Erin

I had never been so sick.

I felt like I was dying - my entire body felt cold and hot, I was constantly exhausted, and my wounds felt like they were reopening. I spent my days curled up on my mattress, shaking and shivering.

Viktoriya came down every five hours, to give food to Adrienne and growl at me to try my food as she placed it on the floor. A few times, she would stroke my forehead and rub my stomach, coaxing a few grapes into me before I couldn't eat anymore.

Adrienne was getting worried. I could tell by the way that she lingered near me, combing her fingers through my hair, or wrapping herself around me to keep me warm. Sometimes, when I slipped into a fever haze and could barely think or see, I could swear I could hear her crying, trying to wake me up from my nothingness.

It was almost a week that we had been together, but we somehow grew very close. She would sing songs for me, she had a beautiful voice, and I would recite poems to her. It wasn't much, but it was better than the ever-growing silence, and the stomps from above.

We had discussed multiple times what we thought was up there, a normal home, a zoo. We never really settled on one thing, Adrienne seemed to think it was crazy things, while I believed it was something more basic, normal. Together, we laughed at what the other said.

Already, I was much closer to her than I had ever been with Michelle. When we got out of here, I was looking forward to staying with her in a normal place, when we were wearing pants.

I watched as she sat, her eyes warily flitting over me. Viktoriya was late, she was usually finished and going back upstairs by now, but today she had yet to show. My stomach, empty beyond belief, growled flatly. I wished I could satisfy it, but I really didn't feel hungry, quite the opposite actually. I actually felt that if I ate anything, my entire body would collapse in on itself.

It was ten minutes later that we heard footsteps on the stairs. Adrienne sat up, straight and tall. She seemed like the type to get used to things quickly, and this was no different. She had already worked out the kinks when it comes to getting better treatment from Viktoriya.

But it wasn't just Viktoriya, it was Danny. He stepped down the stairs, with Viktoriya by his side. As he stepped onto the floor and looked at us he smiled, his eyes dark.

"Hello, ladies." He said, loud and clear. Adrienne shrunk away from him, and I realized I had never actually seen them together. Viktoriya watched them, her eyes thin slits.

Danny walked over to us, stepping high, his neck bared. I stifled a laugh as my brain compared him to a professional English-riding horse. Danny paid me no mind, he went straight for Adrienne, who dove in front of me, effectively blocking him from me.

Danny rolled his eyes, grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from me. Adrienne glared at him, but let him do what he wanted.

I sat perfectly still and watched as he looked Adrienne up and down, wishing that I couldn't feel the boiling pain beneath almost all of my skin. When Danny had seen every part of Adrienne imaginable, he released her wrist, and Adrienne sat up to rub at the pinched skin.

Viktoriya moved forward and placed food in front of us, though today it was different than ever before.Carrots, a spoonful of what looked like milk, and a small heap of rice cakes. I watched it warily, a little afraid of this new food. But as I saw Danny's glare, I gulped down my fear and ate ten carrots, then nibbled at little bits of two rice cakes, finishing off one and then getting halfway through the second, and last, the spoonful of white. It wasn't what I expected, sweeter. But I forced it down and placed the spoon down gently onto the plate. I had learned the hard way not to toss silverware.

Viktoriya rubbed my shoulder and gently pulled me back onto the bed. I jumped and stared at her, alarmed. But she just shook her head. "We're going to take off your bandages, карга"

For the first time in a long time, I beamed, relieved to finally have them gone, and laid back onto the bed.

Immediately, they got to work on my bandages, taking the torn, soiled fabric and unwrapping my leg. They were quite fast, actually, and as I felt the air on my wounds, the only warmth I had left, it seemed, I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself.

Adrienne watched them, curious. She had said to me just last night that she had always wanted to be a nurse. She even helped with a few of the less big bandages.

As the skin of my right calf finally met the cold air, Adrienne gasped. I wondered for a second if she had reconsidered becoming a nurse at the sight of my healed wounds, but I was interrupted quite swiftly by Viktoriya, who walked to me and kneeled beside the bed, holding down my shoulders.

