The Bell of Freedom (King and human romance)✔

Chapter Four

I leave the children to have an extra hour of sleep while I take a shower in the bathroom. It's a shared bathroom and usually there are others here, but I'm glad for the silence. I wrap a towel around my body, tightening it at my chest as I wave my hand across the steamy mirror. I look into my eyes, memorizing the bright blue arises. For this might be the last time I ever will. My hair, though wet, is still as black as when it's dry. I am of Spanish descent, so my skin is olive, it's been a long time since I've seen it darker. I look at my reflection and I wonder who or what I even am. The creatures look at me and see food, something that can satisfy them for a few weeks, but I have to be more than that. Don't I? Don't we all? I back away from the mirror and I leave the bathroom. I head to the bedroom quarters to get dressed. Should I pack a bag? Do the creatures care about our items or possessions once we're bought? Will the creature make me live out the last weeks of my life naked? I pack a bag anyway and I leave it under my bed.

Facing the children today is not an easy task. They test me as they tiredly refuse to get ready. Jackson just sits quietly at the end of his bed, waiting for the others to accede to my orders.

"I don't want to wear that shirt!" Angelica groans, throwing the shirt back at me. "It's ugly."

"Pick another one then," I say. "Hurry up, the others will already be at breakfast."

The children wait in a line at the door as Angelica roots through her small drawers, humming to herself. She finally picks one she likes and places it over her head.

"Remember, the visitors will want to touch you, sometimes multiple times," I say. "Don't question them and don't talk back to them, don't say anything unless they ask you something."

"Like what?" Jackson says. "What do you taste like?"

"I don't like them touching me," Sam says fearfully. "They grip my wrist really hard."

"It'll be over soon," I assure him, all of them. "Just don't show them fear."

"Why not?"

I charge towards the door and open it. "Because they like that."

I take the children to breakfast and we eat some fruit and cereal. They're quiet, just like last night. I decide instead of going to our painting class that I'll use my last few hours with them to take them for a walk around the grounds. Maybe it'll cheer them up.

The grounds are filled with the laughter of the other children. They run freely out here, chasing each other and playing tagging games. The creatures are out here also, stationed at posts for guarding. They mainly ignore us.

I watch the children play as I sit down on a bench and take a sip of water. It's a warm day, bright and cheerful. The other nannies are lounging on the grass; sunbathing. Jackson is the only one that won't join in, he walks back to me and sits beside me. I wrap my arm him and I pull him close for a hug.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" he says.

"Why would you say that?"

He shrugs, looking away sadly. He's a smart kid. He's also twelve and he turns thirteen in a few weeks. I'll be dead by the time that happens, maybe there's a chance we can be reunited somewhere, maybe our souls aren't lost or destroyed like so many humans believe. Maybe there's a place for us still.

At the thought of birthdays, I suddenly realize it's my birthday today. I am twenty. Officially no longer a teenager or a girl. I think back to the last birthday I had, when I turned twelve. When I sat at the kitchen counter and blew out my birthday candles as my beaming parents took pictures. That's a lifetime ago now.

"I will never be gone," I say. "I'll always be here, one way or another."

"I don't want you to go like Tyler," he says softly, his voice changing into a cry. "I don't want you to die."