Little Girl Lost.

I had fallen into a dazed stupor; rocking back and forth in a trance-like state on the cold, dirty floor. My skinned knees were tucked tightly beneath my quivering chin that was cold and wet from crying so much.

"Come on, pull it together." I choked out, trying to soothe myself but my words drifted out to the cold, dirty walls and evaporated. I didn't feel any better and nothing around me had changed.

"This isn't happening, this can't be happening. Wake up, wake up. Please, oh God, please wake up." I mentally screamed at myself, digging my fingernails into my palms as if the pain would somehow end the nightmare, tear down this gray prison and take me back home. I tried to push back the obvious, this was no nightmare. I wasn't going to wake up. I wasn't going home.

"At least, not yet." I mumbled out loud, wiping away tears from my cheeks with the back of my fist. Hiccuping and shoulders heaving, I found myself suddenly pacing around the room in uneven circles like a trapped animal in a cage. Back and forth, until the rough floor began to wear the bottoms of my feet sore and raw.

I glared at the dark door, as if just willing it to open would somehow do the trick and I'd be able to run out of here and never stop running until I fell into my own bed, in my own room, in my own house. But the door remained closed, the room was still quiet, I was still trapped and I was still alone.

I knew there was nothing in the room that I could use, but I still found myself scanning the small cell in search of anything I could use to pry the door open or use as a weapon against the next person who might walk through that heavy door.

Suddenly, a long, low drone filled the air and I nearly jumped out of my skin at the shock. Once again I found myself shaking uncontrollably and I collapsed back on the dirty, dingy mattress with my knees tucked under my chin; arms wrapped securely around them.

The siren sounded two more times, each seemed louder than the one before it. My head throbbed and my chest ached with anxiety. Terrified, I pressed my back against the corner behind me and tried to keep the tears at bay for the hundredth time.

And then, the door opened. The heavy, dark metal slowly slid open; its rough surface grating against the dingy floor beneath it. The hallway beyond the barrier was relatively bright compared to the dim, shadowy cell I had been trapped in and I had to shield my eyes from the light to keep them from burning.

"Psst, hey."

Confused, I looked up, blinking rapidly to try to force my eyes to adjust to the sudden change in lighting. Someone stood directly across the hall from my small, dim cell, subtly gesturing for me to come towards them.

"Hurry up." They hissed.

Scrambling, I stumbled to my feet and cautiously made my way towards the open doorway. The stranger was standing in front of a dark doorway that surely led to a room identical to mine. Still confused, I tried to gather some sort of clue as to what I was doing or rather, supposed to be doing by standing there.

That was when I made the mistake of looking around me, and my heart dropped into my toes leaving my chest feeling cold and empty. In either direction, the long hallway extended and wherever a door was, someone was standing in front of it. Eyes cast to the ground, all wore identical clothing; a black shirt and matching sweatpants. Some of their clothes were torn and on many, I could easily see where purple and blue bruises adorned theiri skin.

I gulped, as if to swallow my fear and the feeling of dread that had, once again, begun to take over. I glanced back at the girl standing across from me, her tangled dark hair covered her face but I could make out where her ribs clearly jutted out through her shirt and a small, black mark tattooed on her wrist. Just as I was trying to make it out, I was interrupted.

"Rise and shine, ladies. Stand alert." Someone suddenly boomed, their loud voice echoing off the dark, cold walls and bouncing down the hallway like a game of verbal ping-pong.

My heart began to hammer in my chest and I tried to keep the quaking of my knees under control.

"Am I about to die?"

The same person began to shout out numbers, "300. 298. 296. 294." as he slowly walked down the hallway. I could hear the heavy thud of his boots echo against the ceiling and with every step that he drew closer to me, I could feel my heart beating harder and faster. He was within just a few steps of me and I could swear it was about to jump right out of my chest when he suddenly came to a stop.

"168. Not present." He boomed and I could feel an uncomfortable shuffle go through the group before it faded into an eerie silence that settled over the atmosphere like a deep, dense cloud. A dark cloud that had a feel of negativity and danger hidden somewhere inside of it.

