Black Betty

Bethany was small for a woman of almost twenty-five with limbs stretched and wound too tightly, the muscles stringy from lack of use. It was probably from lack of nutrition and sunlight, but it could have been partly her nerves. Every moment of the last year had been complete hell for her.

Now as she sat in a small hotel room she felt something she hadn’t for a long time: Relief.

It wasn’t strong, but it was substantial compared to the crushing anxiety. Bethany unwrapped one of the store-bought cupcakes she’d stolen, setting it on a paper plate and bringing it from the table over to the highchair her daughter was sitting in.

When Bethany had asked there must have been enough desperation in her face for the woman working the front desk to let her use an old highchair. It was wood covered with chipping white paint, but it was perfect in Bethany’s eyes. Just seeing her little girl in a fairly normal setting was unbelievable.

“I know it’s late.” said Bethany, her voice quiet and unsure. “But I still want to say happy birthday, Asha. I know you didn’t get anything there.”

The toddler in the highchair turned her wide green eyes up to her mother. She blinked questioningly and patted her small hands on the tray softly. Bethany smiled and set the cupcake down, her heart aching at how baffled Asha was.

“It’s not like the food you used to have.” she explained. “But it’s really good. Try it.”

Asha understood her perfectly like she understood everything, and tentatively stuck a finger in the thick frosting. Bethany watched intently as Asha put the finger in her mouth and her eyes widened at the strong sugary flavor.

“Do you like it?”

Nodding, the girl beamed and used her fingers to scoop more into her mouth, giggling happily all the while. Bethany pulled one of the kitchen chairs over to watch her, clasping her hands in her lap and biting down on her bottom lip. It was the only pure thing she’d seen for so long.

Asha was pale, even paler than Bethany since she’d never been outside before that day. It contrasted in a pretty way with her nearly black hair, which was silky and straight until her ears where it turned into soft little ringlets.

She was glowing as she dug into the cupcake, never having tasted anything so saccharine in all her short life. Bethany was sure of it as she watched her that she could never go back to that place. Not now that she had even a small idea of what a normal life could be like.

Before her mother knew it Asha was finished with the cupcake. She pointed deliberately to the plastic container on the table, her eyes on Bethany.

“I don’t think so. You don’t want to be sick.”

Asha screwed up her face momentarily like she was going to cry, but then she sighed and looked away. Bethany picked up the plate and put it in the garbage bin before moving the rest of the treats into the fridge so Asha wouldn’t continue to pine for them.

“Maybe we can have one for breakfast. Huh?” Bethany compromised with a grin.

The little face lit up and Asha nodded, putting her arms in the air. Bethany gladly lifted her into her chest, wrapping her arms around the warm body. She’d only held her daughter a few other times and when she got to do it now it felt…good. Right yet still unfamiliar.

“I’m ready for bed if you are.”

Asha yawned softly and laid her head in the crook of Bethany’s neck, her long eyelashes tickling the skin there. Bethany smiled and took a few steps to throw back the covers. Maybe if she had a little more knowledge about the world she would have been wary of the hotel blankets, but she simply tucked herself and her daughter under the sheets comfortably.

The mattress was so soft compared to what she’d known before that Bethany could have gone to sleep immediately, but Asha’s eyes were still open so that couldn’t happen just yet.

“Aren’t you tired?” asked Bethany with a yawn stuck in her throat.

Asha brought her hands up and grabbed onto Bethany’s pillow and tugged pointedly until Bethany scooted them closer together. Asha snuggled herself into Bethany and made a small noise of contentment and just a few minutes later Bethany could feel her breathing slow and even out.

One careful look down told her that the baby was asleep, but now she was wide awake. Bethany was so aware of the little body there with her that it was shocking. Almost total lack of contact had made her rather stiff, but she was working on changing that for Asha. The only thing she had left in the world.

