feel like I had the power to change
anything.
The
others seemed to have turned on me. They wanted to know why I got to
wear clothes, why I hadn't come in with the others and why I got the
leader.
I
shrugged my shoulders and shook my head. They all stepped closer to
me. They resembled an angry mob. I cried as they came closer to me
but I was mad too. I hadn't done anything wrong. I pointed to the
ceiling and then laid my hand behind my ear.
“You
think they are listening to us?” one asked.
I
nodded. I was pretty certain that they were. This was probably a
test. I wanted to pass. I was already feeling very sad because we
weren't together.
One of
the women turned away from me. She grabbed the hand of the woman who
sat next to her at the table.
“My
name is Kate and her name is Tanya. Who are the rest of you and does
anyone know what happened to the other women? The one who wasn't here
today?”
“Her
name was Sarah. She told me she knew karate and that she would
protect herself. The man who took her looked fine. Maybe they killed
her?” the lonely woman said, who sat next to me at the table. “Oh,
and my name is Francesca.”
“My
name is Becky,” said the woman who sat on my other side. “What I
want to know is why we were separated from the others and what
happened to them.”
“My
name is Jenny and I was a virgin before I came here. I noticed that
the women were singled out when the machine was over our . . .” She
could hardly bring herself to say it but I knew she was right. “It
was a test to see if we had yet and we were the few who hadn't yet.”
I
nodded agreeing with her. The others all nodded too.
Jenny
continued, “since I have been here I have been beaten and raped.”
She sobbed after she finished talking.
Everyone
nodded again.
“I
want to get out of here. Who is coming with me?” Jenny looked
scared. She was in a fight or flight situation and she chose flight,
but she didn't want to go alone.
“If
you know how, I'm with you,” Kate said as she looked at Tanya, who
nodded.
“Let's
try to open the door.” Becky went and stood in front of the door.
She was trying to make the noise the men did to get it to open up.
She
got it to open at about her twentieth try. We all stepped forward
surprised. I went to the door and looked out with the others. The
hallway appeared to be empty. Becky smiled at Jenny and grabbed her
wrist and pulled her out with her. They giggled as they left. Kate
and Tanya left next. I looked at Francesca, she shrugged her
shoulders and went out the door. I peeked out and looked up and down
the hall.
We
huddled together as we walked down the hall. I had no idea where we
were going but I had a terrible feeling like we shouldn't be doing
this. I wanted to go back. I took Francesca's hand.
“My
name is Melissa,” I whispered to her.
She
smiled at me and I wiped the tears from my eyes.
She
looked ready to cry too. “I miss him. I want to go back.”
I
nodded my heart was breaking too. “Should we just turn around and
face the music and get it over with?” I asked her.
“I
don't know what I want,” she sobbed.
Becky
was standing in front of a door trying to open it. It opened and she
smiled as she peeked in. “If we can get beamed into this room then
maybe we can get beamed out.”
Francesca
was bawling uncontrollably. I petted her hand but I was in despair
myself. I regretted leaving the room so much that I too was crying.
Becky was looking for a machine to beam us back.
“I
wasn't beamed in here but into a medical room far from here. There
was no machine there either. I think the voice on the intercom
controls everything.” They all looked surprised that I had talked.
“So
you are talking now. Then answer our questions. Why weren't you with
us?” Becky was getting on my nerves.
“He
came and got me. I was in a school building that was hit and there
was fire all around me. I was worse off than the rest of you. I had
been choking on ashes and