by Amber Garza
“Then why do you grow them?”
“Nina likes them.”
I was surprised. She hadn’t pegged me as a sweet eater. I assumed she like sour fruits.
“What other things do you grow in your garden?”
“Oh, all kinds of fruits and vegetables. Tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, carrots.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” I said, trying not to sound too desperate. But I was getting impatient. So far we’d only hung out in this room. I was going stir crazy.
“Can I get you any more?” he asked, causing frustration to burn through me.
It was taking too long to gain his trust. “No. I’m good. Thanks.” I forced a cheery response. Showing my frustration wouldn’t help my quest. Instead, I needed to keep trying. “I would like to take a shower though. I’m feeling pretty icky.” I glanced down at my dirty dress and black soled feet. “And I think it’s time I changed out of this outfit.”
“I think that’s a good idea.” I knew that I’d appeased him. First, I’d eaten, and now I was changing. He probably thought I was finally giving in, resigning myself to my fate.
But he couldn’t be more wrong.
“I’ll have Nina get everything ready for your shower, and she’ll be in soon to collect you.”
Nodding, I offered him my best fake smile. After he left the room, I sighed, lowering myself back down on the bed. My plan was taking a lot longer than I wanted, but I couldn’t give up hope. I had to stay the course. Eventually, it would pay off.
True to Jasper’s word, Nina took me to the bathroom a few minutes after he’d left. Once I’d showered and changing, she brought back to my room. My long hair was wet as it hung down my back. At home I never let it air dry. I always blew dry and either straightened or curled it. But there were no hair appliances here. The dampness on my head made me shiver with cold, despite the fact that I was wearing sweats and fuzzy socks.
I put on some lip gloss and blush and ran a comb through my wet strands. If I wanted to get under Jasper’s skin, looking good was imperative. Too bad I didn’t have much to work with. I thought of all my makeup and hair products back home with longing.
It was around lunchtime when Jasper showed up again. He brought with him two sandwiches and a deck of cards.
“Thought you could use some entertainment,” he said.
“What I could use is to get caught up on my reality shows,” I joked. Well, it was sort of a joke. I really did miss my shows.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for a game of cards,” he answered, but he didn’t sound angry. In fact, through his mask I could see an amused smile forming.
While we ate our sandwiches, he shuffled the cards. He ate his lunch swiftly, but I picked at mine, forcing down a bite here and there.
“You don’t like the sandwich?” he asked.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I guess I’m just tired of them. What I would really love is a thick slice of pizza.” My mouth watered as I imagined gooey cheese and salty pepperoni melting on my tongue.
“That does sound good. It’s been awhile since I’ve had pizza,” he said.
My dream died at his words. “I guess there aren’t a lot of pizza places around here, huh?”
He shook his head. I sighed. When I glanced down at the sandwich, my stomach soured. It wasn’t appealing before, but now it was downright disgusting. I missed the food back home. When I glanced up, Jasper was staring at me. Even through the mask, I could tell he was reading my mood. Not wanting to ruin the progress I’d made, I pushed my lips up into a smile.
“So, what game do you want to play?” I asked.
He set down his plate and picked up the cards. “What about war? That’s fairly easy.”
“Okay.”
“You know how to play?” He began dealing the cards.
“Yeah. I used to play sometimes with my brothers,” I said. “It’s the one where you just show your top card and the highest wins, right?”
“Yep.” He nodded. “Used to keep me occupied for hours when I was a little boy.”
I studied him as he continued to deal, imagining what his life must have been like living here all these years with only Nina. It must have been incredibly lonely.
“All right.” He said once he was finished. “You ready?”
We both displayed our top card. I had a king and he had a ten. “Woo!” I squealed. “I win.”
Jasper chuckled. “Okay. Don’t get too excited. It’s only the first hand.”
