This is a portion of my work in progress.
I turned to the woman and said, “You know, Ms. Deschamps, you shouldn’t be so familiar with them. They are here to serve, not to befriend.” She walked across the room slowly, like a predator stalking its prey, backing me up into the wall.
Face to face, she said in a soft, lightly accented voice, “They are meant to serve us? And who are you meant to serve, Ms. Santiago? Me? Us? The Privileged?” I felt myself shudder and I began to stammer, “I…I…I serve no one. I’m here to keep order and protection of the inhabitants of this settlement.” I look away, not wanting to meet her catlike green eyes.
With two of her fingers, she lifted my chin and trailed her nose against my jaw, I’m almost certain that she inhaled me. “Hmmm… there you go, spouting the company line, Evelynn. I thought you were different. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
I start to struggle against her, but she is so much stronger than I am. “Protection you say? You’re here to protect me?” she smiles mockingly, flashing a set of bright white teeth. Glaring down at me, she continues, “It’s not me that needs protection, darling.” Roughly letting go of my chin she begins to walk away and then she glances over her shoulder at me one last time and says, “Here at the end of the world, we are all equals in life, as we are in death. You should remember that, Evie.”
I shut my eyes tightly and wait until I hear her footsteps recede down the hall. But the sound never came, it was as if she simply disappeared. Drenched in sweat, I opened my eyes and she was gone. The scent of her perfume and something else hanging in the air.
As I said before, I don’t know much about her, Sir, but I do know this, she frightens me to no end. She is as beautiful and cunning as a viper, and I have no desire to be bitten.”
Kim V. Poetry 