Page 38 of Among the Sins of my Father

Sinking to my knees, I knock my head against the bars in desperation. As though it will accomplish something. Anything. It’s only after I’ve been quiet a long time that a voice speaks. My head whips up as I audibly scan for the direction of the sound.

“There’s no point in all the yelling.” The voice is quiet.

“Who are you?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Do you know where we are?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.”

“It won’t soon,” is the only reply I get.

“I came here with a young girl. Did you see her?”

The voice must be coming from the next cell. I wonder why it’s taken so long for her to talk to me. Maybe she was waiting for me to scream myself hoarse first.

“They don’t have kids here.” She lets out a derisive snort. “Apparently they’re not that sort of evil.”

For some reason her reply makes me laugh. Not a chuckle or a snort, but a loud and raucous laugh. The kind that surprises you with its volume and ferocity.

“I don’t know why I just laughed,” I say to my mystery friend.

“It’s because there’s nothing else you can do.”

We fall back into silence. I shuffle across the floor until my back is pressed to the cold concrete. There’s no warmth offered in the room apart from the blanket on the bed. A single tear rolls down my cheek and I pull my knees closer to my chest. I almost fall asleep like that, but my fear keeps me awake. Every time my eyelids droop my entire body jerks, fighting the need for sleep.

Then I hear footsteps. They echo off the concrete walls as though their creator is in my cell. Shadows appear. Multiple people are walking down the corridor.

“Just do as they say,” the voice in the next cell whispers. “Don’t fight them. Save your strength.”

But if I don’t fight, if I just do as I’m told, what am I saving my strength for? I start to tremble as they get closer. But all I can focus on is Ette. Where they’ve taken her. What they’re doing to her. If she’s okay.

The steps get louder. The shadows meld into one menacing figure that stretches across the ground. One monster. My heart beats loudly. Then, without warning, nausea swells and I’m overtaken by a flash. I thought my concern for Ette had drowned out my anxiety.

I was wrong.

I’m on all fours. There’s a chain around my neck and someone, or something, is jerking on it, propelling me forward. Gravel digs into my palms and knees. I beg for whoever is on the other end of the chain to stop but all they do is laugh and yank harder. I fall, my face grazing against the gravel.

I clutch my cheek as though the pain is real. I can feel the stones digging into my skin even though I can’t feel them with my fingers.

The shadows loom closer.

The footsteps grow louder.

I examine my fingers for blood. Because that’s how real it feels. Even though everything physical tells me I’m pressed against the wall of a cell, knees pulled to my chest, everything in my head has me pressed against the gravel, sharp stones digging into my cheek.

The chain is jerked up violently. Someone shoves their face in mine as my hands fly to my throat, trying to relieve some of the strain of the chain around my neck. “How do you like it? Do you like being treated like a dog?” the voice hisses, but I’m too desperate for air to respond. The chain jerks upward again and I scramble to find my footing before the air is cut off completely.

I’m stretched, rising to my tiptoes as the chain keeps lifting. My toes scrape over the ground, searching for firm footing.

A deep voice laughs.

“Everly?” I’m jerked out of my flash by the sound of my name on someone else’s lips. It takes a while for me to focus on the three figures peering into my cell. The lights above them appear harsher than they were before. The buzzing is loud. Almost loud enough to drown out the clanking of metal as the gate is pulled open.

“Michael?” I say cautiously as he approaches. I’m not sure if I’m still caught in my flash or not. It’s like reality and my visions are mixing to such an extent that I don’t want to trust my own eyes.

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