Devin decided to go out the following day to grab some stuff from the hardware.

He needed more locks, he thought.

As he passed by a shelf with binoculars displayed on it, he hesitated. He should not spend a lot.

Before he changed his mind, he grabbed one and walked to the counter.

He paid in cash.

As he was walking out of the doors, he saw his neighbor.

“Hey,” Carl nodded at his direction.

Devin forced a smile. “On duty?” he asked, looking at the guy’s cop uniform.

“Yeah. Slow day.” Carl was smoking a cigarette which was almost burnt out. Devin watched as he bit the butt and sent it flying away from his mouth. He grabbed a pack from his back pocket and offered Devin a stick.

He shook his head. “I don’t smoke, but thanks.”

Carl just nodded, frowning against the heat of the sun. He bit at another fresh butt from his pack and lit it. “I love this stuff but I hate touching it.”

Devin just nodded. He could see by the way the man bit on the thing. “I have to go.”

“Be careful. Lotta bad guys hanging around these days. You’re new here. People take advantage of that.”

Devin gave him a short salute, said, “Thanks for the reminder, officer. See you around.”

Carl puffed out some smoke as a reply.

*****

Without anything to do, Devin positioned below his window and slowly peered up with his binoculars against his eyes.

He should not be doing this, but then again, he didn’t have a lot do that day.

Now he was able to confirm what the girl across his window was doing.

She was working on breaking the window grills.

He shifted the binoculars and found out that she was successful with at least three bars.

“Amazing,” he thought as he watched her hands work with the end of a spoon, grinding it against the unlucky iron bar.

*****

Hope sensed something off so she stopped and looked.

Something flashed from across the room and her eyes narrowed to see clearly. The flashing suddenly disappeared.

Hope frowned.

She didn’t feel right so she stepped back from the window.

Having a neighbor sleeping right across her window was not a good thing after all.

She bent down and snatched her chain into one hand and walked to the wall to talk to Patty.

“Are you hungry? I have some leftovers,” she offered.

“He gave me something today.”

“Bread?”

“Yes.”

“Does it hurt?”

“I’ve been in worse conditions, thanks.”

“How’s your chain?”

“He said he’s going to change it. I’ve worked hard on it, Hope.”

She could taste the desperation in Patty’s voice, the hope fading away.

“It’s going to be alright. My bars are on almost done. I just need to be more careful. I stole a knife last night.”

“What?!”

“I need it.”

“He’ll know.”

“He might not. Let’s just pray he finds out after we’re gone.”

“But how do I get out of here?”

“This plank is easy to break. We break it the day we escape. But not now. This frail plank is the least of our problems.”

“How’s the neighbor?”

“Nosy.”

“How’s the barrel case?”

“I don’t know. I did not watch the news.”

Silence reigned between them. They didn’t have a lot to talk about after all. They didn’t have schools or days in the mall as their topics. All they had was their escape plan.

*****

Devin sat frowning in front of his computer, deep in thought.

He was pretty sure he saw her pick up a chain. But what was it for? Was she attached to it?

How crazy was her condition that her father would opt to chain her?

What harm could she do?

His curiosity was increasing by the minute the more he thought of his neighbor. He knew something was off somewhere. Hell, the whole scenario was off. He just felt it in his gut.

Thirsty for a good mystery to crack, he was ready for more spying.

*****

Hope couldn’t delay her plans so she had to come up with another before her neighbor could ruin everything.

She ate dinner Carl delivered to her room and returned all utensils intact.

He was satisfied and even gave her a hug for being such a nice girl the whole day.

When he was finally gone, she went to her bathroom and took a bath. It was not easy with the chains, but she had already mastered the process. She only had one bar of soap she used as her shampoo and body wash altogether. Sometimes, she didn’t have one and the water had to be enough.

Putting on the only other pair of dress she had (she never had pants because of the chains), she combed her hair with her hands and slowly crept to bed.

Carl would check on her in a few minutes.

And he did just after she covered her body with the old blanket that smelled like draft.

Carl carefully walked up to her and sat down on the bed beside her. Hope tried hard not to shove his hand away as he lifted it up to her face, brushing her hair away from her face as she lay sideways against her pillow.

His calloused hand travelled down and his finger traced her jaw line.

The only thing that was stopping Hope from pulling the knife from under her pillow and stabbing the bastard to death was her fear of being overpowered. Carl was strong and experience taught her strength was not the best way to fight him.

So she endured the overwhelming sense of hate and disgust as he guided his hand down her neck to her clavicle and her bare arm.

Hope almost whimpered as his hand went under the cover and found her tightly closed thighs.

“You are lucky I cannot do it tonight, darling,” he husked, finally moving his hand away from her.

Hope felt a tear escape her eye, rolling down her cheek and finding solace inside her ear.

She did not move until he lifted his weight off the bed and walked away. She did not dare breath until he closed the door.

Knowing she was not getting any sleep tonight, Hope waited for another hour until it was certain that Carl was asleep. She then carefully gathered her chains and walked to the window, careful to avoid the camera at the corner of the room.

And she spent the night spying on her nosy neighbor.