by Rue Volley
“Good to know,” Johnathan said as he grinned and raised his hands to Brooke, who looked as if she was about to yell at him.
The girl started to walk towards the door, ready to continue the tour here in crazy town. Brooke stepped past Johnathan and walked up behind her. The girl turned to her and Brooke stopped with her finger in the air, ready to excuse them both from her company.
“Okay… so I guess you two need to know where the food is, right?” she said.
Johnathan touched his stomach and it growled… came out sounding like some type of animal in the large room as it echoed. He smiled and glanced at Brooke. She rolled her eyes at him. Her stomach growled too, and she touched her stomach and shook her head. She looked up at her and grinned.
“Well, it looks as if you two need to eat now,” she said as she giggled.
She stepped out of the locker room and Johnathan started to follow her.
Brooke grabbed his arm.
“Listen… we eat. Then we find her and we get the hell out of here, okay?” Johnathan smiled and nodded his head ‘Yes’.
“Okay listen, that girl, who looks just like Sara, may be able to help us out… She knows this place.”
Brooke shook her head.
“I never saw her while I was here, Johnathan. Maybe she just ‘popped up’ because we are here now… Did you consider that?”
“I don’t know… I was thinking about Sara; I feel bad for her, Brooke.”
They stopped whispering to each other when the girl popped her head back in.
“I thought I lost you in this maze. I was talking and when I turned around… neither one of you were there.” Johnathan smiled.
“Sorry. We ummm, got in a little argument,” he said.
The girl tilted her head and smiled at Brooke.
“Oh, sorry,” she said as she backed up.
“No… no, we are just fine… Let’s go eat okay?” Brooke said as they started to follow her.
The girl walked ahead of them, as Johnathan passed each room he peeked in really quick.
The girl turned and he straightened up and smiled.
“Well, as I was saying to myself,” The girl said as she waved her arm out and started to laugh. “I have been here at Rolling River for a month now. I really like it. It’s quiet, except for a little yelling here and there. I am just glad that I didn’t get stuck in some nut house.”
She turned and smiled at the two of them; they both nodded.
Johnathan laughed and the girl turned and started to walk backwards.
“What?” she asked him.
Johnathan looked at Brooke and then back at the girl.
“Oh, I don’t know. I mean… this is a ‘nut house’ right?” he asked her.
She stopped and tilted her head.
“Why no, actually this is a low level resting facility,” she said.
Johnathan sighed. “Okay,” he said.
“The people who come here are just on a ‘break’ from the outside world. I mean, some of them could be here forever, but most of them will return to the outside world… completely fine.”
“But not all,” Johnathan said.
“No, I guess a few of them will probably be here for a long time.”
“So, it’s not all about a ‘resting facility’ then,” Johnathan said.
Brooke looked at him and squinted her eyes.
Johnathan held up his hands.
“So… do you take care of any people who are just completely coo-coo?”
The girl stopped at two large doors and pushed them open. She looked back at him.
“We don’t use that phrase here,” she whispered to him.
“Sorry, just thought you could give us a who’s who. Ya know… so we know.”
The girl walked to the elevator and punched in a sequence of numbers. She grinned and waited for the doors to open up. They all stepped on and she waited for the doors to close. She punched in her numbers in again and then turned to the both of them.
“Okay,” she said as she leaned in and whispered. “There are a few here that you would be lucky to not have to deal with.”
Johnathan and Brooke leaned in and looked at her.
Suddenly they were all in a secret circle, like kids planning a secret get away.
“The third floor is the worst. There is a girl in room 314 that just completely creeps me out.”
“What is her name?” Brooke asked as she looked at her.
“Nobody knows. She was picked up two years ago, no memory, no name… nobody ever came to get her. I don’t go in there, but I have a friend who does. She said that it just feels cold in her room… unnatural.”
“Like horror movie stuff?” Brooke asked in a whisper.
Johnathan raised his eyebrows and shook his head.
“Oh come on,” he said.
The girl straightened up.
“No it’s true… and there is a boy on that floor that is the same way.”
“Okay… listen. When I was here before there was a girl, her name was Rue, Rue Volley… Do you know her?” Brooke asked.
The girl turned to the door and stared at it.
“Do you?” Brooke asked her.
“Yea, everyone knows who Rue Volley is,” the girl said.
Johnathan leaned up and tapped her on the arm.
“Why do you look so upset?” he asked her.
“She is the worst of them all. I swear to god this place was built for her.”
Brooke looked at Johnathan and shrugged her shoulders at him, not knowing why this girl was so upset about Rue.
“Did she do something to you?” Johnathan asked her.
“Who hasn’t she done something to?”
“Okay then… we will stay away from her,” Brooke said as she stepped back and waited for the elevator to stop.
The door dinged and they stepped out into a large room with rows of food in trays.
Johnathan smiled and ran to the end of the row and grabbed a plate.
“Yes,” he whispered as he started to walk down the row and shovel food on his plate.
