Mother of Darkwaters: Book one of the Vessel series (64 page)

   “Dammit, Alex,” Gale attempts to cut-off a possible mistake by her friend.

   “Where is she?”, Julianna questions while briefly looking at the two-way mirror. Her attention shifts back towards the two women in the room, “I want to see her. Now!”

   “Calm down,,” Alexandria does her best to diffuse the situation, “She was with us last time we did this.”

   “Last time? My grams has
never
done something like this. You’re a freakin’ liar.”

   “I’m not a liar,” Alexandria defends, “It’s true. We’re only doing what we’ve been told to do.”

   “What - molest me?”

   “Cleaning you up,” Alexandria counters.

   “Alex - shut up,” Gale panics.

   Julianna glances to her left. The woman with brown hair has a look of fear about her as she stares at the woman to Julianna’s right.

   “Look at her,” Alexandria says while waving her left arm towards Julianna’s defensive position, “She’s terrified.”

   Julianna begins to say something, but the woman to her left quickly interrupts.

   “You don’t
truly
understand what it means to disobey the bloodline or you wouldn’t be saying anything.”

   Gale continues by holding up her right index finger, “Best case, we never
ever
advance.”

   Gale points her finger towards Alexandria, “Worst case, we disappear and are
never
heard from again.”

   Gale crosses her arms over her chest, “How’s that for being terrified?”

   Julianna’s head retreats as she becomes a little intrigued by the awkward conversation between both nurses.

   “Well, all I know – if some stranger had their hands all over me while I was trying to sleep, I’d be scared out of mind.”

   Alexandria places both of her hands on her hips as she stares at her friend, “You tell me, who wants to wake up and feel like they’re about to be raped? You?”

   “That’s just stupid,” Gale answers, “We’re nurses and we’re here to do a job. That’s it. It’s not like we’re standing in her bedroom…”

   Julianna raises her left hand slightly. She makes a quiet effort to interrupt the drama, “Excuse me?”

   “…And who wants to wake up dead?”, Gale verbally parries, “You?”

   “Of course not,” Alexandria counters, “But I’ll be damned if I let this girl think she’s about to be raped. We’re just here to…”

  
Clap-clap-clap!

   Alexandria and Gale look towards the head of the bed. Their patient is waving with her left hand.

   “Hi,” Julianna greets.

   “I - uh - we…”

   Julianna interrupts Alexandria by waving her left pointer finger from left to right.

   “That’s enough,” Julianna states with an unusual calming tone under her current circumstances. She extends her left arm towards the white-padded steel door, “Get out.”

   The young woman looks to her left, “Both of you.”

   Alexandria begins to say something, but Gale stops her with a single look. She watches Gale reach for the cart.

   “No. Leave it,” Julianna demands calmly, “I can clean myself up.”

   Gale nods without turning around. She walks towards the door and swipes her card. The door clicks. She turns the handle.

   “Stop,” Alexandria speaks up, “We’re not going anywhere. I don’t care who she is. We’re still under orders and her grandmother
isn’t
here to say otherwise. I’ll strap her ass down if I have to.”

   Gale releases the handle and turns around – her brown eyes lock gazes with her friend, “You don’t understand. We
were
just ordered.”

   “What did you just say?”, Julianna questions.

   Gale staggers in a nervous breath as she looks at her patient. Julianna’s arms are crossed and both of her dark eyebrows are raised questioningly. Gale looks at the young woman’s left arm. She stares at the bandages while her mouth begins to move.

   “I was there when your arms were checked.”

   Julianna looks down at her left arm before looking back up at the nurse.

   “That’s where I remember you from. So what of it?”

   “You don’t need the wrappings.”

   “What?”, Alexandria chimes in, “Sure she does.”

   Gale glances to her left and shakes her head.

   “But that’s impossible,” Alexandria counters, “I’m the one who sutured her.”

   “They’re dissolved.”

   “They’re not those kind of stitches, Gale,” Alexandria de-buffs her friend’s claim, “I know for a fact they’re not. They have to be pulled. You know that.”

