maybe when the time is right - ms. venable

•four•

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I hide in the wardrobe and I hear somebody entering the room. It was Coco. Somebody just told her to change. That was it. She is going to open the wardrobe now.

She opens it, I squint my eyes and she starts screaming and hitting me. I fall out, just dropping to the floor.

-"What's going on here!?"-a short woman with black hair said as she opened the door. She saw me.

-"Who is this!?"

-"I-I don't know! She was hiding in my wardrobe!"

-"I really mean no harm! I-I can work as a servant or-"-I was cut off by the woman calling the guards.

An almost 7 feet tall woman suddenly gets there, picks me up like I weight the same as a feather and carries me over her shoulder. I tried to fight but I was helpless.

She threw me in some kind of a dark basement. I couldn't see a thing. It was pitch black. I barely found the corner in which I sat in. It was really cold here. I completely lost track of time.

At some point, the same short woman from before, which the guards were addressing as Ms. Mead, came down to the basement. She ordered the guards to rip my clothes off before putting a chain, of which the other part was cemented in the wall, around my left ankle. I was sitting in the middle of the room now, only in my underwear. I was more confused than ever.

-"We'll see what Ms. Venable thinks. I only take orders from her."-Ms. Mead said to me and I didn't respond. The light in the room was now very bright, so bright I couldn't even look up.

In a rather short time, Ms. Mead was back;

-"Here she is, Ms. Venable."

My stare was still focused on the floor, as I couldn't even look up from all the brightness. I see a pair of shoes almost totally covered by a black dress, and beside the woman, a cane. I force myself to look up and I see, I see her.

All the damage was done the moment our eyes met.

What a wonderful feeling it would be, if at that very moment I could say exactly how I felt. What a terrifying thought. My head bustling with questions, but my lips don't manage to word anything other than a single whisper;-"Wilhemina...?"

-Her eyes widen, probably something only I could notice. Her lips part a little and she grips her cane tighter.

-"You know her, Ms?"-Mead asks in confusion to how I know Ms. Venable's first name.

-After a long silence, Wilhemina finally answers;-"No."

I couldn't understand. I thought she loved me. I must've meant nothing to her the whole time. How was I so naive? My stare fell right back to the ground and I most honestly just wanted to die.

-"What should we do?"-Ms. Mead asks.

-"Get Mallory and Willow to wash her up, in case she's still contaminated and a threat for the others."

I look at her with my teary eyes and she avoids eye contact. Ms. Mead unchains me while Wilhemina still observes my bruised and scarred body from everything that I've went through to come here.

Wilhemina seems to be the head of this place, yet she didn't invite me? She wanted me dead? All memories of Wilhemina and I flashed before my eyes, making my chest ache. I can't believe she ended our forever.

Soon I see two girls dressed in gray run up to me. One wearing glasses and on her head was a strange bun. The other one had her black hair in a short ponytail. They help me stand up before leading me to a big, empty room with tile walls.

-"What's happening?"-I said while the two of then were putting on yellow rubber gloves.

-"This is a decontamination room. We have to scrub any possible 'intimidation' off of you."

-"We're sorry. We just have to follow the rules. Please take your underwear off..."

I did as they said. I didn't want to cause more trouble for any of us. They started scrubbing me with really harsh sponges that left my skin red, aching and in bloody scratches. Cold water was splashing over my painful wounds. I just wanted it to be over.

Ms. Venable and Mead in the meantime;

-"Ms. Venable, would you mind me asking... Why'd you have the grays wash her? The guards could've done it."-Ms. Mead asks in confusion.

-"She needed a softer pair of hands."

-"But you know she snuck into the shelter somehow and-"-Ms. Mead gets interrupted by Venable;

-"We haven't heard her side of the story yet, now have we? I didn't want to make her feel uneasy with men watching... That'd be all."

-"F-fine... So what should we do with her?"

-"If she's clean, get her back in the basement, and if she's dirty, quite simply, shoot her."

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