บท 5: 5 The Proposal
Following the sound of laughter made it fairly easy for Alissa to find the little girl and Rosita.
"You're here! Hi!" The bubbly little girl ran over and grabbed Alissa's hand with her own.
"Come on! Let go pick flowers!"
Alissa followed the tiny girl. Her thin body rose up to Alissa's navel. Olive skin complimenting her dark brown hair. She wore a navy dress with patterns of beige and yellow flowers tracing the bottom where two thing legs protruded. Her feet were adorned with Mary Jane slippers that white socks poked out of.
"Layla, don't drag the poor thing!" Rosita called out. "I'm sorry. She doesn't get to play with others very much, being the only child of the house."
"Elijah has a daughter? I never would have guessed." Picturing the demon with a baby in his arms was something she figured no one could imgaine.
"Oh, heavens no! She's mine. Her father passed away before she was born. Elijah hasn't ever had a girl in the house other than maid's. He'll probably be a bachelor forever."
Layla pulled at the hem of Alissa's blouse. "Come on, let's go pick those. I want to make a bouquet for Samuel."
"The driver?"
"He's the only father figure she's ever known. He's technically the butler of the manor."
"Oh, will he be joining us?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact." Rosita smiled to herself. "Layla is very excited." Just then, Layla tugged on Alissa once more.
"Aren't you going to play with me?" She asked, innocently. Her almond shaped hazel eyes looked up at Alissa with the puppy dog expression of a little girl who knew how to break your heart in a look. Lips pursed and pouty as though she really would cry if they didn't go flower picking soon.
Alissa ran off, hand in hand with the small child, a bright smile lighting up her face.
Layla knelt down in the grass, hair still bouncing in the breeze with the same carefree energy her eyes gave as they looked up at Alissa.
"These are my favorites." She said pointing towards the lavendar. "They smell like mama." The innocence in that sentence tugged at Alissa's heart. How she wished she could have grown up with a mom like Rosita. Her own mother, Edena, hated when Alissa would call her mom. She smelled of mint, almost like an old person, and Alissa had hated the smell only because Edena wore the fragrance.
She didn't know that smell because of long embraces between a mother and daughter, nor because of crying into her mom's lap. Those things never happened. No, she knew the smell of Edena only because of when she would pull her close to her by the collar of Alissa's shirt to spit venom in her face. Edena only ever hugged Alissa once. Only because she was drunk and thought Alissa was her father. Once she woke up the next day and remembered, Alissa was beaten for having dared to touch the woman even though she was only eight years old. That was the day she had her third broken bone.
"What are you thinking about? You look lost, miss Alissa." Layla's small face held concern as she realized her new friend was lost in the clouds.
"I'm thinking that maybe we should add some daisies into this bouquet." Alissa smiled her raw memories away from the front of her mind.
An hour flew by and Samuel finally joined them in the gardens.
"Alissa, your brace is here. The lord said your medicine made you drowsy so he's put it in your room."
"Oh, thank you so much." Alissa grabbed the brace from the man's hand.
"Here, dear. Let me help you with that." Rosita aided Alissa in tying her new brace on her hand. "Such a shame your hand got hurt the way it did. How did you hurt it again?"
"It really doesn't matter. I'm fine, truly."
Rosita shook her head. "You touched them." She whispered to herself.
Alissa hadn't heard Rosita's words over the laughter Layla shared with Samuel. She smiled at them as Rosita finished with the brace.
"You'll still need to ice it. You should probably head to your room and do that. I'll bring lunch to you and then you should take your medicine and rest."
"If I must." Alissa wished she could stay and smile with the people who gave her a glimpse of sunlight for the first time in years but her hand was beginning to ache quite terribly.
She headed back to the front of the manor and tried to remember where the kitchen was. She remembered following Elijah from the dining room to the study that morning so she walked to the study to retrace her steps. Once at the study, the doors opened as a looming shadow came out.
"You're back."
"Yeah, and?" She spewed to the demon. She turned her face up and walked right by him, trying not to hurry out of his sight. Sure, she could cover her tongue in venom, but the fear she had of the man still boiled under the surface.
