Chapter 7
More and more girls flood into the abandoned prison every week, all walks of life are being crammed into the small cages, some of them sharing, their knees and arms bumping into each other every time they move.
I think I’ve been here for two months. I’m not entirely sure but I’ve been using a small rock to track the days on the floor of my cage.
The lines are building everyday and every time I mark a day off, my mind and body die a little more.
The wounds on my back are healing as best they can without any treatment, but they still cause me pain on a daily basis.
Emily hasn’t been herself since she came back, back from where I don’t know, but a guard came barging his way into her cage and dragged her away.
I tried to keep a hold of her, to stop them from taking her but it was useless the moment the guard cracked his baton against my frail wrist. The small bones broke immediately on impact and I’ve tried my best to strap it together with strips of fabric from my robe, but every day it throbs.
“What happened Emily?” I whisper against the bars of her cage, her body curled tightly into a ball in the corner. “Talk to me.”
Soft sobs shake her shoulders before she tips her head to face me. Gone are her chocolate brown eyes, now all that’s left behind are hollow windows, void of everything.
“They.. they made me do things. Things I’ve never done.
” She whimpers and my teeth grind together in blinding anger.
Her empty eyes brim with heavy tears before they fall down her face again, creating streaks through the dirt that’s caked onto her round face.
“A guard used.. his baton to assault me.”
My eyes flick down to where her legs are pulled tightly into her chest, streaks of smeared blood cover the inside of her bare thighs and robe.
Immediately bile rises in my throat and I have to give myself a minute to send it away.
I can feel the tears threatening to burst free, to break the dam that I’m struggling to keep a hold of but I refuse to break in front of Emily.
She needs me to be the stronger one for both of us right now.
I slip my uninjured hand through the bars to touch her shoulder. She jumps slightly at the contact before placing her hand over mine in a comforting touch.
“Thank you, Ana. For always sticking by me.”
“Don’t thank me. I couldn’t stop that guard from taking you.” I say as guilt sits heavily in my stomach like a brick.
“No. But you tried, and that’s more than I could ask for. I’m just tired, you know?” She says softly and I catch a wash of defeat that passes over her face.
“I know. Just.. just hold on alright.”
“I’m not sure how long I can hold on for.”
Her words stab through my chest like a hot poker and I have to bite down on the flesh inside my mouth to stop myself from crying. Emily has been the most constant thing here, a friend I’d never expect to make in a place like this. I can’t lose her, I refuse.
“Just promise me that you’ll hold on. Please.” I plead, and she simply nods her head, a small smile tipping up her blistered lips.
“I promise.”
I know her promise is empty but I hold onto it anyway, keeping it safe.
Her grip loosens on mine as she falls asleep against the bars, her breath slipping freely between her lips.
Keeping my eyes on her for a moment, I watch over her like a protector, my gaze trained on her chest as it rises and falls in an even rhythm.
After a moment my eyes begin to feel heavy and my body grows weary and tired from watching Emily sleep. I slump my shoulder against the bars and close my eyes, just for a second. I just need a minute, that’s all.
“Wake up pretty girl.”
“Dean? Is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me baby. I’m here.”
Tears rain down my face at the sound of Dean’s voice and I slip my hand across the crisp white bed sheet, feeling its softness beneath my fingertips. My hands reach for him but not quite touching, just an inch out of grasp.
“Where are you?” I whisper.
“I’m here baby.” He murmurs. “Where I’ve always been, waiting for you.”
I roll over in the plush bed to sit up, my bare feet grazing the soft carpet as I come to stand, my knees buckling. Looking around, my eyes scour the bedroom we share together, desperate to find Dean. Instead, the room is empty, just the smell of him left behind.
I heard his voice. I know I did. I.. I’m not crazy.
Turning on my heel, I leave the bedroom and head through the hallway that leads into the kitchen. The whole house is bare, not a single item of furniture fills the open space.
Where is everything? Where’s Dean, or Lyla?
“Dean? Lyla?” I ask in confusion, my head spinning in violent waves.
Immediately the front door swings open, sending a gush of wind through the house and over my bare arms. My skin tingles to life and the urge to step outside is strong, almost like hidden hands are pulling me through the house.
