When Alyssa wasn't being verbally harassed by Chopper or avoiding pieces of furniture he'd thrown past the barrier, she spent her time fixated on putting the fragmented pieces of the patron saint statue's head back together. There was nothing to keep them bound together but gravity as she stacked the pieces on the neck. When all of the tiny pieces had been found and reconstructed, she was forced to find something else to distract her.
Her jacket had a few pockets with which she kept object she found on her journey. She'd discarded the rubber gloves and crowbar once she'd found her way out of the sewers. Her clover pendant weighed in her pocket now, so she fingered it, feeling the two cloves that were currently affixed. Her mother had said these two pieces were for love and courage. She wished she'd had hope and strength, because without those two, she was finding it difficult to see a way out of here. She felted empowered when she received each fragment, filled with a feeling that only the love of a mother could fill one with.
She slept for several hours more before the urge to relieve herself returned. She was faced with a dilemma. While she thought the dais would be a safe place to urinate, surely feces would contaminate it!
She looked around the little garden, reluctantly choosing to dig a deep hole in a corner with her hands. She was surprised how far down the soil went! She was thankfully hidden behind a curtain, so Chopper wouldn't be able to get a perv's view as she defecated, but she still heard him sneer, "That's disgusting." Maybe he was able to smell it?! She felt mortified.
"You did it once, too, you know!" she snapped back in irritation as she covered her waste with dirt. The smell dissipated immediately.
"You could at least show me mercy and give me a show while you're at it, stinky," he replied drily.
"A show?" she echoed.
"Yeah, show me your fanny."
Horror filled her, face surely reddening as she felt the warmth coming to her cheeks.
"You're such a creep!" she cried, feeling the misery of her situation sinking in once more. She'd be stuck here forever being taunted by this perverted demonic creature until she finally gave into insanity and exited to be killed.
"He smiled with no humour reaching his eyes. "I live to please."
She prayed to the patron saint, praying for God to help her out of this situation. The Hamiltons never accepted the Great Father that some of her extended family seemed to praise. They wanted immortality of the spirit, which just wasn't possible through praising a false idol. Only through God himself did eternal life occur, and only through worship of Him could humans achieve it. She felt invigorated with hope as she silently mouthed her pleas, socks wet as she kneeled in front of the dais.
.o
She couldn't tell how many days had passed. The place around her didn't give any hints. All she knew was that Chopper would come and go, and if she tried to sneak out, she'd suffer the consequences. She exercised by doing jumping jacks, running in place, pushups… anything to burn off the energy building inside of her. The space wasn't large enough for much else.
The Subordinate eventually brought up Dennis. "I wonder how your friend Dennis is fairing… Surely he must think you're dead by now!"
"H-how do you know about Dennis?" she grew worried.
"I know many things about you," he replied as though he knew a secret, eyes gleaming.
She bit her lips but she couldn't hold it back, "If you do anything to hurt him—!"
"Oh?" his face grew slack with faux surprise. "Does he mean that much to you? Are you…dating?"
Alyssa's brain froze before she let out a surprised laugh. Her? And… and Dennis? "You know a lot about me but you don't know that?"
He shrugged.
"Why do you want to know?" She had rejected a few boys in her days in boarding school, but she knew that boys who asked if she was dating someone usually meant they were interested in dating her. In dating her. Her eyes flicked over to the pale-skinned man—no, demon, she corrected herself.
He shrugged again. Her stomach dropped and she felt tingly all over.
"I don't think we could ever date. I see him as a brother," she finally admitted, chewing on her lower lip. She had always wanted a sibling but was never blessed with one. So, she assigned the role of brother to Dennis early on in primary school.
She laid back into the lush flora, grimacing as she began to smell how pungent her odor was. She'd have to bathe herself at some point.
"Did you ever have a girlfriend?" Alyssa asked innocently. He was 19 and well-built. Surely he would've attracted at least one girl's attention.
At that question, she startled as she heard the thunk of an axe hit the wall. She might've let out a little shriek at that, too.
"Shut up!" Chopper hissed venomously. He squatted down to look at her, baring his teeth.
"You don't get to know anything. It's not going to matter. Come out here and face your destiny!" He slammed his fist against the wall as though he had the strength to break down the barriers of the holy sanctity protecting her. He apparated out of the room, leaving her to nothing but silence and her own stressed, tearful sobs. She tried peering out of the sanctuary again when she realized he'd teleported—foolishly, in her distressed state—but when an axe nearly split her face in two, she pulled her head back through the barrier, screaming as she fell back into the sanctuary. The axe fizzled out right before her eyes.
Chopper's entire chest was swelling as he took in deep, heaving breaths. He was seething with rage. Those pupilless eyes looked even scarier than before.
"Don't," he managed to squeeze out through gritted teeth, before teleporting away again.
She hugged herself in the safety of leaves and grass, crying until she found peace in her sleep.