We Meet Again 2

Thirty Six

(Mar'i)

I was hiding in the closet.

How long have I've been in here? I can't tell, but I know that my tummy hurts. I'm so hungry, but the bad man will probably shoot me with that gun if I ask for a snack, just like he did those people! I really want to go home. Why isn't mommy coming to get me from these bad people!

'Huh!' I gasped with fear, covering my mouth.

'Did the bad man shoot my mommy with that shinny gun?' I thought in my head.

My mom would never let anybody hurt me, so if she's not here yet, that only means that...

"Hey little girl, where are you?"

I recognized that voice. He seemed to be singing, and I felt... scared!

"Lit...tle GIRL!!!" I jumped at his mean voice. I slowly opened the closet with some bed sheets I found on the lower shelf.

"Yes sir?" He realized that I had bedding in my arms and seemed to not look so crazy as he did before. But the way he stared at me frightened me so bad, that I wanted to cry. I want to go home!

"It's time for you to eat! Hurry along now and follow me." I placed the covers on the bed, then did as he said. I dared not look in his eyes, like I wanted to. My dad said that if you look a predator in the eye, that only meant that you were challenging it, and I don't want to! I want to live! Getting shot looks like it hurts very badly, so I walked behind this monster out of 'my room'.

Mr. Aquarius led me down a very nice marble hallway.

'Hey, the floors look like the island in my kitchen back home! Dad, Uncle Vic and Uncle Gar fixed it together because mommy said that she wanted to upgrade, whatever that means, but I remember that dad got on the project right away, and I was they're little helper!'

Then we made a right to what looks to be a lunchroom, just like at school, with more kids! A lot of kids. They all looked to be my age because I didn't see any teenagers or babies. The tables were long, and I counted ten kids at a table, all except one, and there were three tables in all!

"10, 20, 25,26,27,28,29." ...

"You sit here little one." Mr. Aquarius said to me, and I did as he asked again. I was sitting at the front chair like my dad did at Thanksgiving! Why am I sitting at the front of the table? Some of the looks from the other kids frightened me! They looked like they'd wanted to beat me up! I didn't do anything to them, so why are they giving me mean looks?

"Now that we are all present, let's have dinner children." Mr. Aquarius told us all, then some very pretty women came to all the tables and places some yummy looking food and drinks in front of us.

Umm, I love spaghetti and meat balls! We even had the choice to either have apple juice or fruit punch. I chose fruit punch, just like at home.

('Hum... wonder why Damien is feeding Mar'i her favorite meal from home, and making all the other captive children do the same, rather they like it or not?')

I was so hungry that I almost licked my plate before Mr. Aquarius came and gave me a second helping.

"Here you go little one. Eat your fill. Scathe has big plans for you and your mom." I coughed when he mentioned my mom and looked into his eyes.

"Is my mommy here? Are you going to take me to her?" He then gotten down and whispered into my ear so on one else heard him.

"One thing at a time little one. Your only task at the moment is to survive long enough to even think of seeing Kori Star again! I know you saw me erase those guys earlier. Now the more pressing issue is, do you think these other children are happy about you getting more food? Especially that one over there."