“Do you hear it? That noise?”
She gets up from the bed and squats down next to me on the floor.
We both hear the noise this time and Teeny’s eyes get wide.
“Is it like a mouse or something?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not.”
Knocking on the wall, I shout Ethan’s name again. Just a few scraping noises answer me back.
Teeny gets bored quickly and moves back to the mattress. Using my fingers, I dig into the plaster wall. It feels good doing something. As much as I hate not having Ethan here with me, I’m so glad he gave me something to do. I work until my nails are broken and my fingers are on the verge of bleeding, yet I’ve only removed about a square inch of wall. How can an entire piece fall by banging on a door but still be strong enough to withstand direct force?
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
There it is again.
And then I hear something…a muffled sound. Words, but I can’t make them out.
“What was that?” Teeny asks.
I shrug and then lie on my back with my feet against the wall. I line both feet up where I’ve made the small dent. Using all my strength, I pound both feet against the wall one good time. Vibrations run up my legs and the wall shakes but nothing else happens. I brace myself and kick again. The plaster caves in a bit and a layer of dust floats over me.
Moving in front of it to hide the damage, I wait to see if I’ve alerted Vader again. Teeny looks from me to the door and back again a dozen times. Not sure how much time goes by but I feel like if he’s coming, he’d have gotten here by now.
“Sissy, what if there’s a mouse in there and you let it out? What if it comes in here?” Teeny asks in a panicked voice. How can she be cool with being a hostage, but the idea of a mouse getting in here makes her nervous?
“I don’t think it’s a mouse. I’m hoping it’s Ethan on the other side of this wall.”
I chip away at the wall until I finally break through the plaster and even a small piece of the wood. It’s not a big hole, but it is a hole.
The opening is triangular, and when I pull a loose piece of plaster out of the way, I can just make out one eye, part of a cheek, and half of a nose.
It’s not a face I recognize.
“Is it a mouse?” Teeny asks.
“No. It’s a person.”
Teeny springs up from the bed and squeezes her head next to mine so she can see.
“Is it Ethan?” Teeny whispers.
I shake my head. “Hello?” I call through the wall. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes.” The voice answers back. It’s a young boy. “Who’s there?”
“My name is Anna. I’m here with my sister, Elena. Who are you?”
Part of me is devastated it’s not Ethan, but hopefully this person will know where we are.
“Noah. Noah Barnes.”
He’s trying to get a better look inside our room. I stare at him, but it’s hard to get a good idea of what he looks like when you can only see bits and pieces at a time.
“What happened to your face?” Noah asks.
My hand flies to my cheek and I realize I still haven’t seen how bad the damage is. There’s no mirror in our small bathroom.
