The first time I pushed, the doors wouldn’t budge. I tried again. Nope. It wasn’t until the third time that I was able to push the doors open and pull myself up out of the hole I was in.
Standing up, my eyes bugged out as I examined my surroundings. I marveled at the twenty television screens that were perched along a shiny silver wall. I gasped at the beautiful, black marble flooring—so clean I could see my reflection in it.
And I shook my head in disbelief as my eyes followed the twenty-foot long control panel that stretched along the bottom row of the televisions screens.
This place was like a dream. Even though it reminded me vaguely of a government lab, I thought the only kind of interiors I would see for the rest of my life were, dirt walls and cement floors. My mouth gaped open, the last time I saw anything like this, earth was still earth. Where did Mr. Baker get all of this stuff? And what was he using it for?
Still mesmerized, I spun around in a circle, then came to a halt. I wasn’t alone. Someone or something else was in the room with me. Afraid to turn around, I peeked over my shoulder and gawked at guy who couldn’t have been more than three years older than me. His shoulders were broad, his build athletic. He had deep, dark chocolate colored brown hair that was a bit on the long side. The color of his hair suited his almond complexion. He got closer and closer.
I spun all the way around. Our eyes met and locked. I lurched closer, not breaking my gaze. Until he was about three feet away from me and I saw them. I saw his eyes. His dark blue, mixed with voodoo purple, violet eyes.
He cocked his head to the side and crooked me a smile, his perfect sharpened teeth fully visible, dimples rising up in his cheeks.
I picked my feet up one at a time, every memory of the day I met him resurrecting, hitting me like a slap in the face. No….
I couldn’t stay here. I had to save myself. So I took off running.
Chapter 17: I’m Starving
Hast thou found me O mine enemy?
He caught me by my shirt tail, twisted me around, and pressed his body into my back. I tried to slap his hands away but he gripped each side of my waist and held on tightly. Violet eyes. From now on, any time I thought about violet eyes, they would be associated with the word death. Chills of terror spread throughout my body as the warmth from his kept me from freezing. His lips were inching closer and closer to my neck and my knees started to tremble.
Then, he leaned in, close to my ear, his lips almost brushing against it . His hot breath against my neck made it tingle, and goose bumps appeared on my arms. I winced, preparing myself for the moment, where his teeth sink into my skin and rip the flesh away. I moved forward slightly and he pulled me back, wrapping his right arm around the front of me. Then he whispered into my ear,“Dinner,”he breathed.“It’s so nice to see you again. Did you miss me?”
At that point, my whole body was shaking.The day I met him came back to me so clearly. He hovered above me, his violet eyes staring straight into my soul, and then he smashed my head open with a rock. I teared up as I struggled to get the words out. “I’m… I’m…”
“Starving,” he said, finishing my sentence. “Very good, dinner. And here I thought you had forgotten about me.”
I began thrashing my arms and legs. “No. No. No.” That was all I could get out.
“There is no point in fighting me.” His deep voice came out soft, yet frightening. “That is a battle you will lose.”
Soon I found my voice and put it to good use. “Help! Someone help me!” I screamed—loud, shrill—and high pitched.
A low, husky laugh left his throat. “Nobody is going to hear you.”
“Help! Help!”
“Stop it, dinner,” he teased.
Rethinking my strategy, I slumped into his arms hoping that he would think that I’d given up the struggle. Straight ahead was the open hatch. If I played my cards right, I could make it there. “You told me your name was I’m Starving. You cracked my head open, left me paralyzed, and wrote me a sadistic letter. You said you were going to eat me.” His grip was loosening. “You’re a cannibal. Oh God!” He removed his hands from my waist and I took that as an open opportunity.
I bolted for the hatch, pumping my legs as hard as I could. And I was fast. But… he was faster. He raced ahead of me, slamming both of the hatch doors shut. I tried to sprint around him but he caught up to me before tackling me and pinning me down on the ground. “Dinner, you need to calm down.”
“Stop calling me that!” I shrieked. “I am no one’s dinner!”
“Fine then, can I have a name, please?”
“Georgina,” I sobbed.
“Relax, Georgina. I’m not going to eat you,” he stated.He spoke sincerely so why did everything about the entire situation feel wrong? I blinked several times, trying to correct my blurred vision. I glanced at his face and he looked concerned. And not at all how I remembered him.
The sequence of events that took place that day resurfaced in my mind. Colin was running toward me, frightened. Then I took off running. And he passed me, ignoring my cries for help. Colin didn’t even look back. He just ran forward as a heartless, spineless coward, while the guy above tackled me, threatened my life, then bashed my skull in.
“Who are you?” I asked in a robotic tone, staring blankly ahead.
“My name is Owen Sanders.” He backed up off of me.
“And are you a cannibal, Owen Sanders?”
“No,” he announced. “I am not.”
When I saw him, out in the earthly desert, he had cannibalistic traits. The sharpened teeth, blood smeared all over him, sadistic demeanor. Looking at him now, even though he was cleaned up with his shiny skin, kind eyes, and normal clothing, he still reminded me of a cannibal. “You’re not?” I asked, warily.
He shook his head. “No.”
I sat up abruptly, almost whacking him in the head. “That doesn’t change anything. You almost killed me! And then you left me all alone bleeding and unable to move!” I snapped.
“I saved you,” he harrumphed. “You don’t know anything!”
I cackled hysterically. “You saved me. You and I have a very different interpretation on what the word save means.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Do we, now?”
I scoffed. “Yes, we do!”
He got up off the floor and stalked over to the control panel. “We’ll see about that.”
“Where are you going?” I shouted as I rose to my feet. He didn’t answer. I watched him carefully as he picked something up off the control panel. Then he walked over to me and chucked the item at me. I missed the catch and the item bounced on the floor several times before I walked over to pick it up.
“I cut your head open, so I could take that out!”
I palmed the tiny iridescent barcode that looked a lot like a computer chip. “What is this?”
“It’s a censor. It was implanted in your brain, to be used as a tracking device, among other things.”
“This can’t be from my brain. You are just feeding me a load of bull. I’ve never had one of these inserted.”