“I beg to differ. The first hand sets the tone for the entire game, so I feel pretty confident about where this is going,” I teased. It was how I would’ve talked to my brothers if I’d been playing with them. They were super competitive in everything they did. They hated losing. Therefore, whenever I beat them, endless goading ensued. So much so, that once Grant punched me in the stomach for beating him at a board game. Man, he got in a lot of trouble for that. It was strange how comfortable I was starting to feel around Jasper. At first I had to focus on the plan, but now I found the banter and conversation to flow easily, almost like breathing.
The next two hands I beat Jasper’s cards, but then he started making a comeback.
“Do you play games often?” he asked.
“Nah. My brothers are more the game players in my family.”
“What do you like to do for fun?” He paused, smiling through his mask. “I mean, other than watch reality TV.”
That was easy. “Play piano and sing.”
“You’re a musician?”
I nodded.
“We have a piano.”
This surprised me. I’d been in most of the rooms in the house, and I never noticed a piano. “You do? I haven’t seen it.”
“It’s in the study.”
The irony in that didn’t strike me as odd as it would have weeks ago. Everything about this place was backwards. “You have a piano in the study? Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?”
“Not really. Nina and I don’t play, so it’s basically just been in there for looks.”
If it hadn’t been played in all these years, it probably needed tuning. But instead of pointing that out, I said, “I could play it for you sometime.” The last couple of days I’d been thinking the garden was my ticket out of the room, but now it looked like it may be the piano.
“I’d like that,” he said, setting down another card. It was a queen. I had an ace. With a smile, I set mine down too. Then I let out an evil laugh, and he chuckled. “It’s been a long time since I’ve laughed this much.”
“Me too,” I told him honestly.
“And I can’t remember the last time I listened to music.” He raised his head. “Looks like you’re bringing a lot of new things to this old place.”
6
THE PIANO
FOR THE NEXT week Jasper came to my room every day. We played cards, ate fruit and talked about our lives. But it was all surface stuff on Jasper’s end. Stories of exploring in the forest or tending to his garden. I was no closer to understanding Jasper and the secret of this place than I was when I first arrived. But maybe that was okay. Clearly, whatever Jasper and Nina were hiding was something they had no intention of sharing with me. In fact, my quest to find answers was what ultimately got me trapped here. Perhaps it was better if Jasper didn’t share too much.
My main focus needed to be getting out of here, not on growing my relationship with Jasper. The lines sometimes blurred slightly, since the two went hand in hand. But I had to remember my intention behind our friendship. It was merely a means to an end.
And it seemed that my plan was working.
“I cleaned the piano,” Jasper announced one morning when he showed up in my room with more strawberries. At this point they were starting to hurt my stomach, but I kept eating them to appease him. It seemed to make him happy.
I was sure it needed tuning, not cleaning, but I smiled. “Really?”
“Yeah. It was dusty and covered in books and knick-knacks, b
ut now it’s shiny and cleared off.”
“A little spring cleaning, huh?” I teased, even though I had an idea of where this was going. The last thing I wanted to do was get my hopes up in case I was wrong.
“I figured it needed to be done if I wanted to hear you play.”
My heart lifted, but I forced my expression to stay neutral. If I acted too excited, he might suspect something.
“Is that what you want?” I asked with a smile. “To hear me play?”
“If you’re up for it.”
“I am,” I answered firmly.
He held out his arm. “Then let’s go.” I slipped my arm through his as he unlocked the bedroom door.
My chest expanded as I stepped into the hallway. After a week trapped in the bedroom, it was like I could finally draw in a full breath. If I ever got out of this house, I’d never take my freedom for granted again. My gaze shot around as if I didn’t know where to look first, and my pulse thrummed beneath my flesh, matching the beat of our footsteps. I held tightly to Jasper’s arm as he guided me forward.
We passed a couple of bedrooms, which I assumed were Jasper’s and Nina’s. I wondered if their rooms looked anything like the one I’d been staying in. But the doors were closed, so I couldn’t compare. I also vaguely wondered if they had bars on their windows too.
