The Program (The Program #1)(36)

I grab my food and head to a table in the corner and sit down. I want to go home. I just want to go home.

“Are you going to eat or are you a starver?”

I look up to see the guy from the leisure room, the one who gave me a pretzel, standing at the end of my table with a tray.

“A starver?”

He shrugs. “It’s pretty common around here.”

I glance around, noticing how several patients are just poking at their food with plastic spoons. It makes sense, I guess. With no will to live, why eat?

“How can I resist a menu like this?” I murmur, looking down at my plate. There are chunks of meat and potatoes in gravy, along with a side of broccoli and orange Jell-O.

The guy laughs. “So you’re funny? That’s refreshing. Mind if I sit?”

I don’t really care either way, so I just shrug. The guy pulls out the chair across from me and then exhales heavily. “My name’s Realm,” he says.

“Realm?” I look at him.

“It’s Mike Realm, but everyone just calls me Realm.”

“So can I call you Mike?”

“Nope.”

My mouth twitches with a smile, but I immediately straighten my expression.

“It’s okay sometimes,” Realm says, grabbing the roll off his tray and dipping it in the mashed potatoes. “Your face won’t break if you smile.”

I look him over. His hair is crazy, but now I see it’s styled that way. The scar on his neck stands out pink against his skin, and he still has shadows under his eyes like he’s been inside too long. But he’s cute—I’m sure under normal circumstances he is.

“If I smile they’ll think they got to me.”

Realm pauses before answering. “And that’s a bad thing? You want to stay here?”

“No. But I don’t want them to win, either.”

“Ah, well, sweetness. You’re gonna have to decide which you want more if you plan on going home.” He takes a bite, chewing slowly before talking to me again. “What’s your name?” he asks. “I tried to steal your chart, but I got busted.”

“You were going to steal it?”

He nods as if he’s proud.

“My name’s Sloane Barstow, but you can call me Sloane.”

“Can’t call you Barstow?”

“Nope.”

“Okay.”

Realm doesn’t go on, and he finishes his food in silence while I pick at mine. “If you eat more,” he says, wiping his mouth with a paper napkin, “the drugs won’t hit you as hard. I’m guessing they’ve got you pretty doped up. Keeping you under control.”

“Seeing that I can’t remember large chunks of time, you’re probably right.” I take a bite of my now-cold mashed potatoes.

“What color pills do you take?” he asks, leaning forward on his elbows.

“Red before therapy, yellow after.”

He nods and looks away, fidgeting with the hem of his scrubs.

“And then,” I continue, “there’s what the handler gives me.”

Realm looks up suddenly and tilts his head. “What? What do you mean?”

I take a sip of my milk and flip my gaze over to where the dark-haired handler is standing, not looking at me for once. “The one by the door,” I say behind my cup. “He injects me with sedatives.”

“What?” Realm says loud enough to earn a few stares. “That ass**le! What’s he giving you?”

“I don’t know exactly,” I say. “But it pretty much just knocks me out where I stand.”

Realm ducks his head as he lowers his voice. “Are you being serious about this?”

I scoff. “Why would I lie to you? To impress you with my tales of Program misadventures? Yes. He injected me the day I came here, and again in the hall after therapy. I haven’t seen him today, at least not until now.”

“Sloane,” Realm whispers, his dark eyes a different shade of worry. “If he does that again, if he hurts you, you need to tell Dr. Warren.”

“I tried. But she—”

“Tell her I made you tell. She’ll believe me.” Realm looks around then, noticing how others have finished their dinner and are headed out to watch TV or play cards. “I should go,” he says like he doesn’t want to. “But remember, the card game invitation stands, okay?”

I nod, having forgotten until he mentioned it. I watch as he leaves and notice that he goes out of his way to walk past the handler. When he passes, Realm looks sideways at him with a death stare, and for a second I think he’s going to get in a fight. But instead, the dark-haired handler, the one I’m scared of, pushes off from the wall and leaves the room.

It’s odd that Realm has that effect on him, but then again, maybe they’ve gotten into it before. Realm did seem pretty pissed when I mentioned the handler drugging me. I decide then that Realm is someone I should stay close to for a while. At least until I figure out how to navigate The Program on my own.

• • •

“You made it,” Realm calls the minute I stop at their makeshift card table. The other guys stare up at me with eager eyes, but I pretend not to notice. Realm pushes the kid nearest to him over and grabs a chair for me, sliding it in its place.