Elle and the Mysterious Beast (One Direction)

Chapter 8 - Music

“Oh, good, you’re up. How do you feel?”

Do you ever wake up somewhere and have no idea where you are, then it slowly hits you but yet you still feel confused? Yeah that’s me right now. The beast is standing over by the window looking out at… well I don’t know what. He’s wearing grey sweat pants that he’s managing to make look attractive, how does a beast look attractive I don’t get it?

He’s staring at me now, probably waiting for an answer to his question. “Um, fine actually.” I don’t even recognize my own voice, I sound sick. “How long was I asleep for?”

“Thirteen hours. You’ve been doing not much but sleep since you got put in that cellar, do you feel well rested?”

“Yes actually, I do.” Why does the air feel so awkward?

“Do you need to use the bathroom or shower?”

“Yeah, I’m surprised my bladder isn’t exploding since I haven’t really-“

“You haven’t drank any water besides the glass I gave you yesterday, your body has nothing to process.”

“Oh… okay.” I don’t know what else to say. He’s staring at me again and I feel the awkwardness setting on me like a rock, does he feel it too? I doubt it.

I get up and scurry into the bathroom. Whoa. This bathroom is larger than my bedroom. It’s got a fancy shower, the kind with the glass door that slides shut, and separate and large tub, and a flushable, that’s right, flushable toilet and running sink! This place is incredible. I’m so wowed by everything I forget I need to pee.

The shower is confusing at first but I manage to figure it out, the water doesn’t get warm though like they used to back when showers like this were used in all households. It’s nice to just stand under the water and let it run over me opposed to having to pump even colder water into buckets to use to wash up. I’m not sure how he manages all of this but I’m pretty grateful for it.

When I’m finished I find a towel and wrap it around me. He’s no longer in the bedroom but on the bed lie a pile of clothes: fresh underwear, t-shirt, and pants. They pull on easily. How does he happen to have women’s clothes here in my size? Doesn’t make sense but I’m happy for the name brand jeans and cute pink top that has ‘Cher Lloyd’ written across it.

I skip, literally, downstairs and into the kitchen. I’m not sure where the beast is but I need more water and he’s already taken care of my dishes, otherwise I’d just fill it back up from my bathroom. After opening what seems like 50 cupboards, I finally find the one with cups in it, and pull on out then take it to the sink. I half expect it not to work, but it does. My plate and glass are sitting on the one side, still dirty.

“There you are, they fit!”

He startled me and I almost drop the glass. “Where’d these clothes come from?” I ask while taking a long swig of water.

He shrugs but doesn’t say anything, and there it is again, that awkward feeling in the air.

“Does that CD player thing work?”

He looks confused for a moment, “Which one?”

“You have more than one?”

“There’s one in almost every room,” he nods, as if it’s something obvious.

“Oh, well I meant the one in the music room, the one with all the posters.”

“Of course.”

“Will you show me?”

He nods and gestures for me to follow him.

“What would like to listen to?” he asks as we enter the large airy room.