MTLNOVEL Chapter 10: Memory
"Say it here." I stopped. "I'm not going to follow you further," I stated, chin held up.
I can barely tell where we came from. I have nowhere to run.
"Huh?"
With the same air of condescension from earlier, the commander turned around to look down at me. He bared his yellow canines at me as he snarled;
"Did I hear that aright?" He was now facing me, cocking his head to the side. "You shan't follow me anymore, you say?"
"... No."
"Really now?"
"I won't." I shook my head, as though to insist upon my response. "We're isolated enough. You can speak now, Sir." My attempt at sounding polite was ineffective, given the unfazed snarl on his face.
The commander paused a moment, as though pondering the matter. His lips turned into a thin line as he stepped closer to me.
Before I could react, within two strides, I was not only within reach but within his hold, as he grabbed my arm and yanked me to the ground.
I yelped, closing my eyes as I landed on the ground beside the foot of a tree trunk.
Shit.
Unconsciously, I looked around, examining the area for people. For help.
We're alone. We're alone. You're alone.
My chest rose and fell at an increased pace. The spot where his skin touched mine was itching painfully, so much so that I had to press on it with my firm palm.
My vision traveled between being blurry and clear, blinking heavily.
"Sure. Let's talk right here." He knelt to meet my height.
The image of the Commander's shade-covered silhouette, breathing warm huffs into my face, overlapped with the one from my memory.
My heart shriveled slowly within my ribcage.
The same distance separated the commander and me, the same feeling smothered my throat, and the same horrifying silence shrouded the woods around us as the one that detained me that day.
"Tell me, prisoner." The sour stench of his breath clawed at my nostrils. "I am so curious." He leaned in even closer, teeth gritted. "Do you take me for a fool?"
A nerve was throbbing on his forehead, and I fought to keep my hands from trembling and my expression neutral.
"Sir," I began, but my voice faltered. "S-Sire... I would never," I declared.
"Ha!" He jerked his head back. "You, with the scant knowledge gained from the mere two books you have read, think to outwit me? A fucking division commander, with a feeble tale about relieving yourself? Ha!" He laughed again, his yellowed teeth bared in a furious grin.
"Listen—" I tried, forcing calm into my voice despite the chills crawling up my spine as he reached for an object on his waist. "I can explain. I promise."
The truth clawed at my throat, desperate to escape.
Maybe he'd believe me if I told him.
Maybe the truth would save me.
"I'm... I'm not the person you th-think I am..." I stuttered, my vision blurring with the sensation of the ground wobbling beneath me. "I didn't commit the crimes. I'm... I know you must have noticed that I'm... different. Maybe if you knew her, I mean me, before this, you could tell." The words were itching to leave my throat. "M-My name isn't Ashdown. I'm a different person, I'm... Penelope—"
... What are you doing?
Penelope, stop crying like an idiot.
My eyes blurred with tears as the words left my lips, as if they would have suffocated me had I kept them unsaid.
Could he even believe it? Could anyone?
"I swear... I'm innocent."
I didn't raise you to be this weak.
Blert cocked an eyebrow, looking slightly confused.
Since when did honesty work anyway? Backtrack. Backtrack. What the fuck am I doing?
"What I mean is..." I looked up at him, trying to seem as innocent as possible, letting the tears drip off my eyes to clear my vision. "I didn't bribe the coachman. I would never try to run away. So I'm innocent."
"Interesting... I never said you bribed anybody, Miss Ashdown." The corners of his mouth curled up.
I shut my eyes, a part of me glad that I could finally rest.
... Perhaps death was the only possible happy ending I could get.
Even with the convenient knowledge of the book, my years of medical practice, and my modern-world experiences, I still managed to fail. Who's the idiot who entrusted me with a second life anyway?
With that thought, the corners of my lips lifted.
Whoever it is... I'd still like to thank them.
"I shall leave you in such peril that, conveniently, only with the aid of our two available medics could you even hope to survive..." He said.
How nostalgic...
"Drop it." My fingers clawed at the scalp of a girl whose name I barely knew, her soft hairs entangled in between my fingers. "Jess, was it? You better give me your loudest scream before you turn bald." I pulled her hair tighter, making her look up at me.
She was in our brown and white school uniform, and though the memory of her facial features had gone blank since, I could still recall the feeling I had gotten as she looked up at me, eyes filled to the brim with helpless, utter rage.
"You fucking psychopath." She gritted her teeth. "LET GO OF ME!" Her scream echoed through the corridors.
I looked up to see the concrete-covered yard outside through the empty classroom window. The principal was still heading there.
"Louder." I pulled at her head tighter, my heart beating faster as I watched the principal close in on the gym entrance.
The blonde girl let out such a screech that my ears began to ring. The moment following that, I looked over at the yard, and the principal's gaze was searching the building's window for the scream's source. His aide pointed at us with a fat scowl, and after a brief exchange of words, the two middle-aged men began running towards the school entrance.
"-lope!" His voice echoed through the yard. "PENELOPE HORNE!!"
Once the two entered the building, I grabbed my phone and sent a quick message to my accomplices. And once that was over with, I threw a glance at Jess, who was fixing her hair and grunting from the injuries on her arms and knees.
"You think you're being a loyal friend." She stated, fixing the collar of her blazer, her gaze fixated on something in the window behind me. "But you're just a sad, evil little shit who lets losers use her like a guard dog." She stepped back, expecting me to retaliate physically.
"... Watch that pretty mouth," I said, expression blank. "Or else you'll get downstairs through this window." We were on the second floor; therefore, it technically wasn't a death threat.
I threw a look at the window and as expected, it was Harper and Benjamin, who cautiously walked out of the gym, their clothes untidy.
I looked down at the bruises on my arms from this girl's retaliation. Through the corridor, I had heard the principal and his aides' running steps closing in on us, and at that moment, a smile drew itself on my face.
[You're a lifesaver.] Harper's message read. [Thank you]
A little shit who gets used by the people she cherishes the most.
As I watched Harley and her boyfriend wave me an excited goodbye through the window, feeling the principal's approaching, looming figure behind my back, I couldn't help but wonder: What's so bad about that?
As this memory flashed within my mind, my eyelids flew open, and I took in a sharp breath.
"WAIT-!!" I exclaimed, feeling tingly, warm liquid leaking down my neck. I groaned against the edge of the dagger, eyes wide open as I grabbed the man's left arm and tightened my hold on it. "Sir, wait. There is something I must tell you! Wait, wait!"