Chapter 40

Ivy opened her eyes; she wanted everything to be a dream. She wanted to be lying next to Nick and everything to be back to normal, but she was in a dark room. She wasn’t sure if she would have enough strength to get out of bed, but she needed to find out if they found out any more information on the whereabouts of Nick and if Quinn had tried to attack them again.

Getting out of bed, the room started to spin, so Ivy sat down for a moment to regain her ground. She wasn’t sure why she felt drugged, but it didn’t matter. Getting to her feet she felt for the wall, and then for the doorknob.

Slowly pulling open the door, the house was dark, and she didn’t hear anyone moving around or talking. She still felt very weak, but she continued along the wall in hopes she wouldn’t get hurt and she could find her way down.

“Ivy what are you doing up, how are you up?” Samuel asked turning on the light.

She could only make out a person standing there but knew it was Samuel by his voice, but her vision was blurry. She was startled. “What do you mean?” she asked confused.

“You were exhausted.” He said stopping in front of her. “I am surprised you are awake; you’ve only been sleeping a couple of hours.” He said touching her face. “Are you hungry?”

“No, I need to walk around, I feel sick.” She said looking down the hallway, she was glad that he turned on the light, she would have fallen down the stairs, and she was almost to them. “Can you take me to the kitchen?”

“I have a better idea, why don’t you go back to your room I will bring you back some food. You need to rest.” He said looking back at the room that wasn’t too far from them. “Come on I will help you back to your room, I don’t want you fighting me.”

“Fine.” She snapped. She knew she wasn’t going to win this battle. Closing her eyes, she musters all the strength she could.

She didn’t want to go back to her room. She wanted to get this feeling out of her system, she felt like she’d been drugged or something. She wanted to ask Samuel if they did something to her, but she didn’t want to be rude about it. She felt for the wall, she was close enough to her, she tried standing but she was too weak. “Please I need to walk around, I feel really weak.” She complained.

“You need to rest; tomorrow I will take you to the garden once you are rested.” He said wanting her to go back to her room. “Come on.” He said grabbing a hold of her arm. “Let’s go back to your room.” He said helping her back to her feet, she was wobbly, but he knew why.

Ivy shook her head, she wanted to go downstairs, and she wanted some fresh air. Something about this house made her feel uneasy. She hated being here, something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t explain the feeling she had. “No, I want to go to the kitchen, let me walk around to gain my energy back.” She begged. “Just for a little while, then we can go back to my room.”

“No.” he growled, “back to your room, everyone is asleep, we don’t want to wake everyone up, please Ivy. Don’t fight me on this.” He squeezed her arm dragging her back towards her room.

“Fine.” She snapped. “I don’t see what the big deal is with me going downstairs with you making me something to eat. You don’t even know what I want.” She said using the wall to get back to her room. Samuel helped her back into her bed.

“I will be back in a little bit with some soup, please stay in bed.” He said before closing the door leaving her in the darkroom.

Ivy wasn’t entirely sure why he didn’t want her wandering around the house, maybe it was because everyone was sleeping, but she felt like there was something more to it. She wanted to find out the truth, but she would have to find out about it when he came back. She wanted to go to the window and look out, but her vision was a little blurry, she wanted to see if the moon was out, she would ask Samuel to see if it was out when he came back. She would apologize for the way she was with him in the hallway. This was their house, and she should respect the way she acted.

It only took a little while for him to come back with more soup. “Sorry about earlier Ivy, I just was surprised you were awake.” He said turning on the lamp near her bed. “Everyone is on edge now that we were attacked, and people were killed. We don’t want something to happen to you.”

“Don’t worry about it, why do I feel drugged?” she said trying to sit up, but she was weak again. “I am sorry for the way I acted out in the hallway; I am not feeling like myself.” She watched his face for any kind of answer, but he kept his face straight, she knew he was lying but she wouldn’t call him out on it at least not right now. She would wait for a good time.

“I don’t know, you are in the white dweller's home, it could be because of that.” He said sitting next to her. “Don’t worry it should wear off, and you should get your strength back once you wake up tomorrow.” He said. “Here eat some, I am sure you are hungry again?”

“Not for soup.” She said looking down at it. “I was hoping for something more feeling.”

