Flock

Chapter 43

Alice and I were no longer allowed in the kitchens. In fact, we were barely allowed to leave our quarters. We now shared my small, cramped bedroom. Dikan had found another mattress somewhere and dragged it in the morning following Bogan's execution, Alice in tow. I was sitting in the hard, wooden chair, fearing sleep.

"You will both stay here for now," Dikan said. I ignored him until he shrugged. "If either of you need to leave this room for any reason, you are to have an escort. No exceptions."

Alice bobbed her head and folded her hands demurely in front of her. I didn't answer, choosing instead to look at my own hands, nails bitten to the quick. "Ollie," Dikan sighed. "I'm talking to you. Do not leave this room without us. Understood?"

I felt the fire that rushed to my face. I glared at him, but he simply just raised his eyebrows until I responded with a curt nod and a clipped, "Yes."

He closed the door and Alice moved to the mattress on the floor, but I stopped her. "No, I'll take that one."

"I don't mind," she said, not stopping her stride.

"Please, it'll be more like home—" I felt my voice crack. Her steps faltered as she faced me. I missed my little flat, far away from other people. I missed the little floorboard where I stored my meals and the odds and ends I picked up in my wanderings. I missed the musty mattress and the simplicity of that life before. I missed the small closet I had slept in as a child. But mostly, I missed the freedom, the illusion of safety that I had carried with me each day.

I left my post on the chair and took one of the thin blankets off the bed, wrapping it around my shoulders before I folded in on myself on the ragged mattress on the floor. I felt Alice's eyes on me for a while longer, her gaze boring into my back. Eventually, the feeling of being watched dissipated and I heard the wooden frame creaking beneath her weight as she climbed in.

We both laid in our beds, lost in our own thoughts as the day passed by without us. I listened for sounds of activity, but only the soft sounds of another human awake in the same room greeted me. Eventually, those sounds lulled me to sleep.

"Get up," a voice growled at me. Hands were shaking me awake in the dark room. The small light must have gone out during the day and the whole room was suffocating in blackness. I heard Alice's sharp intake of breath as she was also awoken.

"Ollie, on your feet!" My eyes popped open, staring into the darkness. I knew that voice. That beautiful, wonderful voice.

"Lee?" I breathed.

"Get up," she snapped. "Geez, anyone could just walk in here and kill you and no one would be the wiser. Security is lax."

A small flame burst to life across the room, and a young Kryjia halfling lit the lantern. "We have to hurry, Lee."

I launched myself at the girl, squeezing her hard. Relief flooded through me knowing that she had lived. "You're alive!"

She slapped her hand across my mouth and glared at me with her teenage sass. I grinned beneath her hand. She rolled her eyes, "Stop staring at me like that—you're freaking me out."

I nodded and she took her hand away. "What's going on?" I whispered. "We're breaking you out."

My dear, Flock-ians!
Thank you so much for sticking with me through this writing journey. It has been full of many unsuspected twists and turns and we have a few more weeks before I'd like to have Flock wrapped up and hopefully complete by 2021. -C