Brooke looked around and saw no one. She decided to eat… Her stomach was folding in on itself…probably a reaction to drinking Johnathan’s blood. The girl stopped when a bell dinged over the intercom and she smiled at them.
“Well, I gotta go. You two eat; I’ll catch up with you later.”
Johnathan had a roll hanging out of his mouth and a plate that looked as if it was about to topple.
“K,” he muttered to her as he waved his hand.
Brooke piled her plate and sat down across from Johnathan, who was shovelling food in his mouth. She grinned and started to shovel food in her mouth too. She took a drink and looked at him.
“As soon as we get done… we find Rue… Agree?” she asked him.
Johnathan nodded and continued to shove food into his mouth.
***
I sat there swinging my feet on my chair. Holly tapped her pen as usual. I grinned and looked around the room. White wasn’t really bothering me that day. Come to think of it, nothing was bothering me.
I couldn’t stop thinking about that pretty boy in the atrium. Was he in my mind? Well, according to Carver he was. I didn’t really care. He was the most… oh. Is this that “crush” stuff that I kinda remember? I just couldn’t get his face out of my mind, especially his mouth.
I lingered on that thought for a moment and opened my eyes up when I realized that Holly was talking to me.
“Rue?”
I looked at her and grinned. She leaned back in her chair and stared at me. She lifted her pen and put the end of it in her mouth. I hoped it was her pen, because you never knew where it might have been.
“What are you thinking about today, Rue?” she asked me.
I looked at her pen.
“The fact that you put that in your mouth,” I said.
She removed it and looked at her pen. She laid it down on her desk.
“Does it bother y
ou?” she asked me.
I shrugged my shoulders. “No, not really,” I said.
“You seem to be in a pleasant mood today,” she said.
I looked at her and smiled.
“I really like the atrium,” I said.
“So Carver tells me.”
I crinkled my eyebrows. That turd. Did he tell her that I thought someone was in there with me?
“Does that anger you... that Carver tells me everything?” she asked.
“Oh… you know, he is rude,” I said as I leaned back in my chair.
“Rude in what way?”
I rubbed my hands.
“He slams doors and talks to me like…”
I stopped, was it really going to do any good to tell her that he treated me like I was crazy?
“Like what?” she asked.
“Like I’m crazy,” I said.
“Would you like for me to give you someone different?” she asked me.
I sat up straight. “I… really...? You can do that?” I asked her. She smiled.
“Well, of course I can… you say the word.”
“Well the ‘word’ is yes,” I said.
“Okay then.” She looked at her paper and scribbled something down on it.
I grinned and tried to look at her paper. I swear it looked blank.
I leaned back when she glanced at me.
“So,” she said as she closed the file and leaned back in her chair.
“Who did you see in the atrium?” she asked me.
Oh crap.
I looked at her and bit my lip.
“Rue,” she said as she leaned forward and looked at me. “I can only help you, if you help you.”
I grinned. “That sounds like some text book crap,” I said. She laughed.
“Well, maybe it is… how about this. I want to help you and I need your help to do that.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Alright,” I said.
“Well, I am glad that you like that better.”
I looked at the ceiling and my mind wandered to the glass dome in the atrium.
“What is it?” she asked me.
“I just loved the atrium. It was so peaceful there,” I said as I looked at her. She smiled.
“Well, we will have to make sure that you go back there then.”
I grinned... Something to look forward to, how awesome.
I started to swing my feet again.
“So, tell me… who did you see in the atrium, Rue?” she asked.
I guess that was a subject I couldn’t get away from with her.
I leaned forward like I was about to tell her a secret, I guess in a way it was.
“A boy,” I said.
She relaxed in her chair and took a breath.
“Did you talk to this boy?” she asked me.
“Yes… he was, oh I don’t know… He felt like Christmas morning,” I said to her.
She raised her eyebrows.
“That is a pretty big deal,” she said.
“Yea, I guess it was.”
“You know what...? I think today is great day to look at the pictures.”
She got up and walked to the table; she grabbed the cardboard ink spots and walked back to me. I didn’t feel all mean that day so I decided to really look at them, and try to ‘help her, help me’ I leaned back and interlaced my fingers.
She smiled and held up the first one.
I looked at it… really looked at it this time. I started to feel a humming in my stomach.
“What do you see today?” she asked me.
“I see.” I took a breath. “I see a cherub,” I said.
She looked at it and grinned. She scribbled something down on her paper.
She laid the picture down and I cleared my throat. She raised the next one and I swallowed.
“And this one?” she asked me.
I focused on it and my fingertips felt like they had a tingle in them, like when you sit on your hands and then you rub the blood back into them.
“Ummm…”
The picture started to shift on me.
Holy crap, I hope that the new meds are not making me crazy. Well, crazier than I already was.
“Rue?” she said as she waited.
“I see a rabbit,” I said to her.
It was clear as day on the board… I had never seen it before.
She grinned and wrote down something.
