Ivy Gates || PJM || Ivy Book One || ✔

7.

As I did with my Mama every day for my entire life, I was up at five AM. As per the rules, I showered well and got myself dressed before heading down stairs into the kitchen to make some breakfast.

I decided on sausages, bacon and eggs for breakfast, as I'm pretty sure that the General wouldn't appreciate porridge. After cleaning the bottom floor quickly, I went back to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. While he was eating, I'd clean upstairs, and then I'd eat. After that, I'd do any extra chores that were asked of me, and then go back to my room; I was told that unless I was cleaning, I had to stay in there.

It must have been about half six that the General came down to the kitchen, and he glanced into the frying pan while he was drinking a glass of water. He said nothing, but I heard him go and sit at the dining table, so quickly plated up the food and took it in to him with a glass of orange juice. I was shocked to see juice in his fridge, as it was extremely expensive. 

I had heard that before the explosions years before, fruit grew in many places, and juice was easy to obtain, but in our atmosphere now, growing fruit was hard; there were very few farms that had fruit in them. Other than that, harvesting fruit from the wild was suicidal, because of the animals.

He said nothing when I placed the plate in front of him, but he picked up his cutlery, so taking that as a sign that the food was acceptable, I went up the stairs and began to clean. The place was already tidy, and there was very little dust, so after I had swept and tidied a little clutter, there wasn't much left to do.

I headed back to the kitchen, and as I passed the dining room I went in to pick up the Generals empty plate and glass. He was still seated at the table, reading some kind of newspaper, so I went straight back to the kitchen to wash up. Once I was done, I warmed up a small bowl of stew from the previous night, and stood at the counter to eat.

Just as I was cleaning up my bowl, the General came into the kitchen.

"What was your registered name, again?" He asked, absentmindedly reaching up to flick some of his blonde hair out of his eyes.

"Rebecca, Sir," I answered politely.

"What did your Mother call you? That name is no good," He asked. He told me yesterday that he would allow me to keep my name, but I was starting to get doubts.

"She called me Bee,"

He tutted, and I felt my heart drop. However, he said nothing more on the subject.

"I forgot to tell you yesterday," He said, "The food in here is for you as well. I expect you to eat what I eat,"

"Yes, sir," I said quietly, secretly over the moon. That meant I could get to try some of the juice, and that was one of the best things I had ever been told. Mama and I were never allowed to eat some of what the Master ate, so I also didn't get to try things like bacon for myself.

"Get ready, I have to go out," He then said, before turning and heading out of the room. I suddenly remembered that I had a "Red warning", so wherever the General went, I had to go, too.

I quickly headed up to my bedroom and grabbed my Mamas blanket scarf, wrapping it tightly around my shoulders. I swapped the stockings I was wearing for a longer, thicker pair and stuffed my feet back into the shoes, before heading back down the stairs.

The General was waiting by the front door, and frowned when he saw me, "You're not stupid enough to go out into this cold without a coat, are you?" He said, "I'm not going to pay for a doctor if you get sick. Put a cloak on,"

I looked down at my winter dress and the scarf around my neck. This was the warmest set of clothes I had ever worn before, and was shocked that there was a coat. I immediately headed back upstairs and looked in the wardrobe. Sure enough, tucked away at the end and hidden by the dresses, was a thick black cloak. I pulled it out and wrapped it around my body, marveling at the thought of how I looked.

I had never been to the city before, but there was a woman who lived near Mama and me that had a cloak. I didn't know it was the norm for us to dress normally where it was a rich population. But I guess, even here, the men didn't want to pay for doctors for us, so they just dressed us warmly, instead.

The General said nothing as I reached him, so I assumed that he approved. I saw a wicker basket with a long handle next to the door, so I picked it up, and when I stood up, he reached out and clipped a thick chain lead to the collar around my neck. It was a lot shorter than I had ever seen before; maybe just long enough for him to relax his arm at his side as long as I was right next to him. Instead of the soft handles that most leads had, this one also was different. It was made of thick leather, and it was bright red.

Once again, I forgot that I was labelled as dangerous. Once the clip was secure, the General opened the door, and I followed him out. He closed the door behind us and locked it, before pulling me towards him with the chain so that our faces were close.

"Don't make a single sound while we are out unless I tell you to, do you understand me, 1216?"

"Yes, Sir," My voice was barely above a whisper, and I worked hard on not looking at his face. When we were this close, I could see that he was extremely handsome, and I didn't want to think about that. I didn't want to find any good points about him, as he was not going to be my new Master for long.

"Good," Without another word, the General turned away and led me down the path and out on to the street.

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AN: not edited, sorry

Also, don't worry, it will get interesting real soon XD