Deprived

Chapter 28

Maize sat on the foot of the bed and stared at the wall. She thought about her family and wondered how they were doing and could only hope they were safe. The Earth food Henry delivered to them should last months. She hoped her mother hid it in a safe place because by now, the village guards had already raided the shack looking for Maize.

Maize realized that after the bidding, she might never see her family again. By morning she may be in a different part of the land.

All she ever wanted in life was to move to the west with her family where they could be free. Nothing superficial, only a natural need in the heart of all men. Freedom.

It hurt to think of William, and she fought to keep thoughts of him out of her mind. William didn't recognize her, and that meant they had infiltrated his mind. President Aberdeen knowing their relationship status must have sent William to work outside the mansion so that Maize could see him and be even more distraught when William didn't recognize her. She hoped he was pretending, but when she looked into his eyes, she knew he wasn't there. She had lost him.

Tears abandoned Maize. Her ducts dried up.

She sat at the window and watched the wind dancing with the branches of the nearby trees and wondered why she still wanted to live. She could take the snake-arm chair and smash it through the window to end it all. She had lost her family, her home, her guy, and her freedom. What else was there to live for.

Her nana always talked about light being at the end of the tunnel, but Maize couldn't see a speck of light in her tunnel. But what if you were sure there was darkness and only darkness at the end of your tunnel? Do you still continue on that path, or do you create your own path? At least by creating your own path, you have regained some sense of control over your life.

The bedroom door opened, and Nelly bustled in, a blue dress draped over her arm. Her eyes were red, as if she'd been crying.

"At least someone can cry because I've used up all my tears." Maize said.

Tears streamed from Nelly's eyes. "I'll cry for you, little bird. I just hoped you'd be staying at the mansion, and then I could look after you. But how can I look after you when you are hundreds of miles away?"

Maize focused on the dress over Nelly's arm.

Nelly laid the dress gently on the bed as if afraid she'd wrinkle it. "This is for you. Dinner will begin shortly. I'll help you get ready."

"I saw a list of the men coming today." She laid a pair of white glass slippers on the floor. "Ten of them, and I've met them all before. Hon. Baker, Stone, and Wake are from the state of Fern. Hon. Reach, Trim, and Noel, from Ash state." She went into the bathroom and started rooting through the cabinet. "Hon. Tony, Elder, and Tron are from Passion state. Major, Lukas, and Hon. Troy from Gotu state and Hon. Simpson, Holly, and Tribe from our Capital." Nelly came back with a brush and comb in one hand. "And I pray to god none of the men from the state of Fern or Ash get to carry you home."

Maize didn't ask why because she didn't care to know. Either scenario would be a disaster, and her soul couldn't bear to entertain anymore ruin.

Maize sat on a chair in the middle of the room while Susan, appointed by President Aberdeen, did her hair. Her hands were heavy. She rocked Maize's head forward, backward, from side to side until her neck hurt. Maize wondered was she naturally heavy-handed, or was it all done out of spite?

Susan added color to Maize's face: her eyelids, her cheeks, and too-red a color on her lips. She handed Maize a mirror. The top half of Maize's hair was tucked in, and the other half dropped in big heavy curls on her breast. Maize thought she looked like a doll or a Princess in a storybook.