[UNEDITED]

Eight more days passed, and I remained in that lone cabin, making weird escape plans, missing my family and crying.

I could say so because I knew that Uncle Benjamin and dad would leave no stones unturned to find me out, and I knew that they had already invaded many of the rebel societies. I wonder what was taking them so long to find me out.

These people were not like the , at least that's what I could learn from my regular visits to the washroom. They were there, staying like a family, laughing, working, living in their own world. But when it came to letting me go, they were always on edge.

Life was boring for me since they mostly kept me inside the small room, all locked up, and only taken to the bathroom thrice per day. I used to lie on the dirty bed, staring up at the small square, and saw how light dimmed from morning to evening. Foods were given to me three times a day, and Dylan and Nicole took their turns to feed me. Nicole hated me as usual, claiming that I was a wastage of time and supply and that I should be left in the jungle at night to fend for myself. I never reacted much, but really hoped that they would give me a knife or a fork at least one of these days, so that I could scoop her eyes out. Dylan was not that much friendly anymore, and kept his distance. He even tactfully dodged a few of my questions.

Daniel was nowhere near my cabin anymore. But Mel visited me regularly, and did some small checkups. She said she was happy that my wounds had healed and was sealing shut, but seemed more weirded out by my fast recovery. She did probe me for some blood tests quite a few times, and I got panic attack and almost had seizures, causing her to dismiss the idea every time.

No one mentioned the girl they had killed, and I could never muster the courage to ask. I was just happy to be alive, and was seriously started to doubt their motive of keeping me here. Were they going to keep me hostage and let me vanquish their supplies like this? Were they the angels in the story or were they the monsters?

I thought about Daniel and Nicole, and I settled for the latter.

Finally on the tenth day, the perfect opportunity came for me.

I was lying on my bed with my eyes closed, when Dylan entered with the food tray. I heard Nicole call him from behind, and I kept silent and acted asleep.

"How did that happen?" Dylan asked.

"No idea! Daniel's out for supplies and we can't really go on without water for two days! You have to look at it!" Nicole said in a voice that I had never heard coming out of her mouth.

"I'll check it once I am done here," Dylan whispered back. Nicole said something shrilly that sounded like a complain, but Dylan shooed her away.

He left the tray on the table and hurried away, thinking that I was truly asleep. I got up, had my food, and decided that it was finally time to make a move. My legs were in pretty good condition now, and I believed that I would be able to run a long way if I tried carefully.

I sat on the bed and kept rocking with excitement. Now all I needed was someone to come and visit me. The plan was simple. Their washroom had a draping over the walls instead of a solid ceiling, and if I could manage, I would be able to climb the walls and be gone from there. The bathroom was at a corner of the establishment and no one would be able to detect me if I was a little careful. And with the water problem, their attention was obviously divided. There cannot be a better chance for me to escape.

Thankfully, the dumbest one decided to pay a visit. Mel poked her head into the cabin, and gave me a lopsided smile.

"Good to see that you ate everything," she told me, swinging her blue bag in her hands.

"I don't know," I feigned, "I feel so weak!"

"Really?" she asked, surprised, "Well, you should be over the fatigue now. We've been feeding you well!"

The words sent a shiver through my body. It felt as if she was talking about an animal being fed to turn healthy before a sacrifice.

"I wanna go home," I looked at her face to see how she reacted to the words, "Why am I being locked up here?"

She sighed, "I don't know if I am even supposed to say anything to you in this regard...but..." she struggled with the words, "Beth runs this place, and she will decide what to do to you."

I sighed. There was no hope. I had to do something.

"My skin itches, a lot," I said, and just to prove it, I started scratching my skin and scalp like a monkey.

Melinda saw me with a scrunched face.

"I think I am developing an allergy," I scratched harder, "I haven't bathed in such a long time!"

Mel looked at me with pity now. I never got to look myself in the mirror in all these days, but I had a ballpark estimation of how I might look. The room was not cleanest of all, plus I was not getting any shower. I obviously looked like a chimpanzee.

"Can you please arrange me a shower?" I pleaded. Her face showed all sorts of sympathy, and then she simply shook her head.

"There is something wrong with the water supply. We are making do with stored water. I am not sure if this will be a right time for you to get a bath."

I pleaded for a few more times, and she looked a little confused, and a little confused. This was serious.

"I'll see what I can do," she said as she stood up, forgetting her checkup, and she quickly walked out of the room.

I heaved a sigh of relief. Now all they needed to do was get me out of this place, and if I was lucky, in all the hullabaloo of the water problem, I would try to slip past. It was a good thing that Daniel was not here. I had one less monster to deal with.

Nicole was the one Mel managed to fetch.

"What's all this rubbish?" she asked me roughly, "What did you tell her?"

I kept sitting on my bed, "I feel itchy all over. I think I am having allergy because I haven't showered in such a long time!"

Nicole looked at me with a deep disgust, "You could do with some more days!" she spat.

"I think I have got allergies," I itched all unpleasant parts of my body. Nicole looked slightly grossed out and slightly convinced, just like Mel.

"You think?" she shouted at me, "What do you mean by you think?"

"You haven't really put up bright chandeliers over here, you see," I argued, feeling that the reasoning was going off rail already.

"Just let her take a small shower!" Mel tried to cut into the bickering, "We can give her one bucket, if that's not a problem. It's been about ten days already!"

"Whatever!" Nicole folded her arms, "I'll talk to Dylan... let's see if we can manage anything."

Then Nicole went back to her old complaints of how no one should have brought me here in the first place, and I skulked a little.

Dylan and Nicole barged into my room after about an hour. I had started to hyperventilate at this moment, and thought that my little drama had gone to waste.

"Okay, princess," Nicole said mockingly, "You're going for a bath."

"Really?" I asked as I sat up, acting all sorts of weak in the process, "Thank you!"

"Whatever," Nicole looked away, "Dylan's going to go with you, so no reason to be smart!" she turned at me.

I frowned. With me? There was always someone standing outside my door when I peed, and they never really announced about it beforehand. I nodded, making it look feeble. They seemed convinced, because the two of them helped me off my bed and out of the cabin.

Walking was easier now, and running would be too. I knew that there were chances of me getting caught, but if I did not start somewhere, I would never make it out of here.

Once out of my dark prison, I was blinded by the bright sunlight. It was nearly afternoon, and the sun was preparing to set in a few hours. I looked at the establishment more carefully. I ran through the memory of the two houses opposite to each other and separated by about twenty feet of open space, and there were two adjoined and similar huts onto my right. Check. The doors were closed. Check. There were trees, plenty of them, that surrounded the setup, and seemed to have stretched into woods. Check.

I looked at the small lavatory standing lone right beside the cottage where the girl was killed, but Dylan started taking me to the woods.

What the hell?

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