Broken Wings 2 - Midnight Flight

by Andrews, V. C.

  “What are they going to do to us now?” Teal muttered. “Put us in a scaffold?”

  It sounded silly, but my eyes widened. Anything was possible in this place.

  Robin was already outside, her shoes on when we walked to the front door.

  “What did y'all do?” she whispered. “I heard them talking about y'all. Your buddy”—she nodded at me— “sounded as though you let her down. I get the feeling they'll be punished if we don't do exactly as they expect and rewarded if we do. Maybe they're still under obligations of some sort to Dr. Foreman.”

  “I don't believe it. I think they're just sadists,” Teal said. “They enjoy doing this.”

  “Well, what did y'all do in there?” Robin asked.

  “We broke Gia's dish, but it wasn't our fault,” Teal moaned. “It was just an accident.”

  “Okay,” M'Lady Three said, coming out of the house. “Robin, you return to the barracks and go to bed. You two, follow me.”

  Robin looked at us with sympathy, but also with relief that she wasn't being included in whatever new punishment we were to suffer. We were led around to the rear of the cow barn where we saw M'Ladies One and Two waiting, each holding a blanket. Behind them were what looked like coffins.

  “What is this?” Teal asked, stopping.

  “This is the death of evil. Dr. Foreman wrote an interesting paper on the concept,” M'Lady One said. She approached me and started to wrap the blanket around me.

  I pushed it away and stepped to the side. “What are you doing?”

  “You will want this blanket, believe me. It gets very cold in the desert before it gets warm again.”

  I shook my head. Teal turned to run, but her buddy was right there to seize her and hold her, screaming and kicking.

  “If you cooperate, it will be so much easier,” my buddy told me. She smiled. “We're doing it for your own good. You'll thank us someday, just the way we thanked our buddies and Dr. Foreman.”

  “You're all sick, crazy,” I cried, and continued to back up. But M'Lady Two was behind me and wrapped her pincerlike arms around mine, also practically lifting me off the ground. M'Lady One wrapped the blanket around me quickly, then ran wide tape around that while I kicked and struggled. It was as good as a strait-​jacket.

  All the while Teal was screaming at the top of her voice. When they were finished with me, they let me stumble and topple to the ground while they went to M'Lady Three and assisted her in doing the same thing to Teal. After both of us were snugly wrapped in the blankets, they took the lids off the coffins.

  Teal's voice was so shrill, it seemed far off to me. I was shaking my head, my eyes closed, and mumbling my pleas. They can't be doing this to us, I thought. This can't be happening.

  “It was an accident,” I said. “Really, it was just an accident.”

  I felt myself being lifted and opened my eyes to see myself being lowered into the coffin.

  “Please don't do this,” I begged. “I'll do anything. Please. Let me talk to Dr. Foreman. Please.”

  “Dr. Foreman knows all about it,” M'Lady One said.

  The lid was put over me. I could see a number of holes drilled in it to permit air, but it was still a coffin and a lid and I couldn't move.

  I could hear Teal's hysterical screams go hoarse and finally muffled, so I assumed she was in her coffin and the lid put over her as well.

  “There are no accidents at this school,” we heard the m' ladies chant.

  I closed my eyes. Teal was straggling madly, twisting and turning her body in the coffin. It went on and on, and finally she grew quiet.

  “Teal?” I called. “Teal, can you hear me? Are you all right?”

  There was just silence and then the cry of a coyote. It grew closer, then there was another and another. It sounded as if they were right near us. My heart was thumping and I was sweating now. I managed to get some more space inside the blanket. The tape stretched a bit, but I could do little more.

  Suddenly, I heard the distinct sound of Natani's drum. The slow, rhythmic beating was accompanied by a soft, melodic chant. It was truly like a lullaby. Thankfully my eyes grew heavier and I either fell asleep out of exhaustion and fear or simply passed out.

