If there was ever a time I wanted Nessa dead, it was now. As I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror, I had to hold myself back from screaming profanities out loud. I was livid! I was devastated. When I agreed to change my appearance, this was just not what I signed up for.
I reluctantly agreed to short hair, not short blonde curly hair. My eyes widened as I held the hair, the frizziness overwhelming me. What am I supposed to do with this matted mess? I have never had hair that was not black before and especially not blonde or curly blonde. My hair never accepted dye. Every attempt failed. Curling it also failed. What has Nessa done?
Another thing that made me want to scream my lungs out was my eye colour. Why were my eyes black?
This girl in front of the mirror was definitely not Raven and it felt like I was having an identity crisis. I looked exactly like my mom! The curly blonde hair, sharp black eyes. I sighed deeply, not sure I liked the uncanny resemblance.
Well, at least my face still looks the same.
When I get my hands on that witch!
Another thing that stuck out was the millions of bruises that lined my otherwise flawless skin. It was purplish-blue gashes everywhere. I slipped out of the yellow dress I was wearing and saw more bruises on my belly and thighs. By the moon, even when I was severely beaten in training, I don't remember ever being bruised this badly! Did she have Logan beat me up or something?
I take off my bra and underwear, paying special attention to the two daggers I had hidden between my thighs held by thigh straps on either side. I also take out the one I had carefully hidden within my bra. When I search the bathroom for where to hide them, I am unable to find somewhere out of sight enough yet still easily accessible to me. My fingers wrap around my three daggers, thankful that they didn't stick out of my thighs when I was unconscious. I have no idea how they didn't, honestly.
I could have been caught.
Then I see it. The cabinet that hangs beside the mirror. I got to it and wedged two of my daggers behind the medium-sized hanging cabinet and the wall. The bottom of the cabinet was held by a horizontal wood attached to the wall while the top was held by a single nail. After I was done hiding two of my daggers, I checked to make sure they were secure enough, considering slashing the mattress instead and sliding everything inside. No, that's riskier, I thought.
As for the thigh straps and final dagger, I held them to my chest and thought harder. I am not letting go of this dagger. I call her Slash because she does a lot of Slashing and has done so for four years now. My trusty blade, Slash, which I got as a gift from Mak, the Leader after completing Training and graduating as the best trainee in my batch then becoming a fully pledged Assassin. I decide I'll hide Slash and the thigh straps in my hair before realising that oh yeah, I don't have hair anymore.
Thank you, Nessa!
They are both kept beneath the mat when I get into the water to bath. Tinley prepared a herbal bath for me. The water smells heavenly and there are even rose petals in it. She said the contents of the water would seep into my skin and heal my wounds. They better do that because there's just no way in hell that your girl's skin is gonna remain like this forever. No way in hell.
I sigh harder, submerging my head in the water and I feel every part of me start to relax. I haven't felt this relaxed in months. I don't know what Tinley put in the water but I need this kind of bath every single night. I make a mental note to ask as I set my head against the bathtub, feeling light.
I shut my eyes.
"Rochelle?!" Mommy screams at me, clasping her hands around my arm and slamming me into her. I started to scream too, my head hurting from spending hours on end crying. "Do you know how worried I have been because of you?"
She smacked me on my back and I screamed louder, calling attention to the people that stood around the pond but despite everyone looking at us, no one got involved.
"I spent two hours searching everywhere for you like a madwoman and you were here!" Her black eyes were set ablaze with anger as she squatted down and grabbed both of my arms. I kept crying, my frock soiled with tears. "Why did you run away?"
"You and daddy were fighting again," I said through tears, afraid of making her angrier and she shook me.
"So?"
I cried harder and she picked me up.
"Daddy said he only stayed with you because of me and if I wasn't here, he wouldn't be too and he wishes I wasn't born," I screamed out in never-ending tears and my mommy froze. She started to stroke my hair and whispered "shhh" into my ear.
I didn't stop crying. She pulled me away from her shoulder to stare into my eyes and I looked at her gold necklace, the one she always wore.
"Daddy loves you sweetie and I love you too," She said as she straddled me on her hip and wiped away my tears but I won't stop crying. She smiled at me and kept wiping away my tears. "My little rock, your daddy is looking for you crazily all over the city. He adores his little princess. Of course, he loves you and mommy loves you too,"
I stopped crying and she kissed my cheeks.
"But then why did he say those things about me to you, mommy? And why did you hit daddy, mommy?" I asked, still sniffing as I wiped my eyes with my hands. She frowned a little.
"He was just angry, my precious moon. Rochelle, my baby, sometimes grownups fight and they say really nasty things but that doesn't mean that daddy or mommy love you any less, my little rock. You are our moon, princess don't run away again pl-"
The knock on the door has me jumping up out of the bathtub, breaking me out of my six-year-old memory.
"Are you still bathing?" Tinley echoes through the door.
"Yeah, but I will be done soon," I respond, realising that I fell asleep and was having childhood flashbacks. Those horrid memories come to my mind at the weirdest of times. I shake my head, pushing them out of mind.
"Okay. I was just checking up on you because you've been in there for a while," Tinley replied and then she stepped away from the door.
