I had somehow fallen asleep and was dreaming about Rose. She was so beautiful. She was here with me, in this forsaken place. Only she wasn't beaten up and broken. She was peaceful and quiet. She wasn't nervous and upset. She was calm and collected. She saw me hanging here with my arms stretched out and she came up to me. She held my dirty face in her hands and looked into my eyes. She told me never to give up, she told me to stay strong. But then she told me to do something that I wouldn't have expected her to say. She told me to give in to Algaway.
"But why?" I asked. I was confused. I thought she would want me to resist his evil demands.
"Jack, you will escape. You need to believe in yourself. But you can't escape right now. Right now you need to eat and clean yourself up. Algaway will feed and take care of you if you will only cooperate. You need to give him what he wants Jack."
"Rose . . . I can't," I whimpered. She didn't understand. It's not that it was a matter of pride, it was a simple matter of I couldn't succumb to the enemy. He would win.
"Do it for me Jack." She looked deep into my eyes and pleaded with me. I could tell that she was scared for me; I could tell that she wanted me to be free.
I was torn. But my visions ended quickly, as Rose disappeared, and I awoke to the sound of shoes on the cold floor. I couldn't see anything in the dark, but I knew he was there. His very presence demanded respect and submission.
He was silent. He just stood there. I had to make a choice. If I didn't say anything I feared he would make the first move, one that I wasn't ready for.
"What do you want?" I managed to mumble through my puffed up lips and bleeding face. I had succumbed. He had broken me. Deep down inside I felt somewhat relieved that I would now get food and care, but I hated myself for thinking those thoughts. I despised myself. I despised myself more than I did Algaway. He was just trying to get what he wanted. I had surrendered my spirit.
He didn't say anything in response, but I knew he heard me, for the ropes that held my arms out were suddenly being loosened. When I was totally free, I slumped to the floor. I felt so pathetic; I didn't even have the strength to stand. I lay there crumpled up on the floor, until two men hoisted me up by my arms and dragged me out of the room.
I didn't even notice where I was going. I didn't even care. All I cared about at this point was living to see another day. And if I saw another day, I might live long enough to find Rose.
There were lights on everywhere and I saw people looking at me, as I was dragged down the hallways and through the rooms. We finally stopped somewhere, but my senses weren't together enough to notice where we were. I felt my torn and bloody clothes being taken off and water running over my body. It stung where my wounds were, but I didn't feel the pain consciously. It was as if, my brain was telling my nerves to feel, but my nerves were asleep and couldn't respond. I was put in what I assumed where new clothes and hauled off to another location. The men placed me on a soft bed and pulled sheets around me. The lights were turned off and I immediately fell into a long and restless sleep.
The smell of food woke me up. When I opened my eyes I saw a small table next to my bed. Placed on the table was a plate full of breakfast foods. I don't think I have ever wanted food so badly. The last time I ate something . . . I don't even remember when the last time was. I threw the sheets off my body and jumped out of the bed. I was totally oblivious to everything but the plate of food that was in my hands. I grabbed the fork that was also on the table and plunged into the sausage. I lifted the sausage link to my mouth and almost cried at the wonderful tastes that covered my tongue. It was wonderful! The sausage was spicy, yet chewable. Hot, yet tender. I was currently in heaven.
When I had scarfed down the three sausage links I next attacked the eggs. They were fluffy and salty. Full of flavor. I don't think I have ever had better eggs. The eggs were gone in seconds. My face must have been a mess from food particles that had attached themselves, but I didn't care. I was hungry. After the eggs, I devoured the sliced potatoes. After the potatoes, I demolished the pancakes.
It was all so delicious, that for the couple of minutes I spent gulping down my food (I don't even think I chewed every piece), I had forgotten all my troubles. I had no worries about Algaway, or my escape or anything.
However, as soon as my door opened I knew my troubles were about to resurface. I looked up from my finished plate of food and saw him there. He looked pleased. He actually looked like he had just won a hundred bucks. I just stared at him, trying not to give away my emotions.
"You finished?" he asked. I didn't respond. "I'll take that for you then." He reached out and took the plate I had been holding in my hands. "Today, Jack, I'm going to ask you some questions and you're going to give me some answers. Ok?"
I didn't say anything or move a muscle. "Jack? Do we have an agreement?"
I nodded slowly. I figured my cooperation would buy me valuable meals in the future.
"Good. Now get dressed. There's some people I would like you to meet."
People? Who would want to meet me? I cocked my head to one side, and he seemed to understand that I didn't get what he was saying.
"In the dresser behind you there are some clothes. I hope they fit. I'll be back in ten minutes to get you. Feel free to wash up too, there's a bathroom through that door to your right." I nodded again and looked to my right. Sure enough, there was a door.
When he had left, I walked over to the dresser and opened one of the drawers. There were white button-up shirts and some plain white short sleeve shirts with no buttons. I grabbed one of the button-less shirts and opened it up to look at it. It looked like it would fit, so I took off the raggedy shirt I was wearing and put on this new one. I noticed as I was changing that I didn't smell too good. It had been a long time since I had bathed, and I figured I would need to do so soon. But I didn't know where.
I opened another drawer below the first and saw it was filled with pants. I grabbed a pair and pulled them on, after taking off my old pair. Now what? Then I remembered what he had said about washing up. I ventured over to the door I had seen before and opened it. The room inside didn't have much light. I poked my head in and looked around. It was bright enough from my own room to make out what things were, but other than the basic outlines of objects I couldn't make anything else out.
I wandered into the bathroom and found the sink. There was no handle to turn the water on. I put one hand under the faucet and searched around the nozzle with my other hand. Shockingly however, the water just started coming out. I quickly pulled back my hands and the water flow stopped. What was that? I was at a loss as to how the water came out. I decided to skip the washing part for now.
Suddenly, a thought popped into my head. It was then that I realized something very important: I had to go. I hadn't peed since I'd come back to life, and I all of a sudden had the urge. But where? I searched the bathroom for some kind of a john, and found the white bowl with a lid over it again. I walked over to it and touched it. It felt like glass, but didn't look like glass. Maybe fancy porcelain? I had never seen a porcelain one before. I looked at it some more, trying to find out how to open it up. When I finally opened it I discovered that inside there was just pure water sitting there. I didn't know how I was to proceed.
Remembering that Algaway was to come back soon, I decided to hurry it along. I pulled down the trousers I was wearing and stood over the bowl. When I was finished, I just looked around trying to figure out what to do next. I'll just leave it, maybe no one will notice.
As I walked back into the main room, I heard a knock at my door; it was time.
Author's Note: Hello everybody . . . as you can tell Jack discovers the modern toilet in this chapter. Any thoughts. . . I was slightly confused as to how to present it to him being as it is that I'm not sure exactly how much he knew about toilets. Please tell me what you think.
Review, comment, just say "hi", anything is fine!!!
SeaLioness
