Page 35 of Irreversible

And the moment the door closes, I hear the plate clang against the wall. Of course, they wouldn’t have given him something breakable that could be used as a weapon.

I wince. “You should eat.”

“Oddly, not hungry.”

“It’s a good sign. It means they’re keeping you around.”

“Yay.”

Sighing, I drop my forehead to the wall. “Some of the others aren’t fed, which means their time is limited to hours. Days, if they’re lucky.”

“Lucky,” he parrots, the word sluiced in kerosine. “Is that what you think I am?”

“You’re luckier than that woman across the hall this morning.”

“Did you know her? Who was she?”

“I don’t know anyone in here. Just you, and the others who were in that room before you.”

Nick’s chain drags across the floor like a rusty anchor, each link heavy with the weight of a daunting, unknown future. I imagine him picking remnants of soggy eggs off the white tiles.

“Does that guy touch you?”

I shake my head, even though he can’t see it. “No.”

“He hasn’t raped you?”

“Never.”

“Why not?”

“You ask a lot of questions.” I plop down on my cot and reach for the plate, sucking a pineapple chunk into my mouth. “Are you a lawyer?”

He scoffs. “No, I have a soul.”

“Good. I was questioning that.”

“You wouldn’t be the first one.”

I can’t help a tiny smirk from unfolding. Genuine and voluntary; such a rare, rare thing. Chewing the fruit, I lean back against the wall and cross my legs at the ankles. “I’ve never been assaulted sexually,” I say. “Like I said, I’m a product. My purpose goes beyond that. If I got pregnant, I’d become useless to their buyer, and then these vultures wouldn’t get paid. It’s a business.”

He makes a humming sound, like he’s processing my answer. “You were flirting with the ogre.”

“He’s a potential way out of here. The Timekeeper has no conscience, no heartstrings to tug on. Roger has shownweakness, so I use that to my advantage whenever I can. He likes me.”

“The Timekeeper.” Nick tests the name on his tongue, releasing a single syllable of derisive laughter. “Sounds like the name of a self-important super villain from an omniverse far, far away. Please tell me he doesn’t call himself that.”

“No. I don’t know his real name. When I first got here, he told me he was my keeper, so that’s how I came up with it. He’s in charge of our fate; how much time we have left in this world.” The pineapple turns sour on my tongue, tasting like gasoline as it slogs down my throat. “He has these…hourglasses.”

“What, that toy on his belt?”

“He has more than one. He’ll place an hourglass in the room when his victims’ time is almost up, like a countdown to their death. It’s sick.”

Hot pressure burns behind my eyes.

My mind swims with haunting memories. Screams and throat-scraping pleas. A woman named Kara took it the hardest and tried to strangle herself with her ankle chain before the grains of sand filled the bottom of the glass. She must have been caught on camera, because only moments passed before the door barreled open and she was taken, fighting and shrieking until my own lungs nearly shriveled under the weight of her fear.

A shiver rolls through me, and I push the plate of food aside, my appetite gone.

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