Page 71 of With Us

“Doeshehave you in a cage?”

I started, doing a double take. My personal life wasn’t anyone’s business, so I never spoke of it. “What did you say?”

“A. Cage,” Bill sneered slowly, making me feel dumb. Taking out a piece of paper that looked like my check, he waved it around. “I saw his car. Did he buy you and put you on display in a pretty cage? An object for decoration?”

“No, I’m—”

“Trapped.” The word seemed to echo around us, hurting my head.

Did he?

“Just give me my paycheck,” I pleaded. My mind was overwhelmed, my heart clenched tight.

Bill pointed to the side door again. “Get out there then.”

I hesitantly approached the door. Turning the handle, I watched out for all the produce on the floor as I eased it open. Before I could look up, I felt a hard shove on my back. I fell forward, scraping my palms and knees against the concrete floor.

The door slammed shut behind me, Bill’s loud laughter traveling through. I jumped up and ran for it, pulling and yanking. But it was useless.

Locked.

Turning, I took a few steps only to run into a metal bar. I looked to the side to see a whole row of them. Rotating, I was surrounded by them on three sides.

Popcorn flew at me.

“This one is dumb, Mommy,” a little voice shrieked before more popcorn hit me.

“Get me out of here!” I yelled at the mom and girl as they watched me disinterestedly.

“Hush, that’s rude,” the mom said to the girl, ignoring me. “Look, she’s got coffee.”

I followed her gaze to the other end of the cage to see the counter from Java Brew. Next to it was a smaller version of my already tiny apartment.

“Coffee, veggies, bed. Coffee, veggies, bed,” the girl sing-songed.

“Is that all she has? That’s sad,” another child said, lifting onto his tiptoes to look at me. His face looked almost familiar, but also not. He smiled, his dimples reminding me of Theo’s, but his hair and eyes were all wrong. With sticky fingers, he ripped off a big piece of cotton candy and tried to reach between the bars to share it with me. Unfortunately, the sweet fell into the shadows.

I knew it was there, I just had to reach out for it.

But I was too scared.

I didn’t know how dark those shadows were, or how deep. I had no clue what else lurked there.

“They should replace this one with something newer,” I heard a teenager say. “What’s so special about it?”

Bill laughed from outside the cage. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. That’s why she lets him keep her locked up. She’ll change to try to be special.” His amused laugh grew cruel. “Otherwise, he’ll kick her out and replace her.”

“No, no, no.” I held the side of my head, shaking it back and forth.

“Coffee, veggies, bed. Coffee, veggies, bed.”

Laughter, cruel and twisted.

“Coffee, veggies, bed,cage. Coffee, veggies, bed,cage.”

I paced, covering my ears. The counter, across to Weggies, over to my apartment, and back again.

Coffee.

---