The Immortal Cure

5. Explanation

I sat eating my chicken, lettuce and mayo sandwich with Riley, which seemed to take my mind off of all of the worries I seemed to have accumulated from the past three days.

All I wanted was to somewhat return my normal, beat down tragic life with my alcoholic mother, and glorious workplace environment with my over ecstatic best friend Clora.
I missed her. But some other part of me liked being here. Some twisted sick part.

I enjoyed having people serve me meals. I enjoyed having friends like Riley and Seth around to talk to like older brothers. I felt appreciated. But the thought of only being appreciated because I was some guinea pig crossed my mind endlessly, and beat down my happiness.

I sometimes ran Duke's words through my head

'You'll be well protected'.
It would make me smile.
Did he care about my safety and welfare, or did he simply want me and my blood all to himself? It brought me back to more of his words;
'Although there is a certain appeal to your blood that I've never endured before'.
What did that mean exactly?

"Rosie, pretty? Hey!" Riley's voice snapped at me, taking me from my minds adventure, as he stood above me at the table, his arm outstretched to lead me away.

He had decided to finally give me a tour of the home and I was eager to know each and every hidey hole, just in case.

"Humans, incapable to multi-task, thinking and listening, it isn't that hard" He continued, lightly teasing
"Anyway..." He continued

●

Riley showed me around the house, most of which I had already explored through running for exit routes. I'd only been introduced to about two rooms in which I hadn't yet seen. One was a few feet down from my own room. It was a bright open room, and contained a pool table, and other various entertainment games.
Pac-man caught my attention immediately, along with Donkey Kong.

The other room I had not yet seen was opposite the basement door. Riley refused me entry, and we simply stood at it.

"This room you shall never enter, ever!" He instructed.
I asked why, but he refused to answer, only giving me subtle clues.
"It's our special place. This room contains everything we need to survive" He spoke, winking at me.
I assumed already it had something to do with blood.
A blood bank maybe? Tied up donors? I narrowed my eyes at him, but didn't push the issue.
I planned to ask Duke next time we came across each other, which seemed rare.
He was always either gone, doing 'duties' or busy in his study. After all he had promised to tell me anything I wanted to know as a condition of me willingly staying put.

"Now what?" I asked as we dawdled our way back to Riley's room.

There was nothing to do on lockdown. I was limited to the home after Duke had instructed that I was not allowed to leave.
Not even to visit my friends, which I protested.
Our conversation always went the same way:

"They're going to be worried, they'll think I'd died" I tried

"No. Somehow people are finding out about just how immune you are to our gifts. You'll be taken the minute we release you" He'd spat back

I'd come to know Duke as a big ball of bi-polar. He'd be kind and once in a blue moon smile, five minutes later, he'd be gruff, angry, and stomp the house like he was trying to take out a lightning quick cockroach beneath his boots.

Seth and Riley would just tell me not to take it personally as the whole 'cure' thing had hit more nerves than they'd expected.
I wanted to know more, but like always I was denied.

"Whatever you want to do, we can finish up that final fantasy boss if you'd like?" Riley suggested as I sprawled out on his bed

"Yeah I guess so. Where's Seth?" I asked propping myself up on my elbows