Saving Hope

VIII. One Thing in Common

“But promise me, Hope. Tell my mom I am sorry. Tell her I love her. But don’t tell her of the things we went through. That will break her heart. Just tell her I love her. You will do that, right?”

“No, you will do it. You know why? Because we are getting the hell out of here. You will tell her that in person, in her face.”

Another long silence.

“How are your wounds?” Patty didn’t have to tell her the injuries she suffered the previous day.

“Not as bad as the invisible one.”

Hope just nodded. “Watch out for infection. The last time I had one, I could barely walk.”

“I remember.”

“No alarming redness? Pus?”

“I am physically okay, Hope,” Patty whispered.

“Good. Work on your chains. Don’t let him catch you again.”

“He gave me a new one. I don’t think I can work on it again.”

Hope closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall. She stared at the ceiling. “You have to be strong, Patty. When the opportunity presents itself, we are leaving together.”

“How’s the neighbor?” her friend changed the subject.

“I think he’s hiding from something…or someone. I am thinking we can use that to our advantage.”

“You have always been so wise, you know that? I don’t know if I can even escape this hell if you’re not on the other side of the wall.”

Hope heard Patty change position by the sound of her chains against the floor. “We have to survive.”

“My grandfather once told me that.”

Hope just nodded.

“I dreamed of them last night, you know.”

“Your family?”

“Yes. We were in my grandparent’s. They have this small farm outside the city and we used to go there for weeks during breaks. I dreamed of one of my favorite days in that farm. We were outside. The sun was bright but not stingy. It was a cool kind of summer. We decided to eat our lunch at the picnic table outside my grandparent’s house. I heard their laughter. It was so clear that I almost lost myself in that dream, as if I was at that very moment. As if I never left. And my brother was running around with the old dog yapping behind him. I was reading a book as my parents prepared the tables. My grandmother was walking toward us with that big smile of hers, carrying a steaming casserole.” Both of them just sat there in silence for a while, painting a picture of the scene of Patty’s dream. Hope had a face for Patty and she smiled as she saw a younger version of her with a book in a summer day, not thinking of the tragic days ahead of her.

“I didn’t want to wake up. I wished I never woke up.”

Hope could now see the Patty sitting on the floor at the other side of the wall behind her, her face streaming with silent tears, her body full of bruises and whip marks. Her image of a great summer day was suddenly shattered.

“We’ll go back to that farm house, Patty.”

“I am not even sure if they are still alive. I am not sure of anything except that I want this all to end.”

“It will. Just be patient.”

Patty had broken down a couple of times before and Hope had managed to help her through it. One of them had to be strong and if it meant it had to be her, then she would be that pillar.