by Tricia Barr
“What makes you think I’m not from here?” she asked before taking a sip of her beer.
“Like I said, I have a gift for these things,” he answered.
She shrugged and said, “Okay? Well, I’m going to be starting at UCLA in a few weeks. I just moved here from Illinois. What about you?”
“I’m here on business,” he said vaguely.
She nodded, noting he was being purposefully ambiguous and she was losing her interest because of it. She eyed him as she took another drink and saw a unique pin on his shirt. It was square shaped and had a different color box at each corner, one red, one yellow, one blue and one green. It almost looked like the Windows logo.
“That pin you’re wearing,” she said, “what’s it for?”
“Oh,” he said, momentarily taken aback. “I belong to a fraternity of sorts. I won’t bore you with those details. I’m sure you’ll meet plenty of frat boys at UCLA.”
Now his dodginess was just becoming irritating.
He put his hand on hers and moved his thumb over the unsightly oblong scar that besmirched her otherwise pretty feminine wrist. Feeling like her space was being uninvitedly invaded, she pulled her hand back.
“Do you mind if I ask you how you got that scar?” Dex asked.
Phoenyx drank down her beer and then said, “Actually, I have an early morning. Thank you for the beer.” She slid off her stool.
“Perhaps I’ll see you again,” he said cordially.
She wasn’t sure if he was actually oblivious to her annoyance or just pretending to be.
“You never know,” she said, smiled, and then headed for the door.
* * * *
“Phoenyx, what are you thinking about?” Lily asked, snapping Phoenyx out of her rumination.
“Oh, just replaying that night in my head,” Phoenyx said. “Now that I can remember it more clearly, I guess I’m trying to look for any clues as to why we’re here.”
“Did you find any?” Lily asked.
Phoenyx shook her head.
Their night was miserable—not that they could really even tell it was night in this room. The only means they had of telling time was Lily’s fancy wristwatch that showed, not only the time but, the date as well.
Neither of them had really slept. The cement floor was far too uncomfortable to lie down on, which was probably why her back hurt since she first woke up in this prison. They tried finding a way to sleep sitting up, but every echoed sound from outside this room made them startle to alertness. They finally gave up on sleep at 5:30 a.m. and spent the morning mostly in silence.
The burgers and apples yesterday didn’t last long and now they were both pretty hungry. They decided it was best to conserve their water, as that was more important than food. Phoenyx hoped someone would bring them more food soon.
“I don’t think I can bare the silence much more,” Lily admitted. “We should talk about something.”
“Like how good a steak sounds right now,” Phoenyx said.
Lily laughed. “Well, maybe not that. No point in tormenting ourselves.”
“That’s a good point,” Phoenyx agreed. “In that case, let’s do what girls do best and talk about boys. You got a boyfriend back in Seattle?”
“No.” Lily frowned and shrugged. “I don’t really have time for one, with school and all my projects. The nursing program requires about eight hours of class a day, and that’s not even including homework and study time.”
“Yikes,” Phoenyx said. “That’s a hell of a work load.”
“Do you have a boyfriend?” Lily asked.
“I had a boyfriend in high school for a little while but he was a real idiot. He ruined my prom night, and that was the last straw. I knew we weren’t going to last long distance anyway, once I went off to college, so it was best that we broke it off early.”
“Were you hoping to find a new boyfriend once you get to college?” Lily asked.
“I don’t know.” Phoenyx shrugged. “If I find someone interesting, I might give it a try, but I’m not going to seek one out. The best guys come around when you’re not looking for them, you know. Or so I’ve heard anyway.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Lily said. “You said you were going to UCLA, right? What do you study?”
“I don’t really know yet, to be honest,” Phoenyx said. “I haven’t started yet. This was going to be my first year. Actually…” Phoenyx cocked her head at Lily, “didn’t you say you were already going to UW? How is that—we’re the same age?”
“I graduated high school a year early,” Lily said. “I have always wanted to go into medicine, so I was really eager to start college right after. This is going to be my sophomore year.”
