OWNER ALWAYS RIGHT

I turned that card in my hand before putting it back where I found it. I mean it's just food right?. I came out of my room. The place was so nice, the huge windows had a view of the night time, the doors, I could tell, were made of oak wood. The fragrance, seemingly lavender filled the place. It felt so unreal.

I shook my head back into reality. I had a task to complete. I walked steadily towards his door.

"owner" no answer

"Owner..are you there" I asked again. He opened the door

"What is it" he asked looking pissed

"You look hungry….I can make some food for you" That came out wrong, I wanted to ask

"No thank you" he slammed the door

The fuck!??... I thought of other things

I went to the kitchen. I didn't know what to make. I looked through the ingredients in the fridge and it was fully stocked. I settled on the simplest thing, pasta with chicken sauce. I started cooking.

I knocked again at his door.

"Owner… it's pasta and chicken sauce..I mean who doesn't like chicken" I said trying to get him to come out "it'll get cold" I said again. For about ten minutes he didn't reply.

"O common owner…it's delicious" I said, taking a bite. "Mmmmm" I tried to lure him out. I checked my time, I had only an hour and 32 minutes left.

O my God this guy is so argh I thought to myself. I had only 5 tasks to complete and just this simple one I couldn't get it?? I was frustrated. I sat down on the floor beside his door. The food in front of me, my head in-between my knees.

He suddenly opened the door. I stood up with lightning speed picking the food up and standing in front of me.

"Hungry now?" I said smiling

And guess what? He ignored me. Passed by me like I wasn't even there. I stood there smiling like an idiot, my head raging.

I turned after him and he went to the kitchen and literally started making oatmeal?!.

I put the food on the counter and stared at him, in shock? Confusion? Fear of the time running out? I didn't know but I felt many emotions running through me. Tears filled my eyes, I sniffled.

He continued preparing the damn food.

"This is not fair… I don't care if you know about the task or not but my life is on the line here. You're free to walk about anyhow you want but I don't have that freedom. So please can you eat the damn food and let me complete the task" I said, tears falling from my eyes. I didn't want to die…. I needed to live..I needed to survive.

Owner still didn't say a word. I heard something slide to the front of me.

"Eat," he said. He had served me oatmeal with blueberries on top.

"What" I asked as I cleaned the tears from my eyes

"Eat," he said again. I continue staring at him " did you forget? You have to obey anything your owner says and that includes defying your tasks…"

I continue staring at him trying to understand what he was saying

"You have completed the first task already…so eat" as he said this, the mysterious voice spoke

FIRST TASK COMPLETED

How??? I wondered

"Because I'm your owner and I can make decisions on you"

Tears streamed down my face in relief as I understood what he was saying…I pulled the food close to me as I started eating.

I had completed the first task because he said so. The rules of this game were set to confuse the players.

I looked at my owner as I was eating….he was sitting in front of me eating to. I knew there was no escaping for me anytime soon. I had to play smart.

"Why" I asked him as I cleaned my mouth "why did you decide to just help me complete the first task quickly "

"You got a problem with that "

"Problem..no of course not" I said laughing awkwardly. "Just that I know you're supposed to stall the time till we figure this out but you helped me... Thank you" I said genuinely. He nodded and picked up his plate as he had finished eating.

"You should probably move on to your next task". My next task?? O right.

An idea suddenly struck me."wait"he looked over his shoulders "since you helped me with the first task...can you like help me with the others too..you know, since I have to obey everything and anything the owner says". He finally looked back and stared at me like a chain on onions was aroundy neck.

"What's in it for me" he asked as he crossed his arms and leaned his back on the sink

"You start another game in the next ..." he looked at his watch "forty five hours...so what's in it for me" he asked again.

TF was his problem I scoffed to myself. "Fine what do you want" I asked as I crossed my arms pushing the plate aside.

He leaned close to me "teach me how to cook" what the...my eyes widened at his request "you want me..to teach you...how to cook?" I asked again to make sure

He nodded "and remember, you cannot refuse the request of your owner" damn..I had no choice here.

Now here we were in the kitchen, wearing aprons, holding spoons and standing in the middle of the kitchen looking at the ourselves like we were crazy.

"Okay..what do you want to learn first" I asked as I stared at him.

"That thing you called pasta and chicken sauce.. right?" He looked at me

"You don't know pasta and chicken sauce " I asked in surprise "have you even been existing" I laughed

"It's not funny" he said his eyes hardening

"Sorry" I said immediately

"Let's start with the ingredients"

I brought out all the ingredients and explained the process of cooking to him

"Try it now ..I'll be in my room" I said as I walked away.

I hadn't even been away from ten minutes when the smoke alarm went off. I ran back to the kitchen.

"What the..." My mouth opened in shock. For the first time in my life I just met someone who could burn pasta and he looked so distressed he start staring the burnt thing. I ran to him.

I quickly took the pan off the stove and pout it in sink. "You burnt pasta??" I asked as I looked back at him slowly. He just held the spoon looking at me like I had caught him stealing.

We had a long way to go and I had to put up with this lost cause called owner. I face palmed myself.