Transformed Chapter SevenA Chapter by Tabitha M.“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Tyko said as he entered the room. Larissa grunted in response, shooting him a glare. “Are you my permanent alarm clock?” she asked, running a hand through her bed head in an attempt to calm it. He smiled. “For the time being,” he said handing her a plate with eggs and toast with a side of antibiotic and pain killer. “At least until you get an actual clock. What, you don’t like waking up with breakfast in bed?” She took the plate greedily. “Be careful, I might get use to it.” “Who knows,” he shrugged, “maybe I will too. Not a bad way to start the day.” She smiled and dug in, breaking the egg’s yolk with the toast. “So does the Doctor have a name?” she asked around bites. “He does,” Tyko nodded. “It’s Brian, but I prefer Doctor Evil. Makes me feel more like a super hero.” She smiled. “Has he done this before? Taken somebody, I mean?” He nodded again. “Yes, once before. A boy named Walter. But it was nothing like your experience. He didn’t have the same equipment.” “Is that good, or bad?” She shoveled in the last bite of egg, set the plate aside, and stood up. She barely noticed the stitches tugging as she walked to the bathroom and stood in front of the sink, keeping the door open so she could hear Tyko. She picked up the wooden brush Olivia had loaned her, and started to run it through the rats nest that was her hair. “Good,” he replied. “All he had done was take his blood. He was keeping him in a hotel room. He was definitely more careful with you. But whatever he tried with the last guy didn’t work. Just wish I had gotten to you sooner.” She could hear the remorse in his voice. “I’m just glad you came. I was afraid I was going to die. If I had known my knight was coming to save me, I could have held out longer,” she chuckled. “Not sure I deserve that title. I should have been there sooner. We didn’t even get the bad guy.” Larissa put the brush down and went back into the room. She put a hand on his shoulder. “You more than deserve that title. I wouldn’t be here without you.” She picked up the plate and said, “Show me where to take this. I may need a couple more tours before I get the layout down.” Tyko laughed. “I still get lost sometimes. No lie.” She followed him down the hallway, through the vacant living room, and up the stairs. The climb was definitely better than it was yesterday. Almost everyone was in the dining room. Trish was just running out as they came up, backpack slung over her shoulder. She said something about a big test as she flashed by. “You’ll have to start eating breakfast with us soon,” Sheena said. “Everyone can’t wait to get to know you.” She stood up, taking Larissa’s plate and stacking it on top of her own. Everyone at the table nodded their agreement at Sheena’s statement. “I would love to,” Larissa said sincerely. “I would have already, but my alarm clock has been bringing my food in bed,” she laughed, elbowing Tyko. “You can’t keep her all to yourself,” Sheena said poking him in the ribs as she went back into the kitchen area. Tyko scoffed. “A guy can’t do nothing right.” “I hear you on tha’,” Ant said raising his glass of orange juice in agreement then downing it. “It’s in your blood to do everything wrong,” Olivia said rolling her eyes. She got up, brushing her bangs out of her face, and stood in front of Larissa. “Me and Sheena are taking you shopping tomorrow. Be ready for some fun!” Larissa’s brow furrowed. “But I don’t have any money.” “Don’t be silly,” Olivia slapped her arm playfully. “We have a newbie finance pool. It was Luther’s idea. Almost everyone here came from absolutely nothing. You have to start somewhere.” “Okay then,” Larissa smiled. “I’m in.” Olivia smiled in success and headed down stairs. Everyone else finished up and followed behind her, going off to start their day. “Oh, and if you choose to work around the house instead of getting job in town, Luther and Keema pay for all the things you need,” Tyko explained. “Pretty much everyone that lives here does that. Only ones that don’t are Olivia and Trish.” “I was wondering about that,” Larissa said sitting in one of the many empty chairs. “About what I would be doing, I mean. My whole life changed over night.” Tyko sat down beside her. “You can do whatever you want. That’s the beauty of this place.” “There’s plenty to around here,” Sheena said returning to the dining room. “I could always use help