“What made you want to be a nurse?” Phoenyx asked. “Personally, I’m kinda squeamish. If I ever see a drop of blood, I’m intensely disgusted.”
Lily laughed. “That stuff doesn’t bother me, at all. Well, not in that sense any way. The sight of blood, to me, means that someone is in pain; it just makes me more determined to help. I’ve always been that way, driven to help people. Nursing just seems like a way to do that; better than being a doctor anyway because they don’t spend as much time with their patients. And private practice doctors are really just in it for the money.”
“What’s UW like?” Phoenyx asked.
“Beautiful,” Lily responded, smiling briefly at the thought of it. “I joined the gardening club. Last spring, we made a huge effort to plant more trees and pretty gardens around campus. It’s such a lovely place now.”
“Gardening?” Phoenyx asked playfully. “Nursing and gardening—that’s quite a mix of interests.”
“I’ve always had a knack for gardening,” Lily said. “I can bring just about any plant ‘back from the dead’, you could say.” She used air quotes. “My Aunt Gene calls me Green Thumb.”
“Aww, that’s kinda cute,” Phoenyx said.
“What’s UCLA like? I mean, what you’ve seen of it?”
“It’s a pretty campus,” Phoenyx said. “And huge. I walked around last week to make sure I knew where all my classes were going to be and spent the whole day walking. Thankfully there’s an hour gap between each of my classes.”
“You have no idea what you want to study yet?” Lily asked.
“Not really. There’s so much I’m interested in, but not that one thing I’m super passionate about. I’m hoping that sometime in the first year it will find me; although that may not even matter now.” She instantly regretted saying that. It brought them both back into the reality of where they were, and neither of them wanted to be reminded of it. It was better to think about happy things and pretend they were anywhere else but here in this cell in this gloomy cement room.
“Sorry,” Phoenyx said to the suddenly solemn Lily. “I didn’t mean to be a buzz kill.”
Lily shook her head. “It’s okay. We were both thinking it.”
They sat in a moment of awkward silence.
“You know, you would think they’d be decent enough to at least give us some music,” Phoenyx complained.
Lily’s brows jumped. “You know any good songs? We could create our own music.”
“Yeah, okay. Do you know ‘When I’m Gone’? The cup song?”
“What self-respecting teen girl doesn’t know that song?” Lily laughed.
Lily made the cup sounds with her half-empty water bottle in perfect rhythm, clapping it and hitting the ground with it.
“I got my ticket for the long way round,” Phoenyx sang. “Two bottles of whiskey for the way. And I sure would like some sweet company and I’m leaving tomorrow, whad’ya say.”
Lily added her voice. “When I’m gone, when I’m gone, you’re gonna miss me when I’m gone. You’re gonna—”
They were cut off by the clickety clack of the door being unlocked on the other side. The door opened and that same giant, bald man came in.
Feeling brave, without hesitation, Phoenyx jumped to her feet and pressed herself
against the bars.
“What do you want with us?” she demanded.
As if not hearing her, or simply deeming her unworthy of acknowledgement, the man flung a similar brown paper bag at them, turned around, and walked out.
“Hey! You can’t keep us locked up in here!” Phoenyx yelled after him.
The door clunked closed.
Grunting in futility, Phoenyx turned and slid her back down the bars until her butt touched the ground. She pulled the paper bag through the bars. The same things were in the bag as last time. Phoenyx tossed Lily one of the burgers.
Lily started singing again. After a verse, Phoenyx joined in. They sang together louder and louder, feeling less and less despaired. When the song was over, Phoenyx sang another song, and then Lily after that and so on. They took this dark, hopeless place and filled it with life and color. For that hour or two, they weren’t completely miserable.
Sleep proved just as illusive tonight as it was the night before. Phoenyx fashioned a crude sort of pillow by crumpling up the two paper bags. If she lay on her side with her hands tucked between the side of her head and the bags, she wasn’t too horribly uncomfortable. No matter how badly her body wanted to sleep, her mind couldn’t rest. The horrible anxiety she successfully contained ate away at her insides. She tried to stay optimistic and strong for Lily’s sake, but wasn’t sure how long she had before her fears would devour her sanity.
