Everywhere is Fire

The next day at school Rikki wasn’t saying much to me. All of this drama made me completely forget about the guys and drugs until I saw them. They were walking our halls with “visitor” passes on, looking at kids. They had a box in their hands. Rikki was across from me and I ran over to her.
She gave me a glare, and I said, “They’re here,”
She motioned for me to follow her.
We walked over to an empty space, kind of away from the hallways.
“What are we going to do?” she asked me.
“I don’t know? Run?” I replied.
The two men came around the corner, with a package in their hands. I heard Rikki silently curse.
“Hello, Rikki and . . . and . . .”
James reminded him my name. “Danielle. Hello.”
Both of us were silent. “Can you deliver this to Brittany Keller?” James asked.
“N-No,” Rikki said softly.
“Why? Her dad needs what’s inside.” Dan said.
“IT’S DRUGS!! WE’RE CALLING THE COPS!” Rikki yelled.
 “Why would you tell them that, you asshat!” I said. I turned around to run.
James grabbed Rikki and Dan grabbed me. They dragged us out of the exit door.
My body had been being scratched by the concrete outside, but I didn’t care. I had to get away.
I tried to bite Dan, but he slapped me so hard I swear I saw stars. I could see the bright sun, and a black vehicle. I saw James putting Rikki inside of the trunk.
“We can’t breathe in there!” I said.
“Don’t worry, we’ve got it fixed,” James snarled as he threw Rikki in the van, scratching her arm, making blood appear.
“Rikki!” I said.
Dan got be over there, and began to try to push me in. “No, No! Please, NO!”
Instead, I got thrown inside of the trunk, and hitting my head. My nose instantly began to start to bleed.
He was right, we could breathe.
After 5 minutes of silence, I said, “Rikki,”
“Yes?”
 “I’m sorry. For not inviting you. You’re my best friend in the whole world.”
“Thanks,” she said softly, her eyes opening a crack. “You are too.”
Soon the car slowed down, and they pulled us out.
We were in front of what seemed like an old run down factory. They pulled us along as James opened the door and stepped inside. It smelt of manure and God knows what else.
We went around strange boxes piled up high, until we reached a room.
The gray wall paint had been coming off, showing large white spots on the wall. The room was basically empty.
In the corner, chains had been installed. James shoved Rikki towards the chains, making her stumble. He put the chains on her.
Dan shoved me along. He hit me several times because I was struggling. I couldn’t really fight anymore, I had been to tired and hurt to do so.
My chains were locked. “You might get food every 3 days or so. I’m not sure, I haven’t decided.” James told us.
Before leaving, he decided he’d start kicking me in the stomach. I screeched in pain when he kicked my face. The pain built up inside of me so fast I felt like I was going to explode. A tear streamed down my face.
Before I knew it, I began to cough up blood. “Dany, are you okay?” Rikki asked.
I shook my head.
The day was boring. Sitting here was so painful though. Every hour or so Dan or James would come and began to beat us up. Rikki even got knocked out.
The pain in my stomach and wrists was so much. In fact, it was so much I began to feel it to be a bit hard to breathe.
It’s really hard to describe the way I looked, but here it is anyway:
My nose had been bleeding, so dry blood was all over my face. I had several bruises on my face, including scratches and dirt from the trunk. There was one big bloody cut on my arm (thanks to James) and I was basically bruised everywhere else.
Later, probably around 12:00 a.m., Rikki said something to me. “We’re not going to survive,”
“What?” I replied. “Don’t think like that, Rikki.”
“Look, if they let us go, they know we’ll tell, so they won’t do that. Plus, if they did, we couldn’t survive, we’re way too weak. Look at us! They’ll just beat us to death. Or starve us. Whichever comes first.”
That was a rational point. I didn’t want to believe it, but it was right. Men like them don’t have consciences, like you or me. They just want money and they will harm anything they have to if it gets in their way. They are, in other words, sociopaths.
I fell asleep near 1:00, and I was awake at 2:00. “Get up! It’s time to work.” James’s face came into view as I opened my eyes sleepily.
My heart skipped a beat. Work? In this condition? I could barely move let alone work!
He unlocked our chains and hit us, yelling, “Get up! Get up!”
“Go put those bags of cocaine in the boxes.”
After having to put cocaine in boxes, lug them to a truck, and repeat, my body felt so bad.
I looked over at Rikki. She had just dropped a box, and most of the cocaine had spilled.
James looked REALLY, REALLY pissed off. I mean REALLY. He grabbed her arm and slapped her. Then, I saw him dragging her off to a room.
This was my worst memory from this encounter with these two men. It was horrifying, and now that I am older, I realize what happened, and how it changed Rikki forever.
Screams erupted from the room. “NO, NO, PLEASE, I’LL DO ANYTHING, JUST DON’T--”
She screamed. There were more screams and cries of, “DANIELLE, DANIELLE! NO!”
 I couldn’t help but begin to bawl (while still moving boxes, of course). Rikki was probably dying, and there was nothing I could do do stop it.
Rikki came out after about 2 hours, and they sent us back to our chains later on.
I kept asking Rikki what happened. She wouldn’t tell me. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Rikki, please,--”
 “You don’t understand!” She began to cry.
“Rikki, I’m sorry.”
That night, I cried the whole night. It wasn’t only because of Rikki and what happened. It was because I had been stuck there, going through pain people can’t imagine.
Tomorrow would probably be 10 times worse.