seeing them again was practically nonexistent. When my mother reached her hand out to me, I smothered her in a hug, unwilling to let go.
“We’re going to miss you so much,” my mother, Hana Samuels, wiped away a few stray tears with her thumb. “Try to come back to us, okay?" sorrow flashed across her slightly wrinkled face. Today my mother didn't hold the normal liveliness it had since I was a child. Dark circles sat under her eyes and her skin was as pale as snow.
When I was ready to let go of my mother, I bent down to talk to my little brother, “Robbie, you have to always listen to mommy,” I hesitated, “…and dad,” I said fighting the tears swelling in my eyes. It didn't bother me that people were seeing me fall apart or if my dad had a permanent scowl on his face. "You better not forget me."
He nodded his little head and I wrapped him in a tight hug. He had to keep scratching on my back before I let go. No matter how much he shook his head, I knew he would forget about me one day. I'll only be a faint memory to him and because of it my heart hurts. I will never get to watch him grow up.
I stood up and looked at my father. His arms were crossed menacingly. His face held no sigh of love, sorrow, regret, or anything. I hated that he had changed. I wish I could have gotten my father back.
My father, Raymond Samuels, was ‘laid off’ 11 months ago. Ever since then, it had been unbearable to be in the same house as him. He became an alcoholic and very abusive, but also smart. Although he could thinks of some very creative ways of causing my mother and I pain, he would never hit us where the bruises could be seen. I had to always protect my baby brother, afraid that one day I might come home and see him lying in a pool of blood because of my father. I hated him so much. He's not the man he use to be and now I have no choice but to accept that.
My father bought my mother at an auction so I could understand that this was normal to him. He's nearly fifteen years older than her. Mother use to tell me that he was an evil son-of-a-bitch, just sober and less abusive. When I was younger I use to hate my mother for saying that. Before he was cut loose from the firm, he used to spoil me. I got whatever I wanted. Now I can't even ask for something out of the fear of getting hit.
My world turned upside down and I suddenly didn't have my caring father anymore, now all I had was what he gave me. I had to come home, take care of my brother when my mother wasn't tending to her cuts and bruises, and staying out of his way.
The more I looked at them; the more I worried about my own mate. Would he be like my father? Is he going to be four times my age and only wanted one thing out of the relationship? From some of the stories that I heard, it always ended badly at auctions. Young guys didn’t go to auctions. They rather sow their wild oats and come when they reached a steady age of forty-five or higher, knowing that they could still get a younger woman.
I shook my head trying to get rid of the thought. I kicked a few rock with my beat up shoes as the driver shouted for me to get in. I couldn’t stop this from happening to me so I sucked up my emotions, wiped my tears and gave my family a big smile. It was time for me to go.
I got on the bus and was overcome by a horrid stench. It was already hot. I knew this ride wasn’t going to go well. I stood against one side of the bus and slid down. There were at least twenty other girls. It was so cramped that I had to keep reaching around girls to prevent cramps. One girl took it upon herself to take up refugee on my lap. I would have pushed her off, but decided against it. We were all in the same predicament.
“Uh…what’s your name?” I tried to make conversation with the girl on my lap, since she was on my lap. She wasn't exactly a feather either. My legs were going numb but I digressed. “I’m, Jillian,” I gave her a small smile.
“Kylie,” she turned and said. “Sorry about your lap. A girl in the section I was sitting in had thrown up,” she scrunched hr nose like she smiled something bad.
“So my lap was the best you could do?” I frowned.
“You’re the only one that looks…” she looked around the dark bus that glowed like night vision goggles, “clean enough.” I would have said she was a little snobby if I didn’t wholeheartedly agree with her. The girls on here smelled, they were throwing up and some were even peeing themselves. I could smell the stench of urine emanating from a selected few, a bad aspect of being a werewolf.
“I see what you mean,” I said. I fanned myself trying to cool down my heated body. The air only blew a little and only the ones sitting near the front got any. Sweat soaked my forehead and back and my leg, thanks to Kylie.
The van came to an abrupt stop and that when I knew we were here. The driver opened the door and immediately I was blasted heat. One after one, each girl stepped out groaning. Although it was still blazing, it was a big improvement from the van.
As we stood there, a woman came to greet us. “Hello ladies, my name is Mrs. Bellows and I’ll be showing you to your rooms,” she said showing her extremely white teeth. She wore a blue pantsuit and right then I knew she had to be rich or at least upper middle class. She wore black heels that click methodically against the pavement. Her dark hair was pulled into a tight bun and she held a clipboard in her hands as she scanned all of us with her piercing gray eyes.
Mrs. Bellows turned and motioned for us to follow her. As soon as we went in, a lot of girls were lining the staircase. The all had creepy fictitious smiles fake. I was astute enough to know that since the smile didn’t reach their eyes, they looked dead.
“Most of these girls will be going off into auction within the next few days,” Mrs. Bellows explained. “Okay, wait here and I’ll be back to assign rooms.”
As we waited, a few guys in uniform came down the stairs, passing the smiling girls. One in particular, who looked to be the leader, stop and looked at us. He had dark hair and an even darker expression on his face. His eyes were faded green, dark and so void of life.
“Hello ladies,” he spoke in a deep voice. It was a simple greeting but something about it sent a chill down my spine. “I would love to spend some time with each of you…so we could get better acquainted,” he smiled revealing a few crooked teeth. He would be handsome if he didn’t have this bad vibe about him.
Now, sometimes I have a problem with keeping my mouth shut so I replied, “what if we don’t want to get acquainted with you?” I hadn’t meant for it to come out so harsh but once I saw the scowl on his face, I didn’t feel so bad. Many of the other girls started laughing and he walked off with his ‘friends’ trailing behind him.
Once Mrs. Bellows came back, she ordered us to follow her to our rooms. I took one step and then hands clamped around my mouth and waist. Someone was taking me away.
Once we were out of view, I was shoved up against the wall. I looked at my kidnapper and it was the guy from before. I squirmed, trying to get free and he pushed into me harder. He was too strong for me to just push away and besides, who am I kidding, I’m not the fighting type. “You think you’re funny, huh? No one make fun of Keegan.”
Wow he actually referred to himself in the third person. If he wasn’t trying to crush me with the weight of his body, I would laugh, “Look, I was just kidding. I didn’t mean anything by it,” I began panting, mostly because of him crushing me with his body. It was getting hard to breathe.
“Yes, I bet you were,” he tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. I flinched at his touch and he frown. “You’re quite beautiful, you know that?” he ran his tongue along his bottom lip, reminding me of a snake. “Well…”
I blinked twice and asked, “What?”
“I gave you a compliment. Now what do you say…?” he was so close that his breath fanned my face.
“Th-thank you,” I said so low that—to a human—it would be barely audible.
“Guess what?” he smirked, sending chills down my back.
“You’re going to be my special friend, my buddy in fact. The last one…didn’t work out so well. I hope you can hold up a lot better,” Keegan smirked and his eye showed nothing but evil intentions. “I will see you later. Oh, and don’t worry, when I do come for you I won’t be gentle but I’m sure you’d like it.” He took a strand of my hair and sniffed it. He was breathing in my scent and I shuddered at the thought of him smelling me or even touching me.
“N-no I won’t,” I stuttered.
“Wanna bet?” he moved back and walked down the hall until he was out of view.