Skyfall

Both Calista and I stood frozen for a second, looking at each other.

“Enter,” I called shakily, and the door opened.

Lord Nova and one of the house’s manservants stood there. I wrestled down my instinctive fear of my house father.

“Calista, if you would leave us,” Lord Nova began, and I felt my initial fear return. How much had he heard? “My dear, we have something to discuss.”

“Okay,” I heard myself say. Calista headed for the door reluctantly, as though she didn’t want to leave me alone with him.

Lord Nova waited for them to leave before he gestured to my closet.

“Please, choose something you would wear for a black tie event,” he began. “I wish to spend some time with my daughter in law.”

“I’m not,” I responded automatically.

“Not what?” he seemed confused that anyone would disagree with him.

“Not… your daughter in law,” I mumbled, scurrying to my closet. I hastily picked a long black coat, a peach coloured dress and a beret. I shut the door to my closet as I changed, trying desperately to forget that one of the men I hated and feared most in the world was just on the other side of the door as I undressed. The dress fit perfectly, the silk sliding along my skin. “Ignore me please, sir. It’s been a strange few days for me.”

“Of course,” he replied pleasantly, though goose pimples rippled over my skin as I heard his voice on the other side of the door. “Come along, Alexa. We’re going to be late.”

For what? I thought as I pulled on sleek black heels.

He was in the middle of my room when I emerged from my closet, settling the beret on my curls. I blushed a furious red when I noticed a bra that I’d flung over the back of a chair. He was standing right in front of it.

“Let us leave, shall we?” he nodded towards the door and I noticed for the first time that he was dressed in formal wear as well. “I have a car waiting.”

We emerged into the hallway and I pulled my bedroom door shut. We waited for the elevator, and when it arrived I asked:

“Will Louis be joining us?”

“Not tonight,” he spoke the floor number the elevator and for the first time I noticed the slight beep as the elevator read and registered his embedded ID chip. “Like I said, I want to get to know my daughter in law.”

I knew that his continued use of that phrase for me was in complete defiance of what I’d said before. He was showing me who was boss.

The car took us to a part of town I’d never seen before. As we rolled through it, I found myself suddenly grateful that I’d been handed over to the State when my mother gave me up. Homeless citizens watched the luxurious car slide past, something more than hunger in their eyes. I shuddered as their eyes slid over me, even though I knew the tint was too dark for them to see me. I suddenly wished I hadn’t worn such expensive clothes.

The car continued, though I expected us to come out the other side of the slums any minute. So I was surprised when the car pulled up outside a dingy building, the brick façade beginning to crumble, and the neon lights flickering and broken. Lord Nova got out of the car and came around to my side.

“What is this?” I asked, trying not to show how nervous I was.

“A reminder.” he answered simply.

He led me into the building, the bouncer at the door waving us through. He leered at me, and I shrunk away from his gaze; it reminded me too much of the way the men in the Salesroom had looked at me.

Inside was worse than outside. Scuffed carpet wound around tiny tables, whilst a stage with broken lights presided over all of the dimly lit room.

“Lord Nova,” someone – a waiter? – was approaching us. “Your table is ready, sir.”

“Thank you,” Lord Nova said, leading me to one of the small tables.

“Anything to drink, sir?”

“The usual. My dear?”

“Just water,” I whispered, my eyes on the stage. My misgivings were increasing by the second.

The waiter seemed surprised by my answer, but brought me a glass of lukewarm water anyway. Just as I was about to ask Lord Nova why we were here, the already dim lights lowered even more, and a loud voice boomed from a hidden mic.

“Gentlemen, I present to you, tonight’s entertainment.”

Loud music thudded around us as scantily clad women sauntered out on stage. I was about to avert my eyes when I noticed theirs.
Their eyes were distant, vacant, as though there was no one controlling their movements. I immediately recognized the effects of Absentium.

Absentium was a drug that turned the user into a vegetable. A lot of the cheaper Salesroom’s had used it on their women – and a lot of them were grateful. I’d only seen the effects of it on one woman before, one who weakened when she was offered it shortly after miscarrying her first child. She’d sold the next day, to one of the most disgusting men I’d ever seen. I could only hope that she’d had plenty of Absentium to last her.

I watched the women writhe in time to the music, blushing redder and redder as they removed more and more clothing, until I’d seen more of them than I’d ever hoped to see of another woman. Lord Nova sipped his neat brandy, seemingly enjoying the show. I kept my gaze lowered to the table, sipping my water. My fingers were clutching the glass so tight that my knuckles were white, and the water trembled with me.

At long last, the music ended and the women were herded from the stage like sheep. Lord Nova finished his drink and we made our way back outside into the night. A light breeze whistled past me and I could hear sirens in the distance. We felt a long way from the cosy, luxurious life I’d come to know.

“What was that?” I asked, trying to keep the wobble of fear from my voice.

Lord Nova approached me rather than getting into the waiting vehicle. I lowered my gaze as he drew closer.

“I told you. A reminder,” his breath was getting caught in my hair. “You were bought for one purpose, Alexa. To please my son. We own you. You belong to us. You are nothing more than a toy. Get used to the idea or get used to Absentium.”

He strode to the car, and for one insane moment I was ready to bolt. As it was, it took every ounce of my will to force myself to the car, waiting to take me back to my velvet prison.