Page 3 of Senseless
“How long have you been here?”
“I’ve always been here.” Why did every man assume I had spent time somewhere else?
“Oh…shit. Okay.” He started lowering his stick to point away from me. “Fuck me. They really did a number on you, huh?”
I didn’t know what that meant, so I said nothing.
“How old are you?” he asked next.
I coughed, my throat hoarse from how infrequently I spoke. “I don’t know.”
He blinked several times, his blue eyes narrowing. “So you’re tellin’ me you’ve always been in this,” he waved his stick around, “in this cage?”
“Yes.” Every man that came down here always asked a variation of the same question, and it was tiring.
“Well, huh. Guess we’re breaking you out of jail then.” His lips pulled to the sides, revealing white teeth as he spread his arms wide. “Every one of those cunts up there is dead. You’re free.”
“Dead?”
That couldn’t be true. The women had always said the blood sacrifices would make them live forever, immune to all earthly suffering. The sacrifices of men were a gift to the goddess and she rewarded them with immortality. So how could they all be dead?
And free? I knew the dictionary definition of the word, but likehope, it was a completely foreign concept to me.
“Yeah!” His mouth pulled open wider at the sides. Was that what a smile was supposed to be? “We thought these broads were crazy, but damn.” He gestured at me. “Guess they really got what was coming to ‘em.”
“They’re really dead? All of them?”
Dead meant they would never come back. She would never see me again. Never yell, spit on me, or try to hurt me as badly as she could without killing me.
I will never see her again.The thought was never one I’d considered before. It made me feel strange. Heavy. Like I was unraveling from the inside.
“Yeah, man! You should be doing a jig right now. Ah, step aside. Allow me.”
I moved to the corner as he raised his long stick, pointing it at the padlock holding my cage doors together. The lock broke apart with a loud clang as something was ejected out of his stick. I covered my ears and shut my eyes at the ringing echoing through my skull.
“There you go, man.” I peeked one eye at the man spreading his arms wide as my door swung open. “You’re free.”
I lowered my hands slowly, the uneasy, unraveling sensation in my body only growing heavier at the sight of the open door. She used to leave it open to test me when I was younger. Even years later, those scars were still the most prominent ones on my back.
“Where do I go?” I looked at the man. “Is there another Sisterhood that needs a blood bag?”
“Jesus Christ…” His lips came together again, face making an expression I didn’t understand. “They really fucked you up, man.”
Again, I didn’t know the meaning of what he was saying. “I’m sorry. I just don’t know where to go.”
The man scrubbed a hand down his face with a sigh. “It’s alright. We’ll, uh, we’ll figure out some place to take you. I’ll be right back.”
With that, he headed for the stairs, taking two at a time. I still didn’t leave my cell, the only home I’d ever known. I leaned against the wall, listening to the hushed voices outside as they decided what to do with me.
One
MARIPOSA
PRESENT DAY
"Okay, are you ready?"
The boy nodded, his face serious and determined. I stole a look at his father sitting across the room, and we shared a smile.