I waited, they always come in three’s. These ink spot pictures, that is.
She lifted the last one and a pain shot through my brain. I tried to focus on it, but my vision blurred. I grabbed my forehead and hissed. Holly laid the board down and stepped around her desk. She leaned down next to me and touched my arm.
I looked at her and tried to grin.
“Perhaps that is enough for today. I want to thank you for being honest with me today,” she whispered.
I nodded and started to feel the pain leaving my mind.
What the hell was on the board? I guess something that my mind could not wrap itself around.
I started to stand up and she pressed a button. The door opened and a boy walked in. Not Carver. How the hell did she switch that? I didn’t see her call anyone. Maybe I was so wrapped up in the boy I saw in the atrium, I hadn’t noticed.
I looked at her and grinned.
“Could I visit the atrium today?” I asked her.
She nodded and I relaxed.
I hoped that my sudden pain had not stopped her from giving me that.
I walked out with my new buddy, who looked so normal, I didn’t really notice anything about him at first. We walked down the hallway and he led me into the elevator. I didn’t even watch him as he pressed in the code. I didn’t really care. I get to go to the atrium again… good enough for me.
The door dinged before I realized we were moving. We stepped out and I realized that I was there to get my meds again. We stepped up to the window and the boy looked at the girl reading her book.
“Rue Volley,” he said.
I looked up at him and he was pretty. I didn’t get stuck looking at him, but at least he wasn’t hard to look at. He led me to the chairs at the window and I sat down. I just sank back in it. I loved chairs, big fluffy ones that made you feel like they were wrapping their arms around you. I don’t know where it came from… but I know it’s true.
Pretty boy handed me the little white cup and I tipped it into my mouth. I swallowed and he held his hand out to take the cup from me. He sat down and leaned back. I waited for him to ask for the “mouth inspection” but he didn’t. I relaxed and looked out the window.
“What is your name?” I asked him.
I turned to look at him and he grinned at me.
“Do names really matter?” he asked me.
I crinkled my eyebrows.
“Yes, they do actually,” I said.
“I don’t think so,” he said.
How intriguing. I thought he was going to make me work to get his name. I liked being challenged… Well, I think I do, because my heart fluttered every time I felt like I had to work for something. I tilted my head at him.
“You look like a bird when you do that,” he said to me.
I sighed and leaned back.
“A bird?” I asked him.
“Yes… birds tilt their heads like that, always so questionable about everything.”
“So are you like a bird watcher or something?” I asked him.
He smiled. “No… I people watch mostly.”
I looked around the room.
“Well, you picked a great job then,” I said.
He grinned and rubbed his hand on his chin.
I liked his face. He looked calm, but I could tell that he thought a lot… probably about everything.
“So, how did you luck out with me?” I asked.
“Oh, I don’t know. New guy, I guess,” he said.
I started to tilt my head again, then I stopped myself… rubbing my neck. He smiled.
“I don’t want you to change how you react to things because I mentioned it.”
I smiled and tilted my head at him. I started to stand up and the room tilted. God, I wish that the meds would just once not make me feel like I am crazy. He reached out to me and touched my arm. I watched his hand and shook my head.
“Are you okay?”
“I feel weird,” I said as I started to drop.
Pretty boy scooped me up and I leaned against his chest. He smiled at me.
“I will take you back to your room, it’ll be okay,” he said.
I closed my eyes. He had such a nice voice. It was soothing. Too bad I was all looking like a nut… maybe I’d ask him out, if it was any other place… any other time. He carried me to the elevator and typed in his code. He stepped on and stood there with me, as I tried to hold up my head.
He looked down at me.
“My name is Blake,” he whispered.
I looked at his face and raised my hand.
“Do I know you?” I asked, right before I fell asleep.
Chapter 4
Holy Crap
Josh tilted his head back and blocked the scorching sun from his eyes. He looked out as everything turned to sand. He shook his head and started to walk. Sophia said three days. Truth was, there in memory, it could be three years. The longer he fought his trial, the longer he was trapped there.
Thomas had explained the ‘trial’ of a Lord to Josh long ago, when he was still a child. A trial for a protector is kind of like a purging. It is meant to strip you of all compassion, all love… anything that would deem you ‘weak’ in the eyes of their race. A Lord is supposed to kill without mercy, without second thought, regardless of who it is, or the situation. It was a robotic existence, to a certain degree. The only passion that rose in a Lord’s heart was that of the willingness to do anything for Valon.
Lords, at least in the past, had taken on many mates. It was vital that they produced an heir, someone who could carry on the lordship. Josh knew that he was the last, now Caine had perished. He had one glaring problem though… Rue Volley. His love for her was everlasting; he had bonded with her. Maybe he known in his heart that this day would come, and with a move of desperation, he allowed it to happen.
Josh clinched his fists and kept walking. Something would come again, someone… or a memory of someone, trying to force him to shed his compassion. He looked up and saw someone on the horizon.