Page 11 of Echoes From Within
“Did you give your baby a name?” Cady asks me. “I mean, before they took it away?”
I sit on the floor and lean against the bars of the cage that’s separating us. Part of me wants to lie so I keep this for myself, but Cady is scared and if this is the only type of comfort I can offer, then I’ll do it.
“Since they don’t let us know what our babies are,” I start. “I chose a name for a boy and a girl. If it was a girl, her name would be Hope. If it was a boy, I was going to call him Gabriel.”
“Those are beautiful,” Cady says. “Why those names?”
“Well, my daughter would be named for the very thing I hold close to my heart,” I explain. “Hope. I have hope that we’ll be rescued.”
“Hope is a perfect name,” Cady sniffles. “Why did you choose Gabriel?”
“It means God is my strength,” I explain. “I can only hope and pray that whatever they’re doing with our babies will bring them a life of comfort and happiness. What about you? Did you pick out any names?”
“My baby is a boy,” she tells me. “I heard the doctor talking to one of the men last week. The doctor kept saying “he” instead of “the baby” like he normally does. I think he does stuff like that on purpose to give us as much information as he can without telling us too much.”
“Don’t act like he’s a good person,” I tell Cady. “That bastard can get us out of here anytime he wants. He’s just a coward.”
“He’s protecting his family,” Cady whispers. “Wouldn’t you do the same?”
“Would I do the same knowing what’s happening behind these walls?” I ask sarcastically. “Absolutely not. I would find a way to tell someone. He’s a doctor, Cady. He works at the hospital. He goes out grocery shopping. He drives to and from this building every evening. He can find a way to help us.”
“Maybe he’s being watched,” she whispers.
“Maybe he is,” I whisper back. “But if you knew what he did, would you find a way? Knowing that teenage girls were being raped repeatedly until they got pregnant, would you keep that to yourself or find a way to get help?”
She doesn’t respond. She doesn’t have to.
I sit on the floor of my dimly lit cage until I drift off to sleep only to be woken by someone banging on the cage door.
“Rise and shine, Seven,” the guard says. “Get on the cot.”
Thoughts run through my mind of me with a metal pipe hitting the guard in the back of the head. My mental fight is as strong as ever, even if my physical one isn’t.
The only things in our cells are the cots and a bucket. I avoid the cot at all costs and mostly sleep on the hard floors. The cots are only here for a single use. To tie us down.
Knowing that fighting would be useless, I slowly stand and make my way to the damn cot. The guard is already at its side waiting for me.
“Do you really have to tie me down?” I ask.
“You know I do, Seven,” he says. “I’d rather not get my balls kicked again.”
Regardless of the situation, I smirk as he tightens my wrists to the sides of the bed.
“You do know that when I get out of here, I’m going to fucking kill you, right?” I say sweetly.
“Whatever you say, Seven. Whatever you say.”
The guards have told me countless times that the only way I’m getting out of here will be in a body bag. I don’t care what their plans are for me, but one day I will be free.
I don’t think these people realize just yet that they’ve created a killer.
But they will.
Violence was something that never even crossed my mind before. Sure, I’ve been angry for the people who would come to UNITY for shelter. I’ve even been so angry to have violent thoughts towards the victims’ abusers. But never before have I gotten the urge to take a life.
Until now.
“We have a new male for you,” the guard tells me. “It’s time to get back into the breeding room, Seven.”