I suddenly become protective of it, for it was mine for the next twenty-nine days and since whomever the people at PDD were, turned out to be merciless bastards, I wanted to offer it a reprieve, even just for four weeks. I knew it did not mean a lot, but it was better than nothing.
Announcing my intention before moving, I took another step closer, my boots touching the rotten wood.
“I am going to open the box a little more, so we can see each other better and to open enough space for you to get out. I promise you are safe, we are in a secure room and there is no one else around.”
Grabbing the wood with both hands, I wrapped my fingers around its damp texture and tilted back with a pull, forcing the nails to rip lose and create a wider opening. Almost a full side of the box was now open, but instead of creating a calming environment, the faerie started jittering again, forcing its bloodied body to escape.
“Please, stop, you will hurt yourself.” My educated guess turned out to be correct, those were iron chains, pounds of them wrapped around the crouched body. I watched with a grimace how the flesh on the faeries back ripped open from the pull of iron. “I cannot turn off the lights, they’re going to be on for as long as we stay here. It’s annoying, I know, but you get used to it.”
I waited a while, until the faerie calmed down and stopped moving, determined to continue living at the back of that box and avoid the light.
“There is no one else here,” I said again, this time adding a softer undertone, trying to make my voice calmer.
“It’s only you and me and I promise I won’t hurt you. Honestly…I don’t even know you, they told me absolutely nothing about you…”
More silence came, crushing my hopes for this evening to go smoothly. The faerie was terrified, traumatised, in pain and unwilling to help itself. I knew that no matter what I did or said, nothing would be incentive enough to make it come out. I didn’t even know if it could come out or if its legs were trapped under those chains with the rest of its body.
Some dark part of me understood it, though. It had lived in pain for so long that it became part of it, and once something crawls into your everyday existence, removing it becomes greater than the initial sting of blood.
What I did know, was that any being, no matter how strong, needed water after a long entrapment. Water and food. If I could not make it communicate or come out, I could at least offer some nourishment. To both make sure it did not die and to score some points in the friendship department.
Without another word, I stepped away from the box and went into the kitchen, searching the fridge for items that looked enticing but were also easy to chew or bite into. I did not know anything about the creature, I could not see it from the darkness of the box and the chains that covered its entire body, so I had to make do with whatever my mind sprouted.
What could be an ‘impossible to say no to’ meal?
Pizza, definitely. Chocolate cake. Ice cream. Pasta. Any form of junk food. Tacos.
I could make tacos, my mom taught me when I was a kid. I loved it when she would let the four of us in the small kitchen we had at home and gave us each a small chore to help her with. Being the oldest, I got to help her with chopping things and my sisters were always jealous of the small chopping board and the knife my mom told me to be careful with.
I remembered the smell of cooking oil, how she would fry a little bit of bread before frying the onions and let us share it between us. Bread was expensive, but she always let us eat as much as we wanted to, many times convincing us, and herself, that she did not like it. Just so we could have more.
I missed my mom. And her tacos.
I hadn’t cooked in a long while, but this recipe was pretty simple, and I had all the ingredients. The faerie must have been starving, so I doubted it would make a fuss if my tacos turned out too salty. I did go easy on the spice, assuming my subject had a raw throat after lack of liquids. Everything went smoothly until it came to filling tacos, something I had no clue how to do, so I ended up spilling the filling on the sides.
No matter, they smelled amazing. Not to sing my own praises, but for someone who never had fresh herbs and vegetables at her disposal, I thought I did a pretty good job.
I hoped it liked coriander though, because I added lots of it. Sue me, avocado and coriander with lemon juice and salt and pepper is a match made in heaven.
“Hi, I’m back,” I announced.
Great job, Ellyana, we’re now replacing the ceiling robot with a box, I mentally sighed. “I made dinner,” I put on a cheery voice to make the announcement. “We also have sparkling water, a fizzy cherry drink and ginger tea.”
Again, nothing.
“It’s getting cold…” I announced five minutes later, tired of sitting there with two sets of plates and all those drinks on a tray.
Of course, I got nothing.
Its nourishment was more important than my ego, and deep down I knew my staying there was the reason it wouldn’t come out. And it needed to, those chains had probably infected its skin and I did not fancy cleaning putrid flesh. I didn’t fancy cleaning flesh at all.
“I’ll just leave it here for you for when you are ready. It’s late so I’ll go to bed, there’s a bedroom just here. There’s also a bathroom if you want to have a shower and…do other things.” Whatever kind of faerie it was, it needed to relieve itself somehow.
After a few seconds of silence, I got tired of waiting and stepped away with my three tacos.
“Okay then, good night. See you tomorrow.”
I took a step back and then another, until I got to the bedroom, but my eyes remained on the plate and drinks I had set on the ground in front of the crate.
