I Am Her - ONC 2024

Chapter 9 - 1984

Angela found the punishment she was forced to endure insufferable. As though the nightmarish conditions she had to endure in Laeternas weren't enough already, especially with all the ridiculous demands the Mayor couldn't help but give her, now he had to become even stricter! She had no idea it was possible, but then again, she had survived two weeks there, so at least that was something.

Still, the new rules were pure torture. The Mayor was diligent in his enforcement of them, and so the servants roamed the house constantly, watchful as hawks. One time, she went to fetch a jar of jam from the pantry, and one of them encountered her while doing so, looking at her suspiciously. Apparently, the Mayor had to be told everything she and Marissa were going to do that day. It was a real thorn in the side.

Before sleep, she tended to stare out the window and remember her old life. It was one of the few things she could do freely in this prison of a residence, and no one could infringe upon her thoughts either, so she cherished that activity. All the malls she had shopped at, all the wild parties she had organized, all the loving moments she had had with Cristina, they came back to her every night like a flood upon her mind. She would sob when no one could hear it, the pain fresh as ever, never seeming to dullen, and although it had been less than two months, she was starting to get really tired of it.

Back then, she had always felt alive, and now, now that she was reduced to nothing but a mere houseplant, she felt dead. Isolated, constantly in the same place, deprived of the option to explore or do anything fun, her days hinging on falling asleep and waking up and doing it all over again. It got tedious quickly.

On the fourth morning of her punishment, just before they were to have breakfast, she spotted the Mayor sitting at the dining room table all alone, slowly sipping a cup of black coffee while solving a crossword puzzle. A light bulb switched on in her head. Approaching him on the tips of her toes, she gently tapped him on the shoulder once she was right next to him, causing him to swiftly turn around in shock.

"Are you busy?" she asked, earning her a scoff.

"Yes, as you can obviously see," he said, gesturing towards the newspaper. "I do this in the morning before everyone else is awake to stimulate my mind. You remember how I talked about productivity with you a while ago, don't you? I solve a crossword puzzle, I have breakfast, and then I do my job, with some minor breaks. You know how it is. There's always something I'm busy with."

Noticing how tense his shoulders were and how big his eyebags were, she raised an eyebrow in concern. "I admire your diligence, sir, but I think you could afford to relax a little. You look tired, and there's always time to have a rest. Besides, you aren't so busy that you don't have time to answer me a question, are you?"

"Sure," he said, shrugging limply. "What's the question?"

"Can Marissa and I go to the local museum, please? She told me all sorts of wonderful things about it, so I would like to visit it very much. I know that you don't want us leaving the house, but it's just one small trip, so I don't see much of an issue with it."

"No," he said sternly, his voice cutting the air like a knife. "You are not to leave this house until I tell you to, not even for a second. There's no reason for you to do so. The servants go grocery shopping while the world is hardly awake, and that's it. Even the courtyard is a risky area for the two of you, as the sudden and mysterious death of Howard Shore casted quite a stir in our community. Who could have expected that old man to cause such a commotion? We had to put in a lot of work to cover it up, and there's no way I'm going to allow you to ruin my plans, so shut up and do as you're told."

He might as well have put a pacifier in my mouth and placed me in a crib!

"You remind me of your mother," he said with a chuckle. "Sandra had quite the rebellious attitude, which you seem to have inherited from her."