"Oh no..Layla." I heard the dark-haired girl across from me choke out in a whisper.

"Ladies. What happens when we aren't punctual?" He shouted out but wasn't met with a response other than the same, uncomfortable shuffle that evaporated into that same, spooky quiet.

I heard him stomp into the room, grumbling as he went, "Get up, you good for nothing piece o-"

I heard the sickening thud as a heavy boot met the bones of someone's ribcage, each blow punctuating his words and curses.

"Up!" He shouted again, his words biting and stinging like the venom of a snake,"I said get up!"

More shuffling, groaning and a faint whimper came from the room that was just out of sight. A few more curse words and he came back into view. In his fists, he held the tattered, matted red hair of a bleeding and bruised girl. He pulled her thin body up off the floor to her feet, making sure to shove her against the rough wall in the process.

"Now, you've pulled this stunt for three days now. You think you are better than everyone else? You think that you're too good for the rules, that they don't apply to you? Is that it?" He barked at her, moving his grip from her hair to her throat instead.

She hung from his hands like a limp, sick, lifeless rag doll. Occasionally, she whimpered but she didn't speak and she didn't make any attempt to shield herself from his blows. I doubt she had the strength to even try.

"Stop!" I suddenly found myself shouting, too sick to continue to watch this cruel, merciless display of brutality, "Can't you see she's helpless and sick?"

Everyone turned towards me, and the girl who stood across from me widened her eyes, grit her teeth and shook her head as if to warn me against making the mistake that I had clearly already made.

"What did you say?" He dropped her to the floor like a sack of flour and instead made his way towards me; fists clenching beneath the dark, black fabric of his gloves. He was covered from head to toe in a black uniform that strongly resembled the type that SWAT team members were shown in on television. My eyes darted to a gun and taser secured on his hip.

How smart, I chastised myself mentally.

"Sir, she's new and she didn't know any better." The dark-haired stranger threw herself in front of me, and pushing me back into the doorway, "Please, she didn't know." She repeated, now mumbling and eyes cast to the floor.

He paused, looking the two of us up and down as if he was sizing us up. After what seemed like forever, he grunted in reply and snarled at me, "See to it you keep your mouth shut."

Returning to the poor girl who still lay on the floor at his feet, he jerked her up by her arm and shoved her towards another guard dressed in the same, black, police-style gear that he was, "Take her to the Hole. I'll take care of her later."

His eyes lingered on me briefly, before continuing down the hallway. I shivered beneath his gaze and dug my fingers into my palms, desperately praying that I wasn't going to be the next to fall under his boot. He continued to call out more numbers as he strolled until, after what seemed like ages, he came to the end of the hall.

"Dismissed." He boomed.

Another siren, identical to the one I had heard earlier, sounded and the entire hall broke into a bustling crowd. Confused, yet again, I looked around for some sort of clue as to what I was supposed to be doing or where I was supposed to go but before I could figure anything out, the stranger who had stepped in front of me grabbed my arm and was pulling me behind her through the crowd.

"We need to talk." She whispered before continuing to weave in and out through the crowd.

"What's going on? Where am I? Please, tell me what is going on I am so confused and nobody is telling me anything." I gushed, relieved that I was finally having contact with another human being who wasn't holding some form of weapon or threat to my face.

She didn't say anything else, not until we came to a stop in the same, large room that I had seen a day or so before that I guessed to be a cafeteria. Food was being served at one end and people were seated at the long, metal tables eating. This cafeteria had a stark contrast to the ones I had been in during school. No one was talking, it was completely silent.

The girl dragged me over to one of the tables, "Sit here. I'll be right back." She whispered before taking off to the other side of the room.

I wrapped my arms around myself, partially because I was cold and partially because I was terrified and looking for anything that had the potential to help with even a fraction of that fear. With every moment, this situation seemed to get more and more complicated and confusing and I just kept descending lower and lower into this state of hopelessness and paralyzing dread.