by Sarah Biglow
I picked up one of the small 8-ounce bottles of water. “At least she gave us something.” Downing half of the bottle in one gulp triggered a bout of nausea. Bile burned the back of my throat and my stomach cramped. I swallowed several times until my stomach settled before I took a bite of toast. Rosa was right; it didn’t taste like much but I wolfed it down, eager to fill my belly. Much like the water, the bread nearly made me puke. Groaning, I curled into a tight ball until the discomfort subsided.
“I wish she would say what she wants.” Rosa placed the now-empty tray against the wall.
I forced myself to sit up. We had more important topics to discuss and I didn’t have time to wallow in an upset stomach. “I think there might be a way out of here.”
Rosa’s eyes lit up at the mention of escape. “Where? How?”
“The window in the bathroom. It’s small but I think one of us could get through.”
Rosa chewed her lower lip. “But she is always watching. What if she will not let us go together?”
“We find a way to make her. Or whoever can get out the window does and goes for help.”
Rosa’s gaze turned to the vacant bed. “Maybe. But, Abbie, do you think she will put someone else in here with us?”
I followed the other girl’s gaze. “Yes. I do.” The reality of it—that that we would soon be three—chilled me to my core. Half-empty water bottle still clutched in my hand, I retreated to my bed and wrapped the blanket around me. I pulled my knees up to my chest and closed my eyes.
Loud canon fire echoed around me and I clung tight to two of my sisters. We weren’t meant to be so close to the fighting. Like me, they trembled at being caught in the middle of this bloody war. I had to be strong for them and so, amidst more thunderous cracks, I urged them forward. Musket balls pinged and kicked up clods of dirt at our heels. Scanning the horizon for safety, I spotted a barn looming just ahead of us. My heart hammered in my chest but our progress halted when we came upon a young man lying in a patch of blood-stained grass. His right arm hung awkwardly away from his body, connected by the barest bit of sinew. Tear tracks stained his cheeks and his lips quivered as he tried to form words. “Please. It hurts.”
The soldier reached for me with his uninjured arm but I couldn’t help him. One of my sisters was better suited to easing his passing but I cupped his dirt-covered hand and murmured soft words until his body shook with his final breath. Brushing my fingers over his eyes, we resumed our hasty retreat to the barn. Ominous grey storm clouds rolled in from nowhere and heavy rain splattered onto my face. Lancing arcs of lightning split the sky and charred the ground beneath the soldiers’ feet. Just over a rise, hellish figures emerged carrying mortal weapons.
We reached the barn in time to avoid the wind and the raging storm coming into full force. Lighting split the sky and five familiar figures appeared carrying something between them. Once in the safety of the barn they laid our fallen sister on the straw-covered floor. The rest of us gathered around her and began to sing to ease her pain. Her face went slack in death and we all wept for our loss.
The slight hiss of the door opening roused me from my doze. Dr. Phillips appeared with the body of another girl draped in her arms. The girl’s pallor and lifeless appearance made me wonder if I’d looked like that after my abduction. Despite my grim statement earlier, I’d secretly hoped I was wrong about our third cellmate. With our captor busying herself tucking in our newest arrival and the door to our prison standing wide open, I caught Rosa’s attention and mouthed, “Run!”
At the same time, we started for doorway. I made it to the opening before an invisible hand grabbed hold of me around the middle and kept me motionless. Struggling only tightened the grip and my legs went weak. The little food in my stomach sloshed violently, threatening to make a repeat appearance. All the while, hot pinpricks of pain jabbed at every muscle and nerve in my body. My brain screamed for my legs to just give way and fall but they wouldn’t listen. I opened my mouth to scream but my vocal cords seized shut. In desperation, I tried to turn toward Rosa but she too stood motionless, her face pinched in silent agony. From behind us, Dr. Phillips made a disapproving clucking sound. “That’s enough, girls. Back to your beds.”