"Alissa." That was the first time she had heard his voice say her name. He snarled it giving her goose bumps, and not in good way. The hair on the back of her neck stood straight up. She turned to him, watched as his mouth began to open to say what was on his mind. She wasn't about to let him turn hot and cold on her whenever he felt and have the freedom of feeling no repercussions. It seemed he had gotten real used to people letting him do that.
"Listen, 'your majesty'," She said, covering his "title" with sarcasm as though it was a strawberry dipped completely into chocolate. "I get that you have this thing going where you feel the need to scare everyone and treat them like shit. But I am not the one. Would you like to know why?" She held a finger up to shush him before he could answer. "Because I have been beat, broken, and abused in every form possible. The only thing you could possibly use to make me docile is death. Would you like to kill me, Elijah Adler?" She spit his name out of her mouth like it was poison on her tongue. "I assure you, I would welcome it. So, unless you need me to do some cleaning, cooking, or shoe shining, leave me alone."
Elijah stared after the frail girl as she stopped off, watching as she tried to not make her steps seem hurried. He was pissed, ready to erupt like a volcano. He wanted to scream down at her telling her everything he pent up, how she had no idea what the hell she was talking about. But a part of him was glad. No, that wasn't the right term. Satisfied. A part of him was satisfied that she had stood her ground. He hadn't expected such fire to come from such a small thing.
Back in her room, ice on her hand as she ate the meal Rosita had brought to her a few minutes prior, Alissa was still fuming and nearly dizzy from the red that still hazed over her eyes.
Her phone buzzed on her nightstand, making her spoon clink against the plate. She picked up the device.
'Don't ever talk to me like that again.'
She rolled her eyes at the text message and left him on read. Once she finished eating, she took her medicine as she had promised to Rosita and lay down on the luxury bed, waiting for the meds to do their thing and make her pass out. As she lay there, memories of her father came to.
Being bound against her tiny twin bed, ropes digging into her flesh as she screamed, kicked and writhed against her tethers. Heavy, old flesh knocking the breath out of her as it landed on her chest. A raspy voice in her ear telling her to shut up as moved on top of her.
Alissa's anger was only heightened by the thought clouding her head. She pulled off the covers and went to the bathroom, hoping a relaxing bath would help ease her mind. Then she remembered she still didn't have anything feminine smelling to bathe with. Opting for more manly items as they were all she had, she ran the water with bubbles.
Pulling off her shirt was made more difficult with the brace. If she took it off, she would have to ask for help to get it back on and she wasn't sure she wanted to leave any opportunity in running into her slave master again any time soon. She settled on just leaving her injured hand out of the tub, her shirt dangling from where the brace started on her wrist.
Stepping into the warm water, she already felt her troubles melting away.
She thought of Layla. Alissa had always wanted a child but knew that wouldn't happen. If it did, it was likely it would be from rape. And if it were to be her fathers, he would, for sure, make certain that it would never see the light of day.
Alissa used her good hand to wipe her face with water. Thinking things like that would only make her pity herself and she refused to do that. So, she would never have a husband. Never feel what love looked like. At least she wasn't in a dungeon somewhere, bound and shackled for all eternity. Wasting away in her own feces. How had her bar become so low. She sank deeper into the water as she let her mind drift back to the boy.
She thought of how Layla had talked about her mom smelling of lavender. Lijah's mom had a smell. It was like Sunflowers. But not just one. It was like standing in a whole field full of them.
Alissa could almost hear her voice, telling her stories of far off places. Princes who saved princesses. Giants who stalked through clouds. All of the things little girls dreamed about as they slept soundly in their loving homes, she figured.
"You'll drown." His voice startled her out of her thoughts and infuriated her.
"Thanks for saving me." She rolled her eyes under her lids, refusing to open them and see him standing there, possibly gawking. Could someone like him even gawk at a naked woman? Or does he just glare? "You can go now."
The blind fury rose once again. It had taken her forever to finally have a peaceful thought and with two words he had squashed them as though they were never conjured in the first place.
Feeling his eyes on her, she squirmed.
