“Jamie, please…” I gasped as he took the eyelashes and put them inside the small bag I was holding. Grabbing her hand in mine, she squeezed it so hard, the immediate ache in my bones hurt.
The jar. The jar in his room. I had seen it full of eyelashes.
“Mr. Ivory, I’m begging you. Please stop. You can take mine,” I rambled as Jamie’s face grew pale and her sobs became unbearable.
Alister stopped after he took the eyelashes from one of her eyes completely.
He moved over to be in front of me and looked at me with a satisfied grin. Brushing his finger against my lashes, he smiled. “Why would I ever make you less beautiful, my raven? Besides, I already took some of them. Now, if I ever hear any one of you speak my name or disrespect me again, you will be dissolved.”
“Get to your assessments now. Demi, I want your IUD taken out.” Alister opened his palms to me. Placing my hands in his, I stood on shaky legs. Jamie was still on the floor, sobbing in pain.
No. I didn’t want to know what was coming for me. I didn’t want to know what the next event would be.
I just knew I wasn’t powerful enough. I never was, and I never would be.
I couldn’t save myself, let alone hundreds of women.
I needed to escape.
I had to save myself.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
“Today we are beginningour assessments for the doves first, then the nightingales, and then lastly, the breeders. Since all three groups of employees have gone through very different training, we want everything to be kept separate.” Bradley paced the stage wearing a white tuxedo.
“If you’ve been here for some time, then you know that you’ll go to your physical check-up with Dr. Davenport, the dear friend of Dr. Noah Wimberly, who was a highly respected surgeon in our community. Then you’ll spend an hour of reflection in your original training quarters, where you’ll have a dietary evaluation, be weighed, and then cleansed with our peony tea. If you’re a new employee, you’ll need to take an updated photo,” he said.
I looked at the girls around me, some I recognized, while others I had never seen before. I noticed some girls were missing from the crowd, and I turned to the girl next to me. “Hey, have you seen Jamie?”
She didn’t turn, ignoring my whisper. I turned to the other girl beside me. We were sitting in clear, acrylic chairs in an all-white room with too much bright light that had my head hurting.
“Have you seen Jamie? She’s worked here for quite some time.”
The girl smiled at me. “Sure, what does she look like?”
“Blonde hair, light green eyes.” I paused as I glanced around the room filled with women in matching white uniforms, with matching green eyes and perfectly done platinum blonde hair.
She smiled at me. “That’s going to be hard to narrow down. There are so many people in here, and I’m sure your friend is somewhere.”
I looked up at Bradley, whose eyes were fixed onto me, and murmured, “Yeah…maybe.”
Alister had asked me to go ahead to the assessments while he had a word with Jamie. I knew there was nothing I could do to change his mind. I heard her crying and sobbing as soon as I walked away, and I knew he was plucking the eyelashes from her other eye.
But I didn’t think he’d do anything else. All she did was make a silly comment about him and use his first name.
The girls began to stand in perfect lines, and then were directed to separate sections.
I lagged and waited until I could turn and walk up the stage to Bradley. “Demi…did he touch you?” He didn’t make eye contact with me and pretended to be reading the stack of papers from the oddly dirty podium. “I want to hold you, but I know…I know they may be watching.” His voice was filled with heartbreak as his eyes flicked around the now empty ballroom. “You have to tell me… Did he hurt you? Did he?—”
“No. He never does anything. He just…wants me there.” I placed my hand on Bradley’s, knowing the risk. “Bradley, tell me I’m not crazy. Tell me that what I saw between you and my sister… She’s alive, and you…you and her were…” My heart hurt just saying the words.
Bradley took a deep breath and moved his hand away from me. “Demi, this place makes you lose your mind. It makes you see things that aren’t there; it makes you hear words that aren’t spoken, and most of all, it makes you question things that can have you killed. If your sister was alive, I’d have risked my life to let you know that. Please, Demi, go to your assessment.”
I turned away and was about to leave the stage when he grabbed my wrist from behind. “Demi…one day, you and I will escape once and for all. I promise, no more Ivory’s. Just us. You’ll wear a beautiful white lace dress and your big white hat, and I’ll have your Nike Jordans waiting for you so we can run.”
Tears built in my eyes. The Nikes were the shoes Bradley snuck to me at the Ivory estate. I had told him when I was a little girl, I’d draw a check mark symbol on a cheap pair because I’d always wanted them after seeing a picture of a celebrity wearing them in a magazine.
“One day.” I moved his hand off me and walked away.
