"OK." Brayden said to himself. "Ok. Nothing to worry about." he gulped. "I just... Uh... It was just messy. And I wanted to clean before I left." Brayden crossed his arms under his modest bust, and shut his eyes tight. "What am I talking about?!" He hissed. "Of course this isn't ok. I should have been using that time to escape! Not clean!"
He opened his eyes and looked around. Pristine white floor. Immaculately made bed. The plants in the window sill had been rearranged to evenly fill the space where the one succulent had been dropped.
Bliss.
Brayden sighed deeply. He couldn't even feel anxious. It was like that part of his brain was totally turned off. He felt a satisfaction he'd never felt before, and something else? Some sort of excitement, or deep delight he couldn't quite place?
He huffed. "It's done at least." He glanced at his reflection in the window. now recognizing the white and black trim of his collared shirt to be vaguely reminiscent of a maids outfit. He was about to jump out again, when his phone buzzed with an angry insistence.
Brayden's heart leapt with anxiety that suddenly struck him quite intensely, and he scurried over to the counter where it lay, and grabbed it. It required his fingerprint on the back. A feature far more fancy than his original knockoff dumb-phone phone had.
An alert was on the screen.
"5 minutes. Meet Evelyn at Front of Clinic. Don't forget your purse."
Purse? Brayden looked around, spying it in the corner, tucked between a sealed glass jar of popsicle sticks, and medical brochures.
It was black, high gloss, square frame, with a clutch top. The strap was made of a more matte black cloth, but just as stiff as the rest of the purse fabric. It was a handbag, not something that could be worn over the shoulder. Clean. Simple. Sharp lines. Something about it was satisfying to his newly mysophobic psyche.
This was, of course, ridiculous. He wasn't about to take that stupid thing. He glanced back to the window, but remembered that no one seemed to care that he left out the door earlier when he was looking for cleaning supplies. He wasn't being confined to the room. It would be easier to just walk out the front. With a sigh, he left the room, passed the nurses station, walked down the stairs and out the front door. All while doggedly avoiding eyecontact with the people that bustled around the building. It wasn't until he reached up to push the front door open that he realized he'd brought the purse with him. One hand had the phone, and one hand had the purse. He grit his teeth, thinking about tossing the purse, but relented for the moment, and simply slipped the phone into the handbag.
He was supposed to wait for someone to pick him up. He wasn't going to wait for someone to pick him up. Instead he started walking. His heels were short, and soft, but they still tapped satisfyingly on the pavement as he walked... well... sort of minced briskly past the front gate.
No one stopped him, and so he turned down the sidewalk. Still no one seemed to care. He smirked. Did they really think he would do what they said just because they ruined his body and messed with his mind? He'd just skip town, and come back better equipped to get his revenge later.
"HEY!" a voice cried out.
Brayden paused and looked around. A car pulled up next to him. A new trendy Fiat, bright blue in color. A perky brunette in the drivers seat smiled and waved. Her dark hair was divided by a black hairband between a big bun and blunt bangs cut straight just past her eyebrows. The woman's outfit was similar to his own, but somehow more professional. Her collar was a cuter frilly neckline, and her skirt was longer. Her shirt had no sleeves, and she wore no apron.
"Hey! Are you Brandi Fall?" The woman cried out again, this time from right next to him.
Brayden huffed. "No! I'm Bray-Den." He got around the psychological block by pronouncing each syllable separately, and smirked at the small victory.
The brunette frowned, and matched his speed in her car. "Uhh... That's..." She shook her head. "Listen, wherever you're going, how about I give you a ride?"
"I'm fine, thanks." Brayden snipped.
"Trust me, if you keep walking, you're anything but fine." she retorted.
Brayden's phone buzzed in his purse, and he popped open the clasp to glance at the screen. "10:30 Ride with Evelyn to mall" Brayden scoffed. "Yeah right."
He kept walking.
"Hey. I'm on your side here, don't make this..."
"I told you I'm fine." Brayden snapped.
The woman screwed up her rosy red lips. "Yeah. I'm not about to get in trouble because of your bratty ass. Get in the car."
