The Slave Ch. 01

She sat on the step leading down to the lower level in the sitting room, her arms wrapped around her knees watching the reds and oranges of the setting sun turn the flowing white drapes into a dancing flame. She jumped when the door opened and a matronly woman walked through. Nika guessed her to be in her sixties, dressed as the attendants from earlier, in all white, though she wore a skirt with her polo shirt.

"Good evening Nika," her Hispanic accent rolled off her tongue sweetly, her smile kind, "You have lots of questions I can see, but I can not answer them now. My name is Esella, and I am the matron of this hall. I will let my helpers in the room in a moment. They will put blankets on the bed for you to use until you have picked your own things in the next couple of days. I can only give you so much information, as I will not be your trainer." She turned to open the door and two young girls of different races entered carrying white sheets, blanket and two large pillows in their arms.

Nika watched them silently, sighing in frustration that her questions wouldn't be answered. The girls worked quickly making the bed and plumping the pillows. Esella stepped forward, "I'm sorry your bed wasn't ready, but we weren't told of your presence in the hall until just a few moments ago, seems you were supposed to go somewhere else but had your placing swapped at the last moment. You're the talk of the hall young lady. You caught the eye of the Master."

Nika looked at Esella in confusion and defiance, "the only eye I've caught is that of a guard and if you call him the Master than I am sorely worried about this place."

The kind woman gave a short warm chuckle, "oh no, the guard in question is named Michael. No child, the Master is the man who designated your assignments."

Nika was confused at first but then a thought struck her, "you mean the man with the British accent? He is the Master? How could I have caught his eye?"

Esella looked over Nika considering, "It might that fire in you, your spirit."

Nika shook her head and turned to the window, "either way, I don't want his eye, or anything else of him. I just want to go home." Facing the window she didn't see Esella's kind frown or her shaking head. The old woman called motioning her girls out the door and left the room, closing the door silently so as not to disturb Nika's thoughts.

She stood there through the sunset. Watching the changing colors echo on the drapes and the cream colored carpet at her feet, Nika sighed, her arms wrapped around her waist and walked through the wooden double doors to what she supposed was her bed. The mattress was better then any one she had ever been on before. It was soft and firm at the same time and as she leaned back still wrapped in her robe Nika realized she was more tired then she had thought, she fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *

The next morning the sun was just peaking over the tops of the trees when the outer door of her rooms opened waking Nika. She stood up quickly, shaking off the dizzy spell from waking and standing so fast. Making her way to the doors to the main room, she tightened her robe and wondered at what she would find.

Standing at the top of the two steps leading to her door stood Esella with her kind smile. "Good morning Nika, I've come to help you start choosing things for your rooms." Motioning to the open door, Esella's two helpers from the other night came in, one carrying a chair, the other a large box.

Esella sat in the chair, waving her hand to Nika to come closer. Opening the box the older woman started pulling out color palettes. "Nika, since these are to be your rooms, you get to pick everything, from colors to fabrics, even the pieces of furniture. You can even replace the bed if its not to your liking." She smiled and held out one of the color wheels.

"Why am I being allowed to do this? Can you at lest tell me how long I will be here?" She walked forward and took the color wheel, hoping that it would distract her from the fear of the coming days.

"The why is simple, the Master and his associates want you to be happy with your surroundings and rooms. All girls in group One get to do so. The how long you'll be here, is entirely up to you, but I imagine that it will be a while at lest." She nodded gently and asked one of her girls to get Nika her breakfast from the tray in the hall.

The girl returned with a silver tray with a domed lid. Underneath were the thickest slices of French toast Nika had ever seen. There was a tiny bowl of butter and small pitcher of syrup to drizzle over them. Following the growls rumbling in her stomach, Nika figured why not, no point in starving myself. If I eat I'll be strong enough for escape, and if they meant to kill me, why not do it last night?

Nika bit into the toast as Esella held up a red color palette for her. Shaking her head no furiously, Nika shifted through the palettes before she found two, one of deep blues and another of deep greens. Taking a drink of the glass of milk, she added, "and splashes of black and white" she smiled, why not, I'll decorate my prison, at least they aren't demanding that I be surrounded by reds and/or pinks…

Shivering at the thought Nika flipped through a book of couches, chairs and other odds and ends for her sitting room. Noticing the theme for the fabrics and plush cushions, Nika would have had to have been missing half her brain not to realize that all the items no matter the style were meant to be comfortable and cozy.

She picked items that she could curl up in, fabrics that would do well against bare skin in this climate of heat and humidity, complementary shades of blues and greens with a smattering of yellow as an accent item or two.

Esella looked to her watch, "We've picked out everything for your rooms, I need to move on to my next girl and you need to move on to be fitted." She told her girls to pick up the books and color palettes, "a guard will be here shortly to escort you to the fitting room. Follow him quietly Nika, you don't want to earn a punishment." She petted Nika's hand gently and then left the room.

Nika looked around her rooms imagining the items she had picked. Under different circumstances she might have smiled at the picture that came to mind, but now all it did was make it so she didn't want to cry.