Page 48 of Riv's Sanctuary

She’d slept soundly again. After she’d spent the previous day doing nothing, she’d been sure she’d have a hard time falling asleep but it turned out the warm shower was just the thing she’d needed to put her in the mood for sleep.

After he’d brought her the food and showed her the shower, her host had disappeared for the night.

She could still remember how he’d stood there and watched her eat, a look of surprise and something else she couldn’t determine in his eyes.

At first, she’d felt self-conscious but the taste of real food had been too divine to resist.

It’d been filling, that meal, because even now, she wasn’t hungry.

Rising, she cast her gaze out the window.

There were the cow-hippos grazing again and the beautiful clear sky above, the sunrise casting a reddish tint over the pink.

Off in the distance, she couldn’t see the robots anymore. Maybe they had moved to another section of the farm. But that wasn’t what she was really looking for.

Her gaze flicked over the Sanctuary in search of a hint of blue.

She saw him for a second before he disappeared behind one of the buildings.

The rest of the day went like this.

Every now and then she caught glimpses of him but for the most part, Riv was out of sight.

When the sun finally left the sky, Riv entered her room with a bowl of food. He said nothing and she wasn’t sure what she should say.

Whenever she opened her mouth to talk, the growing irritation on his face was almost comical. Still, he said nothing. He just watched her as she ate with those piercing eyes of his.

For the next day and the next, the same thing happened. She’d watch him work through the window and in the evenings he’d come to her room with a bowl of food, staring at her as she ate and then leaving for the rest of the night.

Now, Lauren settled on the bed when the sun was almost in the middle of the sky, her bottom lip between her teeth.

Wasn’t she a free woman?

She wasn’t in the terrarium anymore. She was no longer at the zoo.

But it sure felt as if she was in captivity, being stuck in the room.

Not that he’d explicitly said she should stay in there. It’d been her choice not to move.

That and the fact the large animal she’d heard was somewhere out there. It hadn’t come back to her door but she could still remember the terror of the night when it came like the big bad wolf trying to get in.

Gulping, she decided she needed to be brave and step out of the room.

If she was ever going to regain her independence, she needed to take the first step.

Lauren moved to the window to look out again before her gaze shifted to the door.

She was going to do it.

Pressing the panel on the wall, the door hissed open to reveal the corridor and Lauren froze, her ears perked for any sound.

Nothing.

As she stepped into the corridor, she stiffened and waited.

Still nothing. Only the sound of the door hissing shut behind her.

When she reached the main room, she paused again.