   Gale’s ensuing silence causes Alexandria confusion. She knows her friend would not outright lie over something like this. Yet, the science makes no sense. The blond looks over at Julianna. The dark-hair young woman is already removing the wrapping from her left arm. As the last of the wrappings come off, Alexandria’s jaw drops slightly. Julianna tosses the bandage onto the bed to her right side.

   Alexandria begins to move. She desires a closer examination of what her eyes are trying to betray to her mind. Julianna, however, stops her with a warning stare. She holds up her arm and turns her forearm towards Alexandria.

   “See?”, Julianna obliges the woman’s curiosity on her own terms, “All better now.”

   Alexandria covers her mouth with her right hand. Julianna’s arm is completely void of any stitching. There are no bruises. Nor, any wound of any kind. The only evidence of this patient’s visit is in the single pink scar running the forearm’s length down to her wrist. Alexandria, slowly, lowers her hand from her mouth.

   “Who are you?”, Alexandria slowly questions.

   “Alex,” Gale quickly speaks up, “That’s enough. It’s time for us to go.”

   Alexandria defiantly shakes her head, “I’m not going
anywhere
until I know what’s going on.”

   Julianna lowers her arm. The woman’s defiance arouses some curiosity within her.

   “You’re not scared of me?”, Julianna questions.

   “Scared?”, Alexandria seems surprised by her patient’s response, “Why would I be scared? I know I can kick your ass.”

   Julianna’s head retreats.

   “Alex!”, Gale desperately tries to stop her bumbling idiot of a friend.

   “I’m actually amazed,” Alexandria finishes her thought, “How did you heal up so quickly?”

   Julianna glances towards the two-way mirror.

   “Is my grams out there watching? Is this a test or something?”

   “Test?”, Alexandria answers with no real understanding of the patient’s strange response, “No. Your grandmother is with your grandfather. We already told you she was gone.”

   Julianna looks towards the door. She might not trust the blond nurse quite yet, but the woman standing by the door is trustworthy. She already has the understanding of who Julianna is.

   Gale confirms her friend’s claim by shaking her head silently. Julianna watches for any signs of a lie. She sees none. She turns her attention back towards the nurse with sandy-blond hair. Looking down, Julianna begins un-wrapping her right arm.

   “You first,” Julianna speaks without looking up. She takes the room’s silence as her permission to continue.

   “I’m no moron. I get what you two were trying to do.”

   Julianna pauses as she finishes unbinding her arm from the bandages. She tosses the wrapping on top of the other one lying on her bed. Briefly glancing at her arm, Julianna turns her immediate attention back towards the women standing in front of her.

   “So my grams knows about this?”

   Both women nod.

   “That sucks,” Julianna says more to herself than anyone else. She, quickly, changes the embarrassing thought by focusing her gaze onto Alexandria. The blond woman before her exhibits a lot of self-confidence within her demeanor – the way she stands, the way she speaks, and the way she looks at Julianna without any fear.  It is apparent she is stubbornly rebellious.

   “You remind me of someone else I know,” Julianna speaks with a tone hinting of admiration. Alexandria remains silent, but firm within her gaze. Julianna understands this woman will not be so quick to bow out as the friend standing next to her is. Granted, this woman does not know who she is, but Julianna isn’t so sure it would even matter. This woman seems refreshingly defiant.

   Most people tend to change the way they act around her; whenever, they find out who she really is. It’s not an element Julianna enjoys witnessing all that much. She would rather people just treated her like everyone else. Embracing her identity – it has no correlation to any desire of being treated like a pretty, pretty, little princess doll housed in a tower while waiting for some goof of a prince to come and save her.

   “What’s your name?”, Julianna questions the blond with long hair.

   “Alexandria,” the woman answers, “But my friends call me Alex.”

   “Hi, my name’s Julianna – the Mother of Darkwaters.”

   Alexandria takes a step back. She nervously looks over at Gale. Her friend nods. The now frazzled woman glances back towards her patient.

   “Look. When I said I could kick your ass, I didn’t mean…”

   “Don’t,” Julianna states with a hint of anger. She catches Alexandria staggering in a nervous breath.

