I try a little louder. “Hello!” I move slowly so I don’t slam into something. It smells damp and dusty. My voice echoes but it gives nothing away of where I am.
How did I get here? I try to stand up but bump into something hard. I reach out to feel what it is. A piece of metal? My fingers keep searching and all I feel is one bar next to the other. It’s all around me! Am I stuck in some sort of cage? The thought sends a sharp stab of panic through my chest. “Is anybody there?” I scream as loud as I can. Panic makes my throat tighten and I start to cry.
“I’m here,” A soft voice comes to me out of the dark.
“Where? Who are you? Why am I here?” I get to my hands and knees. “Where am I?” I scream and then the sobs come hard and fast.
“I don’t know. I don’t know how long I’ve been here,” the voice comes again. Her news makes me feel faint with a new wave of fear rippling through me.
“Who are you?” I ask. I need as much information as I can get.
“Willow,” she whispers.
I know that name. It’s splashed all over the papers along with the other missing girls.
“Willow? Like the Willow who has been missing?” I have to make sure, but I pray she tells me differently.
“Yes. He keeps us locked up. I don’t know where he took Ember. Before me there was Dawn. I think he takes a different girl every week.” As she says this I remember what happened. I went back to the diner to get my bag, but then Mr. Brody came. He wanted to show me something. I can’t remember what.
“Mr. Brody took you?” I ask with a quivering voice. I can’t believe Seth’s dad is the one who’s been taking the girls! A wave of shock hits me hard, as my mind wars between acceptance and disbelief.
“You can’t call him that,” she says, “It will only make him angry. When he comes you have to call him Hunter.”
My eyes widen and I take a sharp breath. “But … why?” He is Mr. Brody. He’s Seth’s dad.
“That’s what he wants. We don’t ask questions. I think he lets us go after a week. I’m sure if you just do what he wants everything will be okay.” She doesn’t sound so sure of herself. I can hear the underlying fear in her voice. I hear a soft sniffle and knowing that she’s been here a while makes me start to cry, too.
The sound of a lock clicking open makes me jump. A heavy door falls open to the side and the sharp light of day blinds me.
Willow whispers, “Just keep quiet and do as he says.”
I blink a few times and see Mr. Brody climb down the stairs. He closes the door behind him, shutting out the light. It’s dark for a few seconds before a dim light flashes over the space and then I see it - cages, a total of five cages on a flat slab of concrete! There is an empty cage between me and Willow. She looks dirty and scared. The brown steaks running down her face is the only sign that she’s crying. Her dark hair hangs in matted strands around her face.
Mr. Brody shines the flashlight in my eyes. I cover my face with an arm to block out the sudden sharp light.
“You’re awake. Good,” he says happily, and then I hear him move in my direction.
I quickly scamper to the back of my cage, which isn’t far considering there’s not much space. He keeps flashing the light in my face. “Why?” I cry out in desperation. “Why are you doing this?” Tears and sobs choke me and I whisper dismayingly, “I want to … go … home!”
~*~
Chapter Eight
Seth~
It feels like my heart stopped and shriveled up into a ball of nothingness. I can’t believe Lacey is gone! I won’t believe it. There’s a reasonable explanation for all of this. Maybe I came on too strong and scared her away? Maybe she’ll come back any second, laughing at all of us for worrying over nothing.
No matter how many thoughts rush through my mind, there’s always the thought that she’s been taken, just like all those other girls.
I should have made sure she went inside! It’s my fault this happened to her. How can the universe be so cruel? She’s only seventeen! I only had her