~*~ Several days later ~*~

“603595” Mr. Morris read off his attendance list.

“Present” the man who went with the number said.

“803885”

“Uh... Present” JC quickly spoke when he heard his number. He wasn’t familiar with the whole being a number thing but he was learning quickly. He was forced to learn quickly.

The past few days were absolutely exhausting. Like he had been expecting he didn’t get one of the easy jobs. His job was to bring the 17 carpenters the supplies they needed to make the rooms for the Queen. That meant a lot of carrying with heavy supplies, running up and down the corridors and cleaning up the mess the carpenters made while they were working.

They’d complaint if you didn’t get there supplies within 2 seconds and he would get punished for slacking off. He thought it wasn’t fair but there really was nothing he could do. The other carpenters were all much older than he was and were good friends with the man in charge, Mr. Morris, who made sure the job would run smoothly and that they would remain on schedule. He didn’t have anything to say in the matter at all.

On the first day he let it slide not daring to say anything about it but yesterday when they falsely accused him of slacking off again, he opened his mouth and defended himself.

“I’m doing what I’m supposed to do” JC defended.

“Not fast enough. I think he’s just flirting with the woman outside on the courtyard” one of them said accusingly while he smiled amused when Mr. Morris stepped in front of JC, looming over him.

“I am not! I’m not superman alright! I can’t walk any faster” he shot back at the man who disappeared behind Mr. Morris.

“Maybe you need some motivation?” Mr. Morris asked while he pulled the whip out of his belt smacking it against his own skin. JC cringed at the sound of the whip smacking against skin.

“No!” he said fearfully putting his hands out in front of him to ward him off.

“What did you say slave?” Mr. Morris spat out angrily, looking for a reason to punish him.

“I’m sorry... Mr. Morris, I’m sorry. I’ll work harder” he pleaded desperately to get out of his punishment. Not knowing that it hadn’t mattered what he said, he would be punished anyway.

“Yes you will and I’ll give you some motivation” Mr. Morris said with a gleam of amusement in his eyes when he saw the fear in JC’s. JC cringed at the thought of the pain he’d felt when the whip had made contact with his lower back. Determined to avoid this today he followed the group quickly towards the castle.

“Hey Chasez! Get me some more boards, now!” one of the men ordered him like he was his boss but JC obeyed quickly, the agreement he made with himself to avoid all kinds of trouble, still in his mind.

“Yes sir” he responded, cringing as the words left his mouth. He ran downstairs, all of the 7 stairs that took it to get to the place where they stored the wooden boards. JC was sure they could have taken a place closer to the rooms they were working but he didn’t dare to say that. Mr. Morris was always looking for an excuse to punish him and he wasn’t going to hand it to him on a silver plate.

He grabbed a few wooden boards and made his way up the stairs as quickly as he could. When he turned the corner heading for the 4th stairway he bumped into someone and dropped the boards, startled by the person who came out of nowhere.

“I’m sorry” he apologized quickly, hoping the person wouldn’t yell at him.

“I didn’t see you, I’m sorry” he apologized again while the woman tried to come out of her shock. Samantha stared at the man who was crouching down next to the wooden boards to retrieve them. When JC didn’t get a response he feared the worst, he expected her to scream and get him in trouble but in fact she was very gentle.

“Are you alright? I’m sorry I didn’t see you” she apologized once she got out of her shock. She crouched down next to him and helped him retrieve the wooden boards. JC didn’t dare to look up, he didn’t know who she was but he liked her, she had a very sweet tone in her voice.

“You don’t have to do that miss” he said discharging her.

“That’s ok” she said taking a peek at the young man in front of her, he was handsome she could see.

“What’s your name?” she asked shyly but curious.

“Um…” he hesitated, was it really appropriate to give her his name? He didn’t have a name anymore. He was a number. Why did she want to know anyway?

“JC” he replied anyway. He had a good feeling about her and gave her, the answer to her question.

“I’m Sam” she introduced herself. He slowly raised his eyes from the floor and eyed her carefully. She smiled warmly and he returned the smile forgetting time and reality. However a fuming Mr. Morris brought him back to reality real quick.

“I’m so sorry your highness” Mr. Morris apologized bowing his head as he spoke. JC quickly lowered his gaze again. ‘Your highness?’ he asked himself while he stood up from his crouched position. ‘The future queen?! Ooh crap! I just don’t have any luck at all!’

“Has he been bothering you?” he asked firmly grasping JC by his bicep yanking him towards him, away from the princess.

“Ooh no! Not at all” Samantha defended him. JC was surprised she would actually stand up for him. Why would she do that? He smiled a little although he was scared. He knew his promise to himself for not getting into trouble today had been broken. There was no way Mr. Morris was going to let him get away with this. No way.

“It wasn’t his fault, don’t punish him for it please” Samantha asked Mr. Morris, fully knowing how the system worked.

“As you please your highness” Mr. Morris said bowing once more before he jerked JC with him to the stairs. He stumbled along, clumsily holding the wooden boards while he though of what she just said. ‘I just met the future queen?’ he thought. ‘Yeah you idiot you’re in the palace it’s pretty easy to run into her in her own home!’ Still he had never thought it would be this easy. Never thought slaves could bump into a princess but he did, literally.

“Put those boards down and follow me” Mr. Morris ordered shoving JC inside so he could give the men who’d been waiting his arrival their boards. Slowly he followed Mr. Morris to the end of the hall where he had set up his temporarily office.

“What the hell do you think you were doing?” he bulged and JC cringed at the sudden outburst. He thought he was off the hook when the princess ordered him not to punish him. Morris even agreed!

“I was… I… I was…” he stuttered having trouble explaining himself.

“You were what?” he asked severely crossing his arms over his chest.

“I was getting those boards as they told me and then I bumped into someone on the way back” he said softening his voice at the end.

“You bumped into someone? Someone like whom? The future queen?!” he yelled.

“It was an accident, I didn’t do it on purpose” JC defended.

“That’s not even all of it” Mr. Morris stated not listening to JC’s defensive reply.

“What do you mean?” JC asked incredulously.

“When I arrived you were looking at her! You were looking her straight in the eye!”

“No… No! No I wasn’t. I was… I…” he tried to explain but he knew the real reason he was looking at her would get him in even more trouble so he silently agreed he broke the rules.

“Good now that we got that settled… I’ll talk to Mr. Norton about this and I’m sure he won’t be happy when he hears about this” JC nodded already knowing what was coming. He had disserved it this time. Looking someone in the eyes as a slave was against the rules and he broke that rule. But the past week he had been punished for nothing so if he was going to be punished anyway, it might as well have a reason and this time it had. It didn’t change the way his stomach turned into a knot or that he cringed when he saw Mr. Morris pull out a whip ready to attack him again.

It wouldn’t be the end of it though; Mr. Norton would have a punishment for him as well. Would it ever stop? He asked himself, not really sure he wanted to know the answer. He slumped in defeat as Mr. Morris approached him with the whip in his hand.