Puppet {ManxMan}

CHAPTER 10

For the first time since coming to Phoniks Vidroh, I woke up before anyone else was in the room. That didn't last long though. I was sitting up in bed, hand in my hair, pushing it out of my sleepy eyes when the door opened and Arthur walked in with Kailas. He was smiling, which made me feel a little less uneasy, but he was also carrying another tray of food.

When he got close enough I glared at the food before turning my head away, and Arthur frowned, "You need to eat, Demi," he said, and I chewed on my lip before shrugging.

"I'm fine."

"I know you don't want to throw it up again, but we need to try," Arthur said firmly, sitting on the bed in front of me and setting the tray down so I could see the array of food, "A little at a time. Please?"

The little beg made me cringe, and I grumbled in defeat before nodding and looking over the food. It wasn't as heavy as it had been the day before. No pancakes. Just berries, a glass of juice, and a few slices of bacon. Immediately I was excited, because I hadn't had bacon in years. Surprisingly enough I was able to devour everything, and Arthur looked so happy I was worried he'd start crying.

"I told you," he said, taking the empty tray and standing up, still grinning, "Now I want you to take a quick shower. You're allowed to take off the bandages, but don't scrub any of the stitching. Just stand and rinse off."

My lips twitched into a heavy frown at the suggestion of a shower, and I turned my head over to where the bathroom was located through another door across the room. I glared cautiously at the door before looking over at Arthur, and I must have had a ridiculous expression on my face, because he laughed and Kailas' lips twitched a little.

"What's wrong now?"

"Shower," I said, "Is it cold?"

Arthur looked confused at that, "No. The building is fairly large, so we have more than one water heater down in the basement. It should be warm unless you make it cold."

"I can have a hot shower?" I asked, eyes wide, and Arthur frowned.

"Yes... that would be preferable. Who would want to take a cold shower willingly?"

I just stared at him blankly, unable to explain why I was so excited by the concept of a warm shower. The bathrooms that Con Rồng had me use only had two water temperatures: cold, and freezing. I think they did it on purpose, refusing to give me any comfort at all. No warm water, no good food, no blankets or pillows, no windows, hardly any light, hell the room I was in didn't even have a vent for the heater and air conditioning.

I wasn't going to tell him that, though, so I just slipped off the bed onto the other side, as far from Arthur and Kailas as I could get. When I picked up my combat clothes, Arthur made a noise of realization.

"Wait, wait, you're not wearing that," he said, and I turned to watch him as he shoved the food tray into Kailas' arms and ran from the room.

I watched as the door shut after him before looking at Kailas in confusion, then down at my clothes, "I can't wear this?"

Kailas shrugged, "I see no problem with it. We took all your weapons already, so there's no threat."

I glared at him and he smiled smugly, but I ignored it as I looked back at the clothes, feeling over one of the pockets and relaxing when my fingers passed over the hard surface of the radio still safely hidden away. I... kind of wanted to keep it, just in case.

A few minutes passed before Arthur came back in holding a stack of clothes in his arms, "I-I didn't know your size. I'm too small and everyone else is too big, so I just grabbed one of my bigger shirts and a pair of Ian's jeans. He's the closest to your body size, but they may still be a bit big on you," he set the clothes on top of what I was already holding, "I'll look around for stuff that will fit you better, okay? For now, just take as long a shower as you want and get dressed."