Could You Love Me? || Ms Venable

I.

.･:*:･･:*:･.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in our philosophy."

(Hamlet, act 1 scene 5)
.･:*:･･:*:･.

****

It had been two months since the bombs. Two months since I'd been dragged away by the masked people in suits into this fallout shelter. Two months since I last saw the outside world. My whole life had shattered beneath my eyes when the bombs hit. Not that I had much of an impressive life, but it was still something.

I sighed, pulling myself out of bed, rubbing my eyes. Another day of the same routine.

I changed into my purple victorian like dress and combed my dark hair to a presentable state. The dress was long and puffy at the shoulders. It didn't fit me very well, it was quite big for me. I didn't let anyone know that in case they tried to intervene with me.

There was a knock at my door so I opened it to find Charlotte, a grey.

"Hey there" I greeted her. Charlotte smiled shyly, no one here ever showed anything other that annoyance at a greys presence, but not me. They were people too, they'd lost everything to the bombs just like everyone else here. What made us purples so superior to them?

"Your new towels and sheets, I'll come back later to put them on for you"

I nodded, taking them from her.

"Have a nice day" I called out to her as she turned.

"You too, Ms Aldean" She bowed and walked away.

Urgh, how many times did I have to tell the greys here to just call me by my first name? But to be fair, they'd get scolded at by Ms Mead if they were caught saying it.

I walked down the empty corridor and neared the dining table. For a outpost shelter, this was a huge place, apparently it used to be a boys school. The whole of the place was Victorian styled, and all completely underground. Sat around the long table were all the other purples.

Sitting down, I stared at the translucent cube on the plate in front of me. My stomach flipped over and my usual disgust kicked in.

We heard the sharp tap of a cane echo down the stairway, and we all straightened up.

Ms Venable entered, with her usual intimidating aura. She was slim and tall, with dark reddish hair that was always scrapped back. Her dark eyes never faltered a cold stare. Just one glance at her and you'd fall silent in slight fear. Ms Venable was wearing a long black dress that reached the floor, long white sleeves and finger-less gloves.

Ms Venable sat down, resting her cane on the side of the table, and we all looked in her direction, waiting for her to speak.

"I'm sure you have noticed already, our food is being cut down again, it shall be two meals a day, and will be so until further notice. Breakfast and dinner" She ignored the groans and complaints of the other occupants at the table, her face setting into that stone cold glare.

"Enough!" Ms Venable snapped, hitting the ground with her cane twice. Everyone fell silent again. Just her cane tapping alone was enough for someone to fear her.

"Eat, and stop complaining about things you cannot change. Be grateful you even have food."

Sighing, everyone ate their cubes. Apparently every nutrient a person needs was in this translucent thing.

Staring down at my plate, I was lost in thought. I didn't know what on earth it was about these cubes, but they made me almost throw up.

"Ms Aldean, why are you eating so slowly? I don't have all day, there are things I'd much rather be doing." Ms Venable's voice was sharp, cutting through the silence. I was naturally an extremely slow eater, and taking more time made the small amounts of 'food' seem bigger.

My head jerked up to meet her eyes. They looked slightly dangerous.

"Erm, I'm just not really hungry" I said quietly, looking away, too scared to maintain our eye contact. One thing I would never do was tell her that the cubes tastes like over boiled cabbage mixed with too much salt, because we all knew it and if I voiced my opinions, she'd no doubt punish me for being ungrateful.

"Very well. If you wish to die by starvation, it's fine, it's more food for us"

I felt tears spring to my eyes.

*

Half an hour later, we were all in the common room, the other engaging in a random conversation. Something about singers they used to listen to. In the background was the same full song that had been playing on repeat for a couple of weeks now.

The other purples who lived here were Coco, Dinah, Timothy, Emily, Andre, Stu, Gallant, and his mother, Evie. Plus the guards and the grays.

I sat in the corner of the room, in an armchair, drifting off into my thoughts.

My chest felt heavy, as usual. A sadness crept around me, also as usual. Before the apocalypse, I hadn't had the best of lives, and this heavy feeling was familiar.

I closed my eyes slowly, trying to block everything out. It worked for a bit. My body was tired, and I felt weak. Obviously from the lack of food nutrients. I needed more iron than an average person did, even as a child, and those cubes were not helpful. I wasn't going to let it get me down though.

What was the point of me being here anyway? The end of the world had come and I was in a fucking outpost. Why wasn't I dead? I didn't deserve to have been saved. There would have most definitely been someone out there who deserved my spot more that me. Hell, i didn't even know why I was given a place, all I knew was that a group of scary looking people had taken me and driven me here.

"Karinya? Are you okay?" My eyes snapped open to see Coco standing in front of me. Everyone here thought she was a clueless dumb and selfish blonde, which she kind of was, a little, but I saw straight through that. I could often see people in their raw form, not the walls they build around themselves. In Coco's case, I knew that she just wanted to feel good enough, and the main way she could express that was to feel as beautiful as possible. Despite her sometimes selfishness and arrogance, she was a kind girl at heart, but rarely showed that part of herself, in fear of being deemed 'weak'.

"Mhm" I responded with a nod, wishing for her to leave me alone. Not in a nasty way, I just wanted to be alone. Well, I was always alone, by choice. I wasn't a people person.

"Okay then" She straightened up, then joined the others.

Sighing, I stood up, and left the room. Walking up the spiral staircase, I paused, grabbing the handrail in support, my knees felt slightly weak. So I slowly went back down the stairs into the kitchen.

"Could I get a glass of water? Please?" I asked one of the grays. I didn't know his name, but the grays weren't always too keen on giving too much of themselves away, in fear of Ms Mead or Ms Venable finding out.

"Yes Ms Aldean" I fought the urge to roll my eyes at the name. There was no point in repeatedly trying to correct them, they weren't going to change it.

"Here you go ma'am" I gratefully took the glass, and drank it very quickly. Good, that made me feel more stable.

Walking up the spiral staircase again, I tried to remember where I was going before. Who knew?

Moments later, I found myself in the library. The room was on slightly small, and all four walls were packed with books. There was literally no clear space on there. It was heaven really. Smiling to myself, I ran my finger across the shelf, trying to decide what to read next. So far in my time here, I'd gotten through four thick shelves worth of books. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

Settling down, legs tucked underneath me, onto my favourite comfy armchair, I opened my chosen books. Macbeth and Hamlet, by Shakespeare. I'd already read them countless times. I'd always been a Shakespeare girl.

*

It had only felt like minutes when I tore my eyes away from the book. But it must have been an hours, because I'd finished Macbeth and was already a quarter of the way through Hamlet. Then suddenly I heard the tap of that all too familiar cane.

****