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The alarm sounds again. They’re not messing around.
Fuck you, Anton.
I would cover my ears, but the chain locking my wrists to my ankles won’t let me reach that far, not unless I curl into a ball, and I’m too tired to move.
The replay of today’s show turns off, then I hear a familiar LPN breaking news cue. After a moment, my voice fills the room.
“This is Kate Atwood with a breaking news report. According to an FAA spokesperson, air traffic controllers have lost contact with a private jet en route to Newark International Airport. The craft disappeared off radar shortly after takeoff, and has presumably crashed into the Caribbean.”
After a career in investigative journalism, I gave my first live news report for LPN to report my own boyfriend’s disappearance, feeding tabloids and conspiracy forums for months. In one highly unproffesional and savagely opportunistic move, I bulldozed what had been a respectable career.
“It’s unknown how many were aboard the jet, though it was registered to a man named Ingram Dent, a wealthy business consultant. All occupants are presumed dead, though a search will be conducted for the missing aircraft.”
Anton couldn’t contain his smile as I recited his script. As if losing Ingram could be made more painful when it was still so fresh. Now, though, hearing it all again, I scream. I howl at the security camera high out of reach in the corner of my cell and protected by a mesh cage. I shriek until the alarm drowns me out, then go silent.
Don’t, Kate.
Don’t give Anton your pain. That’s what he wants.
How can’t I though? He knows exactly how to hurt me.
Numb yourself.
I wish it were that easy. I wish I could rob myself of hope — stamp it out forever and accept my fate. Hope leads to disappointment, but it also keeps me going. It gives me the will to endure this hell. Hope is all I have. Whether I believe it or not, it tells me what I need to hear. Every night, it’s there, whispering in my ear in a soothing, familiar voice.
Someday this nightmare will be over, Kate.
I promise.