in the greenhouse. But there’s farm work, or livestock. Cressida has eight arms, so she doesn’t really need help in the kitchen, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t like an apprentice. Doesn’t really sound like a lot of options, but it’s a lot of work. Or you can get a job in town. There’s a convenience store and a pizza place that are always hiring.” “You’ve got awhile to figure it out. Nobody wants to work with a gimp,” he teased. “You don’t know,” Larissa countered. “I bet there are people out there just dying for me to get in their way and slow them down.” “Well, I’d hire you right on the spot, you’re perfect for that position!” Sheena smacked his arm. “You’re such a mean a*s. Ignore him. He is right though, you’ve got plenty of time.” She mussed his hair. “Why don’t you go do something.” He looked her hurt. “I am doing something. Somebody has to keep Mange company. I am her knight in shining armor after all.” Sheena rolled her eyes. “More like loser in aluminum foil.” She started collecting the rest of the dishes everybody else had left on the table. “I’ll remember that, Sheena,” Tyko said narrowing eyes at her. Larissa was trying to hold back her laughter. “Come on, Mange,” he said grabbing her wrist. “We don’t have to be in the presence of such peasantry.” Larissa gave Sheena a wave, then concentrated on following Tyko. “Figured I’d give you a more detailed tour today, since you’re feeling better,” he explained, leading her back down through the second floor to the first floor, where the bigger living room was. All the chairs and couches were empty. “Where is everybody?” she asked, rubbing her hand across the suede blue couch as they passed it. “Off doing their own thing,” he said, directing her towards a door on the other side of the room. The right side of the room was lined with five doors, just like the hallway from the floor above. “School, work, errands. Some are probably outside working.” The door they took led them to yet another flight of stairs. “Seriously, elevators,” Larissa said. Tyko laughed. “I’ll propose it at the next meeting.” They walked into the room. The walls were an off white with mirrors all along the back wall. There were weight machines, treadmills, and a bunch of other fitness objects she didn’t know the name of, or had even seen before. Ant was using one of them, his back to Larissa and Tyko. Headphones led from his ears to a phone on the ground beside him. “Fitness room, obviously,” Tyko said. “This is Ant’s territory. He helps those of us that want to get in shape, or want to train. His training has definitely come in handy, we’ve been on a few rescue missions. Some get physical, and not in a good way.” “Thought there was only one before me?” she asked, running her hand along the cool metal of weight rack. “From Doctor Evil,” he said. “There’s other weirdos out there, other shifters in bad situations.” “How many shifters are there?” She watched Ant’s muscles bulge with every flex, then studied her own reflection in the wall of mirrors. She looked much better than she had the other day, even if her arms and legs were covered in stitches. “In existence?” he said. “I have no idea. Hundreds. The scientists who did it destroyed all the records so there’s no way of telling. I bet lots of them don’t even know they are shifters. But this house has helped over a hundred in its time. Even if it was only for a night.” Larissa nodded, still looking at her reflection. Scenes of being locked helpless in the cage flashed at the back of her mind. She shook the images away. “Maybe I should beef up. Maybe I wouldn’t have been so helpless if I’d been stronger.” “Hey,” Tyko said putting both hands on her shoulders and looking straight into her eyes. “You were not helpless. You fought in the only way you could.” Tears stung the back of her eyes. “I didn’t, I gave in. I gave him what he wanted. If I was stronger, he might not have been able to catch me in the first place. I could have fought whatever attacked me.” “Larissa,” he said sternly, “believe me, there was nothing you could have done. He would have gotten you. He has more than one person working for him. If he hadn’t gotten you the first time, he would have sent more and more people until he won.That’s what he does.” She took a deep, shaky breath. “That doesn’t change the fact I gave him what he wanted. I could have held out longer.” “You held out as long as you could. There is absolutely nothing wrong with