It’s Meridei.
Meridei is my conformist.
36. Senior Conformist
Niklaus
Report Filed: Staff Misconduct – Dismissed/No Action Required
This room has been scrubbedclean recently.
The stone is still wet. The fumes from the chemicals still potent and hanging in the air. But they didn’t quite get everything, did they? The right corner of the room has a puddle stain of urine. And there are marks on the wall by my head. Human fingernails that scraped and clawed and bled to get out. I stare at it until Suseas stops fucking talking and leaves.
An hour, I think, passes by me before the door opens again. My new conformist stands in the doorway for a long moment before finally getting bored of her own grand entrance and stomping in. I don’t care to look at her. I’m choosing to spend all my time planning an escape for me and Sapphire. I can’t imagine what they’re going to put her through for not following these fucked up rules of beauty.
Her name is Meridei.
I silently mourn that slight bit of hope Aunt Skylenna would be my conformist when she first started. She was said to have compassion and kindness for her patients. That is decidedlynotthe case for the other asylum workers.
And to my horror, if I remember correctly, Meridei was by far the worst one.
The sadistic woman folds herself into a neat, seated position with crossed legs on the edge of my shitty bed. “Are you scared of me, Patient Three? Is that why you won’t talk to me?”
She twiddles the white sheet resting over my legs with the tip of her index finger.
I blink slowly, then find her black eyes dissecting me. They’re two saucers that burn holes into my skull. And they’re empty. Blank. Isolated. Like screaming into a cave and never getting a response. I can picture most patients shuddering and avoiding her pointed attention. And maybe she enjoys that effect she has on people.
But I simply stare back in utter boredom.
“Do I look scared of you?” I ask.
Meridei straightens, and she lights up in surprise. “You do not.”
“There you go.”
“Suseas tells me you’re married,” she muses, eyeing my arms and the many scarred tattoos that cover them.
Oh, yeah.She said something about that. It was smart of Sapphire to throw that detail in there. Without it, she would be labeled a paid whore for wandering around the woods with a man, unmarried and completely alone. Who knows what they would have put her through if that were the case.
“I am,” I say.
“And she’s an asylum patient?” There’s a degrading insult laced within her tone.
“We both are.”
Meridei uses her pinky to smooth out her lip gloss.
“Yes, certainly. But…never mind, I shouldn’t say that.” She blushes into her hand. I pay even closer attention to her very deliberate mannerisms. I can’t imagine this woman gained such a notorious reputation for being this sheepish and shy.
“But you’ll say it anyway,” I say.
“I mean, I must, right? What kind of woman would I be for not speaking up on such a topic that has probably cost you years of suffering!”
I raise an eyebrow.
“Your wife has not been upholding her wifely duties to you, has she? Look. At. Her. Those plump hips and backside are far from meeting any seamstress’s measurement requirements! How could you want to penetrate her with your penis? How could you want a woman like that to bear your children or…” Meridei glances away submissively. “For recreational purposes,swallowyour seed.”
For fuck’s sake, I clench my jaw to keep from laughing. I’m no fan of Sapphire’s, but my god, that woman has the sexiest body I’ve ever fucking seen. Her hips? Her ass? I immediately get hard when she bends over. She is not overweight. She is not underweight. Her body is every man’s dream. Why does everyone give her so much shit here?!
