The Intentions

Chapter 23: Flashbacks Part 2

Beth: September 3, 2014

A Conversation of Few Exchanges

     The new girl had already caused trouble and it was only the third.  Jarek always had one on the first of every month.

I had been counting. I was always good with dates. I had wanted to be some sort of important secretary for a big office boss. I would have been good at that.  I could sit behind a desk and answer phone calls and remember dates for my boss. No running around that would panic my asthma. Just me and my memory. My mom used to call me Calendar since I knew exactly when her appointments were before she could look at the calendar herself.

Present day, I found those memories precious. I held onto them and I stayed in my head. I didn't like talking to the other girls. If I spoke to them, I would only be pulled back into reality. Jarek left us alone as long as we behaved so I wasn't forced to face the reality of what was going on around me. I could sit in the corner and imagine everything was fine.

I usually imagined I was back at home with my mom, helping her remember her nail appointments and my doctor's appointments. I needed them often because of my asthma. I've had quite a few hospital visits where even the doctors thought I wouldn't make it. My asthma was bad for me and made everything difficult. Though, I suppose asthma is difficult for everyone who has it.

When Zoey had showed up a month ago, her and Jenna took to each other quite nicely. They even found times to mention how much of a bitch I was since I ignored them all the time.

It was better to ignore them. I didn't want anything to do with this place and for the past five months, I've been able to act like I was never even kidnapped.

I only came out of my world when Jarek came down and placed our bowls of food on the ground or when he asked who needed to use the bathroom. You'd get in a lot of trouble if you didn't hold it, though it's not like we wanted to shit ourselves. I was still hungry and as shitty as the food was, I still ate it.

Kaila was the only one who had tried to kill herself ever since this had all happened. It was three months ago, shortly after Jenna got here, when she stopped eating. She didn't eat for a long time, causing her hips to protrude. The skin slowly sunk in around her collarbones and eye sockets. The skin on on her wrists clung to her bones, making her look like a skeleton.

Jenna and I weren't sure what to do.  We only watched and waited for her to die. It's not like we blamed her.

Jarek eventually noticed her diminishing frame and quite literally forced food down her throat every day until she swore to eat on her own.  She had bruises on her cheeks and neck from how roughly he handled her.

Eventually, things went quiet again and there were no longer any incidents. Until Zoey arrived, anyway. And then again with Mona.

After barely escaping Jarek only hours earlier, I found myself growing quite fond of Mona. She could have ran past me and escaped on her own. She could have left me hours ago when I had an asthma attack and proved to be more trouble than help. She didn't do either of those things. She made me stay with her. She was determined to get away. This was the first time I had been out of the basement in five months.  I was ecstatic. I felt lighter than air as we made our trek through the never ending forest.

Where were we? I didn't know and I didn't much care.

Most of the time we walked was spent in silence, though small conversations came up here and there.

"So what was your life like?" I asked Mona casually.

She glanced over at me before looking away again, her green eyes searching the endless trees. "Well, it is normal." she mumbled, putting an emphasis on "is."