Little Girl Lost.

I tried to stay close on her, Tracey's, heels but she was taller than me and able to maneuver through the crowds that suddenly broke into the dim hallways much easier than I could. I had the sudden urge to reach out and cling to her arm, like a small lost child clinging to the skirts of their mother, but I decided against it for obvious reasons. Instead, I grew distracted and my eyes wandered around me to the bustling hallway. People were everywhere, but nobody was talking or even looking at each other. Every pair of eyes was downcast, appearing trodden and tired as if they belonged to people who were elderly or decrepit but every person I could see was considerably young. At least, they appeared somewhat young beneath the stretched thin masks of gray skin that hung loosely over their bones, some were littered with bruises and others had scars.

"I must stick out like a sore, err...healthy thumb." I thought to myself, my stomach churning as a sea of endless emaciated bodies flowed silently past me.

How many people are here? Were they all kidnapped like me? Does anyone know where we are? Is anyone looking for us? Does anyone know we're gone? Questions darted through my mind, each one coming faster than the last as anxiety pushed fear after fear into my psyche.

"Don't say anything." Tracey's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, her whisper sharp in my ear as she lightly pushed me towards the familiar door of my cell.

"What? What do you mean?" I tried to whisper back, but it came out sounding more like something halfway between a chortle and a groan. I hadn't realized how dry my throat and mouth were, not remembering until then that I hadn't had anything to drink.

She put a finger to her lips to shush me and slightly shook her head just before another blood-curdling siren sounded from above. I resisted the urge to cover my ears with my hands, and grit my teeth together; the feeling of grinding dentin and bone sent a chill down my spine.

Everyone in the hall was lining up, just outside of their cell doors which had remained closed. Eyes cast down at the ground, some looked too weak and thin to even be standing on their own legs. Others leaned against the frame of the cell-door for support.

"Is that going to be me?"

I too, let my eyes fall to the floor- trying to fade into the background as much as possible. Maybe if I focused enough on not being here, I would somehow just detach from my body and float away. Wouldn't that be nice.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauties. Don't you all look gorgeous." I resisted the urge to look up, I recognized the voice from earlier that morning. The same brute who mercilessly started beating that girl who was barely breathing, much less listening to him as his fist connected with her face over and over again.

The slop I had forced myself to eat just fifteen minutes beforehand stirred in my stomach as I recalled seeing her thin body thrown around like a rag doll.

"What have we here..? Fresh meat on the chopping block?"

Staring down at the floor, I could see his black boots slowly come to a stop in front of where I stood and slowly turn towards me; the dirt and grime crunching beneath the heavy soles.

His hand was entwined in my dark hair, pulling my head back so my gaze was craned up at his dark, beady eyes and the fluorescent bulbs that hung just above his head. Blinking hard, I tried to keep my eyes from watering, although I couldn't tell if it was the dizzying fluorescent light or the pain pounding against my scalp as my hair was ripped from it that was making me begin to cry.

"Ahh..I remember you." He breathed, the smell of menthol cigarettes was hot on his breath and I felt smothered, "Do you remember me?" Giving another tug at my hair to accentuate his question, he laughed when I whimpered in pain.

"You will." He mumbled in my ear and suddenly pushed me back against the metal door, the back of my head knocked against the rough surface with a dull thud and I slid to the floor beneath me hoping my defeat would make him move on and leave me alone.

"How pathetic." He scoffed before moving on down the hallway.

"Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.."

Slowly lifting myself off the floor, I dusted the dirt and dust off my black pants. Absentmindedly, I let my hand travel to the back of my hand and massage at the sore, throbbing spot where my hair had nearly been ripped out by the roots.

"All accounted for." I heard his venomous bark from down the hallway and I struggled to fight back the urge to gag. The sound of his voice was nauseating.

"Released, get to work." Someone else called out, as if responding to his bark.

"Shit..now what?" I groaned to myself, still rubbing at the back of my aching head. Work? So I was in some insane rendition of a sweatshop? Lovely, nothing like being kidnapped and forced to sew for the rest of my natural, human life.

