“Hey,” a low voice sounds, and I sit up, my hands going to the bars, pulling myself close until my face presses into them almost painfully. As if that voice can even see me in the darkness.
“Who are you?”
“Put these over your ears,” the whisper sounds and something hard is pressed into my hands. I fumble for it, not knowing what it is, almost dropping it. Feeling around, I note it’s cool to the touch, curved, with soft round things on either end. And the whisper sounds, “Put it over your head, like a headband. Cover your ears.”
I hug it against my chest, shake my head, but then the whisper becomes urgent, “We have to hurry. They’ll find you.”
I frown, my heart pounds in my chest as I say, “I didn’t do it.”
A muttered, “I know, I know,” then her hands are through the bars, taking the curved thing from me. It’s placed on my head, hands sliding down until the round things are pushed against my ears.
“Don’t take them off,” the whisper sounds, “Just listen to the song.”
“I don’t hear anything,” I respond, trying to keep my voice low.
Light pools down the stairs, revealing a woman, older than me, but still not old. Eyes wide, she glances over her shoulder then turns her frantic gaze on me. “Move back.”
She crawls to the front of the cage, opens the door, crawls inside. Shutting the door, she turns back to me. “Hide under the blankets. Don’t show yourself to anyone.”
Sensing her urgency, I scoot under the blanket, and she piles them on top of me, pushing me into the corner in a heap. I lie on my side, curling into myself, my back pressed against the metals bars. I can just make out her leg from this position, the dim light from the open door, leaving us mostly in shadows.
She grabs a darkly colored object, squeezes it and I jump as sound vibrates in my ears. Then she shoves the object beneath the blankets, turns back toward the door, placing herself right at the edge—waiting—as the noise tickles my ears.
**I Got You, Babe by Sonny & Cher starts playing**
Faint footsteps. The clang of the door. The jarring vibration of a struggle lost. I grab that object she shoved under the blanket with me, clutching it to my chest, listening intently.
**I Got You, Babe by Sonny & Cher continues to play**
The cage jerks, the screech of metal on the cold, hard floor. A cry sounds, a slap; faint distress heard through the din as the sound in my ears goes high and low.
**I Got You, Babe by Sonny & Cher still plays**
The cage moves again, harder this time, shouting, a louder slap. I press my face into the cold metal bottom, my hands clutching the soft round things to my ears, cutting off that outside racket.
I breathe with no sound.
My heart is in my throat.
And still, the sound plays on.
**I Got You, Babe by Sonny & Cher play on**
42
TRUTH IN THE DARK
PRESENT DAY…
CASSIDY
Opening my eyes,I walk toward Amber. I come to a stop beside her, turn my head so I’m looking at her face. She stops humming, mouths the words to the chorus I know so well, and I whisper, "It was you."
Ren moves in my peripheral vision, but Declan and Darius both get in his way, preventing him from coming any closer. She looks up at me, her lips curving up into a smile as I go on, "It was you in the dark. With that sound. That song.”
Her smile falls slightly and she whispers, "It wasn't much but it was all I could do."
"It was more than you'll ever understand," I respond.