  The next thing I knew the lid was being removed and the sunlight was blaring down on me. I felt myself being lifted out of the coffin and stood. I was confused and groggy, barely aware of what was happening. The tape was removed and the blanket unwrapped. The air, not yet heated to the temperatures of midday, felt soothing. I opened my eyes and focused on Dr. Foreman, who stood there smiling at me.

  “Good morning, Phoebe,” she said. “You have come through this well. I'm proud of you. Something rotten in you was buried forever last night, I'm sure. I want you to shower and come directly to breakfast. Then we'll talk before you start your daily chores today, okay?”

  “I'm thirsty,” I muttered. “Very thirsty.”

  “You'll feel better soon, a lot better. We always feel better when we peel off a miserable part of ourselves.”

  I looked at the other coffin. The buddies were removing the lid and reaching in to lift Teal out. Her head drooped. She did not regain consciousness.

  “What have you done to her?” I asked under my breath. The buddies were holding her upright and her head still dangled loosely.

  Dr. Foreman approached her, took something out of her pocket, and put it under Teal's nose. Teal's head snapped up and she shook it sharply before opening her eyes.

  “Good morning, Teal,” Dr. Foreman sang. “You look like you've buried something rotten and miserable, too. I just know the both of you will be so much better for it.”

  The buddies unwrapped Teal, but she was so wobbly, they had to hold on to her. They looked to Dr. Foreman, who seemed unhappy about that.

  “Walk her about for a while. She'll get her legs back. I want them both showered and then brought to me,” she said.

  “Will do, Doctor,” M'Lady Three said.

  While she and M'Lady Two walked Teal about, my buddy directed me to the shower. Slowly, my arms and legs aching, I got undressed and went under the freezing water. I lifted my head to drink and swallow as much as I could. It did revive me. M'Lady One had a towel ready for me. While I was drying myself, I saw Robin, Gia, and Mindy leaving the house and heading for the fields where Natani was waiting for them. Robin looked like she was afraid to look my way. Just like the other two, she kept her head down, her eyes to the ground with only a passing glance my way when she walked by.

  We are becoming like them, I thought. Robin is first. I'll surely be next.

  “Let's go. We don't have all day to pamper you,” M'Lady One told me.

  Pamper?

  I saw Teal walking on her own now, but her face was so empty of any feeling, any awareness, she truly looked like someone in a hypnotic state. Mechanically, she began to undress and then stumbled under the showerhead and stood there stupidly. M'Lady Three turned it on, and she jumped and screamed.

  “Wash!” they all shouted at her.

  She looked my way and began to scrub. Because of her sunburn, it hurt far more. I felt sorry for her, but as Gia had so coldly pointed out at dinner the night before, there was little we could really do to help each other. It was everyone for herself here in the end.

  Afterward we were brought to the house and left in Dr. Foreman's office to wait for her. Neither of us had said one word to the other.

  “Are you all right, Teal?” I asked her.

  She lifted her head slowly and turned her droopy eyes toward me. “My throat aches.”

  “You were screaming so much.”

  “I dreamed I heard a drum all night.”

  “There was a drum and chanting. Natani must have been there. It helped me.”

  “Yes.” She turned her head slowly to look forward again, her eyelids barely open.

  Dr. Foreman entered with two glasses of orange juice in her hands.

  “Here you two are,” she said as if she had really been
looking everywhere for us. “Drink some juice first.”

  We both took a glass and drank.

  “Slowly, girls, slowly. You don't want to give yourselves bellyaches.”

  She sat in her chair and watched us for a moment, that same happy smile on her face. She was the crazy one, I decided, but I dared not say it.

  “Now where were we? Oh, yes, you were both about to apologize for your misbehavior last night, I believe.”

  “It's not fair,” I was about to say. I was going to describe just how the plate had come to be broken, but Teal lifted her head quickly.

  “I'm sorry,” she said. “I'm really sorry. I won't do anything like that again. I swear.”

  “Oh, that's so good to hear, Teal, dear. You don't know how words like that please me. They fill my heart with so much joy and make every ounce of effort I spend on you girls worthwhile whenever I hear a sincere apology.”

  She turned to me expectantly.

