La Resistance

2: 4

Eric was out of bed when I woke up the next morning but there was a note on his side of the bed that said he was making breakfast before he had to go to work.

I got to my feet and stared at the bed. If I was going to do the whole 'marriage' thing right, I'd have to make the bed and clean. Rather than do everything at once, I tucked the blankets under the mattress and smoothed the wrinkles out of the pillows. It didn't look great but it was a start.

I smoothed out my hair, which held little to no knots and tangles, and washed my face before I left the room and went down the stairs. I could smell syrup from the kitchen which was a good sign. Anything with syrup had to be good.

Eric looked at me over his shoulder. He was standing at the counter with a wooden spoon in hand and a bowl of some mix in the other. A smile appeared on his face. "You cut your hair."

I nodded and looked into the bowl. "What are you making?"

"Waffles."

I raised my eyebrows at him.

He laughed. "It's not that hard."

"That's what you think." I walked to the coffee pot and almost sighed when I saw there was fresh coffee in it. I poured myself a cup and took a sip, not bothering with milk or sugar.

"You drink coffee?"

"There's a lot you don't know about me."

He poured the batter into a waffle iron and closed it. A sizzling noise filled the room. "Like what?"

I sat down at the bar and held the mug in between my hands. "What do you want to know?"

"Where did you live before all of this happened? Before the districts?"

"Ohio. Near Canton."

"It's nice out that way."

"What about you?"

"I was in Wisconsin."

"How'd you get all the way down here?"

"I was assigned here when the districts were started."

"I bet you never planned on this being your job."

"They talked about it years before it actually happened. My job title was CEO for some company but I was really working with the government. Training so when the time came, I'd be ready."

"You started this whole thing?" I asked softly. I knew the answer was no but I wanted to hear him say it. The tone of a person's voice could give them away more than their actual words could.

He shook his head. "No, but I was involved to an extent. I knew it was going on and I didn't stop it but I didn't help start it."

"Did you want it to?"

He checked on the waffles before walking over to the opposite side of the bar. "No. And after seeing what it's done to people... people like you and your family... I want it to end."

"So, what? Girls that are like eleven now are going to turn themselves in on their twelfth birthday just to be sold off?"

His expression softened. "Unfortunately. I wish there was a way they would move the age to eighteen but that would put girls like you in a gray area."

"That would be up to you then." I said, staring at my mug.

He took my hand in his. "I want you to be happy, Summer."

There it was. He'd said that so many times yet it didn't feel like a choice for me. It didn't feel like an option I was allowed to be a part of.

"Don't you want to be happy?"

"All of this is for me. I get to live where I want and do what I want and practically pick my wife. You should get a say too."

I glanced at the waffle maker that was smoking and smiled. "I think your waffles are burning."

He looked at them and cursed under his breath. He picked the waffles out with his spatula and sighed. They were black on both sides and they reeked.

I got to my feet and headed for the stairs. "I guess you're not as good a cook as you thought you were."

Behind me, he laughed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day was not going as planned. I struggled to find any cleaning supplies for the bathroom, which I was determined to get cleaned. I struggled to make the freaking bed look nice. And I wasn't able to make dinner. What kind of a wife was I?

I dumped another burnt mess into the garbage and put the pan back on the stove. I was on the verge of tears and didn't think I'd be able to stop them. Sure, Eric said he wasn't expecting me to be great at everything I was supposed to but it was my job. I was supposed to cook and clean and take care of him and I couldn't do any of it.

I was sitting on the counter, my head in my hands, when Eric got home. He entered the house through the back door, which was unlike him. He set his bag on the bar and walked over to me.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He walked up to me and pulled my hands from my face. His voice and his touch was gentle, which I wasn't expecting.

"I was trying to cook something and... I-I can't do this."

He pulled me into his arms and I wanted to fight and get away but I didn't. I just let him hold me. "Summer, it's okay. I don't care that you can't cook."

"I care." I mumbled into his shirt.

He pulled back and kissed my forehead. "Then I'll teach you."

"You'd do that for me?"

He laughed. "Yes. Let me go get changed and I'll take you grocery shopping."

I stared at him, totally taken aback by his gesture. Any other husband would have thrown a fit and punished me for not knowing how to cook. I should've been in trouble for a lot of things, actually.

He was already headed out of the room so I quickly got to my feet and pulled the apron off.

"Hey, can you toss my bag into my office?"

"Uh, sure." The office was off limits. The last thing I wanted was to piss him off. But he asked me to go in there.

I grabbed his bag and walked to the office. I slowly pushed the door opened, half expecting an alarm to go off or something. The space was nice and clean, which surprised me. Not that Eric was a dirty person but an office was something that was unkempt and cleaned only occasionally. There were two white chairs facing a desk as well as a black desk chair on the other side. There was a small window behind the black chair with the curtains drawn. The room was dark and I didn't plan on turning the lights on. The desk was littered with papers, some in stacks and some just sitting around haphazardly. Part of me wanted to see what the papers said but that wasn't what Eric asked of me and I knew I would be on edge if I read anything top secret.

I left the room quickly and closed the door behind me just as Eric came down the stairs.

"Ready?" He asked, a chain of keys in his hand.

I nodded and followed him out the back door.