self preservation. I would have done the same thing.” She found nothing but honesty and care in his golden brown eyes. The constant sting of tears finally pushed through, and a single tear slid down her cheek. “I don’t want to be helpless.” He brushed the tear away with his thumb, and gave her a reassuring smile. “You’re not.” “What’s up, guys?” Ant said drying off his face with a towel, a concerned look on his face. “Nothing,” Tyko said turning back around. “Just giving Mange a better look of the place since she’s more mobile today.” Larissa ran a hand over her eyes to make sure they were devoid of tears. “Nice place,” she commented. He shrugged, “I get by. How are you doin’?” “Much better,” she smiled. “I think I’m going to like it here.” “Good, we’re happy to have you around,” he said his smile welcoming. “Feel free to come by anytime. You can even use the equipment if you want, once the doc says it’s okay, ‘course.” There was some kind of accent in his voice, but she couldn’t quite tell what it was. “She’s still got a while,” Tyko said. “We need to fatten her up too.” Ant laughed. “I agree! My arm is bigger than her torso!” “Hey, it’s not my fault my captors didn’t feed me,” she protested. Ant mused her hair. “’Course it isn’t. It’s our job to put the meat back on your bones though.” “We’re getting there,” Tyko said grabbing her wrist again. His touch was always so warm. “I’m gonna go show her the land now. See you around!” “See ya!” Ant called back. Tyko led her to another door across the room. They were blinded by the sun when they stepped outside. Directly in front of them was a forest, but Tyko took her around the right side of the house. “This is the pool,” he said. “Pretty self explanatory. We have little parties out here every once in a while.” “Fancy,” Larissa said surveying the area. The pool was kidney bean shaped, a blue and white rope dividing the deep end from the shallow end. A square area of cement surrounded the pool, housing a floral swing, a grill, and two picnic tables with huge, colorful umbrellas. “It’s like a mini vacation spot in your own home.” Tyko chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it is. Never had a bad time out here.” He took her around the pool to the front of the house now. On the left side, a ways from the long gravel driveway, was a barn and several different fenced in areas that they headed for. “This is where the livestock are kept,” he said. She squinted her eyes, trying to get a better look. She could make out some horses, a couple cows and goats. “What are they used for?” she asked. “The horses are mostly used to race,” he said. They arrived at the first fence, which held three, tall, beautiful black grazing horses. “Helps bring in income for the house and supplies. And the horses love it. We have our own jockey that races our horses. Good guy.” “Very cool,” Larissa smiled, holding her hand out to one of them and clicking her tongue. It completely ignored her. Tyko laughed. “They don’t come close to us predators much. They’re not afraid because they know we’re not going to hurt them. But they prefer the company of herbivores. They love Teamka.” “Maybe she thinks we’ll snap and eat her one day,” Larissa mused. “What about the other animals?” “We’ve got a few pigs and some goats. A couple of cows. We loan them out as a petting zoo for festivals or parties sometimes.” Tyko turned around and started heading towards the other side of the driveway. “We also sell some of our crops at the farmers market in town. We grow corn, green beans, peppers, pumpkins, and potatoes. Other seasonal stuff if Sheena is feeling up to it.” Larissa saw the tall corn stalks as they came closer. “This place is bigger than I thought.” “It’s a renovated slave house actually,” Tyko said. “I forget how old it is, but it’s been passed down through Keema’s family for generations.” “Interesting,” she said kneeling down to look at a bean plant, nudging the buds with a finger. “What’s in the greenhouse?” “A lot of herbs,” he said leading her to the transparent plastic building. Humidity and warmth hit her full on as soon as she walked through the threshold. “They sell them at the market, too,” he continued. “And there’s some other plants they sell too--pansies, ferns, orchids, things like that.” “So what do you do around here, then?” she asked, side stepping around him to get out the door. It was really pretty inside, ferns hanging from the ceiling, splotches of color from the