  I glanced at Teal and nodded. “Yes. I'm sorry, too. It was wrong and we won't let it happen again.”

  “That is just wonderful. Something terrible did die last night. We buried it together. We have so much more to bury before we're through, but I know we're going to succeed. Now, Teal, what do you think we should bury next?”

  Teal looked up, terrified.

  Dr. Foreman laughed. “Oh, I don't mean in the coffin. Hopefully, neither of you will sleep there again.” Teal's face immediately softened with relief. “But we have other ways to bury bad things. I'm hoping now that the two of you, the three of you, all of you, in fact, will be doing it yourselves. So, let's get back to where we left off the first time we all met here. What is one thing you did that you know contributed to your being brought here? Teal? Why don't you be first.”

  Teal tilted her head, her eyes full of defeat. “I vandalized the girl's bathroom in my public school. I broke the mirrors and clogged up the toilets and turned on all the faucets to flood the place. My father had to pay for the damages.”

  “And how do you feel about that now?”

  “I wish I hadn't done it,” she said readily.

  “Why?”

  “It upset my parents.”

  “Is that the only reason?” Dr. Foreman pursued.

  Teal looked at me frantically. I could see it in her eyes: What was the right answer? What was the answer Dr. Foreman wanted, the answer that would free her, get her out of the limelight and danger?

  “No,” Teal said. “It was wrong. It made it impossible for anyone to use the bathroom for a while and it was a juvenile thing to do.”

  “Yes, that's true. Why did you do it?”

  “I was angry.”

  “At whom, Teal? At whom were you angry?” Dr. Foreman leaned toward her with excitement in her face. “Well?”

  “I don't know. Everyone, I guess.”

  “No, not everyone. Someone. Who, Teal? Whom were you trying to hurt the most? Tell me.”

  “My father,” Teal cried back at her, the tears streaming from her eyes. “My father!” she shouted.

  Dr. Foreman smiled and sat back. “That's good, Teal. That's a wonderful start. I know you're hungry and you need something in your stomach before you go to your chores, so I'm excusing you now. Go to the dining room and have some breakfast and then report to Natani in the field. Go on.”

  Teal looked at me and lowered her eyes with some shame before leaving the office. I watched her and then turned back to Dr. Foreman.

  She had her fingers pressed together at the tips and sat there staring at me.

  “We're gong to become good friends, you and I,” she said. “You're going to help me with the others, and someday, I believe, you will serve a tour of duty as a buddy here.” She smiled. “I know you will,” she said with cold confidence, so cold it put a chill in my heart and washed ice water over my resistance. I tried to swallow, but couldn't. Her eyes were burning into me. “I am good at predicting that sort of thing, Phoebe. You'll see.”

  “What do you want from me?” I asked, barely holding on to my dwindling pride.

  “I want your loyalty, Phoebe. I want your complete and utter loyalty.” She leaned forward. I thought she was going to reach out to touch my hand, but she didn't. She just continued to stare a moment, then said, “And I'm sure you will give it to me eventually. The faster you realize that, the better it will be for everyone.”

  She sat back again. My heart wasn't racing now. It was more like it had actually stopped. I couldn't feel my pulse. My blood seemed to have frozen in place.

  “Now tell me,” she said, “which one of you, all of you, has spoken about running away?”

  I raised my eyebrows.

  She smiled. “I know it wasn't you, Phoebe. I know my girls. You're too realistic to contemplate such a thing. You're street savvy. You know what it means to survive out there. There are all sorts of jungles and deserts in the world. You don't have to come here to know that, not you. So who was it? Someone is trying to get the rest of you, or the three of you, to try it. I know. It's typical. Is it Robin or is it Teal, or has one of my other two been clever enough to lie to me? Did Mindy or Gia propose the idea?”

  “It's not right to tell on someone,” I said.

  “Of course it is if telling on them will help them. What if this person actually attempts to run away? She'll die, Phoebe, and you”—she stabbed the air between us with her long, thin right forefinger—“will be very, very responsible for that death. I will hold you fully accountable and that will mean a very long, long time here as a student. Maybe you'd never leave.”

