Patty was Hope’s only friend for three years now.

Carl brought Patty in when she was just seventeen. She was at the peak of her high school life.

The only thing that went wrong was her boyfriend who tried to come on to her after prom. Carl rescued her only to be brought in his own home to be another victim of his fantasies.

Hope never saw Patty. Not once.

They could go down if they behaved, but never together.

She just knew that Patty had red hair and blue eyes. In their long talks at most nights, they learned more about each other than the other people they had befriended in the past.

They had developed their own signals, like the five knocks to check if the other was safe to talk and the three rapid ones they would make if one was about to be in trouble. In fact, there were too many they could have a conversation with just a series of knocks.

But in nights like this, when Carl was downstairs in his room, knocking conversations were out of the question.

“You think she really believes you’re alive?” Patty’s soft, whispered voice asked.

“Yes,” Hope whispered back, fingering the anchor-shaped pendant held by the gold chain around her neck. It was one of the things Carl had let her keep. It was customized only for her by a famous jeweler and that it was given to her by her mother on the first time she was nominated for the Oscars years ago. It was the only thing that linked her to her mother.

“How’s the window coming?” Patty asked again, changing the subject.

“Getting there.”

“Do you need help?”

“I can manage, thanks.”

Patty knew of her plan and they would escape together. They didn’t have to agree on that. It was no longer needed. Wherever the other would be, the other should follow.

Devin’s phone rang. His senses flared up.

No one else knew his number.

If the phone was ringing, it could only mean two things: He is either safe or good as dead if he didn’t move again.

“Yes,” he answered without saying a proper greeting.

“You don’t have to sound so uptight after settling down in a new place, man,” the man at the other end said with a chuckle.

Devin breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re calling to check if I am still alive.”

“Of course! That’s my job!”

“Now you know I am. Anything more?”

“How are the neighbors? Nothing suspicious?”

He thought for a moment. He remembered the girl at the bedroom across from his. And then he remembered what her father had told her the other day. “I am fine. Odd neighbors, but not suspicious.”

“Odd is suspicious.”

“I am okay. I started working again. Why? Is there a problem?”

“No, nothing you should worry about. Your papers are being worked on as we speak and you may finally have them before the month ends.”

“Which month?”

“Next month, of course, stupid. I have to go. Don’t get killed.”

Devin replaced his phone back on the receiver and climbed back up to his bedroom. He had some reading to do for a job he got just the other day online.

He found her again by the window, doing something on her window grills. This time, with the sunlight and with a much longer time, he got a good look at her. She looked pale. Not the sickly kind, but the kind that had never been out in the sun for a very long time. Her black hair was too long it was making her age older. He knew she was younger than what she looked like and she could get by better than her state if she could just find some time to--.

Devin shook his head. The girl’s father, Carl, had told her of her problem.

“Hey!” he couldn’t help but shout through his opened window.

Startled, she withdrew her arm from the grill and stood in shock, looking at him.

Devin smiled. He was still human. He needed some interaction. “Sorry about last night!”

The girl frowned, then she began to get restless.

“About the drill?” he reminded her.

She must have remembered because her eyes immediately flew to the clock on the wall behind him.

“It won’t happen again,” he added.

She didn’t answer. Instead, she stepped back and closed the blinds once again.

Devin stood there for a while before shrugging to sit before his computer.

Hope’s heart was racing. Did he see what she was doing?

Before her heart beat could go back to normal, she heard Carl’s footsteps. She managed to fly back to her chair before he entered, wearing his cop uniform.

“I am going to work now. Remember, Hope, no stupid things. You know the rules. Remember that you cannot talk to our neighbor.”

“Yes, of course,” she answered, feigning disinterest. He liked it when she acted normal around him. As long as you followed his rules, you would be safe.

He watched her for a long time before nodding. “Lunch will be late. You’ll have to wait for an early dinner.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll be watching.”

Hope nodded. Her mind was imagining the single camera Carl had installed in the corner of her room two years ago. It couldn’t see the window she was working on, but she had to stay in the range of the camera’s view so Carl could watch over her every now and then as he claimed.

Without another word, he left her alone to go to work and save people.

Finally, when his car drove out the driveway, Hope turned on the television.

A news flash was going on.

When she realized what it was, the blood drained down her face.

“A shocking news has been opened--literally--a few minutes ago,” the lady in front of the camera was saying. Hope’s lips quivered as she read the headlines: Hope Madden’s Body Found. “Behind me is a storage space that has been put to auction just this very morning, four hours ago. The winner of the auction, Herbert Fuentes, opened his winning storage space and found something entirely different. Apart from a variety of furniture, he discovered a sealed barrel. He called the police right after he opened it. Inside was a decomposed body and the smell is so overpowering even until now. The police immediately took the body back for identification, but our sources say that it could be Hope Madden. Hope has been a famous--”

Hope switched the channel with shaking hand.

The same news of her found in a barrel was being discussed, but this time, they were showing footage of her mother walking out of a big building with tears streaming down her face. A man she didn’t recognize was holding Georgina Madden’s hand in a strong grip, ushering her back to her car.

“We have sources inside the building saying that Georgina Madden, Hope Madden’s mother, identified the remains in an instant. We don’t know the exact condition of the remains, but we will keep you updated,” a voice was saying.

“No,” Hope whispered shakily, a tear falling down her eye. “No. That’s not me.”

She pushed the button once more.

A picture of her gold anchor pendant was being flashed on the screen. It was inside an evidence plastic bag. Hope’s hand flew to her gold chain, gripping the exact same pendant.

“Hope Madden’s mother identified the necklace as her daughter’s. Georgina Madden claimed that Hope was the only person on this planet to have this pendant. The necklace, said Hope’s mother, is unique in the world. The fact that it is customized with diamond studs for detail made it easy for Georgina Madden to identify. But this necklace is not the primary clue as to whether or not it was Hope Madden inside the barrel found this morning. Our source says that they could approximately point the time of the body’s death close to the time when Hope had been kidnapped eleven years ago. As of the moment, authorities will not disclose or affirm any of these details for there are still tests to be done. Stay tuned for more news.”

Hope turned off the television and stood up.

There were too many information for her to think of, but what struck her the most was the pendant. Who else could have the same pendant as hers? Who?

Five knocks came from Patty’s side.

Hope didn’t answer. She couldn’t talk right now.

She went to the window and looked out. Three more bars and she could climb out. Three more bars and she could start working on her chains and escape.

But what was the use? Everyone was already thinking she was dead, found in a barrel.

Her mother was starting to break down.

“Hey,” the man called out from across her window.

She raised her head sharply.

“Did you see the news?”

Hope just looked at the man. He was not attractive. His dark, brown hair didn’t seem right for his black brows. He was lean, but didn’t appear to be that strong. He was just like every ordinary guy, but the smile on his face almost made everything about him right. It was the first, real smile she had seen in the past ten years.

And it almost made her want to cry.

But she couldn’t. She had to get back to her chair, where the camera would see her. Carl could already be at work by now and he would be watching closely.

“It’s sad, isn’t it? Hope Madden in a barrel,” he said, shaking his head.

“Yeah,” Hope said before she could even stop herself. And then she stepped back once more to return to her chair.

Hope in a barrel.

She wasn’t in a barrel. She could wish she was in one, because the one she was in right now was worse than death itself.