The General part 5

UPDATES AGAIN TOMORROW

I run my rounds throughout the day. Cleaning the kitchens is horrible because apparently, the cooks were running meal experiments. Even the walls got splattered with a thick batter. My stomach grumbles as I wipe the food up with my washcloth and wrench it in a bucket.

I’m starving, but I can’t eat until I finish my work. The Headmistress calls that rule “motivation.”

Sometimes, when I get sick of the rules and feel like being a daredevil, I sneak a bite. I haven’t gotten caught yet, but I rue the day when I do because the Headmistress will make me sing like a canary.

I sneak a cup of water to calm my raging stomach, thinking about the horrible day when I’m finally walked in on. The water feels so refreshing falling down my chest that I close my eyes and sigh.

“Joan!”

I splutter and choke.

Of course this happens now. Of course I’m caught red-handed the day I’m admiring my daredevil streak.

I turn so fast my braid slaps a plate off the counter. My boss is there, not the Headmistress, and he’s pissed.

“You know you cannot be eating now. Don’t be lazy, girl!”

“I wasn’t eating.” I shake my head vigorously and step back. He can be very violent, and I just woke up and have no interest in being slapped back into sleep.

“Lying alien scum. Yes, you were!”

“No, I swear! I was only drinking.” Water trickles from how hard I’m squeezing the rag.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” He stomps toward me and takes my braid. Before I can process that I’ve been dragged to my knees, two fingers are shoved down my throat. They’re salty with bacteria, sweat, and cruelty.

I cry out from the invasion just as vomit surges out. Water and liquid from what little I had for dinner splashes on the ground.

“Good, you didn’t eat,” he says as he analyzes my small pool of vomit and doesn’t find any fresh food. “Clean this mess up. And no more drinking or eating.”

I cry for three minutes. In those one-hundred and eighty Earth seconds, I list one-hundred and eighty seconds why I hate my position. But then I get up. I get up because adding tears to my pool of vomit won’t put food in my belly. I need to work to get paid.

I finish in the kitchen, and then I go to replenish the well. My arms scream as I carry the bucket from the lake and step over the rocky terrain. While this is a good exercise for my arms, it’s terrible for my gritted teeth.

After two more trips, I go to my tent to retrieve the polish for the shoes I have to clean up. I freeze in my tracks when I enter it and find everything in disarray. The bed is tossed, my nightstand drawers pulled out, and utensils are everywhere.

Is this someone’s form of revenge? Did an Entertainer finally come to bring hell as punishment for all the attention I got?

I feel anger, but more so at my helplessness, because I know I won’t be able to do anything about this. I can’t mess with the Entertainers.

Relief slams into me when I realize the dress I fixed is gone. This wasn’t an act of malice. The Entertainer was only looking for her dress. I got lucky today, but I know I’ll receive worse than a tossed room if I keep receiving attention from The General.

I begin to clean up and only get to pick up my book and a few other things when a bell rings outside.

“Girls, gather. There is a meeting!” the Headmistress yells.

Ugh, another one?

I wipe at a nasty stain on my knee-length dress and step outside. The Entertainers are already gathering and forming straight lines, looking pretty in their dresses and gold makeup. One is busy between two tents, bent over and getting fucked by a Master.

I stand in the last row and listen to the Headmistress.

“Some of you have broken the rules I clearly outlined on the first day of Camp. That’s unacceptable. I don’t play favorites, no matter how pretty you are or how well you satisfy the Masters.”

My heart sinks down to planet Earth. I’m about to get fired, because I broke two of the rules by crashing into The General and peering into his classified, mysterious blue eyes. I dug a deeper grave by rejecting and avoiding him. Men like him must have egos proportionate to their dick length and heights.

I’m going to be tossed into the wilds, and if I make it back to a city, I’ll go back to begging and robbing for food.

“Yves and Olaris, you’re both dismissed from camp. I’m very disappointed in both of you.”

She lists two more names, but my heart pounds louder with every second, and I hear less and less.

“Finally, Joan.”

My stomach grips tighter with the phantom, endless taste of starvation. My lips dry with dehydration. My body remembers those days of poverty all too well.

“N-” I whisper.

No. Please, no. I’ll carry more buckets, I wash more filthy clothes, I’ll bow my head lower.

“You are re-assigned to schedule C.”

My shoulders sag. I’ve survived, because she’s not kicking me out.

“Now, I want to remind you all of some things— oh. Hello, General.”

I hear no reply, but I do hear footsteps coming closer. Or is that my heart that is still running a marathon?

The General walks up to me. I can tell because I recognize his pants. They’re well-worn, like the rest of his clothes. My heart currently feels well-worn, too, like I’m ninety and about to have a final stroke.

My eyes remain on the ground. I won’t make the same mistake of looking up into his seas.

“You,” that unique gravely tone calls.

Is he really doing this now? In the middle of this enormous crowd? This is social suicide for me!

”Look up.”

Small gasps flutter, because The General is asking me to break one of the rules. I’m torn between him and The Headmistress’s command, but deep down, I know who to obey. I know who the True Master is.

“Not you,” The General growls when the Entertainer next to me dares to glance up.

“Joan.”

Oh, Gods old and new, of Earth and of Zolan. Kill me and take me now. I’m ready to become worm food.

The General said my name. He doesn’t say it perfectly because it’s an Earth name and it comes out accented, but it’s unmistakable. I’m under his scrutiny, under his shadow as he stands before me, on his tongue as he tasted my name.

“Joan, obey!” The Headmistress snaps. She’s telling me to break her own rules to satisfy the boss.

My neck throws back, and I look into the seas of The General.

He’s handsome.

He’s cold.

He’s the death of me.

“You will meet my eyes every time from now on.”

I don’t reply. My mouth is so dry that I’ve never felt this thirsty before. I thought I knew dehydration, but I guess I was wrong.

“Do you understand?”

He’s so intimidating that instinct has me looking down again.

“No,” he commands.

The word is so firm that it punches my head back up.

“Do you understand?” he repeats.

“Yes. Yes, I do.”

He’s gone with that, and the camp sounds like a cemetery. The Entertainers are too shocked to even look at me.

“Ahem, well, you’re all dismissed,” the Headmistress says, seemingly so shaken by what she saw that she forgot she had more topics to cover.

I return to my tent for some hours, where I clean to distract myself, and then I jump through camp to finish my duties. I’ve kept my head so low that my neck began to cramp. I’ve heard fast whispers all day. Nothing good is being said.

On my way home, I see him again. I know he’s standing nearby.

I remember his command, and although my instinct wants me to ignore it, I know I have to obey. I look up, and I find that he’s already pinning me down.

This is wrong. This is so, so inappropriate. We’re told to not hold their gaze for a reason. It sets them off. I shouldn’t be doing this.

I break eye-contact first, and I walk away with my spine straighter than ever because I know he’s still looking.

UPDATES AGAIN TOMORROW