Miatta
It was already sundown after our gardening task. Elena led us back to the dark room, our hands on our shoulders on a straight file. I caught myself occasionally looking out for the helpful stranger, but he had indeed vanished. I thought of asking someone if they had seen him too, to confirm that he hadn't been a ghost or a trick of the light, but remembering how they had laughed instead of coming to my aid earlier, I kept my question to myself. In the dark room, I was reunited with Addy, and she welcomed me warmly.
"So...how was your first day in the garden?" She shuffled to the left, creating a seat for me beside her. She was in Group White and they had been assigned to room sanitation. Ramona was in the same group as Addy, and she sat close to us too, humming a tune lightly.
"It was a new experience but not as unpleasant as I had thought," I admitted, leaning against the wall. It had taken me some time to get used to the pair of scissors, but in the end, I had gotten the hang of it, and from that point, the rest was easy. The little meal Addy had given me was gone, and I was feeling hungry again. "When do we eat lunch?"
The girls surrounding her suddenly gazed at me, some with sympathy and some with amusement. Addy sighed deeply and smiled in that complex way of hers.
"We don't eat lunch, Miatta. As slaves, we eat just once a day and hope for a miracle during the night. All that is part of their scheme to weaken our resolve to escape," Addy explained, dragging a stem across the moist floor.
"Es..escape? Who would even think of that? " Ramona demanded, apprehension evident in her tone. She stopped humming and lowered her voice. "No one can make it out of here alive because before you could get past the buffed security, you would be chopped down." She shuddered afterwards and cupped her ears sadly.
"Ramona's right, Miatta," Addy chipped in, her eyes darkening with ancient wisdom. "I have seen it happen once with my own eyes. It was a girl called Zita. Her spirit was tough and not even... "she reduced her voice intermittently, looking left and right for idle eavesdroppers." Not even the Lycan King could tame her. She made her move one night and got as far as the second gate when she was cut in half by a lycan warrior. I was little then, but I can still recall the event like it was yesterday. "
Her gruesome tale had cast a moody silence on the rest of us, and a girl burst into harsh tears, rubbing at her eyes.
"I don't want to die. She missed her parents. I miss my pack and I want to go home! " She shook terribly, her hands around her shoulders while she rocked back and forth as if she was in a trance. Addy drew her closer and soothed her by rubbing her hand on her stomach. In no time, the little wolf fell asleep, the worry lines on her face smoothing out. Addy kissed her on the forehead and, lifting her in her arms, took her to a quiet corner of the room and laid her down lovingly. We looked on, mesmerized by her gentility. She was like an angel, and it showed in everything she did.
Finally, you shut that useless bitch up, "Yvette suddenly spoke from the entrance, a frown marring her beautiful face. As usual, her posse stood around her, attending to her whims and caprices. I immediately noticed that her necklace was missing from her delicate, slim neck and wondered what had happened to it. Addy ignored her jab and returned to our circle. She seemed to be the only one who could handle the rude prefect, and she did so with such little effort that it irked Yvette to no end. The latter marched up to us and waited for us to acknowledge her presence. Addy was the first on her feet, and the rest of us followed suit, with me joining reluctantly. Yvette had no colored bracelet on her wrist, but it turned out that every member of her sassy posse had a black one.
"I hope you are not teaching the rest of these to be disrespectful, Addy," she accused, her lips upturned in disdain. Addy smiled and curtsied gracefully, keeping her head bowed also.
"Of course not, Prefect Yvette. That would be the wrong thing to do. I will try my best to keep my group in check, Prefect, so as not to give you a reason to complain about us. " Light shone from her occasional smile, and it was a genuine one indeed. She curtsied again after speaking, her long, golden hair spilling forward. Finding no other reason to linger, Yvette moved on, her characteristic style of walking requiring that only the balls of her heels touched the floor. Forgetting my resolve to be more subtle, I went after her and tapped her on the shoulder. She froze for a second and whipped around, irritated by my manner of approach.
"How dare you call my attention in that civilized manner, you common slave?" She ranted, blowing her top at once. I curtsied, as I had seen Addy do, but I could only go that far in pretending to be humble.
"I’m sorry. I just wanted to...
" ‘I’m sorry’," she repeated my words sarcastically. Is that any way to address me? "Are you sorry for what?"
I choked on the remaining words I wanted to say, unwilling to address her as a prefect. Curtsying was bad enough, my knees almost knocking together in obstinance. Why hadn't I just minded my business? Then I put the last nail in my coffin: I walked out on her without completing my sentence. Before I had taken more than three steps, three lupines mounted on me, throwing me to the ground. I spun onto my back to prevent them from harming me any further, but the female wolf scratched at my face relentlessly. No one came to my rescue, not even Addy, and that quickened my anger. I grabbed one by the neck and tossed her back to her prefect, struggling to get on my feet. Once I could get up, they were all dead meat. The other two utilized their weight on both sides, pulling me down as I tried to rise. I growled in frustration and immediately shifted against my will, my wolf accepting the challenge
"Stop, Miatta, please!" Addy begged, running towards me, but I was not interested in listening to her. My wolf was enraged by the insults and wanted swift justice, feeding off of my anger. She pushed the puny wolves off her and aimed for the object of my hatred: Yvette. She stood motionless, awaiting my advance with her arms wide open. I ran faster and as I leapt in the air to pounce on her, I felt a force pull me back and I landed on the ground unceremoniously. It was Adrianne..