(Leopold Mortensen P.O.V.)
A blow to the nose. A left hook and then a cross punch. Anthony reels backward before falling to the ground. I growl, defeating him was too easy. I still have a lot of anger left and he wasn’t a good enough opponent.
“Who's next?!” I shout looking at the rest of my Unit as they watch me standing outside the ring. “Come on! Who wants to fight me now?!”
"Hey, Commander, you seem angry. Maybe instead of boxing, you should go for a walk,” Valentine suggests, looking at me with a hint of fear.
His cowardice irritates me beyond words. But deep down I am aware that my anger has nothing to do with Valentine or anyone else in my Unit. I’m upset about what happened last night or, better said, what almost happened. I feel disgusted with myself. What was I thinking? I know the who
(Aubrey’s POV) Shortly after, Eliza comes back with Fiona, whose eyes are reddened because she has been crying. Fiona takes a seat next to me. I feel sorry for what that strange girl said to her, Fiona seems nice, I thought so since I saw her during our fertility test. “Are you okay?” I ask in a whisper. Fiona straightens her back at the sound of my voice. She looks askance at me, she clearly distrusts me for being an Eel. After a few seconds, she nods. “Yes, I’m better now, thank you,” she replies with caution. I press my lips together. I shouldn’t have asked her anything, I am not her classmate, nor a regular Bearer, I can’t pretend to act normally and for my group to accept me.
I walk around the house like a caged lion. Waiting for the moment Commander Mortensen gets home. Suddenly, I hear Baxter's paws behind me. I look over my shoulder, the dog is shyly walking behind me with his tail between his legs.“You don’t have to be afraid of me, boy, I won’t hurt you,” I say in a soothing tone.Baxter starts to wiggle his tail as I pet him. Suddenly, the door opens and Commander Mortensen comes in, he is carrying a box with my prisoner number written on it. “Good evening,” I mumble with my eyes fixed on the box. What it’s inside it?The commander doesn’t even reply. My attention gets diverted from the box when I realize a middle aged woman comes in behind the commander. She has short blac
I get in the black car. The motor is very silent, it barely makes a sound as we drive away, it must be an expensive car. It is the first time I’m in it, I look around as I enjoy the smell: leather mixed with his cologne. I like it.“Are you okay?” The commander asks me while he drives. “You look pale.”“Yes, commander, I’m just hungry. I forgot to eat breakfast," I say as I look out the window."I have a granola bar stored here," he says, opening the glove compartment without taking his eyes from the road. “I often forget to eat breakfast so I always have something to eat in the car.”"Thanks," I say quietly and reach into the glove compartment to find the granola bar, but instead my fingers find a metal object. I instantly pull out my hand. “That's a gun,” I declare surprised."Oh yeah, sorry about that."
I stand in line in the cafeteria waiting to fill my tray with some of that insipid food they serve, suddenly, someone pushes me making me to bump against the woman in front of me in line.“Watch it,” the woman says to me rudely.When I turn around to find out who pushed me, I see Alice and Melody walking away while laughing.“Don’t mind them, they are bullies,” Eliza, standing a few places behind me says. “At least the Matrons put Alice in her place today, right? Oh, I wish I had a camera to record that precious moment.”“Matron Constance mentioned Commander Wilson, is that Alice’s partner?” I ask her.The girls standing between us
Today is Free Day, the one day a week we don’t have to go to the Ministry we belong to. I used to spend Free Days with my family or hanging out with friends, but I don’t have either now and I wake up not knowing what the day is going to be like at the commander’s house. I am aware that security is not something that can take a day off, so the Shark Units take turns to stay on guard certain Free Days but I ignore if today is going to be the 9th Unit’s turn or not.I lay on the bed waiting for the commander to say or do something but he’s just staring at his phone. So I assume he is in no hurry to get to the Ministry of Bravery, that means this is his Free Day too.“Could you go make breakfast, I’m getting hungry,” the commander mutters without taking his eyes from his phone.
I find Mortensen fully dressed and about to leave the moment I open my eyes the next morning.“I cleared some space for you, you can put your things in the closet,” he says before he walks out.I jump out of bed to see what drawers he cleared. As I suspected, one of them is the one with Grace’s belongings but, to my surprise, the watch Sabrina gave to him is not here either. I search around the room, the things are not here. I then go to his office, and in every place I can think of, but the things that were in Grace’s drawer are gone. I don’t even know why I’m looking for them, I am just curious to know what he did with them. I finally check in the trash can, in case he tossed them, but it is empty. What if he took out the trash while I was sleeping? It ma
(Leopold’s P.O.V.)I step into my office and I plonk myself down on my chair as I let out a long sigh. I close my eyes for a moment, for the first time in years, I feel great and liberated. Maybe I’m being silly, but I finally feel free from that wicked woman’s shadow. I guess I have to thank Aubrey for providing me with the perfect excuse to get rid of Grace’s belongings, I’ve been wanting to get rid of them for years, but I always feared people would admonish me for not keeping something to remember my late Bearer by. For the sake of appearances, I had to show that I was honoring her memory, even if deep down I loathed Grace with all my heart. Now, if anyone asks, I’ll just say that I didn’t want my new Bearer to feel uncomfortable being surrounded by my Grace’s belongings. Something good came out of this after all. I just finished my morning workout, I feel lighter and renewed like I jus
(Aubrey’s P.O.V.)Today I do my best not to be late. Matron Mary Ann thinks it’s a sign of insubordination and I don’t want to give her reasons to doubt me. I take a shower, brush my teeth and my hair and by the time the doorbell rings at 8:30 on the dot, I am ready to go. Glad that today I won’t have to hear her complains about my tardiness.I open the door and I find the Matron looking for something frenetically inside her purse.“Good morning,” I greet her.“Audrey, I made a terrible mistake! I forgot Wendy’s health card! Today the doctors are coming to perform your medical evaluations and they can’t do it without everyone’s heath cards!” she cries out.I feel a pang of fear in my stomach.“The medical evaluations are today?” I ask fearful. &ldq