Bruised and Broken

Fill Me In

I take in a shaky breath, trying to calm my nerves. He could like me, right? I just have to... Um... I have no idea, and that's the thing, who knows how long I'll live? I could die tomorrow, just like Shawna said.

Suddenly, she gets up and walks over to a very small counter in the back of the room."You're beat up pretty bad, huh. Let's get some of that cleaned up." When she walks over with some sort of wipe in hand, I gasp. In just a camisole and short shorts, I can see multiple scars all over her body. They're not like the cuts I got from the accident, though, her scars are precise, in straight lines.

Shawna sees me staring and shrugs. “You get used to it, hun.”

“You get used to THAT?” I ask, aghast.

She just shrugs again. “You’d be surprised at what you can get used to once it’s done enough times.” Then she starts wiping off some blood from my arms. Noticing a couple pieces of glass still stuck in my shoulder, she walks over to Jessica and asks for some tweezers.

My mouth drops open. “Can’t you like, open the cell doors and get the hell out of here with those?”

Shawna smiles sadly. “No, we’ve tried, but you can’t.” She starts taking glass out of my arms, making me wince. “Plus, Charli over there says she thinks there was a lock on the outside of the trapdoor when she came in.” She gestures to a girl across the small room, and the girl, Charli I guess, gives a small wave in return.

“How many cells are there anyways?” I ask, trying to look around the room the best I can with Shawna still attending to my wounds. All I can see is our cell, Jessica and Claire’s cell, Charli’s cell and the one right next to hers. I know there’s more, though, I saw them when I came in.

“Well, there are four lining this wall.” She says, pointing towards Jessica and Claire’s cell. “And just two over there.” She gestures at Charli. “There’s two girls in each cage, and if someone ever goes out the trapdoor with him, we know we’ll be getting a new girl soon enough.” I look at her, a bit confused, she sighs. “Basically, if he takes you outside, you’re not coming back. Ever. Anyways, after those two cages, there’s that open space with the ladder in the middle. If you looked straight behind the ladder, you’d see there’s a door. That’s where he takes us to... You know...” She trails off, but I can guess. That’s where she gets the cuts.

“Oh, okay. When will he take me there?” I ask, a bit concerned.

“He has to get through the cycle. It goes a cage at a time. Today was cage 3. We’re cage 6, so you have about three days.” Cage 6. Great. That’s always been my unlucky number, not that I’m a big believer in luck or anything, I just figure I need a lucky and unlucky number. I’m not exactly sure why, I just do.

“He takes us at the same time?” I ask as the thought occurs to me.

“No,” Claire says, startling me. It’s the first time I’ve heard her talk, and she has a surprisingly high voice. “He’ll take one of us in the morning, then he leaves for a while, and when he comes back, he takes the other one.”

“Alright, um...” I clear my throat, racking my brain for anything I might need to know. “What about food and water?”

“He feeds us when he comes everyday.” Shawna says, concentrating on small piece of glass on my wrist, and making me flinch every time the tweezers touch my skin. “So morning and night, no lunch.” I shrug, that should be easy to get used to.

After that, we all go silent, and I think everything over while Shawna is still wiping my arms off and putting the pieces of glass in a small case. Okay, at least we’re getting fed, that’s a good thing. Looking around at the girls I can see, I guess you could tell they haven’t been starved. Sure, they’re all pretty skinny, but you can’t see their ribs through their tank tops, and I’m taking that as a good sign. The scars, however, I am not taking as a good sign. I wonder how long I’ll be in that room for, and just how many cuts I’ll get the first time. Is Shawna right, will I really get used to it? I’m not sure how you could ever get completely used to-

“Oh.” Shawna’s voice interrupts my thoughts. I look down to see what she’s ‘Oh’-ing at. The cut I got from pulling out the piece of glass after the accident has opened up again.

“Come ON.” I whine, pulling up my shorts a bit more and poking around the cut, wincing. “Again? This is just great.”

“It’s deeper than the ones we get here.” She stands up and walks back to the counter again. “I think you need stitches.” Taking something off the shelf, she walks back to me, sitting cross-legged next to my right leg. “I’ve never done this before, but he gives us the supplies for newcomers, so I’m guessing this is what it’s for.”

She puts my leg up on her knee, but her comment on newcomers made me think of something. “How did you guys all get here? Like, how were you... Taken?”

“We were all in car accidents, just like you.” Shawna says while threading the needle. “Now hold still, I don’t want to mess up that bad.” I obey, and lean back on my hands. Feeling the needle go in and back out of my skin makes me bite my lip so hard I taste blood. I try to think calm thoughts, but that’s a little tough given the situation I’m currently in.

After about three minutes or so, Shawna finally sits back, clapping her hands together. “Ta-da! Done! I think.” I look down at the stitches, they’re a bit uneven and misplaced, but they’re keeping the cut together, and that’s all I need.

“Thanks.” I say, giving a tentative smile in Shawna’s direction.

“You’re welcome.” she says, giving a genuine smile in return. “I’ve always wanted to be a nurse.” Looking back down at the stitches, she bites her lip. “I guess I still have a bit of work to do.”

Suddenly there’s a dinging sound coming from above. I look up, and make out the shape of what looks to be some sort of alarm. “What’s that for?” I ask, pointing up at it.

“That means in ten minutes, the little light we have will go out. So, in other words, it’s bedtime.” She goes to the wall and starts tugging at it. Looking back at me, she cocks an eyebrow. “You going to help me or what?”

“Oh, I, uh, sure.” I stutter, getting off the floor and walking clumsily over to where Shawna’s standing. “What are we doing exactly?” She gesture at the wall, and when I lean in closer, I see a gap and start tugging at it too. It ends up opening to show a small bed, kind of like a pullout couch you see in motels. With just a mattress and a thin sheet, it doesn’t look very comfortable, but it’s better than sleeping on the floor, that’s for sure.

I lay down, close to the wall, knowing I won’t get sleep anytime soon. The lights turn off a bit later, and I shift to my back, still thinking about everything I’ve gotten into. So in three days I could either be covered in blood and scars, or dead. And frankly? I’m not sure which I prefer.