“What’s your name?” I swung my legs over the side of the bed. Pins and needles shot through them, and I massaged my thighs, hoping for the numbness to fade. “Are you okay?”
One girl reached for something, and I heard a click. Then the tall lamp by their bedside flicked on, casting more light into the room with no windows. The door I had seen was probably a bathroom or closet because the main door was closer to me.
“You’re bleeding,” said the girl with black hair tied up in a ponytail. She gestured to my right foot. “Your ankle.”
I glanced down, nudged my sock aside, and noticed a gash with dried blood on it. I faintly remembered my foot hitting something in the van.
The woman with the ponytail sat on a queen-sized bed. “I’m Avery, and this is Hailey.” She turned to the woman sitting beside her with straight blonde hair.
They smiled at me, got off the bed, and lifted the mattress, retrieving a small packet.
Avery pulled out a cotton ball, a small bottle of liquid, and a bandage. She walked over and sat down beside me on the twin bed.
“How did they kidnap you?” She squirted the liquid onto the cotton ball, and the smell of rubbing alcohol eased the nerves in my stomach.
Hailey pushed down my sock gently, exposing the gash.
“I was trying to help an old woman, but she turned out to be a man in disguise.” Embarrassment warmed my face. “They stabbed my neck with a needle and covered my mouth with acloth.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I should’ve been more careful.”
“It’s hard to know how to react during those scary moments.” Hailey offered a comforting smile.
“What about you?” I looked at them. “How were you kidnapped?”
“We were out celebrating my birthday,” said Avery. “Then two men approached our table and offered us free tickets to a comedy show in town. When we got to our cars, they came to say goodbye and stabbed us each with a needle too.”
I flinched when Avery dabbed the cotton ball on my wound.
“That was a year ago,” Hailey said.
“A year ago?” Terror knotted my stomach. I couldn’t be here for another day, never mind a year. My grandfather would worry himself to death. His health would decline. I wouldn’t see Kain again.
Dread clutched my heart at that thought. I wanted more time with him. Kain had to know I was missing when he didn’t see me in the drugstore. He had to be searching for me, right? But how could he know where I was?
Tears welled in my eyes as I remembered our last conversation. I was angry with him for something he didn’t know.
“Take it one day at a time.” Hailey patted my thigh. “I’m sure your family is looking for you. I know our families are still looking for us too.” She looked at Avery and then around the room with defeat in her eyes. “Escaping from here isn’t easy.”
“We have to try. I can’t be here for a year.”
Avery and Hailey exchanged glances.
“That’s what we told each other too,” Hailey said. “But days turned into weeks. And weeks turned into months.”
“We’re still hopeful,” Avery said. “Just do as they say, and you’ll befine.”
“What are they going to make me do?” An icy chill crawled down my spine.
“I think you’re replacing Connie,” Hailey said.
“What happened to her?”
“She tried to escape . . .” A sob caught in Avery’s throat. “And they killed her.”
Nausea writhed in my stomach. Who were these people?
“You’ll be doing all kinds of things for them. Administrative things and . . . moving and packaging organs.”
“Like human organs?” I asked in a shaky voice.
