Page 5 of Fractured Future

“It’s going to be okay. You’re not alone.”

“B-But… Please, Ember. I need you to stay.”

“I have to do something. Diego is coming for me.”

“But I’m scared.” Her voice sounds thick with tears. “What if you don’t come back?”

“Take a deep breath for me.”

Snapping the bra into place, I shuffle across the floor to reach the side closest to Gracie’s cage. Even though I can’t reach her, I have a better view into her shadowy cell.

Similar to Debbie, she’s curled up in a ball, only slumped on the concrete instead. If I couldn’t see her shivering, I’d think she was already dead. I can just barely make out her sweet, tear-streaked face.

“Listen to me. I need you to be strong.”

“I’m so tired.” She shakes hard, more tears slipping over her hollow cheeks. “So hungry.”

“Think about home, Gracie.”

Her rocking pauses for a brief second. “Home?”

“Yeah. Home.”

“I… I c-can’t remember what it looks like.”

“You told me all about your two little sisters, remember? Annie and Gabby. And your mum’s homemade baking? Think about those oatmeal cookies. You made me hungry just by describing them.”

“Annie,” she mumbles through her folded arms. “I think I remember her. Those cookies… They’re the best.”

“You’re going to eat them again soon with your little sisters.” My broken heart twists, filling me with anguish. “We didn’t go through hell just to die now, did we?”

The silence from the other women being held with us is deafening. It’s like they can taste the lies I’m feeding the terrified teen to keep her from shutting down. Maybe it would be kinder to let her soul die.

Just as her breathing starts to even out, the sound of a door clanging open marks my doom. Diego is back to see if I’ve complied with his demand.

“Keep breathing for me,” I say in a rush, dragging myself into position. “I’ll be back.”

“No!” She suddenly jerks upright, her face red from sobbing. “Don’t go with them!”

The wide shoulders and bulging belly of my tormenter return. Only he’s packing this time and has company with him. Two other men, both wearing woven balaclavas, follow close behind him.

They too carry weapons strapped to their hips. I’ve only seen guns once. It was when we were marched through the windswept night over to a shipping container already full of gagged women.

One girl made a run for it before our kidnappers could load me and Gracie inside. She almost made it to the end of the rain-soaked dock before a masked man shot her in the kneecap.

I can still remember the bloodcurdling scream she unleashed. The high-pitched shriek nearly burst my eardrums when the men proceeded to beat her. Silence came when her carcass was tossed into the sea.

“Learned your lesson?” Diego bellows at me.

I lean against the cage bars to hold myself still. “Hardly.”

“Your face begs to differ. Looks awful sore.”

Teeth gritted, I don’t take the bait. He’ll only break another bone.

“Are you going to come quietly this time?”

Silent, I nod in response.