I didn’t want to follow the order, but my body responded without my input. Moments later, I collapsed in an ungraceful heap atop the blankets and my muscles turned to Jell-O. I lay there, staring and immobile, until Dr. Phillips left the room. The minute our captor was no longer present, my body relaxed. Still queasy and in pain, I tried to sit up. The room spun and my ears rang. Sucking in air, I went horizontal until the disorientation passed. “Ro-Rosa, are you okay?”
“I think so. What happened?”
A hiccup of hysterical laughter escaped before I could stop it. “I have no idea.” I managed to compose myself and focus on the new girl. On unsteady feet I stumbled over to the third bed for a closer look. She had short, red hair that fluttered every time she exhaled. “How long do you think she’s going to be asleep?”
Rosa shrugged. “I am not sure. I think you were out for a few hours but it was hard to tell without a watch or clock. I wish we had one.”
As if on command, the new girl’s wrist poked out beneath the blankets and a digital watch caught my attention. I slid it free before joining Rosa on her bed. It showed the date and time. “It’s about noon on Thursday. I’ve already been gone two days.” Beside me, Rosa looked down at her hands. “And you’ve been missing for three.”
Her shoulders drooped and a single tear rolled down her cheek. I pressed a hand to her knee. “Don’t worry. With three of us we outnumber her. We’ll find a way out of here when she wakes up.”
10
Settling onto the bed, I fiddled with the watch’s wrist strap in an attempt to keep my mind occupied. The watch face read 2:07pm when the new girl began to stir, stretching her arms above her head and blinking drug-induced sleep from her eyes. Her brow crinkled as she sat up, blanket tumbling in a heap to the floor. She braced her hands on the edge of the bed and sucked in air. I couldn’t help worrying she might pass out again. She was still deathly pale.
“Where am I?” The girl’s voice was scratchy like mine had been when I’d woken up here.
I kept fiddling with the watch. “We don’t know exactly. But Dr. Phillips put you here … same as us.”
“What is your name?” Rosa moved from her bed and perched on the end of mine.
The girl swiped beads of sweat from her forehead. “I’m Erin.”
I passed a half-empty bottle of water to Erin before pointing to myself. “I’m Abbie”—I motioned to Rosa—“and this is Rosa.”
Erin drained the bottle. “Thanks.”
She studied the layout around us and I took the lapse in conversation to take stock of our new cellmate now that she was awake. She was maybe a few inches taller than me and could have been sixteen or seventeen.
Erin rubbed her hands over her arms and looked down. “My watch!”
I looked down at the watch still clutched in my hand. I offered it up to her. “We borrowed it, sorry. We had no idea what time it was.”
She took it and secured the strap back around her wrist. “How long have you been here?”
“Three days,” Rosa answered.
We fell silent again. Even in the stillness of the room with these girls I’d never met, I somehow felt safe. No, safe wasn’t the right word. Less alone and not so powerless. Deep down a primal instinct told me I could trust these girls. Erin moved to sit between Rosa and I. Turning so I could face both girls, I twisted the hem of my shirt between my fingers. “How long have you been seeing Dr. Phillips?”
Erin raked her fingers through her hair. “I only had one session before today. I didn’t want to come. But my parents made me.”
“I had four,” Rosa said.
“This was my first. She kept asking if I wanted to have friends and thought what happened was all for attention.” I rolled my eyes.
Rosa propped he
r chin on her hand and our gazes met. “Why did you have to see her in the first place?”
Heat blossomed in my cheeks and I looked away. “I got suspended from school.”
“For what?” Rosa pressed.
“I made a boy write a love poem in math class and I guess that was the last straw. Well, I tried to defend myself and yelled at him and the teacher. Lots of stuff like that happens. I’ve been in the principal’s office over twenty times this year, as the principal is so fond of reminding me.”
Rosa’s eyes widened. “How do you make people do that?”
Tucking my feet under me, I shrugged. “I can’t really explain it without it sounding crazy or feeling crazy. Every time it happened it felt like I was … losing myself. But I guess that’s why I was supposed to talk to Dr. Phillips. She said in my last session she thought it had to do with the fact that I hum.” I looked between the other girls. "What about you two? Why did you have to see the bi—Dr. Phillips?”
