Page 9

9

Lara

A noise that sounds like a chime or a bell wakes me, and I open my eyes after the soundest sleep I’ve had in years. I don’t think I tossed or turned, and one glance down my body tells me I’m right. The sheets and blanket look exactly like they did when I laid down last night in this cabin with the other four new recruits from yesterday.

I didn’t get a chance to look around much at all after the break with the cookies and lemonade. Nadine took us all to meet Kinley’s mother and the other women whose only job it seems is to make treats for everyone here. Much of the rest of the day is hazy to me now as I try to remember what happened after that and for the time until we all went to bed, though.

Odd that I can’t put together what I did for what had to be at least six or seven hours. I must have been pretty exhausted.

Everyone but Anna is up and chatting as I swing my legs out of the twin size bed and set my feet on the wood plank floor. They must be morning people. I stand up and stretch, loving how rested I feel this morning. Maybe all this positivity is more than just talk.

“Breakfast is in ten minutes, so up and at ‘em, ladies!” a woman says in a perky voice that usually would irritate me so early in the day.

I look over and see a woman near the door I haven’t met yet. Odd that there don’t seem to be many men here. I don’t think I’ve seen half a dozen yet. I wonder why.

Anna still lies in bed with the covers over her head, so I lean over and nudge what I think is her shoulder. “Time to wake up. It’s like camp. They expect you to get up and eat breakfast when they call.”

As I turn to straighten the covers and make my bed, I notice she doesn’t move. She must not be an early riser. I get it. Normally, I’m not either. My usual day starts with me bargaining with myself that if I get up and do what I need to do to get to work on time, I’ll give myself a treat. That kind of self-bribery is the only way I’ve found that works to motivate me to actually get out of bed before noon.

When I finish, I nudge her again. “Anna, time to rise and shine. These people seem pretty serious about attacking the day right out of the gate. Not that I don’t get how you feel. Trust me. If I didn’t sleep like a rock last night, I’d be right with you on staying in until lunch.”

Once more, she doesn’t move. I don’t want to be the kind of person my mother is in the morning and throw the covers off her, but I worry if Nadine sees she’s still asleep, she’s not going to like it. I get the feeling she’s up with the sun, that one.

“Come on, Anna. Maybe they’ll have more of those cookies today. Those were tasty, weren’t they?”

From the other side of the cabin, Bethany asks, “What’s up, Lara? Anna still knocked out?”

I shrug as she marches over toward where I stand between our beds. “I’ve nudged her twice. I don’t think she’s into waking up this early.”

“No problem. My brother used to be like this every school day. Weekends the kid was up like a shot at six a.m. sharp. Once Monday rolled around, we practically had to pry him out of the bed. I’ll wake her.”

I watch her lift the blanket and sheet to reveal Anna’s feet and then begin to tickle them. “Wakey wakey. Time to greet the day.”

She tries again with no success and then wraps her long fingers around Anna’s toes. Turning to look up at me, she says, “Her feet are cold.”

“Cold? It couldn’t have gotten below seventy last night,” I say as the other three women come over to stand around Anna’s bed.

Bethany pulls the covers back from her face, and Anna’s eyes stare straight ahead. My gaze moves to her chest to see if she’s breathing. As second after second ticks by, she doesn’t move.

She’s dead.

Mary screams and runs away toward the door while the rest of us just stand there in shock. I want to look away at anything other than the frozen expression on Anna’s face, but I can’t. I just stare at her in utter confusion as to how someone so young could die not six feet away from me and I never heard a thing to let me know something was wrong.

Did she cry out in pain? I didn’t hear anything. At least I don’t think I did.

Frantically, I try to remember the events of last night when we all came to this cabin to go to bed, but nothing seems definite. I think I know we all walked in together and said goodnight before we all went to sleep, but I can’t say for sure. I don’t think I heard her in any distress during the night, but I can’t swear to that either. It’s like my memory after we had those cookies and lemonade is full of more holes than Swiss cheese.

The door to the cabin flies open, slamming off the wall, and Nadine marches in with four huge men behind her. They make a beeline to Anna’s bed, and I can’t help but notice all five of them wear blank expressions. You’d think they’d be more animated since they’ve just found out someone’s died.

We all step back out of their way, and one of the men lifts Anna out of bed and carries her off without looking at any of us or saying a word. The other three men follow him, but Nadine stays behind as Mary sobs over on her bed.

“Ladies, it’s time for breakfast. Come. You need to eat,” Nadine says without a hint of emotion in her voice.

Bethany hesitates but begins to walk with Cheyenne toward where Mary’s sitting on her bed crying. I don’t move because it’s like I’m frozen to the spot after seeing Anna’s dead body lying there. I’m not sobbing like Mary, but at least I understand why she’s reacting that way. What I don’t understand is why no one else seems to be upset in the least.

Nadine stares directly into my eyes, almost as if she’s silently ordering me to follow the others, but I don’t budge. After a few moments, she says in a flat voice, “Time for breakfast, Lara.”

“I don’t really feel like eating right now. I just saw someone dead in their bed, someone who was just six feet away from me all night. I hope you’ll forgive me for not wanting to stuff my face.”

