Steven is one of them?
The shivering stills and I can only stare. They’ve been watching me. I got so careless! I forgot that I was running for my life.
“Say your name to the camera, girl,” Mr. Attridge snaps.
“Cassy Smith,” I blurt out. I don’t want to make them angry.
“Your real name!” he snaps irritably, and I flinch back from the hostility in his voice.
“Cara Ellison.” My heart pounds in my ears.
“Say the date,” he snaps again.
“October ninth.” I try to keep my eyes everywhere at once, but mostly on Steven and Mr. Attridge.
“Who is Ralph Ellison to you?” He growls, and my stomach churns with dread.
“He’s my father,” I whimper.
“Only for ten minutes, men. We only need enough on tape to let that piece of shit know we’re serious. After the boys are done with you, your uncle will come running to save you, just like he did when I killed your parents. Don’t be angry, Cara, this is just the way things are done. No hard feelings.” I watch Mr. Attridge with huge eyes, as he hands the cigarette to the man next to him. “Here you go, Henry.” And then he walks out leaving me with the three men.
The door closes, and a bright light flickers on from the camera, spotlighting me. Everything else blacks out but the bright light. My body starts to shake, and I press back into the cold wall.
What’s going on?
What are they going to do?
A million horrible scenarios race through my mind, tightening the cold grip of panic on my insides.
Henry moves first and comes right at me. He looks like a hulking mass of darkness. I scream and duck to the side, but he grabs hold of my arm, yanking me back.
Where I go, the blinding light goes, and the tiny red light tells me that they are recording all of this.
Henry’s voice is a vicious growl that agitates every nerve and leaves my insides quaking. “Don’t just stand there! Get your ass over here and hold her down!”
I’m dragged forcefully from the corner. I lose my balance, and my knees slam hard into the floor. My teeth clatter, and I bite my tongue from the force. “Get the jacket off,” Henry barks.
“No!” I shriek, and I try to pull back. “Please don’t!” I don’t know what I’m begging for, but it’s all my mind can come up with.
My movements grow frantic with panic, and the air grows hot and stuffy with all of us in the small space. The smoke from the cigarette makes me want to gag.
Steven moves in front of the light, making it disappear. For a second I sit shocked before all my senses rush back to me. Henry’s fingers dig into my shins, and he yanks me towards him. I fall over backward, and my head slams into the hard steel floor, making another hollow banging sound that vibrates through the floor and into my body. I start to panic as a suffocating feeling weighs heavily down on me.
“Fuck you!” I spit at them, and I start to kick with every bit of strength I have in my legs. I manage to kick Henry in the chest, and he falls back on his ass.
I use my moment of victory to scramble to my hands and knees. I crawl away and every movement I make echoes in the tiny space.
Steven comes at me, and I rush to get to my feet so I can run, or at the very least defend myself. My flight instincts have finally kicked in. Better late than never!
The bright light makes it hard to see. They pounce on me, and the fright rips a petrified scream from me. So many hands grab at me!
I yank and hit, but it feels like I’m getting nowhere. All I hear is hard breathing, definitely my own and theirs right by me – closing in.
For an awful moment my arms are yanked painfully back, and then my jacket’s ripped from my body. My ass hits the floor hard as I’m shoved down.
I keep hitting, kicking and growling like a possessed person. Dread has taken over every part of me. In this terror-induced state, there’s only one thought – survival. I have to survive this somehow.
I always thought fear was cold. I always described it as cold. I was so wrong, so very wrong.