Phoenyx missed her mom. Mom, who had no idea yet that her daughter was missing. Mom, whose cooking she pined for since she left—it wasn’t as much fun as one might think to eat take out all the time. She wished she spent more time learning how to cook from her mom. She wished she spent more time with her in general.
She missed the sky. Even though it had only been two days in this dreary prison, two days that drug on like a broken clock with no cuckoo. The heat of the sun would feel so good right now. It used to be a sure fire way to put her to sleep, back when they lived in Arizona. Sitting on a lawn chair on the patio in the middle of summer, letting the sweet heat just smother her, it was almost suffocating. When she and her mother moved to Illinois, she could barely enjoy the sun for all the cold so coming to L.A. had been such a nice change. It was possible that L.A. was even hotter than Phoenix and she had loved it so far.
What she missed most of all, especially right now, was a bed with pillows and cushy blankets. Oh, and her kingdom for a damn light switch! If she could just turn out that stupid florescent light, she might be able to fall asleep for two seconds.
Sniff, sniff.
Phoenyx heard the softest sound coming from Lily’s corner. She was crying. Phoenyx wasn’t even aware that Lily was awake. She had been so quiet all this time. Probably only because she was doing the same thing Phoenyx was doing—dwelling.
Phoenyx crawled silently over toward Lily.
“Lily?” she asked softly.
Sniff, sniff, SNIFF!
“Phoenyx, you’re awake?” Lily asked, sitting upright and wiping under her nose. “Did I wake you? I’m sorry.”
“No, no, I couldn’t sleep either,” she said. “Are you okay?” What a stupid question to ask. Of course Lily wasn’t okay. Nothing about this was okay.
Lily’s face puckered up and turned red, then she really started balling. “No! I can’t stop thinking about my mom and dad. They have to be so worried about me right now. I can just see them freaking out because I haven’t been home in three days. I’ve never even been out after midnight before!”
Phoenyx put her hand on Lily’s back and rubbed comfortingly.
“I know how you feel,” Phoenyx said. “If this had happened while I was living at home, my mom would be freaking out too. At least your parents know you’re missing so they will have a better chance of maybe finding us. My mom won’t realize I’m missing for…geez, it could be weeks. When she calls me several times in a row and I don’t answer, and then she calls the school and finds out I never checked in, then she’ll know, and by then…” Phoenyx’s throat tightened and her own eyes teared up. “By then, it might be too late.”
“Phoenyx, what if we never get to see them again?” Lily sobbed.
“You shouldn’t think like that,” Phoenyx said.
“I can’t help it,” Lily said. “I don’t know how to keep ignoring that we’re trapped in here.”
Phoenyx paused for a moment, struggling to swallow the lump in her throat. Then, all at once, reality came crashing down on her like a huge weight she couldn’t hold up anymore. Her tears broke free in a real ugly cry.
Lily immediately and maternally threw her arms around Phoenyx and they cried together.
“I miss my mom!” Phoenyx cried. “I’ve been trying not to think about her, but I wish more than anything I was in her arms right now.”
“Me, too,” Lily cried. “I miss my dad and my baby sister. What if I never get to hug her again?”
They cried, their tears soaking each other, until the crying naturally sputtered out and the only thing to be heard was a symphony of sniffles.
“My dad always makes the world seem so small,” Lily said quietly, breaking a long silence. “He’s such a big guy; so strong, like nothing in the world can touch him or me when I’m with him.”
“I remember feeling that way,” Phoenyx said after a moment. “The feeling of being carried by my dad, so high up that nothing bad could reach me. I really miss him.”
“What happened to your dad?” Lily asked.
Phoenyx looked down into her lap, hating answering that question. “He died,” she said finally. “When I was thirteen.”