pansies between lines of rosemary and thyme. But it was hot. She didn’t think she would pick the greenhouse. “I jump around a lot,” he said, “but, mostly I help out the new people. That’s my favorite job. And rescuing them. I am the resident super hero.” “Hmmm,” she pondered. That actually sounded like something she would enjoy. At least the helping them out part. Showing them around, helping them get back on their feet, checking on them. Almost like social work. She’d always wished her own social worker had cared about his job more. “Well, if you ever need a side kick, I’ll put in an application.” He eyed her up and down, making her insides tingle. “Your application would definitely be moved to the top of the stack. I’ll call you in for an interview.” She laughed, then asked, “So what now?” “Umm.” He scratched his head and looked around. “That was all I had planned, went faster than expected. Not much to do until Trish gets back. Wanna watch a movie?” “Sure,” she smiled. “What happens when Trish gets back?” She followed him back behind the house and into the fitness basement, and back up the stairs. “She’s going to take your stitches out. We think Doctor Evil had you about a week, so they should be ready to come out. She says your leg looks great, all things considered.” He motioned for her to sit on the couch, and went to rummage through the rows of DVD’s on a bookcase beside the giant TV. “Awesome!” Larissa said excitedly. “They’re really starting to bug me.” “What kind of movies do you like?” he asked. “There’s too many choices.” She shrugged. “I like just about anything. I’m not hard to please.” “I don’t believe that,” he said finally picking one at random. “All I hear Olivia and Teamka talk about is how their boyfriends never get the right thing, and how they have to pretend to like something to make them happy.” He put the movie in the player and sat down on the couch beside her, remote in hand. Larissa’s brow furrowed. “I never understood that. Why would you pretend anything with the person you’re with. I don’t see the point.” “Exactly,” Tyko said exasperatedly. “You’re supposed to be with someone who makes you happy. It’s not real if you’re pretending.” “When I was in foster care, I was sent to this one couple, kinda older. The wife, she was basically a trophy wife, I guess. She didn’t have a job or anything. But I swear, she was living two lives. When her husband was home she was all about him waiting on him hand and foot, getting him whatever he asked for, and telling him how much she loved him. But when he went to work, she would have all these different guys over that thought she was single. She would take her ring off, drink wine with lunch, and entertain them with all these extravagant adventures she’d been on. Paris, backpacking across Europe, Brazil. She would go on about how hard it was to find a man that could handle her because all she wanted to do was drink and travel. It was like she couldn’t decide who she was. The husband had no idea, until I told him.” “You did not,” Tyko said in disbelief. “I did,” she laughed. “It was driving me crazy.” “What happened? How old were you?” he inquired. “I was twelve,” she said still laughing. “They called my social worker and demanded more money because I was a problem child who lied all the time.” “Oh yeah?” The humor started to fade. “What happened then?” She shrugged. “He told them he couldn’t authorize any more money for them, so they packed me up and sent me on to the next home.” “The next one? How many homes did you go through?” She shrugged again. “I’m not really sure. Twelve maybe? I quit doing things that would get me in trouble in high school. I was tired of moving around. Found a couple that didn’t care what I did so long as I was home for social worker visits. They didn’t hit me, and kept me fed. Other than that, there wasn’t much good about them.” She chuckled darkly. “Sad thing is, I actually started to miss them when I was locked in that cage.” He grimaced. “I don’t blame you.” “Enough about my childhood,” she said with a wave of her hand. “What was yours like?” “Not near as exciting as yours,” he chuckled. “My dad, uh, actually killed himself shortly after my mom died. I grew up with my aunt.” “That’s awful,” Larissa frowned. “Nah, she’s a pretty good lady, still sends me cards on my birthday,” he smiled. She swatted at his arm. “That’s not what I meant.” “I know,” he said with his teasing half smile. “But there’s honestly