Brayden kept walking, but the words buzzed in his ears. His chest and stomach started to get tight.
"Get in the car." She said again, just as evenly, but just as unyieldingly.
Brayden slowed, his eyes lost focus. His heart rate jumped, and he felt nervous all of a sudden.
"Get in the car." The woman said a third time.
Brayden stopped walking. "I told you I'm fine." He insisted shakily.
"And I told you to get in the car." She insisted firmly.
Brayden reached for the door, his hand trembling, then jerked it back.
The woman rolled her eyes. "Where do you want to go?"
"City limits." Brayden replied.
"Ok. I'll help you. Get in the car."
His throat was tight now, his head buzzed with anxiety. He wanted to shrink down and obey... He refused to obey, but then... She said she would help him get to city limits... Maybe he could trust her?
He reached for the handle, opened the door, and got in the car.
The Brunette beamed. "See! That wasn't so hard? Things will go a lot easier for you if you just play along. It's a great ride, as long as you don't try to jump off."
Brayden shrunk into the seat. "Whatever. Just take me to the city limits."
The Brunette didn't say anything, but started driving.
"I'm Evelyn." The lady introduced herself. She paused for Brayden to respond, but when she was met with silence, she continued undeterred. "And you're Brandi. Cute name." She smiled, but again Brayden said nothing. "So here's the deal." the brunette continued. "I am one of your coaches! Basically that means I help you get used to things around here."
"You mean, you tell me what to do?"
She scrunched her lips to the side. "Only if you try to get me, or yourself into trouble." She glances at him from the side of her eye as she drives. "And you are nothing but trouble. I've been reading a bit about you in my phone."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yup. which explains why you've got more than one coach AND a handler." She shrugs. "I wasn't too different from you once. Just a hotel maid with a smoking problem. Tired, bitter, pushing 50 with nothing to show for my life."
Brayden perked up and looked the beautiful woman up and down. Her skin was smooth and flawless, her breasts perky beneath the frills of her blouse.
"But P&R doesn't just help the city, it helps the people in it!" She concluded with a knowing smirk. "I played along, worked hard, and look at me now! They brought me over from an already settled town to help out with our new staff here."
"Staff?" Brayden spits. "I don't remember signing up."
"Everyone signs up in the end," She raises an eyebrow, "But according to your profile, you volunteered outright."
Brayden scoffed, and hunched in his seat.
"There's staff, residents, and VIP's. Staff is here to serve the VIP first, and the community second."
"Naturally." Brayden.
"It is natural. You'll see soon enough." She pulled the car to a stop. "We're here."
"Hey!" Brayden shouted. "This isn't the city limits!"
"Nope, it's the mall. We've got to get you some things before I drop you off at your handlers house."
"Bullshit! I'm leaving."
Evelyn scowled again. "We'll have to work on that language, but baby steps I suppose." She locked the door before Brayden could reach for the handle. "Ok Brandi."
"Bray-den" he snapped.
"Brandi." She insisted. "You've got it pretty good so far. You're young. You're cute. You're healthy. You're single. And you've got a good job at the lodge." Evelyn crossed her arms. "For your own sake, play along. Whatever angry rebellious stuff you've got going on in your head, just keep in mind, it can get a LOT worse, and reprocessing only goes one way. There's no redemption arc once you decide to settle down."
"Yeah, that bitch in the suit told me. A stripper right? Or some breeding cow?" He scoffed.
Evelyn pursed her lips. "Mmm. Yeah. That's enough of that." She pulled out her phone and started tapping away.
"Enough of what?"
"I usually don't do this during orientation, but you're not going to call The Director names."
"Oh really?" He smirked. "I'll say whatever I want about that absolute cuuu~~---"
Evelyn was smirking. She held up her phone with her thumb holding down some onscreen button. She tucked her phone back in her purse, but Brayden remained silent. In fact his lips, mouth, and throat felt numb.
"You get speaking privileges back when you learn to behave." Evelyn snipped.
"What?!" He stammered... Or meant to. All that came out was a wispy sigh and a shocked expression.
Evelyn beamed a smile. "Great! now let's do some shopping, and I'll explain things to you."
