16. Carly
Carly
Present day
‘B oss, this is bad,’ Kyle says from the warehouse door.
‘Shut up and lock her up with the older girl,’ the bald man responds, rubbing at his unkempt facial hair.
When he usually comes, he’s dressed in pristine suits with perfectly cropped facial hair and shiny shoes. Today, his jacket is gone, his shirt’s unbuttoned and the worry lines framing his eyes give me the smallest bit of hope.
Kyle disappears for a moment, and then he’s in the doorway holding up a woman. What the hell. A woman. She looks barely conscious with an arm draped over Kyle’s shoulder as he drags her over to my cell. The older girl.
Kyle shoves the woman inside, and she collapses on my mattress.
‘What’s wrong with her?’ I ask, even though I know better than to talk to these monsters.
‘Shut up,’ Kyle snaps.
‘Where’s she going to sleep?’
‘Wherever she falls.’
‘But—’
He glares at me and I don’t finish my sentence. I guess we’re sharing.
Kyle and the other man leave and there’s a low murmuring filling the warehouse.
‘Carly,’ Taj calls out from his cell. ‘Who is that?’
Faces appear at all the bars around the large space, all looking in my direction—in the woman’s direction.
‘I don’t know,’ I respond, looking down at the woman. She’s moaning and muttering, but her eyes don’t open for longer than a second before she seems to be out of it again.
I bend down beside her and take her hand. Giving it a squeeze, I ask, ‘Can you hear me?’
Her eyes open for a moment, but she says nothing. I’m almost certain she’s been drugged. She looks the way I felt when they first brought me here. But why have they taken a woman? Only kids ever enter this building and lately not many new ones at all.
I sit on the mattress next to her and stroke her arm, because whoever she is, she’s one of us now, and maybe she can help us. If she wakes up.
***
Later in the afternoon, the woman stirs. I have my head resting on the mattress next to her while my body aches against the cold hard floor of my cell. The muttering starts up again, followed by a gasp and then she’s on her feet.
‘Careful,’ I say, jumping up to steady her. She sways on her feet before bringing a hand to her head, wincing in pain. ‘I think they drugged you.’
She rubs at a spot on her neck, nodding. She sits and then lies back on the mattress and looks at me. ‘Who are you?’
‘I’m Carly. Who are you?’
Recognition dawns in her eyes as she studies my face. ‘It’s you.’ She glances around the warehouse, wincing as she moves her head from side to side. ‘Where am I?’ she asks, ignoring my question.
‘I’m not sure. I’ve been in this warehouse for thirty-nine days. Some kids have been here longer.’
Her eyes widen and she says nothing. The woman closes her eyes, and her breathing becomes heavy again.
She can’t go back to sleep. She just can’t. We need her to help us. I bend down to her and shake her shoulders. ‘Wake up,’ I say. Tears falls from my eyes onto her unmoving body. ‘Wake up!’
The woman groans and slowly blinks open her eyes.
‘I knew it,’ she whispers.
‘Knew what?’ I ask.
She ignores my question again and slowly stands.
I’m scared she’s going to collapse at any moment.
Her entire body wobbles like a baby giraffe taking its first steps.
I offer a hand out to her and she takes it.
She walks to the front of the cell, looking at the rest of the warehouse.
Other faces appear at the bars. They’ve heard a new voice and they all want to see.
‘Holy shit,’ the woman says slowly. When she turns back to me, her eyes are filled with tears. ‘You said you’ve been here how long?’
‘Thirty-nine days. Some of the others have been here longer.’
She twists her lips to one side and shakes her head. ‘Evil,’ she says. ‘Makes no sense though.’
‘What are you talking about? Who are you?’ I’m growing impatient.
‘Darling,’ she says, turning to face me, her tone soft and sweet, and I’m suddenly reminded of my mum. ‘I’m Iris and I’ve been trying to find you. All of you.’
Iris sits me down and explains what she thinks she’s found while investigating. She speaks in a hushed voice so the younger kids won’t hear.
I’m a pretty mature teenager, even more so after this ordeal, but I’d never have been ready to learn the truth about why I’m here. How do you take the news that you’re here waiting to be sold, never to see your family again? She comforts me as the tears roll and my body trembles.
‘It’s okay,’ she reassures me, a tight smile forcing one side of her mouth to lift. ‘I’m going to get you all out of here.’ But her smile doesn’t reach her worried eyes. She’s a prisoner now too. I don’t know what she thinks she can do from in here.
‘Carly?’ she says when I’ve calmed down a little later. ‘Do you know a Brent? He might come in here from time to time.’
I shake my head.
‘Perhaps you know him as Eddie?’
My head snaps up and my eyes lock with hers. ‘Yes.’
‘Does he come here?’
‘Sometimes.’ She nods, and we’re startled by the warehouse door swinging open.
It’s the bald man and Kyle again, and they’re carrying in another person. A bloodied and beaten Eddie hanging between them.
‘Brent,’ Iris whispers.
He’s thrown into Taj’s cell and the murmuring starts up again.