Contained by Love

Chapter 3 - Fight Back

The sound of the bell ringing woke me up fast, and I toppled over the bed in surprise. "Ouch!" I exclaimed as I groggily got up, rubbing my shoulder. I checked the clock. I'd been sleeping for three hours. 

   I also missed another class.

  Aimee and Gwendoline where nowhere to be found.

I also missed Madame’s detention. I felt a grin creep up on my face before I went to the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, after I washed my hair, I was on my bed, yawning lazily. I gazed at the barred windows longingly. I stood and looked out them. I saw a meadow, with summer flowers sprouting.

  I guess the Fisherman know how to garden. Huh. I was welcomed by a gust of wind and heard a piece of paper rustle behind me. Turning around, I saw a small note on the table, one I hadn’t noticed when I woke up.

  I picked it up curiously and unfolded it.

  Dearest Vivienne,

  You shall be given one last chance. You have skipped a whole class on purpose, and skipped a detention. This behavior is unacceptable. If you do not show up to your next class, the consequences will be most severe. Thank you for your cooperation.

  Madame

I noticed Madame’s neat, curvy handwriting before I even started reading. My mind started calculating then. If my last class was three hours ago, and detention was two and a half hours ago, my next class should have been exactly an hour ago.

Shit.

My eyes widened. Severe consequences? What the hell did she mean by that? Did she have a stack of electric chairs beside her neatly stacked textbooks?

I am so screwed. She’s probably already on her way here, since class just ended. Panicking, I started looking for a place to hide. The dorm was awfully small, so I didn’t really have many options.

She’d find me in the bathroom, she’d find me in the closet, she’d find me under the bed…

Suddenly, I stopped looking. I could practically hear my brain whirring. Why should I have to hide? Why can’t I just fight back?

  I thought of my friends back home. If they saw me now, they would be cheering me on. I thought of Eli’s grinning face. He would back me up. I bet the whole school would, actually. Wasn’t everyone here against their wills?

  I changed into a white tank top and my still-not-taken-away jeans. I sat on my bed, awaiting my fate. But I was also hatching Plan A.

   If I could somehow convince all the other students that we could overpower Madame and her stupid Fishermen, we could bring her down and report her to the police. We could all go home to our families. We won’t have to stay in this horrible place for the rest of our lives.

   Maybe at midnight I could rally everyone up and give a speech. A lightbulb practically went off in my head as I thought this. Yes! I would get my point across, and if people had ideas, they could just slip a letter under my door. Eli could help me. I could convince Aimee and Gwendoline. Maybe Eli has friends he could convince. After all, there are only forty kids at this prison.

  Thinking back, I realized how many maybes and ifs were in my thoughts. Half of my plans relied on chance. How many people would show up? Who would support me? Would anyone rat me out?

  Sadly, I couldn’t think of more impossible questions because there was a knock on the door. I took a deep breath, assumed my poker face, made the bed quickly, and took my time opening the door. As expected, Madame stood there, her pretty face looking down upon me with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. She was wearing a flattering flowery blouse with a pink pencil skirt.