"Sir, wait." I heard Tracey's familiar voice and my heart dropped. Please don't call him over here, no..
But she was calling after someone else in the opposite direction, I lost her in the crowd that was beginning to once again stream around me. It was the most life that existed here, everyone and everything seemed nearly dead but amazingly enough, the people sure did make a point of getting to wherever they needed to be quickly.

"Don't you have somewhere you need to be?"

"She's..she's new, can she come with me for now? Until her O.A gives her work assignment.."

She was further down the hall, her voice echoing against the dark ceiling. Another guard, dressed in the same all-black, SWAT style uniform was staring down at her and appearing to listen to what she was saying. Ever so often he would glance up at me and then re-focus his attention on whatever she was saying. His arms were crossed over his chest tightly, leaving the side of his belt completely open. I could see two handguns and a nightstick fastened to his hip.

"Why would you need that in a sweatshop?"

"It's procedure that she stays in her cell until she's given assignment, you should know that." He replied, re-adjusting the position of his crossed arms as if he was bored or tired.

"Please, it's just once and..I'm sure nobody would object to extra help or work."

He just stared at her, as if mulling over what she had just said.

"Fine. I'm not allowing any charity though, don't you dare try it or you're going to the Chief for fraternizing." He sighed and readjusted the position of his nightstick before waving her away, "Now go on."

She waited until he was a considerable distance down the hall before rushing back over to me and grabbed my elbow, "Now we can talk, just follow me." She whispered in my ear before pulling me off down through the maze of dark, now empty hallways around us.

"Wait, wait..come on, slow down," I wheezed, my throat still parched from the lack of water.

"Shh."

Eventually, we came to a stop outside of a large pair of metal, double doors. She glanced around as if expecting for someone to be following or listening to us.

"Look, just.." She paused and bit the inside of her lip, "I know you're confused and freaked out, okay kid? But just follow my lead and shit. I'll explain what I can, but just..just don't freak out too much. They're like animals, sense weakness." She blurted out, stuttering over her words and mumbling here and there.

She pushed open the doors and pulled me in behind her.

"Don't touch nothing," She mumbled and pawed around on the wall nearby until she hit a switch and a few lightbulbs hanging on dinky chains in the middle of the room flickered on, buzzing intermittently.

We weren't in a room, but rather a hallway and on either side were small stalls; almost like cells with no doors or bars across the front.

"They don't use this anymore, we have a few minutes to talk before they sense something's up." She explained, noticing my confusion.

"And then what?" I groaned, my hand absentmindedly returning to the space at the back of my head that still throbbed with a dull ache.

"Don't worry about it..is your head alright? That dick can be rough, he's just looking for someone to pick on..you okay?"

I shrugged her concern away and met her with a question instead, "Can you please tell me what's going on?"

A sigh escaped her lips and her teeth grabbed the bottom one and pulled on it, biting and twisting the cracked, chapped skin until it bled, "Why'd you try to help Layl- that girl this morning..you don't even know her."

"He was going to kill her, what was I supposed to do? Just stand there and watch it happen?" I snapped back, not meaning to sound hostile but not caring enough to stop myself when I realized how angry I must have sounded.

"That's what anybody else would have done." She shrugged, pushing her tangled black hair back behind her ears. I could make out where one was scarred; turned purple and red, gnarled at the end as if it had been nearly burned off. She caught me staring and quickly turned her head in the opposite direction to hide it.

"Why? She was sick and he was going to kill her right there in the hall."

"In here, it's everyone for themselves. You do just enough to keep yourself alive, you don't got the time or energy to worry about other people."

"Are you sure..you seem worried about her. You even know her name." I queried.

"If they see you helping someone else, they rip you apart. They call it fraternizing..if you're isolated it's easier to break you." She ignored what I had said and tried to change the subject, but I saw her face darken and the shadow of someone's name fall over her lips. Layla.

"Break you..for what?"

She slowly lifted her gaze to meet mine, pain showing clearly through her tired eyes.

"So they can sell you."