Chapter 12
Emerson
Tears continue to pour down my cheeks as the tips of my fingers bleed profusely. I can’t stop, though. I just can’t. I have to get out of here. I don’t know how long I’ve even been here, but I know I can’t stay.
I continue to claw at the hard rock beneath me although knowing somewhere in the back of my mind it’s getting me nowhere. All I’m doing is hurting myself, but I can’t stop.
“Please!” I scream as I claw at the ground. My blood stains the rock at the edge of my cell, but not even seeing that stops me from trying. The lights are on, so they, whoever they are, don’t care if we talk.
“You’re only hurting yourself,” Jenny, the girl next to me, says. I ignore her words and continue to claw at the ground. When my fingers burn, I stop. When I look down I can see the skin and nail has been torn off. I should get sick to my stomach seeing that, but I don’t. Instead, I scoot back against the wall and curl into myself.
“We’re never getting out, are we?” I whisper, but she hears me.
“I don’t know even what this place is,” she says.
“It’s hell. That’s what it is.”
“We’ve been talking, well down the line, they think it’s a cave of some sort. The girl at the end said she can see the entrance, but bars block it.”
“A cave?”
“That’s what we think. It would make sense. The rock walls and floor.” She’s right. That would make sense but a fucking cave?
“Does he ever open the cells?” I ask this time.
“Only for showers.”
“Is there any chance to run? How many girls does he take out at a time?” I ask in a rush.
“Three, maybe four. There’s nowhere to run. It isn’t a shower; it’s the hose only with warmer water.”
“The entrance. Has anyone ever tried to make it?”
“Not that I know of.”
“If it’s just him, we could try, right? We could try to take him on,” I tell her, feeling slightly hopeful.
“I doubt any of the other girls are willing to try that,” she adds.
“Why not? Don’t they want out of here?”
“Of course, we all want out of here. But what happens if we don’t make it? Will things be worse than they are now?” she asks, and it makes sense. The lights? I don’t know what kind of lights they are, but they burn our skin. I wouldn’t be surprised if I had blisters on my back right now. And the cold? He blasts us with cold air, causing us to freeze, and honestly, I don’t know which is worse.
“I can’t stay here.”
“We don’t even know why we’re here,” she adds.
“He doesn’t say?”
“No. I’ve been here long enough to know that the last batch of girls was taken out and never came back. Then new girls were brought in.”
“Do any of you know each other? Is this random?”
“If we have anything in common, I wouldn’t know what. None of us look alike, and none of us seem to know each other.”
“This is insane. None of this makes sense,” I ramble when I hear him. Has he been listening this whole time?
“It’ll make sense in time. When the time is right, you’ll all know. And you’re smart, Emerson. You catch on quickly. There is something you all have in common, although I highly doubt any of you will figure it out until the time comes.”
“Why keep us here? Why do this to us?”
“To prepare you for what’s in store for you.”
“How long will we be here?”
“Not much longer now.”
“Are you going to kill us?” Now, he laughs, and it’s a sick, demonic laugh that sends a chill down my spine.
“Possibly a few of you, but not all,” he tells me.
“How do you choose who dies?” I need answers. I need to know how to get the hell out of this.
“I don’t pick and choose necessarily. It’s more of a first come, first serve type situation.”
“That doesn’t make sense!” I screech, my voice hoarse.
“I see why you were so well-liked, Emerson. You’re mouthy and I can appreciate that. That’s something the others lack.”
“This is bullshit. Someone is going to find us. Then what? Then you’re dead!”
“Who is going to find me? You want me to share a little secret with you? All of you are the same in this way. There is no one looking for you. None of you. In fact, none of you have family anymore.”
“What? What does that mean?”
“It means none of you have family, Emerson. There’s no mommy or daddy out there to hunt for you. There’s no one coming to save the day. This is it. This is your end,” he explains before stepping back into the shadows. The light goes off just as the cold air blasts me. I slink back and curl into a ball, trying to keep myself as warm as possible, but it's futile. There’s nowhere to hide from the brutality.
I close my eyes as my body begins to shiver and shake from the air, knowing there’s nothing I can do. I’ve done what I can. I’ve tried to escape and like he said, there’s no way out. This is it. This is the end.
Knowing you’re never going home, you’re never getting out of here hurts. I don’t know what I did to deserve this. I don’t know who I pissed off or who I hurt to get here.
I’ve never harmed anyone. I have never done anything bad to anyone that I can think of. Nothing that could warrant me being here. I wrack my brain, trying to pull up any kind of memory of something, anyone, anything, but there’s nothing.
Is it because of my mom? Could this have anything to do with her? It shouldn’t. It wouldn’t make sense if it did. Who would care what she did?
Is it the dad I don’t know about? Did he know about me? Did he not want me around? But what sense does that make? From what I know, he didn’t even know about me.
Could it be whoever killed Brandon? Do they want to kill me too? Is that why they sent me all those things? It has to be, right? There’s no other obvious reason for me to be here. And the other girls? What do I have in common with them? There are about fifteen of us here, which makes no sense.
I close my eyes tightly and wish I was somewhere else. Anywhere else.