Swallow it Down

I’ve seen the way he looks at me.

The Captain. The unquestioned leader of this ship.

A ship I wish to be free of. A man I want to be as far away from as my legs might carry me.

The society he’s designed, the rules, the endless battle of wills...

Yes, I’ve seen the way he looks at me.

I’ve felt his fingertips brush my skin. Heard his laugh. Experienced his smile.

One that’s only for me, and only in secret.

And I know what he wants.

He told me himself that everyone has to pay; that all who survived the fall of civilization were culpable. That’s how he justifies the decisions he’s made, the necessary evils he allows to take place on this ship… all in the name of a greater good.

And it’s why I resist the starved way his gaze drinks me down. Why I can’t be had at any price.