Within These Walls

Chapter 7

My bare feet are quiet on the stone floor as I follow Marcus down the white hallway toward the gymnasium. I wish I'd taken a moment to look for shoes before I left my room. I wish I'd looked through the dresser that my roommate and I are supposed to share. What if it holds information? Tools? Something to help us get out of this place?

Marcus pauses in front of the gymnasium and waits for me to catch up. He laughs when I stop about ten feet behind him. "For a tough girl, you sure spook easy."

"Just being cautious," I say as I trail after him across the threshold.

My voice is amplified by the spacious, brand-new gym. He heads over to the metal basketball rack and grabs a dark-orange ball. He tosses it from one hand to the other, testing its weight. "I wouldn't call picking a fight with Rudolph being cautious."

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer. It's fitting, and I approve for a change. Still. "What's with the nicknames? Why can't you just call people by their names?"

"Where's the fun in that?" He dribbles the ball and tosses it at the basket. Swish. It doesn't touch the rim.

"Is that it? Because it's fun?"

Marcus grabs the ball as it bounces back. He dribbles and shoots again. Misses. He chases after it. There's something almost comical about seeing him running around barefoot. But it's not so funny when he turns to me with those hard eyes of his.

"You really want to know?"

It's almost like he's challenging me. "Yes."

"The man who raised me taught me the power behind names." He walks closer. "When you pick out a person's flaw and refer to them by that, you define who they are. And you control them."

I was wrong for thinking Marcus is a dumb brute. He's smart and cunning, and every time he calls me Rose, he reminds me of my vulnerability. My need to protect myself with thorns so no one will know just how weak and damaged I feel inside.

The sound of the basketball hitting the floor ricochets like a gunshot. I hold in a flinch, but the smile he gives me tells me he's seen through me.

"You were raised by someone other than your biological father?" I ask.

He cocks his head. "You're not going to get me to talk that easily."

I try to fit this piece of information into everything I know already, but it's like trying to push a square peg into a round hole. I store it away anyway. "Why'd you bring me here?"

Marcus starts to circle me, the basketball caught in the crook of his arm. His footsteps are silent; if it weren't for the cold prickling at the back of my neck, I wouldn't know he's still behind me. "You ignored my friend request. That hurt my feelings."

I don't like his tone, low and heavy with things I don't understand. "You weren't exactly being friendly."

Marcus chuckles, the sound closer now. "Why'd you come over? Alec? His pretty boy looks got to you? I thought you were a little more inspired than that."

He brushes past me and heaves the ball across the gym. It bounces for a while, bang, bang, bang, and rolls to a stop near the far wall.

"Here's how it's going to be, Rose. You'll join me. Work under me. You'll do exactly as I say. When I say jump, you jump. When I tell you to keep your smart mouth shut, you listen. You'll do everything in your power to make my time here a little easier."

I give him a look that makes it clear I think he's insane. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you care about your friends." He crosses his arms and moves his shoulders up and down. "I'm not forcing you. You're free to do whatever you want. But the next time Rudolph or the others pick on your hillbilly buddy, I'm not going to risk my position to save his sorry ass."