"Staying for a show? Sorry, the act left the stage. Come back tomorrow."
"We need to talk."
"No, you need to leave. You bought me so I could clean your house and cook you meals. Not so I could be a therapist." She still refused to meet his eyes. She knew if she did, her face would turn read from being naked under his penetrating stare.
"After you've finished you will meet me in the study. That is not a request. Since you continue to say it, consider it cleaning. You'll be dusting my book cases. Satisfied?" She heard the slam signaling he had left through the door. She could hear his feet stomping off through his room. She'd have to get a look for this bathroom if they were going to be sharing it.
She retreated from the tub, drying herself as well as she could with her injured hand still dragging from the shirt hanging off it.
The door opened again and she hurriedly turned to see Amelia standing behind her after entering the bathroom through Alissa's room.
"I was summoned to help you get dressed."
He had definitely looked at her, then. He must have seen her shirt hanging off her hand and sent someone to help. Half pleased at getting the help and half pissed at knowing yet another man had seen her naked without her permission, she allowed the woman to help her dress. Retreating from her room, she walked to the study, dragging her feet as she went.
She opened the door to the sight of three men. The demon, her own father, and an older version of Elijah.
"Alissa." Her father acknowledged her presence and left without another word. He had barely looked in her direction. It was better that way. She had hoped moving into this house would keep her away from the wretched people whose DNA ran through her veins.
"Well, if it isn't the newest member of my family. Let me look at you, darling." The older Elijah clicked his teeth at her as though she were a horse. Alissa stared incredulously at him.
"Alissa. Step forward, please."
The demon's was monotone, now. Nearly no emotion in it at all. She knew that tone all too well. On days when her father was beligerantly drunk, any sharpness of her tongue would set him on edge. She would have numb herself to the anger and manage her voice. Putting a smile into it was impossible. So going monotone was the only answer. Sometimes that didn't even help keep her from the beatings.
Alissa walked towards the men, standing straight and tall once she was in front of Elijah's desk.
"Yes." Not knowing the older man would expect her to call Elijah, she opted for no title.
"Sign this please."
"What is it?"
Elijah looked down at her, his eyes piercing every fiber of her being. There was the anger. All of the rage he was pushing down to seem unfased in front of the man was dumped on her, fire raining down. His eyes should have glowed red instead of the ice blue that they were.
Alissa grabbed the pen from Elijah's hand and signed her name, obediently. What did it matter what this paper was. It wasn't as if her life would ever be hers, anyway. Setting the pen back down, she looked up at Elijah.
"May I go?" She put her head down, holding back the urge to kick and scream.
"In a second." Elijah turned and looked at the man, his eyes back to portraying numb indifference. "Father, please notarize."
The man, who she now knew was Elijah's father, knelt over the paper and signed underneath her own. He put on his coat and began walking the door of the study. Opening the door, he looked back over to Elijah and Alissa.
"As much as I'd love to join you for dinner, I must be getting back. Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Adler".
Alissa gaped at the door as it closed behind the man.
"Absolutely not!" She bellowed, letting her emotions rise with no check or balance in sight.
She grabbed for the paper she had signed but Elijah picked it up before she could get there. She stared up at him, shock, anger, sadness, and horror filling her eyes with icy rage.
"No."
"You are now my wife."
"No!"
"You were never supposed to be my maid."
"NO!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, tears finally filling her eyes.
"I had wanted to try and make this your idea. I thought it would be easier on you. But its obvious that you will never want that. At least not for a while."
Alissa sank to the floor, her face glazed over with the forlorn look of any hope she had being scrapped and abandoned in the bin all her other dreams had been cast into.
"Why me?" She asked no one in particular.
"That is not something I can share with you, yet. I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" She asked. She looked up at him with dark humor glowing in her eyes. Her face stretched into a wicked grin. "You're sorry?!"
She began to laugh but it had no joy in it. It was a laugh of pain, of insanity, the broken laugh of someone who had lost it all.
Elijah walked out of the study, leaving her to wallow on her own. She had to come to terms with her new life and seeing him there wasn't going to help.
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