Savannah's POV
Why was she doing this?
Her blonde curls were dimly illuminated by rays of the midnight sun that shone through the rusty metallic bars that kept the harshest sunlight away.
"Rise and shine happy camper!" Yona grinned as an indistinct, crackly Latino song played on her phone.
The chime rang in my ears like the sound of nails screeching on a blackboard.
"What are you doing?" I spoke.
My eyes fluttered as I looked around the room. White-washed walls covered in motivational posters were surrounding all four walls with lush floorboards covered in pink carpet. The spacious cell I was trapped in was decorated the same but seemed more luxurious with a plasma screen TV mounted on the far wall with a mini fridge in the corner with a black and white dining table with a fruit basket on top. A motivational picture reading 'You can do it, if you believe' hung above the queen-size bed I lay on.
"Cup of tea?" Yona whispered as she pulled out a teacup and saucer out of thin air as if by magic.
"Who are you?" I shouted the same phrase I had been repeating almost every day for the past month as I blinked my eyes once again, viciously hoping that this was a dream.
Yona placed the teacup on a tray and opened the little metal box that was built in the middle of the cell. She placed the tea on the tray with her left hand and with her right placed two sugars and a small pot of milk onto the tray.
"Where d...d... did you get that from?" I said as I examined the almost empty room.
"You don't want tea? I can get you coffee if you want... what am I thinking? Coffee. Yes, of course," she said answering her own question.
Yona picked up the tray and walked over to a small countertop that was built into the corner of the room. She picked up the teacup gently and threw it in the bin with some force.
"Oops! Sorry, that must have startled you!" she laughed for a few seconds and then her face turned stern. She then proceeded to tip the rest of the tray in the bin and placed the empty tray on the countertop.
"I'll be back soon with you coffee, don't go anywhere!" she paused for a few seconds and then started giggling.
"You think you're funny?" I said as ran up to the bars and grabbed them ferociously.
I watched as she grabbed her coat from a small, wooden, dusty stool which was underneath the counter and walked towards the exit.
"Wait! Please.. tell me what you want from me" my voice broke as the words left the tip of my tongue.
She paused still facing the exit and sighed.
"All I want is for you to be safe," she turned around slowly to face me.
Although the room was large in size, I still couldn't help feeling claustrophobic.
"Safe? You've trapped me in this cage? How do you ever think I could be safe in here... like this?" a tear rolled down my cheek.
Yona (or whoever the hell she was) looked at me quizzically. A slight twinge of sadness became apparent on her face and there was a brief moment of silence before she walked towards me. She reached my cell and sat on the floor, cross-legged opposite from me.
"Listen to me. Come here," she spoke finally and held out her hand at a distance to me.
I remained standing.
"Come on, I don't want to have to make you sit babe. Take a load off," she said as she twirled a strand of her hair.
I rolled my eyes and grudgingly sat on the floor, hugging my knees.
It had been like this for a while now. Same routine. I'd wake up, she'd come in around an hour later, give me some breakfast, compliment me and then go again until she came back for lunch around four hours later.
But never had she once talked to me.
Yona smiled and leaned forward a little, her face inches away from the cell bars.
I spoke after a long while of trying to formulate my words correctly.
"Come on Yona, I know this isn't you. I know this isn't you. This isn't the Yona I know. What happened to the girl I first met? The woman who made me sit in the middle of the crowded atrium that day? The woman who could outsmart just about anyone she came across. I know you're in there. What happened to the woman I loved?" I looked at her straight in the eye and took her hand.
"Love?" she sniffled as she squeezed my hand.
"Yona... come on... you know I do... I always have... so let me out and we can be a normal couple," I gave a weak smile.
Yona looked at me as though she was proud of me and after a few moments rose to her feet.
"All I've ever wanted is to be loved," she whispered and pulled out a key from her back pocket and poised herself ready to insert it into the lock.
"I love you too," she looked me in the eye as she put the key in the lock.
I smiled.
I was going to get out.
She turned the key slightly in the lock but before she could open it fully she was interrupted.
BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZZ.
She stopped in her tracks and pulled up her sleeve revealing a watch with a purple strap. She tapped on the screen and immediately pulled the key out of the lock.
"Shit!" her calm and child-like expression changed swiftly to a serious one as she hurried to the door. "Gotta go, be back soon," my heart sank as she continued out the door and I dropped to my knees.
What the hell was I doing here?
***
In the words of Nicholas Cage 'every great story seems to begin with a snake' and that was exactly my thought when he walked in.
He wore a white t-shirt coupled with blue khaki shorts and black shoes. His blue and pink streaked hair was scruffy with a pink butterfly clip attached to his side fringe.
"Hey Sav," he spoke as if he had just seen me.
"Chuckie! What the fuck is going on here?'' I exclaimed as I clutched to the metal bars that held me captive.
"Sav, we need to talk, and I don't have much time," he crept closer to me and pulled up the white stool that sat in the corner of the room.
"Talk then," I rolled my eyes as I stood facing him.
"I know a way to get you out," he gasped for breath.
He looked at me straight in the eye, his eyes a deepening shade of red. I grabbed him by the wrist pulling him closer to me.
"What do you mean? How? What is going on?," I shuddered as I wiped a tear with my free hand off my face.
He leaned in closer and brushed his fingers through my hair, his touch as light as a feather, but did not say anything.
"Sav, I can't say much now but just know, there are others," his voice cracked.
He paused for a few moments, before sliding back the stool he was sitting on.
Just then, a loud beep echoed through the room and Chuckie immediately rose from the stool. He quickly heaved the stool back to its original place making sure it was in the exact position he had found it and turned back to face me.
"Listen Sav, I gotta go, but I promise I'll be back," he said as he rushed toward the door.
"Wait!" I cried out as I saw him place his hand on the handle.
"Chuck! Chuckie! Come back! Wait!" I cried out.
It was too late.
He was gone, and I was alone again.
I dragged my feet back to the bed, and lay face-up looking at the clean white ceiling that was above me.
There are others.
The words repeatedly chimed in my head.
What did he mean by others?
Others like me?
I had to piece it together and quick.