The Selected

The Dark Room

When I wake I feel cold hard ground underneath me and instantly try to sit up. Big mistake. The room spins under my body and I bring a hand up to my head while steadying myself with the other. I blink my eyes a few times, trying to adjust to the dark light, when a figure appears in front of me, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. Damon.

"Smooth move." He says to me while pushing himself off the wall. "If it wasn't for you and your little death mission we'd probably be out of confinement by now."

"Sorry for caring", I mumble while pushing myself to standing. The ground shifts beneath my feet and I grab onto the wall for support.

"Oh ya, you hit your head", Damon says, pointing out the obvious.

"No, you hit my head. On the ground" I reply.

"No. I saved your head from getting hit by a bullet... You hitting your head was just a bonus."

"Your an ass."

"A very attractive ass".

I roll my eyes and search for a way out of here. I come across a wall that has indents in it and realize the door is hidden in the wall. I begin pushing on it and hitting it, trying to find a way out of here.

"If you haven't guessed it yet, it's locked" he says.

"HELP! GET US OUT OF --"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Damon yells in a whispered tone while putting his hand over my mouth. I glare at him and push his hand away before saying "well the company out there is way better than the company in here".

"Mhmm. You're welcome by the way",Damon says.

"For what?! Following me? pushing me? leaving the other selected for dead? Or getting me trapped in a room with no one for company but you?"

"First of all I followed you cause you were being stupid, I pushed you so you wouldn't get shot, I had guards in the dining room who I know got the other selected into a safe room and the last part, well I consider that a gift you", he replies while winking. "What I was going to say was your welcome for cleaning up that head wound, and for not letting you fall and hit your head again when you passed out".

I just stare at him. I never thought someone can do such nice things but sound like a total jerk saying them. He has a gift.

"Well I.. I didn't.. Whatever. Okay Fine. Thank you", I say whole avoiding his eyes and trying not to take in how close were standing to each other.

"So where are we exactly?" I ask while brushing by him and sitting on a bench that was against the wall.

"A safe room for maids. this kind of thing happens from time to time and if the maids are wandering about then they need a place to hide too." He replies.

"And what exactly is this thing? Are these people soldiers or rebels or something? And what do they want? How many times has this happened? When--"

"You ask way too many questions" he says while sitting on the bench on the opposite side of the room.

"Okay so this "thing" is an attack, the people who were attacking were rebels, we have no idea what they want, yet, and it happens randomly. Sometimes we can go months without an attack, other times we get three in a week."

"Doesn't this scare you at all?" I say while sitting back so my back is against the wall.

"It used to", he says while doing the same, "but not anymore. I trust the guards to get me to a safe room, and up until today they've been able to do that" he says while eying me.

"Why do you always do that?" I ask.

"Do what?", he replies while smirking.

"You just did it again. You always smirk or find a way to make your self look.."

"Attractive?" He says.

"I was gonna say like your in control. I'm the only one here, and I get it your the prince your "in control" so cut the act".

"Huh" he breathes out while easing an eyebrow at me.

"What?!"

"Nothing it's just. No ones ever been so forward with me."

"Well there's a first for everything right?"

"Shoot"

"What?"

I watch as Damon stands up and walks over to the sink. He begins running a towel under cold water before turning and walking towards me.

"What? What is it?" I ask

"The gash on your head's bleeding again".

I raise a hand up to my head and sure enough, when I bring it back down to inspect it there's blood on it. Damon quickly swats my hand away and places the wet towel on my cut before I can even protest.

I watch as he lightly dabs my cut going back to the sink only to re-wet the towel before returning to me. He looks so concentrated, but also as if he's done this a million times. Are faces are inches apart and I can feel my heartbeat pick up.

"So how do you know how to do all this stuff?" I ask trying to break the tension.

"Hm? Oh. My dad taught me. He told me he had to teach himself how to look after cuts and stuff when he was my age, but never told me why. He just thought that this was something I needed to know... And I guess he was right" Damon exclaims before dropping the towel. "It stopped." He says.

"What?" I ask.

"Your head. It stopped bleeding. When we get out of here, which will probably be sometime soon, hopefully, we can get it looked at by someone who actually knows what they're doing", he says while laughing slightly to himself.

"Mhmm" is all I can say because he's still standing so close to me. We stay there staring at each other for a few awkward seconds before I try to break the tension.

"Soo ummm have you ever--"

"You talk to much" he says before closing the gap between us. It takes me a second to realize we're kissing but when I do I begin to panic. I've never kissed anyone before and his lips are warm and soft. But then I realize that this wasn't supposed to happen! I was supposed to be sent home and go back to playing football and soccer with Anna.

Once Damon pulled away I see his eyes widen like he just realized what he did. He backed up slowly before picking up the towel from the floor and going to the sink to wash it... Like nothing happened. I'm still too shocked to even move so I just sit there and try to take in what just happened.

What makes all of this worse is that I still don't know whether I'm staying in the palace or getting sent home.