  Student? I thought. How could she get away with calling any of us that? Teal was right, of course. We were victims, prisoners.

  “Well? Am I wrong about you? Will you be loyal to me and become one of my girls or not?” Her voice was full of dark threats.

  “She just said it because she's frustrated and afraid and tired,” 1 said.

  “Who?”

  “She didn't mean it. You can't punish her any more.”

  “Who?”

  I took a deep breath. I was tired and hungry and afraid. I felt lower than the low.

  Any one of them would turn me in, I told myself. Any one of them would make a deal with the devil to avoid any more punishment, and maybe Dr. Foreman was right about it: I would be helping her, saving her. Maybe she would try to run away now. I would be responsible in a sense, wouldn't I?

  “Teal,” I muttered.

  “Who?” She wanted me to say it loudly and clearly and firmly. She wasn't going to accept a little bit of victory. She wanted a full, complete, and unquestionable victory.

  “Teal,” I said louder.

  She nodded. “I knew it was Teal, Phoebe. You did the right thing in being honest with me. I'm proud of you. You're going to succeed here. You're going to become something. I want you to come to me or to one of the buddies if she continues to talk about this. If she does and you don't, I won't appreciate it and you will be hurting her more. Do you understand? Do you?”

  I nodded.

  “Good. Now go have yourself some breakfast. We'll talk again soon,” she said, standing.

  I rose. My head lowered itself with shame as I walked to the door.

  “It's always hard to do the right things after doing the wrong things for so long,” Dr. Foreman called after me as I left her office.

  You're the one who doesn't know the difference, I thought.

  But that was a sentence I would not utter aloud, even to the others.

  I had something worse to keep locked in my heart now. Rationalize all that I might, make any excuse that I could think of, it was still the same thing, a betrayal. That was what I had committed in there, under Dr. Foreman's threatening eyes. I was afraid, more afraid than I had ever remembered being. Even the rats hadn't frightened me as much. Now nothing was clearer to me than this secret pain I had to carry and not show—none of us could be trusted. Not if I was the one who betrayed one of us so easily. I had thought I was stronger than the oth
ers. What a laugh, I thought. I might be the weakest of us all.

  The cloud of depression darkened and fell over me as I walked on. We were all running down a street that would eventually become a dead end. The result of all this was never clearer to me.

  She will win, I thought. Eventually, Dr. Foreman will get everything from us that she wants, and the most horrible thing of all will be that we will willingly give it to her.

  Broken Wings 2 - Midnight Flight

  Catflght

  Even though I knew no one, especially not Robin or Teal, would suspect I was a snitch, I had difficulty looking either of them in the eye. Robin was intrigued about everything that had happened to us. It frustrated her that while we worked in the field this time, the buddies hung around seemingly just to make sure we didn't speak to each other. Finally, they grew bored and left. Robin nearly leaped out of her clodhoppers to get at us.

  “What happened to you guys? Why didn't you come back to the barn to sleep?”

  “We had to bury our evil,” Teal said dryly.

  “Huh?” Robin looked to me for a more sensible reply. Was there one? I wondered.

  “They put us in these coffins they keep for a little extra persuasion,” I told her, then described it. She paled, even through her darkening tan, as I spoke. Even her lips turned pale white. While I spoke, Teal kept her head down and leaned on her shovel.

  “They can't do these terrible things to us,” Robin exclaimed.

  Mindy, who had been working on the other side and had been listening, laughed.

  “They can't! It's illegal for sure,” Robin insisted.

  “So call the cops,” Mindy taunted.

  “I can't stand her,” Robin muttered, glaring at Mindy. Her eyes suddenly grew smaller with a new suspicion. “You want to know something? I don't think she did anything wrong.”

  “What are you talking about?” Teal asked, looking up quickly.

  “I think Mindy is here just to aggravate and annoy us to death. She's like one of these plants. She works for Dr. Foreman. She's a spy or something. I'm going to make her admit it,” Robin said, throwing her shovel to the ground.