“We will get some breakfast once dawn comes, but with you feeling as weak as you do I don’t think it would be wise to feel you up with heavy stuff in case you get sick in your bed.” He said spooning some broth. “In a few hours some people will be awake, I will come back then, and I can take you downstairs and meet some of the other dwellers.”

“What if I don’t want to meet anyone else, and I just want to find out the plans to get Nick back?” she said eating some of it, it was tasty, she was glad that he was able to bring something up. Her stomach was hungry she didn’t realize how it was making her feel.

Samuel looked at her, he half-smile, “Well you are going to have to meet the other dwellers, they are going to be the ones that are going to help get him back Ivy, you are going to have to trust us if you want to get him back in one piece.”

“I cannot trust anyone.” She said with a sad face. “Look at me trusting people and see that it has done nothing but made my life hell. At least me trusting no one has made me harden my heart and made me realize I can at least run and keep going.”

“Ivy you cannot run, when are you going to realize you are safe here.” He said still trying to convince her. “I promise we are going to ensure you are safe, you don’t have to worry about anything and when they do try and get you we will ensure you aren’t harmed.”

“I am going to end up running; you guys are not going to be safe. I still feel like you are hiding something from me. When are you going to start telling me the truth? I know there is more than what you are telling me.” She growled. “Something about this whole thing seems off. I don’t know what it is yet, but I will figure it out, and when I do things are going to get weird for someone.”

“Don’t worry Ivy things are going to get straightened out one way or another; you just have to trust me.” He said half smiling. “Get some more sleep, when you wake up again, everything you have questions on will be answered I promise.” He said getting up and turning off the light. “Good night.” He said before closing the door.

Ivy tried to get out of bed, but she felt worse. She wasn’t sure what he was giving her, but it was something. She knew he was drugging her with something now. She knew it was because he was concerned she would probably try and leave to fight Quinn.

Ivy wanted to fight Quinn, she knew she was out of his league, but she knew she could get to Nick and probably get Quinn distracted enough so Nick could get away from him.

“Ivy.” Quinn summoned in her head.

“Huh.” She was barely able to muster. She looked around the room to see if he was around, but the room was dark, and she was alone. She thought she was started to go crazy, closing her eyes she felt like she was spinning in the bed. “I wish you could come and take me away from this place. I thought this would be different, I want to die Quinn.” She said almost as a whisper.

“Aw, a baby girl they are keeping you weak.” He said sounding concerned. “You are lucky I cannot reach you. Find a way out of there and I will bring you home, I want to touch you, kiss you. They will be punished for what they’ve done to you, I promise a slow and painful death for them.”

Ivy touched her face, she felt numb, she wasn’t even sure she was awake anymore. She thought she was already dreaming. “I am unable.” She spoke. “I don’t know what they are doing to me; I don’t know how much of this I am going to be able to fight.”

“I know baby, don’t worry they are far worse than I,” Quinn said sounding pissed off. “Once I get enough people together I am going to come and take you from them, they are hurting you and they are going to kill you. I wish they wouldn’t have taken you. Had I known they came into the bathroom I wouldn’t have killed them.”

“Doubtful.” She sighed. “If you had me, I would be pregnant.” Thinking about being pregnant versus how she is now she would rather have a baby growing inside her now than the way she was feeling. She hated what they were doing to her. She wanted to be with Quinn so much more now than with the white dwellers. She wanted to be herself, lively, and able to move.

“But at least you wouldn’t be drugged up.” He mused. “Nick is safely resting; at least I haven’t hurt him much. I promise I will not hurt him anymore, as long as you come back to me alive, if they kill you he will die as punishment.”

“Somehow I believe you.” She said shifting in the bed. “Why are they doing this to me?”

“Same reason I want you. Power.” He mused. “They are less different than I, but they will use you in different ways, you are never going to be allowed out of their sight.”

“I am going to run when I can.” She said trying to stay conscious, but it was beginning to be hard. Ivy tried pinching herself to keep her from giving in to the drugs, she was pissed that Samuel drugged her to keep her in bed. She wanted to know why this happened.

“Stay with me Ivy; don’t give in to their drugs.” He pleaded.

“I am trying.” She said losing to them. “Let Nick go, I will come back to you I promise.” She said before losing herself to the darkness.