Watchers

Chapter 42: Revelations

The shower is just as Sasha remembered it - cavernous and empty with multiple shower heads on three of the four walls. Last time she hadn't been so cautious, but now she keeps her eye on the nun.

"Enjoy your shower, dear," she says. "You can leave your clothes on this stool."

Sasha nods at her and watches the woman turn and go back into the other part of the restroom. She has no intention of letting these clothes out of her sight because without them she'll have nowhere to hide the knife, but she wonders if she'll be able to fake a shower.

She picks up the stool and carries it away from the entrance to the shower, bringing it as close to the shower head as possible without risking drenching her clothes. She keeps her eyes fixed on the entrance as she carefully undresses, slipping the knife under her pile of clothes.

This will be the fastest shower of her life. She turns on the water and steps beneath the stream. It's cold and she has to resist the urge to yelp as she grabs for a bar of soap on a shelf along the wall. She rubs it through her hands a few times just to make it look soapy, then puts it down and rinses off the suds.

There will be more showers in her life, and she's really not that dirty after several seemingly luxurious weeks in the Elimination Game house.

Then she turns off the water and when she turns back to the stool, the nun is standing in the shower entrance. She's holding a new pile of clothes and Sasha does let out a yelp this time.

"I'm so sorry, dear," she says, averting her eyes to the tile floor as she comes into the shower. "I just wanted to bring you some fresh clothes and didn't realize you moved the stool away from the door."

"It's okay," Sasha says. Her heart is pounding and she can't think of a way to hide the knife if the nun is going to watch her get dressed. "I don't need new clothes - these ones are just fine. Thank you, though."

"Nonsense, dear," the nun says, coming closer and still not looking at Sasha. "These are freshly laundered and we'll get your old clothes back to you in a day or two. I hope you don't take offense, but it's shelter policy in order to reduce the possibility of bed bugs and other unsavory things."

"Then I'll just go," Sasha says. "I just wanted to get Bobby some help-"

She snatches her dress off the stool and does it too quickly. It catches the handle of the knife and spins it onto the floor. Both of their eyes follow it as it skitters across the tile and lands near the nun's feet.

Sasha takes an involuntary step backward, her heart slamming into her chest now, but the nun just smiles and bends over to pick it up.

"This is one of those unsavory things," she says, pinching it between her fingers like she just caught a mouse by its tail. "I'm going to have to confiscate this for your own safety, dear. I'm sorry. Now get changed."

Then she throws the new set of clothes down on the stool, turns around and leaves the shower.

Sasha spends more time with her back pressed against the cold tile wall, trying to get her breathing under control, than she did faking her shower. Then she changes into the new clothes and goes back into the hallway, afraid of what she'll find.

Daniel and the nun are both waiting patiently for her, though, and it doesn't seem that this woman thought much more of the knife than that it was the self-defense weapon of Marigold the prostitute. She walks them down the hall to the great room and finally leaves them be.

The room is mostly empty and it's still at least an hour before dinner. Everyone is distributed throughout the shelter, tending to their various jobs, and Daniel and Sasha go over to a folding card table and sink into a pair of chairs, shaky and exhausted from the effort.

"I lost the knife," she whispers after she's sure that no one is listening.

"What?" Daniel asks, alarmed. "We need it."

"I know-"

"What happened?"

"Listen, Bobby Flay, we both made mistakes," she hisses at him.

"I'm sorry," he says. "I thought about the nightmare in the basement of this place and started free associating the word flay. It just slipped out."

"Well, it's extremely difficult to hide a weapon while you're buck-naked and a nun is staring at you," Sasha says. "We're just going to have to adjust our plan."

For now, they just need to kill time until dinner. Sasha wishes there was more in the way of distractions available at the Haven of Salvation because she doesn't want to think about the possibility of not finding Jane behind the buffet line at the next meal. The only leisure activity that the shelter seems to offer is the little television in the front hallway, though, and it's always tuned to The Elimination Game.

She'd rather sit in silence and stare at the security cameras along the ceiling than watch an episode of that show, and that's more or less what they spend the next hour doing.

After a little while, an elderly couple shuffles into the room and they find seats at a table nearby. He puts his hands in hers and says, "I looked and there was a pale green horse."

Daniel is watching them, too, and his eyes light up when he recognizes the old man - the one with all the terrible phrases. Sasha has to kick him under the table before he waves to the man and reveals their previous connection.

"I looked and there was a pale green horse," the man says again to the old woman.

This one seems appropriate for the task laid out in front of Sasha and Daniel.