“How?”
Phoenyx sighed deeply. “A fire. Our house burned down and he was still inside.”
New, warm tears threatened her eyes at the thought of it.
“I’m sorry,” Lily said sincerely. “That’s really terrible. I can’t imagine growing up without my dad.”
Phoenyx nodded, fighting back the fresh tears and trying to push these thoughts out of her mind.
“Phoenyx,” Lily began, “do you think we are going to die in here?” Her voice cracked at the end.
“I don’t know,” Phoenyx said. “That’s what scares me the most is not knowing anything about the future. Although, I guess if we were going to die, I’d rather not know about it beforehand.”
Lily nodded.
“No matter what happens…” Phoenyx said, “you and me are in this together. I’m not gonna let them hurt you as long as I can do anything about it.” She gripped Lily’s hand and tried to smile.
“I won’t let them hurt you either,” Lily promised, squeezing Phoenyx’s hand right back.
It was then that, looking into Lily’s glinting green eyes, Phoenyx felt oddly safe. She wasn’t happy for how it happened but she was glad that she met Lily. In the short time that she’d known Lily, she was more vulnerable and exposed than she ever allowed anyone to see. She just ugly cried in front of her for God’s sake. She was dirty and smelly for not being able to take a shower and, let’s face it, there were no hygiene secrets between them anymore as the toilet was right there out in the open. If she was going to be stuck with anyone in here in such ungodly accommodations, she was very grateful that it was someone as nice and funny and unassuming as Lily.
“Daddy! No, Daddy, come back!”
Clank!
Phoenyx jumped awake, ripped out of her dream by the sound of the door opening. Her heart hammered as she confusedly watched the giant bald man and another large man drag two men—in suits no less—toward the empty cell to the left.
The new captives were both about her age and both distinctly good looking. One had taper cut jet black hair and cool blue eyes rimmed by surprisingly dark and full lashes. He had a long face with a rugged looking angular jaw, offset by his youthful boyish skin. He looked somehow familiar. Had she met him somewhere? The other one had slightly longer, very light blond hair parted to one side, with gray eyes that were covered by intellectual style glasses. Unlike Phoenyx’s and Lily�
�s arrival to this godforsaken place, the men were conscious—barely—appearing very drunk.
“All right, all right,” the black haired one said with a slurred but still sharp English accent. “I-I think I know what’s going on here. This is about Caesar’s Palace, right? Look, gentlemen, we can work something out.”
Ignoring his pointless efforts of negotiation, using a card to unlock the cell, the two men opened the door and heaved the guys into it like they were rag dolls.
“Ach!” the black haired one complained. “That’s no way to treat a guest.”
Without even a second look, the large men exited the room and locked the door behind them.
Phoenyx and Lily scooted closer to the bar wall dividing the cells.
“Are you guys all right?” Lily asked.
The black haired one propped himself up to lean on one arm while the other rubbed his forehead.
“Oh, look Skylar, we have company,” he said, hitting the blonde’s shoulder with the back of his hand.
“Sebastian, could you be serious for a minute, please?” the blonde called Skylar said groggily, apparently less intoxicated than his friend.
“What would be the point of that?” the one called Sebastian laughed like he was the life of the party. “I don’t remember drinking so much. Where were we before this?”
“That’s because we’re not drunk, you idiot,” Skylar groaned, rubbing circles around his temples. “We’ve been drugged.”
“Here,” Phoenyx slipped her hand through the bars and offered them her water bottle. “This will help with the headache.”
Skylar took the water bottle and took a big swig. Then he handed it to Sebastian, who finished it.
“Thank you,” Skylar said respectfully. “You wouldn’t happen to have some pain killers on you, as well?”
She shook her head.
“What are you girls in for?” Sebastian asked, still smiling like a fool.
“Look, I don’t know where you think you are, but I can assure you that you’re wrong,” Phoenyx said.
“So, this isn’t the basement of Caesar’s Palace?” Sebastian asked. “The Venetian, then?”