Darkness presses all around her. She can't see anything. The smell of something wet and decaying fills her head, a wave of nausea rising from within her. She tries to escape, but her arms and legs won't move. She's trapped in this dark place with no way out. She tries to scream, but nothing comes out. Someone help me, she thinks. Get me out of here!
Then she hears a voice that sounds distant, as though she's hearing it from the bottom of a well. "What do we do with her?" the voice asks.
"Toss her into the sea. By the time she washes up we will have long since departed."
She struggles against the bonds holding her, whipping her body around like a caged animal as she tries to escape. "She's awake," the first voice says.
"No matter. She can't escape from there. Put her on board and let us be gone from here."
"We can't do this," a third voice says. "We can't kill her. It's not right."
"It is necessary. Sacrifices must be made. I thought I had made that abundantly clear to you already."
"Take her with us. Make her one of us."
"I will not have one of her kind living with us. She's far too dangerous. She could destroy us."
"But think how useful one such as her can be."
She stops struggling then, awaiting the judgment against her. "Yes, she could be an asset, if controlled. Very well, she will come with us." There's a pause and then she finds herself suspended in midair. A moment later she's flying, only to slam into something solid. Colored stars pulse and explode before her eyes as her world spins out of control. "You had better be right about her," the second voice says.
"Stop it! Leave me alone!" Samantha cried out. She sat up to find herself still in the girl's dormitory. Around her the other girls continued sleeping. Rebecca sucked her thumb and kicked at her blanket on the pallet next to Samantha.
A familiar odor came to Samantha's nostrils. Samantha thought Rebecca had wet the bed until she felt a wet spot beneath her. Samantha's underwear and the back of her nightgown were soaked through. Not again, she thought. She got out of bed and went to the door to escape before the others woke up and made fun of her again. Before she could open the door a crack, she heard the growl of one of Pryde's dogs. She remembered what he'd said earlier and closed the door.
She crept down the row of beds to the back of the dormitory, searching for a clean nightgown and underpants to get through the rest of the night. She couldn't find any cabinets with spare clothing. Where did they get clean clothes?
In desperation, Samantha crawled over to Prudence's bedside. Prudence snored louder than Pryde's dogs, the sound rising from deep within her flabby stomach and roaring out her nostrils. When Samantha shook her, Prudence growled like a wounded bear. "Prudence, wake up. You have to help me."
"What?"
"I need some clothes."
"I'll make you some tomorrow."
"No, please, I need some right now," Samantha pleaded, but Prudence had already gone back to sleep. She didn't stir when Samantha tried to wake her again.
Samantha felt her way along in the dark to the room where she'd first woke up. The bed was still there, a fresh sheet covering the one she'd soiled. Samantha stripped and crawled naked into the bed, pulling the covers over her. As much as she tried, she couldn't sleep.
She shivered beneath the covers as she thought of the nightmare. Could the dream be true? Had someone abducted her from her home? In which case, how did she wind up in Eternity? Minutes became hours, the darkness fading to gray and then orange as the sun rose with her still pondering the dream and dreading the moment when the others found her.
At the sound of the other girls stirring in the dormitory, Samantha pulled the covers over her head and curled into a ball. "Samantha? Where are you?" Prudence called out.
"She probably ran away and got eaten by Mr. Pryde's dogs," Helena said with a touch of joy in her voice. Some of the younger children squealed at this.
"She's in here!" one of the other girls shouted.
She heard them gathering around the bed. "She smells like pee again," Helena said.
"And she's naked!" another girl said.
At this everyone backed away from the bed. "I told you, she's a savage. A smelly savage," Helena said. The other girls took up the cry of, "Smelly savage!"
Samantha curled more tightly into a ball, tears coming to her eyes. The children continued the chant, some laughing and poking her as well. Beneath the covers, Samantha's tears dried up, her sorrow replaced by a hatred that turned her body white-hot as if made of fire.
She threw back the blankets and leapt from the bed, towards an unsuspecting Helena. Samantha's body spun in midair, her left leg whipping around to strike Helena in the jaw. Helena stumbled backwards, putting her hands up to protect herself as Samantha lashed out with her right leg. This time she hit Helena in the back of the knees, sending her crashing to the floor. Helena lay in a sobbing heap, grabbing her left knee in both hands.
Samantha turned to face the other children, who'd pressed themselves back against the wall. The toddlers buried themselves in the skirts of the older girls, who stared at Samantha with wide, frightened eyes. Samantha stood in the center of the room, her body quivering with unspent rage. When someone touched her shoulder, she grabbed the offending hand and twisted it around until she heard a snap.
"Samantha, what are you doing?" Prudence wailed, clutching her injured hand.
A rush of cold air seemed to wash over Samantha at the sight of her injured friend. She saw the frightened line of girls against the wall, who cringed as one when they met her eyes. At her feet, blood dripped from Helena's nose down to her chin. What have I done? Samantha thought.
Outside she heard Pryde's dogs howling and clawing at the walls. One leapt high enough that its angry black snout appeared in the window. The dog's claws caught on the windowsill for a moment before it slipped and fell back to the ground. The other girls screamed, kneeling down to form a protective circle on the floor. Amidst all this confusion, Samantha fainted, reentering the darkness of her dream.
YOU ARE READING
Forever Young
Lãng mạnA little girl wakes up on an island with no idea of who she is or how she got there. She is introduced to a town full of children with no memory of their lives before the island and sets her mind to find out who she is and uncovers a terrible secret.