not much I can say about my father. I didn’t know him, and there was nobody around to tell me about him. My aunt was my mother’s sister. She never met him.” “Well, I guess that’s better than knowing he was too high to remember he had a child therefor refused to acknowledge your existence.” “In a way, I guess,” he said. “I assume you’re speaking from experience?” “Yeah, my dad was a big meth head. Well, is I guess. Think I was six, last time I saw him.” She paused, thinking back to that time. It had been a supervised visit at a local fast food chain. He sat in front of her, munching on her fries, but she couldn’t remember much about him. “I think I look a lot like him, but without the meth scabs.” Tyko laughed. “He must be a very beautiful man.” “Oh, he has the cheek bones of a goddess,” she chuckled, her stomach a flutter at his compliment. “If you’re into that kinda thing.” “Well, I think everybody would look strange without cheekbones, so, yeah, I’d say I’m into that.” He thought about that a moment. “I’m probably into a lot of weird things then. Elbows, ears, chins.” “I love me some elbow action,” Larissa said breaking into a fit of laughter. “Don’t even get me started on ear lobes,” Tyko laughed. “Now that’s some kinky stuff.” “Hey guys,” Trish said, seemingly appearing out of no where. “What’s so funny?” Tyko cleared his throat in an attempt to calm his laughter. “Long story,” he said. “Why are you home early?” Her brow furrowed. “I’m not.” He looked at the clock on the DVD player. “Well, I’ll be damned. You’re right on time.” “As always,” she said, giving him a weird look. “Time flies when you’re having fun,” he said. “We didn’t even play the movie.” He laughed and tossed the remote,still in his hand, aside after turning the TV off. “Well, anyway,” Trish said turning to Larissa. “You ready?” Larissa took a deep breath. “I think so.” “Nervous, Mange?” Tyko said getting up and offering her a hand. “Yup,” she said showing no shame. “Does it hurt?” “Not really,” Trish said. “It might sting a little.” “It’s okay, Mange, I’ll hold your hand,” Tyko said. She couldn’t tell if he was teasing her or not. Trish took them up to the dining room, and sat Larissa down in one of the wooden chairs. Larissa twiddled her thumbs nervously as Trish sterilized her equipment. “You got this, champ,” Tyko said patting her shoulder and giving her a reassuring smile. “If you say so, coach,” she smiled back. “Alright,” Trish said taking Larissa’s arm, “let’s do this.” Larissa stared at the floor, and felt Trish dab something over the the puncture wounds on her left arm. She smelled alcohol. She felt a warm hand on her right one and smiled up at Tyko. He squeezed her hand. She squeezed back, then turned her attention to Trish. She was holding the first stitch up slightly with tweezers, then snipped it just beside the knot with a pair of small scissors. She gave it a gentle tug, and it slid out smoothly from her skin. Larissa let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “That wasn’t so bad.” “Told you,” Trish said. The whole procedure took about an hour. The stitches on her leg stung a little, but everything came out smoothly. All her wounds were closed up, quickly on the mend, even the horrendous gashes on her leg. Trish was rather proud of herself. “This is so much better,” Larissa said stretching her leg muscles. “Thanks, Trish, I owe you one.” “Just doing my job,” she said proudly as she packed her equipment up. “Now I need to get this back before they know it’s missing.” She scurried out, yelling goodbyes. “Now you don’t have to worry about your stitches getting caught on your new clothes,” Tyko smiled. “Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that,” Larissa said. “Olivia seemed really excited. Don’t know if I should be scared or not.” “If I were you, I would be,” he laughed. “She likes to dress people up. She’ll probably use you like a doll.” “I’ll just be glad to own clothes again,” she chuckled. “I had a bag of stuff when I left my foster parents house. Wonder what happened to it. I still can’t remember everything that happened.” Some of the frustration she’d had in hospital returned to the pit of her stomach. “No worries,” Tyko said. “New clothes, new house, new start.” © 2015 Tabitha M. |
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Added on March 22, 2015 Last Updated on March 22, 2015 Tags: fantasy, shapeshifters, romance Author
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