GIRL ONE
“Is he in trouble? Did Father do something wrong?” Two asks the man… Nova, I think he said his name was. I was too busy trying to protect Two that I didn’t pay close attention to him like I should've.
“Nova?” I call out his name, testing it on my tongue. “That’s what you said your name was, right?”
“That’s right,” he verifies, nodding his head.
“Nova, what is it that you think we need to talk about specifically, because we don’t know much about Father or what he does when he’s not down here. We only see and talk to him when he needs something from us or is bringing us supplies.” There, hopefully, that’ll make him leave. I can’t be any clearer than that. If we don’t know anything, we can’t tell him what he wants to know.
“You know more than you think you do,” he states.
“How do you figure?” I ask, tilting my head sideways.
“I need to ask you some questions that may be hard for you to answer,” he says, sighing.
“Just ask,” I snap, wanting to get this done and over with so we can have our place back to ourselves.
“Fine,” he says, grinding his teeth. “Did your father bring a woman here recently?”
“He brings all of his friends here,” Two replies. “That’s their room over there.”
“Over where?” Nova probes.
“There’s a door behind that rack,” I point out.
“Can you show me?” he asks.
“Eeep!” My sister yelps and Nova’s head swivels in her direction. His eyes are piercing as he examines her reaction. “I’m not allowed to be out here if you open that door. Not without Father’s permission.”
He turns his attention back to me and asks, “What about you? Can you be out here?”
“Keeping that room clean is one of my chores. I can show you. Sister, follow the rules.”
“Okay,” she whimpers, walking to the iron barred room and shutting the cage door.
Nova’s nostrils flare as he watches her. “That’s our room,” I tell him, wanting to see his reaction. “We’re allowed out during the daytime as long as Father doesn’t have a friend staying with us.”
“A friend? How many ‘friends’ has your father had over the years?” Nova inquires.
“I didn’t keep count,” I admit as I scurry over to the unit and unlock the wheels, rolling it over and revealing the hidden door. “Although, I don’t understand why they keep coming because he’s not very nice to them.”
“How do you know that?” he demands.
I scoff before telling him, “Because they all scream. When we do that, he hits us and makes our teeth bleed. It’s a reminder that we are to obey him and keep quiet no matter what.”
My words must shock him because he utters, “You’re pretty smart for someone who has no education.”
“I told you before, we taught ourselves. We learned how to read by watching television. Once we could do that, we started reading books. Both educational and recreational.”
“See! It’s words like that you use that tell me you’re far smarter and know more than what you want me to think you do,” he voices.
“Never said I was dumb, Nova,” I spit, wanting to dig my fingernails into his eyes and pop them from their sockets. “Self-taught doesn’t mean ignorant.”
I don’t know why I’m so angry with him, he hasn’t really done anything to me to warrant such a reaction but there’s something about him coming into my space uninvited that makes me uneasy and violent.
“You’re right, it doesn’t,” he murmurs as I reach up and undo the latch at the top of the frame.
When he redraws his gun, I step aside and jam my finger at him. “What are you doing with that? I told you to put that away!”
