Pleuvoir | Eric Coulter

Labing-isa

K a r o l i i n a

"She's fine. Nothing major is wrong with her," The doctor was looking at the man behind me strangely, like rushing me to the emergency room was an extremely unnecessary thing to do.

"Give her the bandages and ointment so we can leave," Eric snapped, a deep scowl on his face as he placed his arms behind his back, posture stiff with tension.

It was against my favour, but Eric had won against Four in their little battle a while ago. Four insisted that he would take me to the infirmary, but Eric snapped back and dragged me out of the room before Four could finish his sentence. Dozens of eyes followed us as we made our way into the emergency room, and all I could do was put my head down and stay quiet. Eric was seething enough as he is, I didn't need to add up my stuttering words.

I stepped back a little, surprised by a sudden force, when Eric took the bag of medication from the doctor and thrust it to my chest. With my sternum burning, I clutched the bag tightly and coughed out, feeling the strong impact of Eric's hand affect my breathing.

Eric rolled his eyes once, placed his left hand in his pocket and with his right, he grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the infirmary. My steps were slow to catch up with him, his long legs were not doing anything to help my situation. His strides, powerful and quick, were filled with purpose.

"Wait," I huffed, out of breath, "Can't you walk a bit slower--"

"Walk faster." He interrupted, looking at me through narrowed eyes.

We reached the dormitory sooner than I thought, and Eric pushed me inside and locked the doors. My heart thudded when I heard the lock click in place. What was he going to do to me?

"Calm your wild thoughts," Eric had a blank face, "I'm not going to do anything to your extremely unappealing self."

I looked down, embarrassed and feeling mortified that he thought I was thinking of that, "You are to stay here and not eat anything for lunch. That's the rest of your punishment."

My stomach growled in protest of his words, shouting and fighting for my right to eat. I clutched it, feeling it clench in hunger and pain.

"What am I supposed to do then?" I asked, and I mentally applauded myself for speaking straight and without any stuttering involved.

"I don't fúcking know." He rolled his eyes yet again, face showing a bored look, "Sleep, for all I care. You're not going to eat and that's final."

I sighed, clutching my stomach tighter. If this man was so bad that he doesn't even let me eat, how am I going to survive the other types of people here in Dauntless?

∞

I did sleep.

It wasn't at all comfortable. Sleeping with an empty stomach is very bad, because it'll just make you bite your pillow in dreams that it is a steaming hot plate of delectable food. It wasn't, and only tasted like dry mould in my mouth.

My sleep was also uncomfortable because a man was sitting on the edge of the bed next to me, surveying me with hard eyes. Yes, you guessed right. Eric didn't even leave the dorm and let me sleep in peace. No, he stayed and watched me the whole time I slept.

It was an action of a creep, but it actually made me feel safe--but I still slept uncomfortably, nonetheless.

"You done biting your pillow?" He asked dryly, leaning in close and lifting up my saliva-stained pillow.

If my face didn't show how mortified I was, I didn't know what will. I scrambled to get the pillow out of his grasp, pulling at it and shoving it under my bed. With wide eyes I looked at Eric, who had a certain glint in his eye.

"What do you want?" I asked, expression filled with distress.

He scoffed, "Do me a favour and eat this shít."

A tray of food was thrown to my lap, the metal filled with various types of fruits and vegetables, some I haven't seen before. Greens, yellows, and other colours blended into one sight that made my stomach growl in happiness.

"Who's this from?" I asked, immediately digging into the food.

"Quentin. He insisted."

I smiled at the mention of the old joyous man, feeling thankful that he decided to share his food to me. It was the only way I could eat with Eric's punishment looming over me like a dark cloud.

"Can you give my thanks to him?" I asked, words a bit muffled because of the food stuffed in my mouth.

"I'm not your servant." Eric looked at me with an eyebrow raised, "Do it yourself. I already delivered you the food."

"I-uh okay." I agreed, just to keep him from blowing up his temper. The man has got a huge one.

And he turned and walked away, leaving me to find a way of thanking Quentin with my training going on.

∞

"Hey, Quentin. I just dropped by to thank you for the food yesterday."

I was out of breath, but I didn't really care. As long as I thanked the generous man for his food, I was fine.

"Food? What food?"

Imagine my surprise when he asked that. I raised my eyebrows, "The food you gave me for lunch yesterday."

"I didn't give anyone food," Quentin said, rubbing his cheek in thought.

"B-But Eric said you..."

My sentence died down. Eric. Did he lie about who it was from? Was the food from someone else?

"Oh, never mind." Smiling at Quentin, I waved goodbye and ran back to the training room.

Who gave me the food?

∞

I AM ALIVE.

Thank you for those who have waited patiently for this chapter. I hope you haven't lost interest in this story!