“Stop,” he says low in his throat. “Delilah’s right. You don’t have to be a bitch all the time to hide you’re scared.”
The others in the dorm slowly form a line in front of the door. My mind is clearer now, so I notice there’s no commonality between us. We’re all different ages, genders, heights, weights, races. The nausea returns when a girl, barely a teenager, turns with a swollen belly as she lines up with another two pregnant girls. Not women.Girls.
A young boy cries as an older boy forces him to join the line. He screams when the door slides open, a gut-wrenching sound full of fear. The older boy isn’t even a teenager, but he lifts the younger one off his feet, sitting him on his hip. The remainingtoddlers don’t cry as they stare at the screaming boy like he’s their appointed spokesperson.
Even Nova falls silent, which is a rarity for her. Her limbs are stiff as she reaches out for Jasper without looking away from the door. He slowly stands, threading his fingers through hers, before doing the same with Sienna. Remaining in the middle, he squeezes their hands while quietly promising, “We’ll see each other again.”
I step in front of them, protectiveness rising in me as we walk to the door. I straighten my spine, mourning the loss of the trio as I meet the guard’s mirrored mask. Somehow my voice comes out with steady authority as I order, “These three are staying here. If you have a problem, take it up with my father.”
“Who’s your father, whore?” he asks, laughing.
Bile burns the back of my throat as I stare at the guard, readying to ruin my life. I look at the trio one last time, knowing they’ll hate me after listening to them express their hate for the owners of this awful place when the doctors check their injuries to ensure they can still enter the Rooms, earning money to line the pockets of my parents. Yet my voice doesn’t tremble as I say, “Harkin Leroux.”
“You fucking bitch!” Nova screams behind me. “She’s one of them!”
“You have two masters. One is my father, the other is my grandmother.” I step forward, away from her violent hands while Jasper attempts to pull her back. The guard steps back too, confirming I’m not lying as Nova continues screaming. I try to apologize over her rage.
She escapes Jasper’s grasp with destruction in her eyes, barreling past Sienna as she vows, “I’m going to fucking kill you.”
I don’t move as she pulls her arm back and punches me in the face. I let her avenge everything they took, forcing her tosurvive with anger as armor. My cheek throbs while I remain still, allowing her to do whatever she needs. Maybe if she kills me, it will stop the guards taking everyone. Then I’ll have saved someone before I get to reunite with my family.
The guard joins in the affray as Sienna wraps her arms around Jasper, who’s staring at me with betrayal contorting his features. Twisting to the side, I take the impact of the guard’s fist intended for Nova. She spits at me, the wet glob landing on my cheek. “Fuck. You.”
The guard throws another punch, landing on the back of my head this time. “Daddy has demoted you, princess.” He wraps his gloved fingers around my nape, the digits bruising and twinging my muscles as he gestures to the other three. “Move.”
Fuck! My help was useless. I thought the pitiful excuse I have for parents would at least care about their name like they did when I was growing up. I’m nothing to them. Worse, I’m an idiot for still thinking it would do anything when they haven’t seen me in years. Not since I gave birth while they all stood in the room like I was a circus act, performing for their entertainment.
I wait until the guard marches us to a large wooden door, then throw my weight to the side. Jasper hugs them as they huddle closer to the wall while I use every bit of strength, anger, injustice to bring my knee up into the guard’s balls.
“Run!” I snap at the trio as the guard punches me in the stomach. I continue fighting him, using myself as a distraction so they move. But children are held prisoner to what they know. The fear on their faces breaks my fucking heart because they’re more scared of leaving than being in this place where they’ll be routinely raped.
I try to urge them to leave, but as I turn, the guard lifts his hand, throwing his full body weight behind it. The crack of my cheek beneath the force of his knuckles echoes through the narrow hallway.
“Stop fighting,” Sienna whispers through tears. “They’ll keep hurting you.”
His fingers dig into my scalp as he slams me into the wall like I’m a rag doll. My delicate brow bone crumbles with the pressure of the hard wall then blood slowly trickles down to the corner of my eye as the large wooden doors open and more guards enter. The trio frightfully step back, clinging to each other harder. I keep fighting. Use my feet, hands, and head until the guards restrain me, dragging me into a metal box. Three of them pin me to the corner—one holding each arm, the third forcing my jaw closed—as the others open the doors for Jasper, Nova, and Sienna to enter the box.
Nova stares at me with open hate, the other two more hurt. I stare into her hate, which is the easiest of the emotions as the first guard steps into the box, keeping his back to us. He pulls the wooden doors closed then places his hand on the metal wall beside the door. My stomach churns as we abruptly drop. There’s no barrier on the open side of the elevator, leaving the exposed brick and wires in full view as we plummet.
The guards restraining me become even more forceful when we stop moving in front of normal elevator doors. I’m sure my jaw is close to breaking as my teeth creak under the brutal pressure of their hands. No one other than the first guard moves, pressing his hand to the panel again. Instantly, the metal doors slide open to reveal an even darker tunnel than the ones leading to the dorms. There’s no strip lighting to guide us, only the masked guards as they drag me behind the other three.
I struggle to keep their hands on me as the one holding my jaw closed lets go to walk ahead so there are two guards at either end of our line.
“Get the fuck off me!” My shout echoes in the cavernous space, so I keep shouting, “Let me go! I’m a fucking Leroux!” The hallway narrows in the middle, widening again as my screamsbounce off surfaces further away. I don’t even know what I’m shouting, I just keep doing it to determine the size of the space or if we’re outside.
Sienna’s younger than the other two. Scares easier too, but I can’t stop shouting because if I do then I’ll die. I don’t want to have my body shut down while they do whatever they want to them. I can’t witness children being hurt when I know I’ll fucking freeze.
I’m dragged to the side as another guard steps out of the dark void. Sweat trickles down my back; the lull of my stomach being settled is over as the mirror-masked guard lowers. The edges of the mirrored surface show faint green lights illuminating the inside of his mask as he grabs my foot, leaving me on my weakened leg to force me into the tight high heels. Without the guards holding my arms, I’d fall on the thin points as the thick metal straps click into place around my ankles. I wobble when they take a long silver nail and thread it through the front of the metal cuffs, joining my feet together.
Fuck!
I can’t walk. I can barely fucking stand. But the pin doesn’t allow me to kick the shoes off as the guard stands, the other two dragging my arms out in front of me. I try to push myself back, but the unsecure heels creak and I’m roughly pulled forward as heavy shackles are placed around each of my wrists.
The lack of food over the last week, the withdrawals, and insomnia have made me too tired to fight. I can only stand motionless when the last guard pulls my hair back and wipes the blood from my face.
Nova’s lack of threats increases my fear too. She punched me in the fucking face but she’s quiet now, so I hesitantly say, “Nova?”
“Fuck you,” she spits.
