"There you are! I was getting tired of waiting, you know" the sound of his voice made my entire body freeze. I knew I would have to face him eventually today, but the exchange in the hallway made me forget about it all momentarily. I wasn't ready. I wanted to run back to my boxes again and hide away.
There was seven others in what was once another space with couches and small tables. Now the room had a long, dark wood dining table with eight matching chairs, ornate patterns carved into the wood, and an oil painting of a forest of birch trees in fall hanging on one wall. I wasn't used to seeing this many people at once, and it only added to the sense of panic building in my gut. As Marcus stepped away to take an offered glass from Timmy, I scanned the faces in the room. I recognized Marcus, Timmy, Melody, Bobo, Donald—I nicknamed him that because he was always grumpy about something—and lastly, him. The left one new person in the mix. And that new face was staring at me with a slightly shocked look in his grey eyes. I wasn't exactly sure why. It made me consciously look at down at the baby blue dress I wore. It wasn't a color I would've picked to wear if I had a choice, I would've gone with something darker so that I could blend better, and no lace. The dress itself was a simple cut, the solid material ending above my small breasts in a modest manner, lace connecting the front with the back of the dress over my shoulders. It had a high neckline to the lace part, which I didn't really care for, and was sleeveless. The dress came to just above my knees with enough material that it swayed when I walked. It also had a built in under-skirt, which ended with more of the lace, so that it peaked out the bottom of the skirt.
Melody who was always dressed up in dresses and skirts didn't complain about it being weird or ugly, so I could only assume this was actually a nice dress. That still didn't explain why the new face stared at me like I crawled out of a hole and threw up in his lunch.
"Melody, would you be so kind as to fetch Mr. Alushin here another drink?" His voice snapped me out of my pondering. Everyone was moving about, picking seats at the dining table and filling up their glasses from the bottle of wine sat out. I watched as Melody offered our guest a smile and a fluttering of her eyelashes before taking the empty glass from Mr. Alushin's extended hand. Bobo gave an exaggerated eye roll before plopping down in a chair at the center of the table. Marcus sat down across from Bobo, Timmy to the left of Marcus. Melody handed the now filled glass back to Mr. Alushin before sitting across from Timothy between Bobo and the person whom led the kidnapping of me nine years ago. Mr. Alushin took the other end seat. Donald glanced between the two empty seats and sat next to Bobo with a shrug. One seat left.
That one seat was situated between Marcus and the Mr. Alushin, who still watched me carefully. Take a seat, quickly. If you wait too long he will yell again, the voice whispered quietly. It didn't like to talk when we were around him so I knew to take heed. I stepped quietly towards the table, still unsure if I really should. Running back to my room and hiding in my cardboard fortress sounded so tempting. But I knew the repercussions. I wouldn't go unpunished. I stalled a little too long before pulling out my chair. "Seriously, Juliett, would you sit down already? We won't bite. Tonight." His words were full of his annoyance, the last bit said with dry humor. And he wasn't kidding about biting. He did it before, and would do it again.
All eyes were on me as scooted into my seat. The chairs were tall enough that only my toes touched the ground. I ducked my head letting my blonde hair fall like veil between everyone's stares and my face. After a painful few seconds, conversations started up, food was passed, lies were spouted, and no one gave me a second glance. I was able to relax just enough to let my shoulders drop. It was going to be a long dinner.
Only after had I relaxed did I realize he used my name. They hadn't called me a civil name for years. I'm surprised anyone remembered it, I hardly did.
Real food that was warm and full of flavors were rare and far between and I couldn't resist stuffing myself. No one spoke to me for the most part. Just one line from Melody when she shot me an evil glare warning me about spilling pasta sauce on the dress. I tuned out everyone till Timmy had gotten up, collecting the other's finished dishes. When his hand passed in front of me I jumped in my seat, startled back to reality. Donald gave a soft chuckle. "You spooked the little thing Timothy, better apologize. Have to mind your manners, ya know?" Donald's baritone of voice was light with humor. I usually disagreed with his humor but right now I was too confused to even think what he was laughing about or why. My eyes were wide sweeping over everyone at the table. Once again attention was on me.
And then Timmy spoke to me, "Forgive me, Juliett, I never meant to scare you. My humblest apologies." He held his free hand over his heart and offered me a small mock bow. Now I was just damned lost. My eyes were hurting from not blinking but I just continued to stare at him like he grew a second head. I would've believed that more easily than what I just heard. Melody, in her high pitched voice, jumped in. "Well, are you going to accept his apology? Or are you just going to sit there like a dumb mute?" My head swiveled to her and then back to a waiting Timmy. He had a slight smirk on his face. He managed to hold back from fidgeting for a good bit. When I noticed the way one of his fingers, from the hand over his chest, toyed with a button, I narrowed my eyes. They were toying with me again.
I couldn't think of any way to get rid of the attention and the moment was stretching on, making me all the more uncomfortable. There had to be something to get him to give up on me speaking. My eyes glanced to his other hand, the one full of plates. Quickly I grabbed my plate, piled on the used silverware and handed it to him. The startled look on his face when I shoved my dishes in front of him caused Donald to break out in laughter. Others joined in, chuckling.
"This is the second time you've shoved your dishes at me today, I'm starting to think you look down on me," Timmy's voice was light in humor but there was something in his eyes that kept my eyes on him. He seemed genuinely hurt. Donald's laughing turned to howling.
"You are always going to be the whipping boy if you keep this up. Even the pet's out-ranking you now!" Donald's comment rubbed me the wrong way. I was glad the attention was off me, but now Timmy was the uncomfortable one. As far as the people I was around went, Timmy was the second nicest. He joined the group three years ago and only joined in their games when it couldn't be avoided. Timmy took my plate adding it to the pile and went on collecting dishes, a forced smile fixed to his face.
Slowly everyone returned to their previous conversations. I sunk into my chair, wishing to retreat to my room for the nth time that night. I peeked a glance around the table. Donald was in a heated debate with Bobo about things I didn't understand. Timmy was refilling his glass with more alcohol. My original kidnapper stood up commanding the attention of the room. He let his caramel eyes travel over everyone as our voices died off into silence. Finally, he spoke, his gaze directed towards our guest. "There is a very important reason I had planned to have this dinner tonight on such short notice. You might not be aware, but there is a meteor shower passing by at 12:04. It's 11:56 now. What better to end the night then watching giant rocks burn up in the atmosphere?" He said with a small laugh.
"That would be quite the sight. The weather's perfect for this as well. May I ask where will we be watching this from?" Mr. Alushin responded, calm. His collected-ness was starting to creep me out. He managed to sound interested and bored and the same time with everything mentioned. Only when he looked at me did I see any real interest in his hazel green eyes. Not even the delicious food or the poking fun at Timmy earlier caused a shift in facial expression. He just wore that poker face like everything was just as expected.
Melody answered Mr. Alushin's question, "Will be heading up to the top floor. We converted one of the rooms as a sort of study, complete with a large skylight." She cheerily jumped up, "it is still bit cold up there, so you may want your jacket." The others rose and from their seats, chairs scraping against the floor. I wasn't sure if I was invited to watch or not so I stayed seated.