Neither girl responded right away and kept their eyes downcast. Erin stopped toying with her hair and occupied herself with picking at her cuticle. I let out a huff. "I told you what happened to me. It can't be any worse."
Rosa wrapped her arms around her chest. "I do not want to say."
I scooted closer. I hadn’t ever admitted the feeling of insanity to anyone before, not even Liam. The least they could do was reciprocate. "Oh, come on. Please. Why else would she take all of us if there wasn’t something that made us … special?"
Rosa sniffled and tears stained her cheeks and her answer came out in one long breath. "I ... I make people interrupt class and tell long stories. I thought it only happened in Rome. But it happens here too. My aunt thought it was because I missed my parents. I tried hard to stop it. I really did. I felt so alone like no one would understand.”
“I make people recite religious stories,” Erin chimed in. “It’s been hell. Especially from the kids who are atheists or agnostics. They always treat me like I’m a freak and the religious fanatics just think I’m trying to get attention or pervert their religion. I thought it was just me. I mean it couldn’t possibly happen to anyone else.”
We weren’t identical but it was similar enough to establish a pattern. “Did it just start happening recently?”
Both Erin and Rosa nodded. At least we were all in the same boat—even if that boat was halfway to being permanently screwed. In that moment I wished I could talk to Liam and share all of this with him. He would understand this sudden connection to these girls and our shared problems. From the other end of the bed, Erin looked around and pressed her legs together. “Where’s the bathroom?”
I nodded my head in the direction of the blank wall. “It’s somewhere else. She took me earlier but I was blindfolded and couldn’t see where it was. I think she’s paranoid or something.”
Erin squeezed her thighs tighter. “I really have to go.”
Rosa perked up. “Abbie saw a window in it and maybe one of us can fit through it.”
Erin smiled. “It’s worth a try. And I mean even if only one of us gets out, she can go to the police and tell them who took us.”
I stood up and started pacing. “That was the plan. I don’t know if she’ll let us all go together at once but we can try. The bathroom is pretty small but we could all fit. We’ll need at least two of us to get to the window and one to be a look out.”
Erin turned to face the wall without a bed—I assumed she’d figured out the entrance was over there—and smiled. “When she comes back with food, we’ll ask to go to the bathroom and keep asking until she lets us go together.”
Rosa let out a somber laugh. “If she comes back with food. She has not fed us much.”
My arms and legs ached at the memory of the doctor’s last visit. “Be ready to hurt like hell when we ask her.”
Erin turned back to the conversation and cocked her head. “What do you mean hurt?”
“She can do something.” Sense memory kicked in and my whole body shook with phantom pain. “I have no idea how but, when she brought you in, we tried to run for it. I couldn’t move. Everything was on fire and I’m surprised I didn’t throw up.”
Rosa shrunk back into herself and she rubbed at her cheeks. “I almost threw up but my throat hurt so much I couldn’t open my mouth.”
Erin visibly shook. “Was it like a Taser or something?”
I shook my head. “No. She was busy carrying you and I didn’t see anything else in her hand. It was like an invisible hand grabbed hold and then set every muscle and nerve on fire. We need to avoid that happening again.”
By Erin’s watch, it was almost 3:00 when Dr. Phillips returned to the room without food trays or any new hostages. She did deposit a fresh bottle of water by each of our beds. My stomach rumbled loudly, reminding me of the inadequate piece of toast I’d had that morning. It was time to try our plan. I signaled Erin with a small nod when the doctor’s back was turned. Erin moved toward the doorway. “I have to go to the bathroom really bad.”
Dr. Phillips said nothing as she looked at each of us before pulling a band of cloth from her jacket pocket. Without asking, Erin slid the fabric over her eyes. Just as they were about to leave the room, Rosa took a step closer to the doorway. “I have to go too."
Dr. Phillip paused with one hand on Erin’s upper arm. "You have to wait your turn."
Rosa gripped her stomach. "Please... I think I might be on my period.”
Dr. Phillips released Erin and crossed her arms over her chest. Rosa continued to hold her stomach. After a brief staring contest, the doctor left the room only to return moments later with two more blindfolds. She handed one to Rosa and looked at me. "Do you have to go too?"
