Shatter Pieces

Chapter 29: Realizing

Elvira

The sound of soft music filled my ears and I couldn't help but smile a little at the sound. Music was always something that relaxed me, I had never let anyone know otherwise Master would have done everything he could to keep me from hearing any. It was one of the few things I had ever done to defy him and gotten away with it. The music pulled me from my peaceful sleep and I rubbed at my eyes sitting up to find myself back in my room.

Mateo is sitting on one of the chairs typing away on his computer doing I don't know what. When he noticed my movement he looked up at me smiling before shutting his computer. I had expected him to be mad or frustrated with me but instead, he seemed his usual cheery self. I stared at him curiously starting to realize he really wasn't like any other man I had met before, and I couldn't tell exactly why but it made my heart flutter a little.

"Good to see you up El, I was hoping you would wake up soon. I made some food a few minutes ago. If you're hungry I can go get you some." He offered getting to his feet and coming closer to the bed.

"El?" It came out without me really having a chance to think about it. El, wasn't my name had he mistaken me for someone else for some reason?

"It's a nickname, I shortened your name a little bit. Most of the time people have nicknames for the people around them that they care about. Since I care about you I figured I would give you a nickname, if that's okay with you I guess." He seemed a little shy unsure of what my answer was going to be and a little nervous about what I might say to him.

"No, I d....don't mind I was ju....just wond....wonder....wondering about t..the name." the words were quiet as I wasn't overly confident in my answer as I wrung my hands in my lap. Mateo's face lit up at my answer though setting sparks ablaze inside my body and I couldn't help but to like the feeling.

"I'll just go get you some food now, I'll be back in just a second." He rushed out of the room to fetch the food and I wanted to laugh but contained myself.

Mateo really wasn't like any other man I had ever known. Instead of pointing out my every flaw and ridiculing me he tended to be kind and gentle assuring me that I was fine the way I was. He didn't punish me for asking questions or even looking him in the eyes. Not once had he hit me or made a move to injure me in any way, something that had been commonplace back in the dungeon. It was a relief to get away from all of it.

I glanced around my room appreciating the color and warmth that seemed to jump out at me from every corner. The fact that it all belonged to me was astonishing, I had never owned anything before. I crawled across the bed noticing another needle stuck in my arm allowing liquid from a bag hanging on a metal pole with wheels on the bottom. I took a hold of the pole and scurried over to one of the bookshelves staring at all the volumes on the shelf. I let my bandaged hands run over the novels as I attempted to try and read the writing on the spines of the books. The words were big and nothing like the simple words on my bed back in my old room. I hadn't read anything like this since before I was taken, at least I think I use to read stuff like this but I couldn't fully remember.

I noticed on the bottom shelves were smaller books and I pulled one off the shelves sitting on the floor in front of the shelf. I opened it to find bright pictures of a princess looking out the window of a tower that seemed to be in the middle of a forest. The look in her eyes told me that she wanted to be anywhere but there as if she was trapped inside the tower. I felt bad for her, I knew what it was like to be trapped somewhere you didn't want to be, but I also knew that you couldn't escape without help and that tower looked very tall.

"Princess Rup...Rupunz....Rapunzel sat h...high in her tow...tower st...star....staring down at the g...ga...garden be.....bene...benea...." I got caught up on the word unsure how all the letters worked together and how they connected to each other.

"Beneath." I jumped at the voice that sounded behind me but calmed when I saw that it was merely Mateo with a tray of food in his hands. While I was beginning to find myself relaxing around him I was still worried this was all a facade to hurt me more in the end. After all it would be so easy to lure me into a sense of security and then crush me later.

"I didn't know that you could read." Mateo's face was alight with some emotion I couldn't identify. It wasn't anger or rage, it was soft and happy almost like he was glad that I could and hadn't expected it.

"I'm n....not very go...go....good. I can't r....really read t....tha....that well. Been a l....long ti....time." I confessed to him pulling the book to my chest in case he decided that he wanted to take it away from me for any reason.

"Well, you were doing a great job just then especially if you haven't really had the opportunity to practice." He reached forward as if to take the book from my hands, but I retreated back pushing my still healing back painfully into the shelf and a small whimper escaped me.

"MINE!" The word came out stronger than I had expected and Mateo took a step backward raising his hands as if to show he wasn't a threat to me.

"I know that it's yours, but we can't have the book getting all dirty while you eat, can we? We wouldn't want to ruin it that way you can read it some more later." His logic made sense and so I laid the book aside only after double-checking to make sure he wasn't going to rush to take it away from me.

Mateo walked over to my bed and placed the tray of food he held in his hands down and motioned for me to come and join him. My body locked up a little at the thought of being that close to him, but my stomach fought for the opportunity to eat something. Reaching for the pole my needle was attached to I made my way over to the bed studying Mateo the whole time.

I sat on the very edge waiting to see what Mateo was going to do but he merely pulled his phone out of his pocket and began tapping away ignoring me. I hesitantly reached out taking a hold of the tray and sliding it so that it was closer to me. I immediately reached for the pudding but found that I was unable to eat it. The sealing on the top must-have been specially designed to keep people like me out. Really wanting to eat the contents I bit my lip and looked at Mateo before reaching over to extend the food to him.

He didn't look up from his phone and my stomach growled upset there was food in front of me that wasn't currently being put inside of it. I shook the container a little hoping it would catch his attention, but he continued to tap away at the screen. Desperate to eat the delicious treat I reached out and poked his hand. He immediately looked up as if he had been waiting for me to do so and glanced at the pudding in my hand.

"Oh need some help?" I realized he had known I needed help the whole time but waited until I touched him to acknowledge my demand. I simply nodded to him and in less than five seconds the snack was opened and I was using the spoon on the tray to dig into the desert. Maybe Mateo wasn't so bad after all.