“Hands off,” Diego ordered, and Aaron’s finger fell away from my face. He winked and stood, returning to Diego’s side.
“We’ll move tonight, dog,” Aaron said. “We don’t want to kill you yet, so we’ll let your body heal for the night.”
Diego pulled a bottle of water out of his back pocket and tossed it on the ground. It rolled above my head. I continued to stare at them, even though the thought of a drink of water nearly made me insane with need. They stared at me a few minutes longer, and when they realized I wasn’t going to break, they just laughed, nudged each other, and left through the same door. They turned the lights out on their way, and I was plunged into silent darkness.
Once I knew for sure they were gone, I ignored the screaming of my body and rolled onto my other side and reached above my head, blindly searching for the cold bottle of water. When my fingers touched it, I wept with relief. I couldn’t feel anything other than my need for that one drink of water. I cried out as I struggled with the lid. Fast tears rolled off my cheeks as it finally cracked open for me. I took small sips, not wanting to choke and risk wasting any of it on the floor.
After I had drunk the entire bottle, I curled into a ball, cold and crying. I had never felt so sorry for myself in my life. I missed showers. I missed clean clothes. I missed feeling warm and safe. And I missed my boys.
Where the fuck were they?