I nodded and took the band of fabric the doctor offered. Dr. Phillips took my hand and led us on a blind conga line out of our cell. The walk to the bathroom felt longer. Maybe it was because I wasn’t alone this time. As we walked, I tried to count how many steps it took to get to our destination. I lost count after fifty. Finally, we stopped walking and were shoved into the bathroom. The door shut behind us and I stumbled into a slender body in front of me. Yanking the fabric from over my eyes, I found Erin and Rosa doing the same. As a group, we turned to the single window high above our heads.
Erin let out a low whistle. "You weren’t kidding about how small that thing is."
I stood under the window and jumped as high as I could. My fingers barely grazed the bottom of the sill. Erin stepped up to the same spot and jumped. She managed to get a grip on the sill but couldn’t pull herself up to reach the latch. I studied our surroundings. “What if I put you on my shoulders and I stand on the toilet for leverage?”
Erin eased herself back to the floor. "Just, you know, don’t drop me, okay?”
I gave her a wry smile. “I can’t make any promises.” Turning to Rosa, I said, “Watch the door. The room’s not that big and we’d probably hear her coming in but we could use as much warning as we can get.”
Rosa moved to press her ear to the door, hand poised on the handle to keep it firmly closed if necessary. I squatted on the closed toilet seat; Erin climbed onto my shoulders. I wobbled under her weight but got my legs beneath me and straightened up. With cautious steps, I scooted to the edge of the seat to get as close to the window as possible.
"Can you reach?" My palms began to sweat around the legs of Erin’s jeans.
Erin looked down at me, her hands gripping the lower ledge of the window. "Move more to the left."
Biting my tongue in concentration, I shuffled sideways one step at a time. I couldn't go much further without falling off the edge. Erin stretched on my shoulders and her fingernails scraped at the paint near the latch. My insides twisted in a sick sense of excitement at the prospect of escaping. The longer Erin took to free the window latch the harder my heart pounded in my chest.
"I’ve got the latch! Don’t let go.” Erin’s voice bounced around in the acoustics of the room.
“Shh,” Rosa hissed
from her position by the door.
My shoulder muscles tightened from having to support Erin’s weight for so long and my left sneaker slid along the rim of the toilet seat. Silently I prayed Erin would get the window open before we both went tumbling to the ground.
Erin’s nails continued to scratch at the latch. "It's stuck."
"Hit it. It works for my uncle," Rosa whispered.
Erin smacked the window and muttered a rather creative curse. “It won’t open.”
My neck muscles spasmed. I couldn’t hold her any longer. “Hold on to the window!” All at once my body gave out and I slid off the toilet. My right elbow slammed against the ceramic tile on the bathroom floor. “Shit.” Flexing my arms straight, I cringed in pain. But at least it didn’t feel broken.
Rosa moved from her position by the door. “Are you okay?”
I struggled to stand while Erin landed catlike beside me. “I think so, but that hurt. And obviously it didn’t work.”
The door opened behind Rosa and Dr. Phillips filled the doorway so we couldn’t see the hallway beyond. Her expression didn’t betray any emotion. “Everyone finished?”
Erin moved toward the toilet. “I still have to go.”
Dr. Phillips pulled the door shut and the lack of receding footsteps suggested she was waiting right outside, likely with her ear pressed to the door to listen in on whatever we were about to say. Erin blushed. “Uh … can you guys not look?”
Two minutes later, we were blindfolded again and Dr. Phillips seized my injured arm and didn’t let go. In fact, she unnecessarily yanked repeatedly on my elbow and I had to bite my tongue to keep from crying out in pain. Rosa and Erin nearly ran me over when we stopped a short while later. I hadn’t even bothered to try to count steps this time. The door scraped open and I stumbled forward, the other girls hot on my heels. I tugged the blindfold off and Dr. Phillips positioned herself to fill the opening of our prison. The lack of light behind her made her appear even more imposing. She clucked her tongue at us like we were preschoolers. “That wasn’t a very smart thing to do, girls. You could have gotten hurt.” She left the room and the door shut, locking us in.