An invisible rope dragging me towards Dean.
I follow the urge and step through the front door and out onto the wooden porch.
The sky is cloudy and gray with a wash of clouds spreading across the wide space, heavy with rain. It hardly ever rains in Rockford.
Shaking my head, I make my way down the steps and onto the grass, following the pull around the house and across the garden towards the slow flowing lake that sits at the edge. The water is murky and gray like someone has spilled black paint into it.
Anxiety coils like a snake in my stomach and I can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right. This place feels different, and it’s not the home I recognise.
“Dean! Where are you?” I shout out to the open air.
“I’m here. Why are you shouting?”
In a rush I spin on my heels to find Dean standing behind me, my hand flies to my chest to calm the beating muscle that’s threatening to crash through my chest.
“Where have you been?” I question and something shifts across his face. A face that doesn’t quite look like his, like a stranger is wearing his skin and I step back until my feet brush the smooth pebbles at the water’s edge.
Dean steps forward, his body menacing and large as he looms over me. Any other time I’d bask in his stature but I can’t stop the feeling of dread that drowns me. He’s different. This isn’t the man that I love.
“I’ve always been here baby. I’ve been waiting for you to come home.” I want to believe him, I do, but something is stopping me and I have to trust that part of me. He steps forward again and I stumble over the rocks.
“Where are you going, pretty girl? I thought you’d missed me?” He says, his voice dark and sinister, his green eyes flash to gray before going back to green again, and that’s when I see it.
“No. No, please.”
“You’re so pretty when you beg, sweetheart.” My husband’s voice slips through Dean’s mouth and I recoil at the sound. It’s tainting my Dean. Ricky can’t do this to me!
“Give him back.” I plead, my feet now being splashed by the water.
The image of Dean fills my senses and in a split second his hand wraps around my throat in a vice grip, his fingers bruising my sensitive flesh.
A black haze fills the outer edge of my vision as I struggle for air, my nails ripping into Dean’s wrists.
He dips his face to my ear and whispers into my ear. “You’ll never be able to escape me, sweetheart.” The voice of my husband stabs into my ears and I struggle in his hold, my attempt at escape is weak.
Dean carries my flailing body into the water, the freezing cold sensation hits me like needles as I’m dragged into the lake and before I know it, I’m being dunked into the water that immediately fills my lungs.
Through the haze, I can just about see Dean’s form as he keeps his grip tight around my neck under the water.
I try to scream but it’s useless, my voice silent as the water drowns me from the inside out.
This is how it ends, I’m sure of it.
I can feel myself floating away to another place, my body light as feather as I drift off into the darkness but not before a voice slips through the haze like a soft caress across my mind.
“Don’t let go, pretty girl. I’m coming for you.”
Oxygen fills my lungs at rapid speed, pummelling my chest like a freight train until the organs hurt.
Where am I?
Where’s Dean?
My eyes scour over the dark basement, finding nothing that tells me where I am.
The walls are grimy and black with a layer of mold settling over the bare bricks, the smell sour and musty as it hits my nose, and I scrunch my face in disgust. There’s a shred of light coming through a small window that sits high near the ceiling, encased in steel bars.
I try to turn my body to see if I recognise where I am, but when my body doesn’t move like I want it to, I begin to panic.
The sense of fear coils tightly around my organs until I’m struggling to breathe again.
I attempt to move my arms again and the clanging of chains echoes around the room, causing me to tilt my head upwards to see my wrists trapped in a pair of handcuffs, the chain that sits in between the cuffs hangs over a rusted metal hook that’s bolted to the ceiling.
My chest suddenly becomes tight at the realisation that I’m trapped here.
“Help! Somebody help me!” I cry out to the darkness, my throat dry and sore from the lack of hydration. The pain from my broken wrist sends shockwaves down my arms.
Nobody hears my cries for help and I slump my head forward in between my shoulders until my chin lands heavily on my chest in defeat.
The silence is almost deafening in here and I swear I can hear my heartbeat thrum through my ears like a war drum.
Heavy and loud as it pumps the blood throughout my body.
It won’t be long before my fingers start to go numb because the blood can’t reach them.