After

Chapter 3

The girls' unknown tormenter opens the cell door holding a box of pizza. They pause their bickering as fear immediately hangs in the air at the thought of him going anywhere near them again. Without saying a word, he sets the box on the floor and kicks it to Lauren. She stares at him with her piercing green eyes in hope of seeing anything under his mask or black clothing. All she sees is a small strip of light skin between a glove and sleeve. He quickly exits the cell, locks it, and walks away. Before the girls even move, he is back and slips two bottles of water through the door.

Camila cautiously grabs the water and puts it in the center of the room. Lauren opens the box of pizza to find a full cheese pizza. She hands each girl a piece, grabs one for herself, and states, "We'll evenly distribute the last pieces when each of us are finished. Who knows when our next meal will be." Silence enters the room as each girl devours their pizza.

Ally suddenly speaks up, "Camila, when was the last time you ate?" Camila just looks up at her nervously without speaking a word. "You haven't eaten since you've gotten here, have you?" Camila nods. "And you said you have been here for a week?" Once again, Camila nods as Ally turns to face all the girls. "I know we have all had a bad past with Camila, but we have also had a lot of good memories with her too. And she is in the same situation as we are. We need to get out of here, but that's not happening if all we do is argue. Now get your acts together and start thinking about ways to get out of this hell-hole."

The girls stare at her in shock. Dinah and Normani agree with Ally immediately and eventually, Lauren does the same. Camila doesn't do anything aside from stare at the floor. After a few minutes she tearfully whispers, "I'm sorry." Dinah attempts to move over to Camila to give her a hug but stops due to excruciating pain in her back. She decided to force a small smile towards Camila, but Camila doesn't see and continues to stare at the ground with great intensity.

After some more silence, Camila begins to cry again. Tears fall freely from her face as Dinah painfully opens up her arms, beckoning Camila to come into them. Camila slowly crawls over to Dinah as the girls were finally given a full view of her back. They realize the back of her shirt was a very dark red, almost black. It wasn't even just in spots, there was no small bit of grey fabric, every last inch was all stained with her blood. Right when she got to Dinah and hugged her, Ally opened up the velcro in the back of her shirt without warning and saw dried blood covering her back completely. Everyone gasps as they see, not only everything their once very dear friend had gone through, but what they assumed to be each of their fates as well. Camila only cries harder as they notice a blood stained wall where she had been sitting.

Before anyone has the opportunity to say anything, the masked man steps into the room carrying a small bucket of water, rag, and new shirt for Camila. He walks over to the girls who are all huddled in a back corner and stands over them as they wish the wall would swallow them up. "Lauren, please stand here." He says, his real voice still covered up by the voice modulator. She musters up all her force and stands with the help of the wall. He sets down the bucket and rag and tells Ally to clean Camila up, then puts the shirt into Ally's hand as well. Lauren stares at him, trying to show bravery, but her eyes only show fear. He roughly grabs her and carries her outside the cell and locks it.

He brings her to a back room and throws a punch into her face. She crumbles to the ground as he bends down and whispers, "You're going to get the worst of it here. You're the main one who ruined my career. The others helped, but if you hadn't been alive, none of it would have happened."

Lauren shakes after remembering what Camila looked like, only to realize what would happen to her was going to be worse. "What did I do?" She asks, "You need to tell me why you're torturing us. Please." She begs and tries to move up against the wall for support, but he once again grabs her. He throws her over his shoulder and brings her outside through a back door. There is a short path leading up to a small concrete building. He opens the door to it and throws her up against a wall, chains her wrists together and attaches the chains to a loop in the floor. She stares at him, pleading with her eyes for him to stop. He laughs and begins to kick her furiously, her cries echoing throughout the cold, dimly lit room.