Page 63 of Stolen

“Oh my God, will the two of you seriously just shut the fuck up already?” an aggravated female voice next to me said.

I jerked my head to the other side, shocked as hell to find the girl next to me eyeing me as if she wanted to claw my eyes out. Her dark pixie-cut hair was wild and dirty as it littered around her face, making her look more animalistic than ever.

“What did you say?” I asked her, surprised she had said a word at all.

“I said shut the fuck up already!” she practically screeched, silencing all the other girls around us as they turned to watch.

“The fuck is your problem?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.

Besides the obvious…

“You’re my problem! The both of you are! All your talks about having hope and getting out of here? It’s not going to happen, so stop trying to encourage false hope! We are never getting out of here, so just shut the fuck up already!”

By the time she was done with her little rant, her chest was heaving up and down, and her eyes looked wild with fear as she glared at me.

“What’s your name?” I asked her calmly.

She just shook her head at me.

“What’s your goddamn name?” I repeated with more force. She wanted my attention, and now I wanted hers.

“Megan,” she finally answered, her eyes still refusing to meet mine.

“Well, listen the fuck up, Megan,” I said calmly and then changed my mind. “In fact,allof you listen up!” I raised my voice so all the girls could hear. “I don’t know about you guys, but I sure as fuck know I ain’t dead yet. But hey, if you wanna lay down and die, be my guest, but don’t expect anyone of us to follow you into the grave. I got shit to do after this, and I don’t plan on letting this stupid assroadblockdeter me. So fuck ’em. This isn’t my end. I’ll decide that shit, thanks.”

As I looked around at all of them, their eyes were red and glassy, but I could still see a small glimmer of hope that had just enough potential to keep them alive. There were so damn many of us—black, white, Hispanic, Asian, blond, brunette—but none of that really mattered. On the inside, we were all the same dollar sign to them, but I wanted to change that. I wanted them to know they were more than that.

Megan scoffed at me, shaking her head. “How inspirational. I can’t wait for the release of your self-help book.”

I rolled my eyes and smirked at her. “Bitch, maybe you will someday.”

The tiniest hint of a smile curved into the corner of her lips, but she said nothing further.

About sixty seconds later, the doors down the hall opened, and the three usual guards walked in carrying the set of trays that contained our dinner and water. Following through their routine, the men made their way down to me, placed the bowl of stir-fry and bottled water in my cage, and went on to the rest of the girls.

Kayla and I ate our dinner as quickly as we could, my ass actually finishing the entire bowl for once, and placed the bowls back for pickup, resting against the back of our cages. The guards collected our bowls, but when they got to Megan, I could have sworn I hallucinated as she actually threw her half-empty bowl at one of the guards as they reached in to take it.

“Fuck you, you pieces of shit!” she screamed and lunged out of her cage.

Ah, fuck.

An uproar ensued as the rest of the girls around me screamed while some cheered for her to run. She managed to kick the guard right between the legs, and hetumbled back against the wall, clutching his groin and groaning in pain. The other guard was at the other end of the hall during the debacle, and he ran after Megan as she took off for the door.

Oh shit. She might actually make it out.

“Go! Go!” I shouted for her amongst the yelling, hoping like a damn fool she might actually escape. But as she neared the door, it opened, and who would charge in but the fucking owner as if he were standing out there, waiting and watching the whole time.

Fuck.

Fear completely immobilized Megan as she skidded to a halt but still ended up slamming into the owner’s body. He grabbed her shoulders and spun her around, her back to his front while both of his hands trapped her neck and jaw in a tight grip. She fought against him as best she could, but there was nothing she could do.

And then the owner’s eyes found mine as I watched, crouched from my cage, panic rising up my spine as he smirked at me from behind a devious and evil glare.

Oh no….

It was as though slow motion had consumed the air around us as time nearly stopped. I shook my head at him, pleading with all my heart as his face went from smirk to dead rage.

“No…” I whispered. “No!”

---