   “I don’t need any more servants in my life,” Julianna continues, “You think you need to kick my ass, and then by all means do what you do. But don’t you ever apologize to me for being who you are. And I don’t ever want to see you back-peddle from me ever again. Don’t pretend to be somebody you’re not just because you’re around me. If you can’t be yourself whenever I’m around, then I don’t need you in my life.”

   Alexandria stares blankly.

   “I believe it’s the first time I’ve ever seen Alex speechless,” Gale quietly attempts to join into the conversation.

   Julianna looks towards the door.

   “It applies to you, too,” the teenager quickly chastises the other woman.

   Gale nods while submissively looking down at the floor by her feet.

   “Enough of that!”, Julianna yells while standing up.

   Gale jerks before looking back up. The Mother of Darkwaters is pointing her left index finger at her.

   “That’s
exactly
what I’m talking about,” Julianna calms her voice before lowering her hand.

   “She’s just doing what we’ve always been trained to do.”

   Julianna looks to her right, “And what’s that?”

   “We’re supposed to follow without question – submit to your authority. If not, we die.”

   “Die? You guys have an exploding implant in your heads or something?”

   “No,” Gale answers, “It’s the law of the Network. We’re both Network. It’s just the way it is.”

   “And if I order you to be yourselves, then what? You still die?”

   Gale shakes her head and shrugs her shoulders, “I don’t know. This scenario has never been brought up before.” Gale looks to her left for confirmation.

   “Don’t ask me, I slept through that class.”

   Julianna looks at Alexandria.

   “Don’t listen to her,” Gale speaks up, “She’s not
that
tough.”

   Alexandria guiltily looks at her patient, “She’s right. No one sleeps through any of
those
classes.” Her ensuing smile brings a small grin upon Julianna’s face; albeit, it is short-lived.

   “Mindless zombies,” Julianna coos while pulling her cloth gown over her head, “I believe I would like your sponge bath now.”

   “The hell,” Alexandria’s head retreats, “You can get your ass in the shower.”

   “You’re telling me no?”, Julianna questions with a threatening tone.

   “I’m telling you – you can take that weird crap somewhere else.”

   Julianna tilts her head questioningly – her green eyes scan towards the left to view the other nurse.

   Gale crosses her arms, “I’m with Alex on this one. You’re awake now.”

   Julianna fakes innocent ignorance as she embarrassingly covers herself, “I’m sorry. I just thought when I woke up that…”

   “We weren’t here to have sex with you,” Alexandria interrupts, “It was just a clean-up mission. That’s it. We were here to do a job.”

   Julianna looks down in silence. She nods sadly, “Sorry for doing this…”

   Both of the nurses watch as their patient’s demeanor changes to that of a much angrier patron. Julianna looks up with an intimidating stare. She speaks slowly and commandingly.

   “I
order
you to please me,” Julianna drops her gown to the floor, “Both of you, on your knees Network whores.”

   Alexandria quickly closes the small distance between herself and her patient.

   “Don’t do it, Alex,” Gale pleas.

   “Screw this crazy bitch,” Alexandria answers while hitting Julianna with her right closed fist. The teenager’s bottom lip busts open and bleeds as she drops to the floor. Julianna instinctively reaches up and touches her left hand to her mouth.

   “Geezus, Alex,” Gale gasps.

   Alexandria grabs the cloth gown and throws it on top of Julianna, “You still feel horny?”

   Julianna removes her hand from her mouth and looks at her bloody fingers. She fights back the sudden rush of excitement within her body. She looks up at the angry nurse.

   “No,” Julianna answers with a lie.

   “Try it again and it will be much worse for you,” Alexandria threatens before turning her back on the weaker woman. She walks towards the door.

   Julianna glares at the other nurse, “Why didn’t you try to help me?”

   “I’m not a whore,” Gale gives her answer.

   “She’s not a lesbo either,” Alexandria loudly states without glancing back. She swipes her security badge through the door’s locking mechanism.

   “Wait,” Julianna calls out while standing to her feet. Alexandria turns around as Julianna puts the gown back on.

   “What do you want?”

   “You really don’t care if you get killed for this?”

   “No,” Alexandria truthfully answers as she turns and takes hold of the handle. She pushes down and opens the door.

   “Thank you.”

   Alexandria pauses. She closes the door and turns back around.