He didn’t answer. He left me standing in the middle of the room, too shocked to continue pursuing him. I’d gone from a broke piano player facing bankruptcy to a broke piano player arrested by some crazy secret police that may or may not jail people that turn into strange animals accidentally.
I collapsed where I stood, sitting on the floor. He had to come back soon. He had to realize that I was ignorant and I had no clue what was going on. I knew he’d come back soon.
***
He didn’t come back.
He wasn’t kidding about making me spend a few days in the cell. Three times a day, a bucket appeared in the corner. After I was pretty sure I’d been in there close to twenty four hours, I finally used it. I’d never done anything so demeaning. Squatting over a bucket to piss was the lowest point of my entire life.
A tray of food appeared right before the bucket every time. I ignored it the first three times, even though my stomach screamed for it. I hadn’t eaten since my lunch break at work before I’d gone to the court house.
I timed my days by the appearance of the food. I gave in when the fourth meal disappeared, untouched.I’ll eat the next one. They’re notmessing around with this, and I don’t want to die of starvation.
The next tray that appeared, I ate every bite, and cursed how delicious it was. By that point I was so thirsty I downed the water in seconds. The relief was enough to get me through until another tray came.
Seven trays of food into my little stay in the prison, it hit. My guts rumbled, and I stared at the bucket longingly when it appeared, but I managed to resist for another three trays of food, though I didn’t eat them.
With the appearance of the bucket after the tenth tray of food, what I figured was three and a half days into my time in the cell, I dropped below the lowest, most embarrassing point in my life, and pooped in a bucket.
To make matters worse, when I finished, I looked around, and there was absolutely nothing to wipe myself with. I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Are youguys kidding me?” I yelled toward the door. As I was about to take my shirt off and use it, a roll of toilet paper appeared beside me. “Thankyou.” I finished and kept the roll close to me. No way was I giving it up.
I managed to avoid that particular embarrassment again, as two trays of food later, the door opened. “It’s about time, youjerk.” I’d assumed it would be the dangerous hottie again, but I’d assumed wrong.
It was Roan. “How dare you?” I asked. “You helped me! Why did you help me only to get me arrested?”
His shoulders slumped as he walked in the room. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know they were going to do this.” He carried a bunch of clothes and what looked like toiletries. “Come on, I’m taking you to the showers.”
“Why are you here? Are you with the other guy?”
“The other guy is sort of in charge. So in that way, I’m with him, yeah.” He turned and moved into the hall, looking back at me. “Are you coming?”
I jumped off the bed and scurried after him. “My family is searching for me. They’ll have called the FBI by now; I hope you know what you’re in for.”
He paused as I joined him in the hallway. I looked around, but there was nothing to look at. The walls were pristine white and the floors shiny black. The doorway I exited disappeared into the wall, making me wonder how Roan had even known where to enter the room.
“Jen, nobody is looking for you yet.”
He must’ve done some research on me. As long as work was notified I wouldn’t be there, nobody would search for me for a while. I’d been pushing everyone away, preferring to sink into solitude.
It’s possible I’d been a little depressed. “You don’t know that. I’ve got family.”
He stopped and pressed his hand to the wall in a spot that had no discernible marks to me. A door opened into a bathroom. “I’m sorry you’ve been imprisoned. Why can’t you tell us what you are and what you were thinking by shifting in front of all those humans?”
Once my eyes landed on the shower, I tuned him out. I was far too exhausted and dirty to listen for one more second. He continued to ask me questions, but I walked away from him and twisted the tap on to let the water warm, but it came out steamy hot. I should’ve expected the water would instantly be hot in such a magical place. “They couldn’t spring for a shower curtain from the dollar store?”
Steam began to rise almost immediately, and I delightedly stripped as fast as I could. If I didn’t bathe daily my hair and skin got gross fast thanks to my overly oily glands. I hated feeling dirty.
“Oh, I’ll leave you to it,” Roan said as I was peeling my once-soft and clean robe off.
“Leave the toiletries and extra clothes please.” I gave him a bold shot of myhineyas I bent to pick my nasty clothes up and threw them in the trash.
I turned to see him staring at me with his jaw hanging.
“What? You’ve never seen a naked woman before?” I’d lost my shame the day I’d crapped in the bucket. “Stay and talk if you want, I don’t care. I just want that shampoo in your hand.”
He jumped and ran it over to me. “Here,” he said, handing the small bag of toiletries over. I put them outside the shower and stepped into the hot spray.
“You do realize I don’t know how I changed the other day, right? Or why?” I asked him as I wet my hair and body. I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye to see him looking away.