I quickly washed away all the dirt from my body especially my feet and then I got out, wiping myself with the large towel that hung on the hanger of the wall. I then picked up my dress and underwear from the floor and gathered them in my arms. I decided to leave the dagger and thigh straps beneath the large carpet, deciding I would come back to get it once Tinley was gone.
When I opened the door leading into the adjacent bedroom, Tinley sat on the bed with the same girl from earlier. They both looked up at me.
"Oh good, you're done! I brought some clothes for you. Indigo, take her clothes please," the girl I now come to know as indigo comes over and outstretches her hands. Reluctantly, I hand my dirty clothes over to her. Her blue eyes have an indigo tint, explaining her name. They also seem to widen a bit when she looks at my bra and panties in her hands then Tinley smiles slightly in an unwarranted way.
Indigo folds my yellow dress around my underwear and turns around to go back next to Tinley. Her dark auburn coloured hair hangs right above her hips and jingles from side to side as she walks. She's young. I think she would be sixteen or seventeen. She's also very slim. Even with her big clothes on, you can tell that she's slim.
I am tempted to ask what's wrong considering the way she looked at my clothes but decide against it. I'm still new here so the less vocal I am, the more naive I'll seem.
"I didn't know what style of clothes you'll like or colour so I just brought one of each," Tinley says as she stands and Indigo only smiles beside her while I stare at her long black shawl wondering how it's not falling off.
Style of clothes? I subconsciously do a once over on Tinley's large blue and white striped dress and Indigo's weird tunic, pants and shawl. They both look overdressed if anything.
"Urm, it's fine. You don't have to give me your old clothes, Tinley. I wouldn't want to be a burden on you so you can just wash mine and I'll re-wear them," I tell her.
"No!" She exclaims. "Of course these clothes aren't my old ones! In this pack, it's forbidden to give someone else used clothes. We're only allowed to give them to younger family members, the less privileged or orphans but we can never give used clothes to others especially guests. It's against our morals. These clothes are all new! We always have new clothes as a spare in case we have guests from other packs over,"
I look down at the neatly folded clothes on the bed. The top white one stands out but I'm more afraid than anything at what awaits me with these new clothes.
"I don't know how long you will stay with us before my cousin will find your family but we want you to be comfortable so if you don't like these clothes then I can take you to the seamstress and she'll sew you something else that you prefer,"
Yeah, Tinley, I don't think your seamstress would be down for sewing pants that left my ass bare to anyone's imagination or dresses that emphasised my boobs and hips more than anything else but at least you admit that your outfits are ridiculous. Thank you for your subtle honesty.
I frown suddenly at the mention of my situation so she can notice that I am sad.
"Although the choices are a bit limited and we only wear three colours here but I'm sure she'll figure something out for you. She's pretty good,"
I nod my head but furrow my brows. "Three colours?" I ask.
"White, black and blue. They reflect the gracious moon. Although small girls can wear pink too and younger boys, yellow,"
I nod my head. This is insane!
Indigo and Tinley look at each other.
"I know that you might think that it's strange. Guests usually do but you'll get used to it. It's just been our culture since as long as anyone could remember," Tinley explains and a look crosses her face that makes me understand that she's had this conversation a couple of times before.
"Okay, " I reply, taking a seat and again, her and Indigo exchange glances.
"Do you feel better?" Tinley asks and I nod. She nods back. "My cousin said that you should rest for a few days because you're hurt so don't leave this room, okay? Indigo and I will bring food up to you,"
Again, I nod and they say goodbye then leave.
Am I a prisoner here or something? What does she mean by don't leave this room? I sigh, falling backwards with a thud, causing the clothes to spill over a bit.
I decided to look through them. When I do, a headache overwhelms me instantly. There are two oversized white shirts, one long black pinafore, a blue and white polka dot dress - large of course, two white tunics - one with a vertical row of buttons running down the middle and the second without, two loose-fitting tunic pants - one blue, one white and finally, two shawls - one blue and one white too with white beads sewn on the blue shawl.
When I see the underwear, I nearly have a heart attack.
The bra is so old fashioned! It has no lace and is made solely from cotton with only a very minuscule layer of padding. Haven't these guys ever heard of push-ups for goodness sake? They can't be all so well endowed that they don't need a little help, could they? Or do they just not care? I mean Indigo was definitely not endowed. Tinley seemed to be but till! Push-ups are your friends!
The panties are an even bigger disappointment. They are just really high waisted granny panties. And to top it all off, they finished the look with long ass white or black stockings. Both the bra and panties are of course also only in white or black. No wonder Indigo looked so shocked when she saw my red lace underwear. Sexy doesn't exist in this pack obviously. How does anyone even get laid here? Oh right, they don't. They believe in the mate bond. Such stupid souls.
I collapse onto the bed once more, wondering what the heck I got myself into.
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If I were to name this chapter, it would likely be called culture shock.
What did you think of the flashback?
Also thank you guys for 200 reads. Please continue to vote, share, comment and follow! Means the world to me. Thanks for reading❤️🖤❤️🖤❤️
~Эмма💞✌🏻