Free The Priest by Monica La Porta

guard ordered him inside.
    “You have ten minutes to eat,” the guard
said.
    He had never seen so much food, and his
stomach started rumbling at the sight. He couldn’t believe he had
been admitted inside a dining room. And he was completely alone. He
ate until he felt his stomach would burst, and he still had time to
waste. The idea that maybe he should have been worried by the
unexpected boon passed through his mind, but he was full for the
first time in his life and yet he decided to reach for another
helping.
    “Time’s up,” the guard announced from the
doorway. Mauricio couldn’t eat anything else, anyway. He grabbed a
few pieces of bread while passing the table and stuffed them in his
pockets, which he realized the guard caught him doing, but she
turned her head away. He started worrying.
    “The doctor will take a look at you now,”
the guard said, without the customary sneer. Mauricio went through
the door she had opened for him and braced himself for the
worst.
    “Remove everything and wear this gown,” the
doctor ordered Mauricio. He went to the corner behind a screen and
did as instructed. He felt a distinct sense of déjà vu. He was
subjected to the same treatment he received four years earlier,
down to the cold fingers probing him in an uncomfortable way. Even
the request at the end was the same.
    “Fill the cup,” the doctor said.
    Mauricio went behind the screen and did his
best not to disappoint the doctor. Somehow he knew that if she
wasn’t happy with the result, his day was going to change
drastically. He closed his eyes and tried to forget that on the
other side of the thin layer of rice paper, the doctor waited. He
breathed slowly in and out, and the image of Rosie appeared behind
his eyelids. Mauricio’s mind slowly relaxed and his body
followed.
    “Done?” The doctor tapped on the screen’s
frame.
    Mauricio closed the lid tightly on the cup
and put it on the window-tray at his side. The doctor heard the
click of the tray receding inside the window and told him to wait
where he was. He remained seated to contemplate the white wall
before him. Mauricio was good at waiting; he had done it all his
life. Normally, he just let his mind wander between thoughts. It
was his way to escape from his imprisonment. But this time,
something was off. The meal he had stuffed into his hungry stomach
was a sign of something he couldn’t fathom; the doctor personally
supervising his production was another clue of a larger picture he
wasn’t seeing.
    “Well, at least you are good for something,”
the doctor commented.
    Someone entered the room. Mauricio peeked
through the frame of the screen and saw his new guard walking
toward his corner. Shortly after, the imposing figure of the
Priestess filled the space, and the doctor bowed to her. He sat
down.
    “We finally have enough to freeze. The semen
is in perfect condition, despite the treatment the semental
received during the last month,” the doctor said.
    “Thank the Heavens I came back in time to
supervise the whole procedure,” the Priestess commented and then
added, “We are done with him.”
    The guard moved the screen, one hand already
on the whip.
    “It will never happen again,” the Priestess
said under her breath when her eyes found Mauricio, sitting on the
chair. He shivered at the tone of her voice.
    The guard sensed his hesitation and tugged
him by his sleeve. He moved along but gave a last look at the
Priestess. She looked back at him with disgust. He walked, knowing
exactly what was going to happen. He wasn’t useful anymore. His
days as a semental were over. He was going to be employed in the
fields. Finally, he was going to see the sun. Finally, he was going
to have a place among the other slaves. This should have been the
happiest day of his miserable life, but he could only think that he
would never hear Rosie’s voice again.
    He knew that she was going to leave him soon
anyway, but he thought that he still had some time to