A Window To A Soul

Chapter 13: Della

He had gone back to being distant. I was shocked when I saw that he had beaten Malakai that badly, but I can't judge him. As he said, Malakai was harassing that girl. He did the right thing. I feel horrible for looking at him like that.

He won't speak to me like a friend anymore. He talks to me similarly to how he would speak to Elliott. He won't even look me in the eye. We have a ball to go to tomorrow, but I wanted Cal and me to dance. Now, if I ask, he'll just be stiff and scared, similar to how he was when we first met.

Today was his visit with his parents. None of us are close with them, and the Great Ones don't get the pleasure of getting parents since when someone has a Great One as a child, they are executed so no living person has seen the Great One before they turn 18.

I try to not let it bother me, but I can't help it sometimes. Now, I'm alone with Malakai. I don't know why, but I feel weird around him. It's as if he'll try to kill me any chance he gets. But I don't know how much more of this I can take. It's so stressful. But I don't even know if I'm overreacting or not. I might be.

I was reading my book when Malakai knocked on my door to let me know that lunch was ready. I smiled and got up to make my way to the kitchen. Malakai followed behind me. But he wouldn't say anything.

When I sat down to eat, I tried to get him to talk, but he would only say something brief. It wasn't as easy as it was to get Cal to start talking. It was like Malakai didn't want to get close to anyone. But with Cal, it seemed like he was just scared to get close, but when I showed him that it was okay, he wasn't scared anymore, and he opened up. But then I just had to ruin that. I made him feel like it wasn't safe for him anymore.

I felt like crying. I quickly finished my food and then went back up to my room to try to calm my emotions. I thought about the fight I had witnessed on the camera. I thought about the pile of blood that Malakai was laying in. I thought about his scar. I thought about how Elliott was standing behind them, watching as if it were a game show.

Then I thought about Cal's smile. I thought about him walking with me everywhere I went. I even thought about how I felt when I was with him. I looked at my bookshelves. My eyes landed on one of the bigger books. It was called, 'A Pea In A Pod.'

The book was about a female Great One with hundreds of bodyguards. But one of them stood out to her. It wasn't the strongest, or the weakest, or the most handsome, or the ugliest. It wasn't the best at cooking, or the best at chess. He didn't have any different looks. He didn't have a scar, an unusual haircut, or a birthmark. He didn't look anything out of the ordinary. He didn't talk with an accent and had normal ideals. There was absolutely nothing different about him.

But the girl, Elly, fell in love with her bodyguard. She started assigning him to be her escort. She would ask him to help her with so many things, and at some point, she confessed her love for him. But of course, with her being her master, he accepted in fear of being executed.

They seemed happy for years. But then Elly noticed that he was looking at another girl the same way that Elly did him. And then she realized that he never loved her. It ended with her being heartbroken and letting him go and be with the one he loved. But she didn't feel the same way. They both ended up alone.

I stared up at the ceiling. I start to think about what it would be like to kiss Cal. As weird as it sounded, I couldn't help it. I thought about him pushing me up against the wall and passionately kissing me, telling me that he loved me. I thought about the warmth of his skin radiating off of him. I thought about his hand on my cheek as he stared into my eyes.

I shook my head in horror at my thoughts. What was I thinking?! I sat up quickly. I need to stop reading so much forbidden romance. It's not illegal for a Great One to be with a bodyguard. Actually, a Great One could do anything. They could even get pregnant, or get someone else pregnant.

Of course, a Great One can always choose to execute someone and they always get their way. So, if someone gets pregnant with their child, they can execute both them and the unborn baby. On the other hand, if any other person decides to have sex and gets pregnant if they aren't an assigned pink-eyed person, they will be executed along with the child. If they hide it. The child will still be executed no matter the age. And anyone knowing about the forbidden pregnancy will be executed too. But people can still be in relationships. It's just heavily looked down upon for a Great One to be with anyone below their rank. Including a scorekeeper, which is right below us.

I quickly got up and looked in the mirror in front of my bed. I was blushing like crazy. I needed to get my act together. I'm not the main character in a book!