Taken- a Selection FanFiction

Chapter 3

"Thank god he's gone," I sighed as Ginny handed me a mop.

"Why do you say that?" Willow giggled.

"He follows me everywhere, and watches my every move," I complained as I dunked the tool in the water.

"Why is that a bad thing?" Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"How is it not?" I pulled the sopping wet mop out of the pristine water.

"Nathan is by far the dreamiest guy in this place," Willow said.

"Not to mention one of the only men below the age of 22," Ginny added.

"Where are the rest of them?" I asked. "Surely there must be more."

"They're fighting in the forces," Ginny replied as she scrubbed a dirty spot in the floor. She made circles around the white tile with her mop before putting it back in the slowly browning water.

We cleaned in silence while we mopped. I changed the water out four times, and we had only done the hallways of the base floor. I was drying my mop when Willow sat on the section of dry tile beside me.

"We should probably do the rooms now," she sighed. "Ginny and I will take the offices and dining room. Can you handle the library by yourself?"

"There's a library?" I gasped.

"Don't get to excited," Ginny laughed. "It's not much compared to what the palace probably has."

"Probably not," I sighed. "Yes, I can do it."

Ginny and Willow took off to clean the rooms assigned to them and I went to the library. Nobody was in the library, and I was grateful. I couldn't have strangers watching me while I cleaned.

The walls were white, as was everything else in the room. I had hoped the books could be a source of color, but the spines of the books were covered in white with black titles. The terrible thing about a white room is that dirt is incredibly visible.

I sighed and got to work. I used a nearby ladder to step up to the top of the short shelves and dust the tops. I slid the ladder across all of the shelves until they were done. I shook out the dust in the black feather-duster into a bag.

I began to sweep and mop. I knew I would be done with the gigantic room soon after I washed the glass table tops and vacuumed the rugs. I sprayed the fluid on the dirty table tops, careful not to get the liquid on my skin.

I pushed wisps out of my face and wiped the sweat gathering on my brow. I took a deep breath and exhaled a shaky breath, my tired lungs struggling to keep putting oxygen into my body.

I was putting books of the shelf when I remembered there were more misplaced books on a desk in the back. I made my way to the back and ripped off my rubber gloves to gather the books into my hand.

I giant boom sounded at the front of the room, and I dropped my books out of shock. I turned and contained my quaking body to see Nathan had entered and slammed the door behind him. I sighed in relief.

"Did you know I had just put those books up on the shelf?" I yelled, referring to the books the colossal door slam had knocked upon the ground.

Nathan glared at me out of the corner of his golden eyes, almost with such a hostile glint I flinched. I blinked twice and took the books to the shelves to put back on. "You could at least help," I mumbled as I struggled to reach the upper shelves.

The upper shelves reminded me of Aaron. My heart stung at the thought; I had tried to push him out of my mind to keep the pain and realization away. This time, it just made me angry.

"I seem to be doing a lot of helping around here," Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me?" I laughed darkly. "I'm so sorry your life is so hard, Nathan," I began sarcastically, laying a hand over my chest to prove a point.

"Does being down here just drive you crazy? Is tormenting others not enjoyable enough for you? Are the prisoners just not entertaining enough? Because, sincere apologies, I can try harder," I chuckled. "I know. It's daddy, isn't it?"

Nathan had been practically fuming by this point. His lips were pursed, his eyes narrowed, fists clenched, quick breathing, and whitened knuckles. I decided to push him a little further.

"Did he not get your favorite type of wine? Did he not get you the color clothes you wanted? Did he not kill who you wanted him to? Oh, I know." I paused. "He just kidnapped the wrong selected. He actually kidnapped the one who loved Aaron. He didn't take the one you thought would be the most fun to play with, did he? Do you like these games, Nathan?"

"Well, I'm really sorry, Nathan," I cracked open the door to exit. "I'd love to play your games, I've just simply outgrown them."

I walked down the hallways, blindly confused as to where I was going. I turned a few hallways before getting hopelessly lost. I heaved a sigh, and when I turned a corner, I saw Nathan there waiting for me.

"Go away," I said before walking past him.

"So, you want to play games?" He said, ignoring my request. I didn't reply, so he picked me up and slung me over his shoulder similar to the way he did when he kidnapped me. "And I thought the dress was most of the weight last time."

"Excuse me?" I gasped. I tried to kick against his torso, but he had an arm around my calves, restricting them. I beat on his back with my fists. "Put me down!" I demanded.

"Don't hurt yourself," he warned. "I can't put you down until you apologize for what you said."

"When hell freezes over," I retorted. He dropped me slightly, so I fell further down his back. "Nathan!"

"Apologize," he said, suppressing a laugh.

"No. Now put me down!" I felt myself drop even further, so he held my ankles behind his neck and I hung upside down behind him. I shrieked and pulled my skirt up to cover myself. "How old are you?!"

"Seven. Now apologize," he ordered. "My arms don't get tired easily, Elisa."

I felt the blood rush to my head as my hair began to drag against the ground. "I'm sorry," I said through gritted teeth.

"You're what?" He asked loudly. I could hear his grin.

"I'm sorry!" I yelled. "Now put me down!" He opened the door to a room I had never been in and threw me down on a sofa. It was soft and plush, the finest I had sat on in several weeks. "Where am I?"

"My room," he responded. I looked around curiously. It was spotless, with clean carpets and a fully made bed. The interior of the room was red and black, and my heart jumped at the sight of color.

"Why am I here?" I asked with a turn of my head.

"Ray ordered I keep an eye on you at all times," he replied. "So you'll be spending a lot of time in here. Consider it your new room."

"I can't stay here!"

"Why not?" He asked quizzically.

"This is your room," I said blatantly.

"And?" He furrowed his brow and drug out the 'a'.

"Where am I supposed to sleep?"

"Um, the bed," he said with a gesture. "Unless you'd prefer the couch or the floor," he joked.

"I think I will, thank you," I scoffed. He looked slightly hurt at my comment.

"Well, fine," he shook his head. "I'll see you in the morning," he said before getting into his bed.

"Fine," I said curtly.

"Fine," he returned before flickering the light off.

"Fine!" I screeched.

I heard him laugh, and I wanted to punch him so badly, but I couldn't due to the darkness. "Goodnight, Elisa."

"I hope you have nightmares," I grumbled before dozing off to sleep.