Rounding the corner, we entered the kitchen. Nina stood over the stove stirring something on the stove. When she saw us, her eyebrows shot clear up to her hairline. But she didn’t say anything. Not that she needed to. The way she pressed her lips together into a tight line and narrowed her eyes betrayed how she felt.
It was clear that Jasper called the shots, that he was the one in charge. But it didn’t make sense. Nina was older, and she’d obviously taken care of Jasper all his life the same way a mother would. So, wouldn’t it make more sense for her to be in charge? I tried to imagine bossing my mom around, and it almost made me laugh aloud. This place was filled with unanswered questions.
We walked past the dining room, and I thought back to our conversation the first night Jasper had joined me for dinner. The table was large with high backed ornate chairs. It seated eight, which was strange based on the fact that it had always only been the two of them.
When we approached a room I’d never been allowed to enter, I swallowed hard. Jasper reached out with his free hand and opened the door. A gasp sounded at the back of my throat when we entered the room. It wasn’t only the grand piano that sat in the corner that caused that reaction. It was everything - the bookshelves lined with books, the brick fireplace, and the intricate paintings on the wall.
“It’s gorgeous,” I breathed. Jasper released my arm, and I hurried to the piano.
It felt like heaven when my fingertips touched the keys. I ran the pads of my fingers over every single one, a contented sigh escaping through my lips. Jasper sat in a chair near the fireplace and tented his fingers. His hair was shorter when I first got here, but now it was longer, tousled and hanging over the edge of his mask.
“I can play it?” I asked tentatively, wanting permission before sitting down. It was the most at home I’d felt since I got here, and I didn’t want to do anything to screw it up.
“Of course.” He nodded his head.
Lowering down onto the bench, I placed my hands on the keys. Closing my eyes, I recalled a song I’d recently learned and started playing from memory. The piano was slightly out of tune, but not as bad as I’d suspected. I lost myself in the song, the music transporting me back home, if only for a few moments. With my eyes closed and music enveloping me, I could pretend I was in the family room of the house I’d grown up in. I could practically smell my mom’s vanilla candles and see the large picture window that overlooked our front lawn. I half expected one of my brothers to walk in any minute and demand that I keep it down. Or mom to come in with her friends and start requesting songs I’d never heard of.
But when I opened my eyes, reality set in. I might be able to travel home in my mind, but my body was still here.
“You’re really good,” Jasper said. He still sat in the same chair.
“Thanks.”
“My mom played piano, but I’ve never been musical.”
It was the first time he’d mentioned anyone besides Nina. “Your mom?”
He nodded. “I never heard her play. I never actually knew her, but Nina’s told me about her.” Standing, he walked in my direction. “This was her piano.”
It confirmed my suspicion that Jasper had come from old money. “Neither of my parents play, but my grandma does. My mom swears that the musical talent in our family always skips a generation.” I smiled up at Jasper as he leaned over the piano, resting his elbow on top.
“Maybe that’s what happened in my family too.”
“I guess that means one of your kids will inherit it then.” The words were out before I registered them.
Jasper stepped back from the piano. Since his features were always hidden behind the mask, I couldn’t read his expressions. But I’d gotten good at reading his body language, and right now he was upset.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I wasn’t thinking.”
His gaze left the piano and traveled to the bookshelves. It was like he hadn’t heard my apology at all. “There are plenty of books here. I have all genres. You’re welcome to choose some to bring back to your room.”
My stomach tumbled to the floor. “Can I please stay in here a little longer?” I tried to keep the tremor out of my voice, but it was a losing battle. Tasting freedom, even for a few minutes, had made the thought of being trapped in that room again unbearable.
Jasper stared at me a minute. Then he nodded. “Of course.”
I blew out a relieved breath and began playing again. Songs poured from my fingertips as if they had a mind of their own. I played dozens of songs. Some that I hadn’t even thought about since I was a kid. At times I even found myself singing along.