"Viktoriya?" I whispered, a little confused. "Why? Don't. I want to see!" I tried to force myself up to a seated position, but Viktoriya forced me back down to the mattress, making me feel like my shoulder blades were cracking she shook her head sternly.

"No," She said simply.

"Why not?" I pouted, squirming away. I reached to push her away but she grabbed me by the wrist and pulled her lips back from her teeth, more than enough to stop me. So I laid completely still as Danny unbandaged my wraps more and more quickly, hissing to himself under his breath. It hurt like nothing I had ever felt before. I could feel the wraps, sticky from ointment, peel back the scabs, leaving fresh skin exposed before it was ready.

Adrienne was staring at him, looking appalled, and I started to twitch, knowing that something wasn't right. Her look was enough for my heart to speed up. It was honestly shocking how much I trusted her.

"What is it?" I asked Viktoriya. "What happened?"

Viktoriya shook her head and covered my eyes with her pale, clammy hands.

I sat in silence now, hearing only the occasional noise of fabric on fabric, and listening to the breathing of the others in the room.

I breathed in deep, trying to force my heart rate back to normal as the silence started to freak me out a little, and Adrienne's face lingered in my mind.

Viktoriya's nails were sharp, and she kept scraping them against my scalp. Her breath was hot, and it smelled like road-kill. It creeped over my face and down my neck, thickening and leaving little beads of stink.

It was at the point that I felt wraps being put back on my legs that Adrienne shrieked at Danny.

"What are you doing?" She wailed. "Stop!" I heard Danny growl something under his breath, though I didn't hear the words he spoke.

Adrienne sounded like she was crying. "It'll hurt! Don't!"

The wrapping around my legs and arms stopped, and I heard Danny yelling unintelligible words at Adrienne. Adrienne sobbed, but I couldn't see what was happening.

I heard the sound of them fighting, little squeals and grunts of effort. Skin on skin. Snapping teeth. Then I heard the crack, a loud, nauseating crack. The crack multiplied, coming more commonly, every few seconds, until Adrienne's crying stopped.

I shuddered and didn't move, waiting for Danny. He came back shortly, resuming the wrapping until my arms felt almost numb they were so tight.

Slowly, Viktoriya's hand peeled back from my hand, leaving a feeling or stickiness. I rubbed my eyes and sat up. My legs were wrapped much tighter now, with thicker bandages, much whiter than the dull yellow I had grown accustomed to. I looked around for Adrienne, and then I saw her.

She was sitting against the wall, her hair covering her face, and her head bent awkwardly. I sighed, figuring that Danny had knocked her out. I looked at Viktoriya, who was watching Danny's frozen form. I sighed and pulled my legs closer to my body, pleased that they could now be warmed.

Danny and Viktoriya huddled together, their foreheads almost touching. They whispered to each other as I sat watching, Adrienne, waiting for her to regain consciousness. Eventually, they left, and Adrienne and I were left alone.

She sat still, completely silent.

Eventually, when I was starting to get worried that she wasn't okay. The man who had brought her in, Craig, came down the stairs and burst into the room. I lowered my head, keeping to what Adrienne had advised me to do around him. He marched over to Adrienne, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her up onto his shoulder, almost exactly like how he had carried her in, leaving her head facing right towards me.

Adrienne's eyes were wide, but glassy and unseeing. Her arm fell limp by her head, and I saw just how pale she was. Even her flashing red hair seemed to be a thin copper. All the pigment in her body seemed to take place in the gash in her forehead, deep and pouring. I As Craig carried her away, her blood gushed to the ground, staining it with her blood once more.

I grabbed my face with my hands, horrified. "No," I whispered, my voice barely working. I reached for her, wishing that there was some kind of magic in my fingers to save her.

"No!" It came out as a wail this time, broken sobs forced their way up, giving me hiccups. I pulled on my chain, crawling on my hands and knees to reach them. "Adrienne!" My pain caught up just as soon as my chain stopped stretching. I was yanked backward, falling to the concrete ground. My hands reached, still, even though my hope was gone.

Craig and Adrienne went up the stairs, away forever. I lay flat on the ground, sobbing into it. It smelled foul, of gasoline and urine, but I didn't care. I could never get her image out of my mind. I knew that much, and it had happened only moments ago.