Page 15 of The Monster I Am

Jared wasn’t sure what had woken him up, but it could have been anything. Sleeping too deeply in the slums was a way to get all your stuff stolen. Or worse. He’d learned to wake easily.

He had to take a moment to convince himself that he wasn’t still dreaming when he woke up in the most comfortable bed he could remember sleeping on instead of the thin ratty mattress he’d been using for years.

And with actual blankets.

The sun outside the window told him that he’d slept much later than he should have, and he scrambled out of bed. He quickly made the bed, smoothing the blankets out just the way they had been before he’d gotten into it, then stood at the edge of it awkwardly, not sure what to do with himself.

He should probably see if the window would open, so he could escape.

But he couldn’t quite convince himself that he wanted to, and not just because of the mark on his wrist.

He eventually moved to the edge of the bed and waited, wondering if he’d be punished for just staying there even though he’d been told that the door would be locked. He hadn’t tested to see if it was unlocked. Should he?

He was still trying to decide if he should try it when he heard footsteps outside of the door, and he jumped to his feet just as his owner was opening the door.

“Jared?” Rhys asked, standing in the doorway.

Should he kneel? Should he stand? He didn’t know what his owner expected.

“Yes, sir?” he squeaked.

“Kitchen,” Rhys said. “Can you at least fry an egg? If not, I’ll show you how. If you don’t cook breakfast for yourself, you’ll have cereal or oatmeal or something easy.” He led the way.

Jared followed quickly, feeling awkward in his nudity in a way that he hadn’t the previous night. He hadn’t thought anything of it before the party when he’d just been one more naked slave among all of the ones there, but sleeping had wiped away the last vestiges of the pleasant fuzziness that he’d experienced at the party and left him feeling exposed.

“I can try, sir,” Jared said. “I’m not very good at it.”

He wanted to cover himself, but he couldn’t do that and cook food.

He looked around the kitchen, trying to get himself acquainted with where everything was as Rhys poured a cup of coffee.

“You’ll get better at it,” Rhys said, pulling butter and eggs out of the fridge. The words were firm, leaving no room for argument. “Here.”

Jared watched attentively as Rhys went through the motions of making the breakfast. It didn’t look terribly complicated, and he had at least made some attempts in the past at frying things in a pan. Theirs just hadn’t been any good for it. But with a proper pan, he thought he would be able to do it without too much practice.

“You can have that one.”

“Yes, sir,” Jared said quietly. He had to open a few cabinets before he found the ones with the plates, and open a few drawers before he found the forks. Once he had those, he scooped the eggs onto the plate and turned toward the table.

He nibbled indecisively on his lip before putting the plate and fork on the table then pouring himself a glass of milk to go with the breakfast. He watched Rhys as he cautiously sat on the chair, still not quite believing that he was allowed to sit on the furniture. When no reprimand came, he picked up the fork and started eating quickly.

Rhys leaned against the counter, refilling his cup of coffee from the pot. “When you’re done eating, you’ll spend the rest of the day deep cleaning,” he said. “I will be in my office, and I am not to be disturbed unless it’s an emergency. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Jared said quickly. He didn’t know anything about cleaning a house, but he’d had to clean the storeroom at night after it closed and surely that couldn’t be that much different. He’d figure out where everything that he needed was. “Is there someplace you want me to start, sir?”

“The kitchen,” Rhys said, casting a glance around him. “Don’t fuck up, Jared.” With that warning, he disappeared into the other room.

Well, that wasn’t ominous at all.

Jared finished his breakfast and took the dishes to the sink, washing them quickly along with everything else that had been used to make breakfast and putting them in the dish rack. He looked around the kitchen with a little confusion; there wasn’t anything particularly dirty about it that he could see.

Sure there was some dust in the corner, and there were a few splatters of grease on the stove top… As he looked around, Jared picked out more things that needed to be done.

He started looking around trying to find cleaning supplies, finding them under the kitchen sink, with a broom and mop in the coat closet along with a dust pan and bucket.

Pulling everything out, he got down to work.

Jared debated for a long time about whether deep cleaning the house also meant deep cleaning his owner’s bedroom. He’d gnawed on his lip until it was sore but decided in the end that asking what he was supposed to do didn’t constitute enough of an emergency to interrupt Rhys in his office.