"It's me," Master Smythee confirms. I'm struck speechless. No male in the ruling class had ever been put in the isolation room. "Monica?"
"Yes," I say as I find my voice and get closer to the slight openings between sheets of wood in the walls of the shack.
"Did they kill her?" he asks urgently, his voice cracking. "I heard the church bells."
Of course, I know exactly who he's talking about without him mentioning her name. "Yes," I say simply. I can't lie to him to spare him. He's going to find out anyway.
He lets out a painful whimper. "I knew it! I knew it!"
"I'm sorry," is all I can say.
His choked and profound cries strike me, and I can no longer keep my own sobs in place. Burning tears fall down my face.
"They're monsters, Monica," he manages to say between gulps. "I'm so sorry I've been a part of it. I'm so sorry!"
"They're evil," I mumble as I listen for noises around me. No one can know what we're talking about or it would probably cost us both our lives.
"Monica, you've got to try to escape. A whole new world is waiting for you!"
"How do I escape?"
"You're smart. You can do it."
"The dogs, the landmines, the--"
"You can outsmart them."
"What are you going to do?" I ask him.
"Revenge!"
"Revenge?"
"I'm going to avenge Beatrix's death if it's the last thing I do!"
"Master Smythee, be careful--" I start to say, but I hear a noise getting nearer. Footsteps. Probably male ones judging by the sound of boots. "Someone's coming," I whisper and rush as quietly as I can behind the isolation room. Thank goodness that trees and shrubbery offer some covering for me. I hope that whoever is coming hasn't heard me like I had heard him. The girls in Paradise Village are very adept at listening for footsteps or movement around them. We do everything to avoid bumping into the Elders or the Masters.
"What was all that noise you were making?" snaps Highest Holy Bledsoe. I peek out from a corner and see that he's limping and carrying a cane. His injury was why I hadn't recognized his footsteps. I can usually tell who's coming at me except the time when High Holy Grinder had caught Jana and me on the road. The fresh emotions had made me lower my guard. "Were you talking to yourself?" he questions furiously.
I sigh a breath of relief. He hadn't actually heard Master Smythee and me speaking to one another. Highest Holy Bledsoe had only heard sounds.
"I was trying to see if someone was passing by and could answer my questions!"
"You need to calm down, Paul. That's why we had to bring you here--to calm you down. In fact, I don't know why you're still up. We gave you a sedative hours ago."
"I've been fighting sleep."
"Stop fighting it and rest."
"I heard the church bells! You killed my Beatrix, didn't you?!"
"Of course not, Paul. The bells rang by mistake."
"Mistake?"
"Yes."
Why is he lying? My insides get twisted in a tight, furious knot.
"Paul," Highest Holy Bledsoe continues, "you've got to stop letting your emotions run away with you. These girls are for our pleasure and not to become part of our lives. You can't get stuck on just one."
The bile in my throat is threatening to explode.
"We have the perfect set up. Why would you want to ruin it?" he asks.
Set up?
"This doesn't work for me anymore," remarks Master Smythee. "Can't you see the damage we're doing the girls and the boys we steal?"
"It took a lot of planning to get us where we're at. To get us to paradise. What's wrong with you?" Highest Holy Bledsoe snaps.
"My conscience."
"Well, do away with it! We're not changing our fantasy life here because of you!"
"How can you live with yourself?" Master Smythees voice is disgusted and fiery.
"It's very easy to live with myself when I've got everything I want at my fingertips. You had it too and ruined it by falling in love."
"Don't you feel anything for your six wives?"
"They fulfill their purpose to serve me. The strong are here to rule the weak. The world has always been run like that."
I hold my stomach, so I won't retch.
"Someday you're going to pay for everything you've done!"
Highest Holy Bledsoe snickers. "I wouldn't count on it."
"You--"
"Don't be a fool, Paul. Stop over thinking your life here and just be grateful for it."
"I can't be grateful for a life that messes up others."
"Paul, stop thinking crazy thoughts. Stop--"
"You're the one who's crazy, evil, and without a heart! You and--"
"There's no reasoning with you! I'm sick of listening to your rants, and I'm leaving. Someone will be here soon to guard over you. If I were you I'd get some shut-eye. I'm sure that when you wake up, you'll see things much more clearly."
I wait until he's been gone for a while to speak to Master Smythee from where I'm at. "I've got to go," I whisper.
"Be careful."
"Thanks."
"No, thank you and the help you gave Beatrix and me. It means the world to me."
I dash away before my emotions burst. I'm all over the map when it comes to my throbbing sentiments. I feel such warmth for Master Smythee and at the same time such disgust for the Elders. I don't know how to manage everything I'm feeling. My insides threaten to snap with bolts of electricity. I had always assumed that the Elders bought into their own total garbage. Now I know that it's all been an elaborate lie to keep us manipulated and under their thumbs. Their evil knows no bounds.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
My head is pounding with the new information coursing through me. Today has been almost too much for me to handle and as I head to the slave quarters, my feet come to an abrupt halt. They won't move an inch. Their refusal to take me there overwhelms me, and I slide to the ground. Then I come to my senses. If they find me like this, I don't want to think about what they will do to me.
They.
The lying, thieving Elders.
Rage of such enormous magnitude flashes through me that I jump to my feet and start running in the opposite direction of where I'm supposed to go. My head is a pot of a boiling stew with too many ingredients, not thinking straight or clearly. All I know is that I want to keep running.