Shaking his head, obviously disappointed in me, he stands and leaves my office. As soon as he leaves, I lean back in my chair with a sigh.

Should’ve never taken this job.

Chapter Six

Miserable

Lily

Three days. It’s been three days since my escape attempt and I’m beginning to feel like a caged animal. Well, that’s not true. Not entirely true anyway.

I feel like that white, glowing alien from the movie ‘Cocoon: The Return’, who gets taken to that lab by the ocean and gets tested, but because he’s taken so far away from what’s normal to him, his health starts to decline and he loses his glow.

Yeah. That’s a pretty accurate explanation.

I’m an Antarean who’s lost its glow.

I haven’t been able to stomach much more than a handful of food each day. I’m depressed. I know it. It’s like going from one prison to another. Transferred, really. I feel weak. And alone. And not at all myself. Being helpless is a shitty feeling. The smallest things become overwhelming.

Nox comes to my room each night, places the rocking chair in my doorway, and watches me sleep. As if I’m going to try to escape again. I don’t have the energy to even try.

I’m so very tired.

Rock and Boo take turns trying to get me to eat. I can see they’re worried. I wish I cared enough to do it to make them happy. At least they treat me like a human. Not like Nox. He treats me like a prisoner.

It’s hard not to laugh around Rock. He’s such a clown. He always has a joke to tell or is doing something so seriously ridiculous that you can’t help but laugh at him. Last night, he tried to dry his socks in the microwave.

Yeah.

Then Boo yelled at him. She told him the oven works better.

Yeah.

I have no idea who I’m living with.

They aren’t exactly bad people. Now that my fear of them has worn off, I can see they aren’t all bad. They’re determined, though. Since the night I tried to run and Boo had that little talk with me about there being no better person to protect me than Nox, I’ve been torn.

My head tells me not to trust them, but my heart begs me to take a chance. I haven’t had friends in a long time. And hanging out with Rock and Boo…it almost feels like friendship.

Nox lurks in the shadows of the background. A ghostly figure of apparent protection. Boo and Rock force me out of my room and into the living room to watch TV with them. And there he’ll be, sitting at the breakfast bar, typing away on his laptop, looking over at us when he thinks no one is watching.

But I’m watching. Always watching.

What the hell is his deal?

Boo and Rock will talk, well, they’ll argue and I’ll listen, while Nox peers over at us through furrowed brows. They always try to include me in their conversations…well, arguments, but I don’t have a lot to say these days.

Nox bumped into me yesterday and I teetered, he steadied me by placing his large hands on my hips. I muttered quietly, “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.” And he looked at me like I’d lost my damn mind. Sometimes, I think it might be true.

Losing my mind, that is - very slowly.

So, here I am, lying in bed at two in the afternoon, trying not to misplace any more of my already fading mind. Not even reading is helping.

My stomach is in a constant clench, my body rigid, my head pounding, my teeth gritted. Tension has me strung tighter than a bow.

A knock on the doorframe brings me out of my head space. Lifting my head quickly, my vision swirls and I place a hand to my forehead to steady myself. Shaking my head a little, I see Boo stand there wearing a worried expression. “You okay, Deedee?”

“Fine, thanks. Just a little tired.” I answer quietly.

“Not sleeping well?”

Sleep? What is that? Running a hand through my knotted hair, I say, “Ah, no. Not so much. What’s up?”

Boo holds out a plate stacked with sandwiches, potato chips and fruit on it. It looks great but my stomach immediately tightens. Looks like this will be another wasted meal.

Smiling a completely forced smile, I tell her, “Thank you. It looks great.”

I don’t want to be mean to Boo; she’s only ever been nice to me, and even though I resent being kept here, she doesn’t deserve my bitchiness. Standing, I take the plate with a smile and put it on the nightstand. Her face falls as she questions, “You’re not hungry? You haven’t eaten much the last few days. Maybe eating would help your fatigue.”

Still wearing a strained smile, I lie, “Yeah. Sure. I’ll eat soon. Thanks again.”

Opening a book, I don’t look back up. I hear her leave and my body eases slightly. Not five minutes pass when Nox appears at my door, scowling.

Stomping over to the nightstand, he takes the plate and thrusts it under my chin. “Eat.”

I mentally sigh. I don’t want to deal with him right now. Taking the plate, I utter politely, “Thank you, but I’m not very hungry right now. I’ll eat later.”

“Bullshit.”

My head snaps up. “I beg your pardon?”

He leans down closer to me. “I said bullshit.” Not sure what to say, I lower my head back to my book and pretend to read. Nox goes on, “I get that you’re not very hungry. That’s fine. Actually quite normal in this situation. But I call bullshit on this change of attitude. What’s with all the pleases and thank yous? That’s not the fiery girl I met a week ago, and it sure as hell is not the girl I had under surveillance. What happened to her?” My body tenses further. Nox leans down and asks quietly, “Where’d she go, Lily?”

Suddenly angry, I whisper through curled lips, “You broke her, Nox. Happy now?”

My anger fades and is replaced with humiliation when he answers, “Hell no, she was a fucking hoot. This pitiful version of her makes me mad. I don’t like this Lily, bring back the old one. You know? The strong one.”

Dropping my book, I ball my fists tightly by my sides.

Nox spots it and says, “There she is. Just gotta figure out how to get her to stay with us because,” he scoffs, “polite Lily blows. She’s the type who wants a pity party. She’s the type who refuses to eat or get mad, or join us here in the real world.” Just when I think I couldn’t get angrier, I’m proved wrong when his lips touch the shell of my ear and he whispers, “She’s pathetic.”

It all happens in slow motion.

My hand slides under the plate and flings it upward. The sandwich, fruit and potato chips fly through the air and I watch with wide eyes as they hit Nox in the chest, neck, and stomach. My mouth forms an O and I start to apologize until I see his smirk.

This is no ordinary smirk.

This smirk is victorious.

Jumping up on the bed, my lips part and the last three days of compressed hatred eject out of my mouth. “You pulled my hair! No! Not only did you pull my hair, but you dragged me back to the house by my ponytail like I was a freaking dog on a lead!” Pointing to my pillow, I screech, “I haven’t slept in three days, Nox! Do you know what that does to a person?” I pace on my bed. “You were all like, ‘I’m sorry, it won’t happen again’ and just expected me to let it go. I’ve never had a man touch me in anger and you just blew it off like it was nothing. Know what I say to that, Nox?” Turning to face him, I bend at the waist and shriek in his face, “Fuck you! That’s what I say to that! Take your goddamn sorry and shove it up your ass.” Straightening, I hold my arms out by my sides. “Oh, but you’ll have to remove the stick you have up there first to make room.”

My eyes widen and I lift my index finger. “Oh! And you know what I’ve also figured out?” Nox stares at me, completely void of any emotion. I go on, “Having someone watch you while you sleep is creepy! Not creepy, but…” I wiggle my fingers in the air in front of me. “…creepy!”

Nox continues to watch me through a steady gaze. Panting, I straighten once more and mutter hoarsely, “I’m going insane here, Nox. It would really help if you’d just let me be.”