“Not only do you play beautifully, but you have the voice of an angel,” Jasper said, interrupting me.
I flinched as if I’d forgotten he was here. Blinking, I came out of my trance. “Thank you.”
“That last one you played sounded vaguely familiar. Perhaps it was one Nina used to sing to me when I was younger.”
“Nina sings?”
Jasper chuckled. “Not well. Not like you do.”
My cheeks warmed. “It was a well-known lullaby.” I placed my hands back on the keys. “Here. I’ll play the entire thing and see if it’s what you were thinking of.” As selfless as I tried to sound, the truth was that I would’ve done anything to keep playing. When I got to the chorus, Jasper’s voice joined mine, and it was surprisingly nice. As his voice continued to mingle with mine, I switched to the harmony and finished out the song. He stayed on pitch, and our voices blended well.
“I thought you said you weren’t musical,” I said when the song ended. Why did I always get the feeling I was being duped?
“I’m not,” he said sincerely.
“Your voice is really good, and you were able to stay on pitch even when I went off the melody. Someone who isn’t musical can’t do that.”
“I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or an accusation.” His tone had a bit of an edge to it, and I worried that I went too far.
“Compliment,” I said swiftly. “Definitely a compliment.”
“Then I guess a thank you is in order.”
I smiled in order to mask my discomfort.
“This was a really nice day. My offer still stands on the books.” He held out his arm again, but I was unable to take it.
Unprovoked, my lips began to quiver.
“Layla?” Jasper dropped his arm and came closer to me. “What’s going on?”
His gentle tone broke me further. “I don’t wanna go back in that room.” A tear slipped down my cheek.
Reaching out, he wiped it away with his thumb. I didn’t flinch or pull away. I allowed him to touch my skin, and shockingly I e
njoyed it. It felt good to be touched. It felt good to have some affection.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, igniting anger in my gut. It wasn’t the first time he’d apologized. And I wanted to believe that he genuinely was sorry, but I couldn’t. There were times when it seemed like he cared about me, but then I was reminded of the fact that he was holding me captive. If he really did care about me and if he genuinely felt bad, he’d let me leave. He wouldn’t keep locking me up.
Drawing in a breath, I turned my head away from him. “I can’t take it anymore. I hate it in there.”
“Then I won’t make you go back.”
My head snapped up. “What?”
“We’ll stay in here for the rest of the day,” he said. “You won’t have to go back to your room until tonight.”
My heart dive-bombed. “I thought you said I didn’t have to go back.” It was like when he promised I could go home. He was placating me again, giving me false hope only to take it away.
“Well, you have to sleep somewhere.”
He had a point, but I still didn’t want to go back to that room.
“I’ll take you back at night, but I’ll get you first thing in the morning. We can come back in here or we can go out to the garden, whatever you’d like.”
I nodded, my earlier panic subsiding a bit. It wasn’t exactly freedom, but it was better than it had been. In fact, it was more than I had been daring to hope for.
***
Jasper stayed true to his word. For the next few days I only stayed in my room to sleep. Early in the morning, Jasper would come get me and we’d spend the day in the study. I’d play piano and sing while Jasper would listen or read books. Sometimes we even played a game or two. For the first two nights, Nina brought our dinners into the study, but on the third night we ate at the dining table.
Jasper invited Nina to join us, but she refused. She seemed angry that Jasper had let me out of my room. Clearly, she didn’t trust me the way Jasper did. Not that I cared. I didn’t need her trust. I only needed his.
After my shower this morning, I’d fixed my hair into a thick side braid that fell down my left shoulder. I wore a blue shirt and leggings. It was the only outfit, other than my dress, that wasn’t sweats. I still had no idea where the clothes came from, but I was assuming they were hand-me-downs from Nina. We were about the same size. At home, I would never be caught dead in hand-me-downs, but here I was just glad to be in something clean and warm.