Barely able to contain my emotions, I swallow hard to keep myself from crying, but Nadine doesn’t miss a beat and says, “Regardless, you need to go to the mess hall for breakfast.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Mary, Cheyenne, and Bethany watching our conversation and can’t figure out why they aren’t telling Nadine the same thing I am. We may not have all been best friends, but Anna died in the room we all slept in and all Mary can do is cry while the other two remain silent. I get that how people handle death is a personal thing, but for God’s sake, at least back me up and tell this hard-hearted monster glaring at me right now that I’m not wrong for not wanting to eat at this moment.

None of them makes a sound, and all I want to do is scream. Maybe it’s because I’m worried about my sister. Or maybe it’s because I’m a goddamned human being and not some robot or some scared girl afraid to tell Nadine I won’t act like nothing happened just to make her happy.

When I don’t move to leave, she grabs a hold of my left arm and sinks her fingertips into the flesh around my bicep. She’s surprisingly rough, and instantly, I’m afraid of her.

“Let go of me! I’m not going to your mess hall to sit down and act like nothing just happened. Anna’s dead! Do you think we can have a few damn minutes to process that, or is that not allowed in your shiny, happy people group here? This place is supposed to be about getting all you want out of life. Well, what I want now is a few minutes to mourn a girl I met yesterday who died right next to me!”

Rage flashes in her dark eyes, and when I try to get away, she tightens her hold on my arm. My emotions get the best of me, unraveling because of all that’s happened this morning, and I can’t stop myself from bursting into tears. I’m not a crier, but the pain of her hand squeezing against my skin and how badly I feel about Anna dying right there in the bed next to mine combines to make it impossible to not fall apart.

Nadine seems more annoyed by my emotional breakdown than anything else and yanks me away from my bed, pulling me through the cabin and past the other women who stare at us in horror as we pass. She snaps at them to go eat breakfast before continuing on her way with me in tow behind her like an unruly child being dragged to the principal’s office for misbehaving.

When we step outside, the sun feels like a shock to my system. I knew it was daytime, but for some reason I didn’t expect it to be so bright out considering what I just went through seeing Anna dead. It feels wrong for the sun to be shining so brightly with her no longer able to bask in its rays.

I repeatedly try to escape Nadine’s hold, but her hand holds me like a vice grip. People see us and walk by without even a raised eyebrow at the sight of her forcibly taking me wherever we’re going. I try to make eye contact with every single woman who passes us, but none seem bothered enough to even do that for me. They just look straight ahead and give me a hint of a smile, as if anything is worth being happy about.

Is this how people are routinely treated in The Golden Light group? What the hell kind of place is this? How is everyone okay with a seeing a woman pulled across the center of this farm?

As much as I think that, I know the answer already. It didn’t take me long yesterday to figure out Nadine is one scary person. Her reaction to poor Kinley’s mistake proved that. No wonder not a single soul seeing this wants to do anything to help me.

With each step, I grow more fearful about where she’s taking me, but I can’t escape the feeling I’ve screwed up so badly I’ll never be able to look for Rina. I want to feel regret for what I did back at the cabin, but I couldn’t just see someone dead and then go gobble up a plate of pancakes with syrup and a side of bacon. I may not have known much about Anna, including where she was from or even her last name, but she was a fellow human being who deserved at least to have us take a few minutes to mourn her.

“You’re hurting my arm,” I cry out, hoping someone nearby will hear me and help.

Nadine looks back and glares at me again. “You need to learn how to behave.”

A dozen smart ass remarks pop into my head, but I stop myself from saying any of them. Normally, I’d tell someone like her off. Then again, normally, someone like her wouldn’t have grabbed me hard and practically dragged me anywhere.

This place clearly isn’t what I’m used to, so in the hopes that I’ll be able to get past what’s happening right now and stick around this place long enough to search for Rina, I keep my mouth shut. If I can somehow fly under Nadine’s radar after this, I might just be able to accomplish what I came here to do.

A large, white building far past the others on the farm stands in front of us, and I sense it’s somewhere I probably don’t want to see. Not that I have a choice. Her grip as tight as ever, she continues to lead me where she intends for me to go, never looking back at me other than that one time to inform me that I need to learn how to behave.

Who says that to a grown adult woman? I bet she’s done this exact same thing to little Kinley at least once. That’s probably why she was so terrified when she dropped the tray of cookies. Poor kid.

The door to the white building opens, and out come the four huge guys who came to get Anna’s body a few minutes ago. Then they wore blank expressions, but now they stare at me with nothing less than pure rage in their eyes.

I begin to literally drag my feet in the dirt, digging my heels in to stop what seems to be inevitable. I know if those men get their hands on me, something terrible will happen.

“No! I don’t want to go in there with any of you!” I scream.

Nadine spins around and flashes me a look of anger that makes me recoil in horror. She raises her hand as if to hit me, but before she can do anything, one of those guys grabs me and throws me over his shoulder like a fifty pound bag of flour.

I kick and scream, but it’s no use. The last thing I see before another one of the men closes the door is Nadine sadistically grinning.