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***
Saff awoke with a start, her eyes flying open as she jolted upright in the cot.
Then she heard it again: the reason why she had awoken.
Footsteps on the stairs coming toward her.
Through the dim yellow light, she stared at the bottom of the stairwell, waiting for someone to appear.
And as one foot came into view, she instantly knew it wasn’t Maddie.
She stood, fists tightly clenched at her sides.
A few more steps, and a man appeared. Although ‘man’ was probably an exaggeration. He looked like he couldn’t have been older than seventeen or eighteen.
His eyes bounced across the cells quickly until they landed on Saff. Then he gave her a slightly sheepish smile, removing a few years from his age as it enhanced his boyish features.
“Sorry if I woke you up,” the boy said with an apologetic grin, “but they said to bring you up now.”
Saff glanced down at her watch as he stepped forward to open the cell. It was before six in the morning, which was a little early, even for her. And she couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad sign.
He twisted a key through the lock and pulled the cell door open, waiting for her to step out. She took one step forward, then stopped in front of him.
He gave her a semi-confused look, then seemed to catch himself.
“Oh—uh—yeah, let’s go,” he said, placing his hand on her bicep and leading her towards the stairs.
His grip was so light, it felt more like a formality than anything.
When they reached the foot of the stairs, he appeared to get flustered once again, realizing they couldn’t both fit up at the same time.
He released her arm. “After you,” he said, motioning forward with an awkward smile.
Saff hoped for everyone’s sake that he wasn’t in charge of watching prisoners on a regular basis. Otherwise, they would definitely be in trouble.
She walked slowly, step by step until she reached the top of the stairs, emerging onto the landing. Then she turned the only way down the hall. The boy caught up and hurried after her, placing his hand back onto her arm once more.
As they ambled down the hall and out into the main room, she looked to the side and saw the girl from the night before standing there, rearranging items on the shelf.
She paused halfway as they came into view.
“You should stick around,” she said with an easy smile. “The food tonight will be much better.”
Saff watched her curiously, and when it was clear that she wasn’t going to respond, the girl’s smile grew slightly amused. She only tore her eyes away once they reached the door.
For a second, Saff wondered if the boy was going to try to put a hood over her head. Although, if he did, she could probably glare at him, and he would be too scared to do it. But luckily for them both, he didn’t try. Instead, he opened the door and led them outside.
They walked down a small flight of steps, as Saff immediately scanned the surroundings.
It looked like a neighborhood, or like it had once been a neighborhood, the way the houses lined both sides of the street. But the row of houses in front of her looked different. They appeared to have some type of walled structure built through the backyards. That must have been where the wall continued through the area.
The boy led them to a large house immediately to the left with long white columns running up the front.
He slowed his stride as he turned them, walking directly across the small patch of grass and up the few steps leading to a dark green door.
Then he stopped, raising his hand slightly in front of him. It looked for a moment like he was about to knock before changing his mind and reaching for the doorknob instead.
He turned it and pushed the door open, then nodded for her to walk in.
