For the Love of Money

Chapter 10

I looked at Liam like he was a madman. "What?" I breathed, my eyes narrowed. "What did you ask me?"

"Strip," Liam repeated naturally. "All the way, please. We want to get you washed and clean as soon as possible. We don't want to hinder our goals with underclothes."

I stared at him.

"Perhaps you would prefer for me to turn around?" He spun. "There, just take off your clothes. We have to get started right away."

I stood rooted in my spot, my eyes narrowed to slits. I looked at the doctor with demands in my eyes.

"Uh," the doctor sputtered, causing Liam to turn back. "Maybe he shouldn't fully undress. Perhaps the boy is uncomfortable? Just to his underclothes would be more convenient and less...intrusive. Maybe in another room?"

"Oh, no need for all that red tape anymore. We aren't living in a bureaucracy! Don't feel inadequate child, and don't be shy! Just strip down and we can get moving."

"Please Liam. Knowing his background, he must be unsure of, uh, doing that. Let him have his own room. He must be comfortable in his own skin."

Liam seemed to want to argue, but decided to shrug indifferently instead, much to my relief. "I suppose," he said nonchalantly. "As long as he's completely ready for a shower in the next two minutes. Follow me. There are chambers around the corner."

Keeping my eyes rooted to the stone ground, my face hot, I did as told and followed Liam. The doctor gave a cheerful goodbye on my way out.

We walked for about two minutes and came across a literal cube in the wall. Liam stopped and stood to the side so I could get a peek.

"There are towels on the rack near the shower head. Completely undress, unless, you know, you like to take baths with clothes on. When you're ready, just push the red button to the right of the shower head and my employees will tend to you."

"So you want me to take a bath?" I questioned.

Liam laughed gleefully, as if what I had said was the funniest thing in existence. "Oh gosh no. You're not taking your own bath. What is this, the slums?" He patted my back. "No, my boy. We will give you your bath. Just undress and let us handle the rest." And with that, he turned and left me alone.

I could feel my guard raise exponentially with each second as I undressed slowly in the warm room. It was feeling I can't really explain - I mean, it wasn't the first time I'd felt like I was being watched before, knowing me. But it went deeper than that to me. When someone feels that they're being watched, they usually feel it from the outside in, as if eyes are pasted on your or something. That time, I'd felt like I were being watched, not from the outside in, but from the inside in, as if they eyes were inside my body, not out.

I wrapped the towel securely around my waist, assessed myself one more time, and pressed my thumb against the red button. I had barely gotten the chance to blink before a crowd of men and women sashayed in, all dressed in white bathrobes and plastered with the same wide smile. They gathered aorund me in a circle and stared me up and down, seeming to study every knook and cranny of my exposed body. They suddenly stepped forward and reached their hands towards me.

"Hey!" I snapped as they grabbed my hands and towels and started to pull me out the opening of the chamber. "Exactly where are we going? And were you guys waiting outside the room?"

No answer as we dashed down the hallway, as if we were going to see the Wizard of Oz or something. I glanced around and laid eyes on a little man pulling me from the cloth of my towel. "Hey, you," I said sharply. "Where are we going?"

Nothing.

"Are you mute? Where the hell are we going?"

Still nothing but that wide grin. I could feel my hand getting hot as I thought of slapping him. But before I could manifest those thoughts, though, we entered another room stony room.

There was a deep depression in the ground filled with water, steam rising in lazy, doldrum-like circles. The cobbled floor was wet and warm with heated condensation, and I could smell the distinct smell of coconut in the air. Above, two yellowish lights shone to brighten the room, with an intercom in the middle, and to the wall on my left lay a poster with Liam's face and a message underneath. I stopped to stare for a second.

We got to the edge of the water and paused for a millisecond. I hadn't even gotten to question how hot the it was before I was shoved in, someone ripping the towel before I could touch the water. Turning pink, I turned abruptly and tried to glare at all of them at once.

"I could take the towel off myself, thanks," I said curtly. "Now what--?"

There was a click above us, and suddenly the room was engulfed with music. I recognized the tune as Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers. Looking at the crowd in confusion, I developed a bad feeling about what was to happen next. A figure suddenly pushed through the smiling crowd, a woman with her long hair tied up in a large bun. She reached behind her back and retrieved a large scrubbing brush, brandishing it like a sword.

"Wait a minute," I said, backing in the water as she came forward with that same plastic smile. "Wait, what are you going to do with that?"

I felt my body hit the rim of the tub and knew I had nowhere left to go. I watched with wide eyes as she took a running start and leapt smoothly into the air like a ninja, getting ready to give me the bath of my life.