Chapter 47 Refugee

Chapter 47 Refugee
After my horrifying experience in the barn, sitting down for a meal with Malcolm was more than a little surreal, but I was too hungry to walk away without eating.
Malcolm clapped his hands and members of his staff came scurrying out of the kitchen. He then gave them a list of foods to prepare that left my mouth watering. After that, Malcolm turned to his newspaper and ignored me, leaving me to wonder whether my mother was going to join us.
If my mother did show up for dinner, my plan was to pull her aside and tell her what Malcolm had done to me. Then we could make plans on how to escape and get away from that monster once and for all. But when the staff started coming out from the kitchen bearing huge silver trays, I realized she was a no-show.
"My mother won't be joining us?" I said, doing my best to keep my tone light and neutral so as not to set Malcolm off again.
"Hmm," said Malcolm, peering over the top of his newspaper at me. "No, I think she's having a lie-down. The poor woman hasn't been feeling well ever since that insect bit her on our honeymoon."
Insect? I hadn't heard anything about that before, and she seemed fine when I saw her. Was this story about a bug bite more of Malcolm's madness or had she genuinely come down with some tropical disease?
"Oh," I said, trying to mask my disappointment.
After that, I was too busy eating to talk. It took all of my willpower not to shove the food directly into my mouth with my hands, but I didn't want to trigger Malcolm, so I forced myself to act civilized even though I felt like a starving refugee inside.
Malcolm, too, seemed to have quite a hearty appetite, demolishing two full plates of food before finally setting down his knife and fork. He then leaned back in his chair and yawned, giving me an unwanted view of the inside of his mouth, which made me a bit nauseous.
"Whew, hard to believe, but I'm tuckered out," said Malcolm. "I think I'm going to retire to my chambers. Will you be all right on your own this evening, darling?"
"Oh, um, sure," I said, my mind whirling.
If Malcolm was going to sleep, then I needed to take the opportunity to try and find my mother. Maybe we could sneak out of the house while he was asleep and thus avoid a scene. It was a great plan except for the fact that I had no idea where my mother was, and Malcolm's mansion was enormous.
Malcolm stood up, excused himself and then stalked off down the hallway, leaving me to try and decide what to do. I considered making a break for it right then, knowing that Malcolm's guard was down. I was confident I could get off the property and then alert the authorities.
But I doubted they would take my word that my mother was being abused. After all, Malcolm was the wealthiest man in town and the cops would need more than just my say-so that something nefarious was going on.
Therefore, as reluctant as I was to remain on Malcolm's property another moment, I decided to wait until I could speak to my mother before leaving. I got up from the dining room table and began roaming the hallways, but it wasn't long at all before I got completely lost. The Kent family mansion was luxuriously appointed, but it was designed like a maze.
I spotted a member of staff dusting some vases on a side table in the hallway and asked her if she knew where my mother was. But she just shrugged her shoulders and said, "No hablo ingles."
I could tell by the smirk on her face that she was lying, but what could I do? The entire staff was hostile to me, so I resigned myself to the fact that they wouldn't be of help.
Somehow, I made it back to the wing where my room was. It felt really strange returning to the place where I'd been kept locked up for so long, but I urgently needed a shower, so I dashed inside and grabbed a fresh dress before heading off to the bathroom.
The water stung like fire when it reached the open cuts on my leg, but I forced myself to stand there under the spray until they were cleaned out. After getting out of the shower, I was relieved to see that most of the cuts were superficial, but there were a couple of really nasty gashes near my ankle that would probably take weeks to heal.
I rooted around in the medicine cabinet and was pleasantly surprised to find some aloe vera gel. I smeared it all over my legs and instantly felt much better as the gel soothed and cooled my skin. That taken care of, I used my fingers to comb out my hair, and by the time I was dressed I was feeling pretty good, all things considered.
I left my old dress on the floor of the bathroom and then stepped out into the hallway.