It gave Bethany unbelievable liberation to know Asha was becoming so much more comfortable with her. When she first broke into the nursery to take the girl with her it had been like they were strangers. They had only even met four or five times, and that was to perform tests that kept them strapped down and far apart.

But Asha had known who Bethany was. She was sure of that much.

***


Bethany finally made it to the nursery and her heart began to settle. Now that she was out of the suppression chamber there was almost nothing they could do to stop her. She slid the keycard in her sweating palm through the little black notch.

The door opened with a pop and Bethany slid in quickly to shut it behind her. Then she turned her attention to the rows and rows of small beds, some of them with bars and some of them just a mattress on a steel frame like the one in her room.

She moved silently between the aisles, her bare feet not making any noise at all on the white tile. There were children of all ages. Some of them were just tiny babies and some of them looked about ready to go into kindergarten. It made Bethany’s heart tug painfully to know she couldn’t save them all, but she had to be stealthy.

There was no way she could take down the entire place on her own.

Bethany knew that her daughter would be in a crib, and it would be numbered. Her lips kept numbly murmuring five-two-seven-three and her eyes deftly took in all the little labels. She had a while to go on. Her mind didn’t process things like a normal person’s, and in less than a minute she had found Asha’s bed among the hundred others.

For a few seconds she had to stand and watch her sleeping, tears pooling in her eyes. Asha looked like her, but so small. Even for a one-year-old she seemed stunted. Bethany slipped her hands in gently with hopes of lifting Asha out and not waking her.

But truthfully Bethany hadn’t expected that. Asha had her mother’s reflexes, and as soon as Bethany’s slender fingers went under her sides her eyes opened. She turned fearfully too see who was handling her, lips slightly parted as if deciding whether to cry out or not.

“It’s me, Asha.” whispered Bethany, bending down farther. “You remember me, don’t you?”

Asha squinted at Bethany for a long moment before shutting her mouth as if telling her mother that she wasn’t going to scream. Bethany picked her up gently, not exactly sure how to do it. Asha leaned back in her arms to inspect her face.

A gasp came from Bethany as she caught glimpses of memories from Asha. Bethany could read minds whenever she wanted to, but she’d never had any thoughts sent to her like that. She could see her face in the memory of a white room, smiling and then crumpling as Asha was taken away from her.

“You do.” said Bethany, and a tentative smile formed on Asha’s face. “Do you want to go with me? I’m leaving and I’m never coming back.”

Asha’s dark little eyebrows furrowed as she looked back at her crib. Then she turned back to her mother and put a hand on her chin. That was all Bethany needed, starting at a quick pace for the door in the back of the room.

As she opened it she could feel someone coming around the corner. It wasn’t another patient; the signal she felt was too weak. She listened and heard the hiss of a guard’s radio followed by a crackling voice coming through over the static.

“Hey Ernie, I lost contact with Nicole Taylor. You mind going down to the T-Ward and checking it out?”

The man that was getting closer sighed and held down the button to respond. In the pause before he spoke Bethany looked down at Asha and put a finger to her lips. Asha hid her face in Bethany’s white shirt like she understood.

“Nah, I’ll go down and see what’s wrong with her. You know she always acts a little weird when she’s on Black Betty’s ward.”

Bethany scowled at the nickname the guards used for her. The sentry passed, not noticing her pressed into the shadows still as a statue. When he was around the next corner Bethany clutched Asha tighter to her and moved as quickly as she could for the nearest exit. When it was just steps away Bethany shut her eyes and focused hard, opening them as the power died.

“It’s okay.” she murmured when Asha made a frightened noise at the sudden darkness.

With the power off they wouldn’t see her escape on the cameras and the electric perimeter couldn’t do anything to her. Bethany finally let herself hope as her feet pounded on the slightly wet grass of the grounds. The invisible area that usually would have electrocuted her was powerless, and with just a few more yards Bethany was standing on the street.

“Yes.” the almost silent cry of victory came from her parched lips.

With a deep breath of cool night air Bethany stared around in wonder and decided what to do next.