The Keeping(141)

“Almost eighteen.”

“I stand corrected.” He kept his voice even, resisting the urge to chuckle. Ah, the young. Always wishing to be older.

“Old enough to want some privacy in certain areas.” She folded her arms and pouted.

“And you shall have it, once you take your pill and get back in bed.” Greyson kept his voice gentle, but firm. For a moment, she stared at him defiantly and he noted how the green in her eyes darkened when she was upset. After a moment, she looked away, sighing.

“One of these days...” She muttered under her breath and she went to the bedside table, swallowing the disputed medication.

He nodded in satisfaction. “I’ll be back to check on you later. Rest, like you’re supposed to.”

“That’s all I can do when I’m on these pills. They make me so sleepy and I have the strangest dreams.”

“An unfortunate side effect, but well worth the benefits achieved.”

Cassandra stuck her tongue out at him, but quickly changing the childish reaction to a grin, she hopped into bed and picked up a book.

Greyson closed the door and rested his palm on the handle for a moment while shaking his head. She was a minx, but the light of his life. Who would have thought that a crusty old man such as himself would have been blessed with the care of one such as her? He smiled reminiscently, thinking of the joy she’d brought him over the years.

At first, he’d been unsure of how to handle the tot, but with the help a few trusted employees, he’d muddled through. He made sure Cassandra had the finest of everything; clothing, private tutors, individualized lessons for sports and art, vacations around the world... And all along, he’d managed to keep her out of the public eye. Only a few hand-picked employees interacted with her; she always travelled separately from him. It had worked perfectly until two years ago. Then, as she approached adulthood, he found that he needed to have a closer hand in her supervision. Unfortunately, even this situation wouldn’t work for much longer, and then what?

He wanted her to remain an innocent, naive little girl as long as possible, but she was tugging at the reins, becoming headstrong, questioning... Even taking her medication was becoming a source of friction. He grimaced. The nurse should have been watching her more closely. Who knows what could happen, if Cassandra missed a dose?

Letting go of the handle, he strode down the hallway, in search of the nurse. He’d have to remind the woman that if she didn’t carry out her duties any better than this, then she might have to be...dismissed.

*****

Cassandra listened to her uncle’s retreating footsteps and then grinned. She reached into her mouth and pulled the hated pill out from its location between her cheek and gum. There was a nasty taste in her mouth since it had partially dissolved. Rats! Her plans to make it through the cycle un-medicated were going sadly awry.

The nurse her uncle hired never left the room until at least half an hour after each pill was taken. Obviously the woman was suspicious and wanted to ensure that even if her charge did manage to keep from swallowing the pill, it would dissolve in her mouth. It was only by surreptitiously resetting the clocks and ‘accidentally’ breaking the woman’s watch, that Cassie had managed to get her out of the room believing that there was still an hour before medication time. She’d planned on flushing the pill down the toilet and then claiming she’d taken it on her own when the nurse returned. Unfortunately, her uncle had appeared first and Cassie had never been able to lie to the man. Well, at least she wouldn’t be quite as muzzy headed as usual.

Not for the first time did she wonder about the mysterious migraines everyone insisted that she had. Honestly, she couldn’t recall being sick the first time it happened, but apparently she had been, for suddenly her uncle had her meeting with a doctor who talked in medical babble, gave her a few cursory pokes and prods and then issued instructions for monthly treatments.

She didn’t have many friends and there was really no one to talk to about the situation, but her research on the internet led her to believe that something wasn’t normal. She’d started her monthly cycles quite late for modern females—just around her sixteenth birthday. And strangely enough, they only occurred every three months, with only minor spotting in between. Migraines could accompany menstruation, but the medications she took made her almost comatose, too groggy to do anything and strangely unaware of what was going on around her. Somehow, that just didn’t seem right.

Dr. Friedrich, in her estimation, wasn’t much of a doctor either. He hadn’t really examined her. Not that she wanted him too—the man gave her the creeps—but looking in her eyes and ears and poking her stomach through her clothing really couldn’t give him much of an idea as to her internal functions, could it?