Page 58 of Psycho

Two of them took off and left the warehouse, where I noticed the sun was setting and it was cloudy outside. I wondered how they’d gone out earlier. I looked at Deon. “Why do you make us sit in these cages like animals? It’s not like we can go anywhere.”

“You are property, nothing more.” He locked the cage after I got in and I watched him disappear back to the office.

“I saw you snooping around the office,” Leticia said to me once he was out of earshot. “Did you find anything?”

“Just some bleach but the bottle was too big to smuggle out.”

“I can smell it on you,” she said. Her cage was only about three feet from mine.

“I have some rags in my pockets for cleaning. I can’t sit in filth,” I said, pulling one out and scrubbing the bars with it. Though cleaning wasn’t my intention when I made these.

A loud noise jerked me awake and I almost banged my head on the top of my cage where I’d been curled up like a cat, getting a fitful sleep full of nightmares.

“No!” Anna wailed.

I watched as one of the bastards dragged her out of her cage kicking and screaming. But she was quickly subdued after a needle was jammed into her neck.

My eyes filled up with tears. I whispered, “Hold on, Anna.”

My cage was just bars on all sides, so I was able to see where they took her to.

“Let her go,” I screamed. I shook the bars and cried. “Let her go! Take me!”

I was ignored and the last I saw of Anna was her being loaded, half zoned out and drooling, into the back of the black van.

The van drove off into the night and I slammed my hands on the bars and screamed. “Aaahh!”

God, was I pissed. These fuckers were going to pay.

I tried to discern what time it was. The sky was still dark, but I felt like I’d been asleep a while. I squinted at the clock in the office, but it was too far away for me to read. Not that it mattered. The only chance I had at escaping was to wait for the bastards to fall asleep.

I slumped into the cage and put my face in my hands. I couldn’t believe they took Anna and we’d probably never see her again. I refused to let despair creep in. I had to have faith Shep and the rest would find us. They just had to. Why had I been so stupid?

But at least Poppy was safe. I forced my thoughts back into survival mode, telling myself that dark, negative thoughts would serve no purpose and certainly not help us get out of here. If we didn’t have faith, we’d have nothing.

“Psst. Can I get one of those bleach rags?” one of the newer girls asked.

I looked over and sized her up. Small, blonde, looked much too young. “What’s your name?” I asked.

“Janelle,” she replied.

“I’m Nera.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the sock and held it up. “It’s dry now, but with water it’ll be good.” They’d removed the mop bucket so we didn’t have access to that, and the water bottles they’d given us with our pizza last night were long gone.

“Okay. I’m bored and restless. I need something to do,” Janelle said.

“Totally get it. I think we all are. Where are you from?”

“Florida,” she replied. She looked like she hadn’t been here very long, as she had a glimmer of hope in her eyes and her cheeks weren’t sunken in from starvation. I hoped the bastards hadn’t touched her yet.

“Me too! Tampa. What about you?”

“Tallahassee,” she replied. “I was going to college there. Came to New Orleans for spring break. Those assholes took me right out of an alley where me and my friends were taking a shortcut.” She shook her head, her hair hanging limply in a scrunchie on the top of her head. “My parents are probably so worried about me.”

“How old are you?” I asked.

“Nineteen.” She lifted haunted sea-glass green eyes to me. “What are they doing with us? Where did they take Anna?” Her gaze moved to the warehouse door and back to me. “I’m scared.”

I wished I could hug her. I’d seen that fear in the eyes of young women as I worked as a nurse, knowing something bad had happened to them. She was genuinely fearful—and she should be.

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