✓ | escaped [ ➀ ]

[ prologue ]

Andi's skin stung. She had resisted the urge to touch her forearm for the past few hours, to prevent her new scar from becoming worse. Surely eight-year-olds were too young to be marked permanently with black ink? 

Yet, Andi still sported a brand that would be on her skin forever. 

07

She was not sure whether it was comforting to know that she wasn't the first one, or the only one. She was seventh. But among how many more? What was this even for? When Andi had been taken away by her mother from her home the previous day, she had left with the feeling that she would finally be safe. She would finally be away from her father. Her mother was finally doing something to help her. 

But since then, all she had done was lock her inside a white room with just a bed, which was right after she'd gotten her tattoo. There were no windows in this room, and the door couldn't be opened. She was trapped. Trapped with her thoughts. Trapped with the voices. 

Andi could hear them now too. There were many of them. Some asked for help. Others told her how they died in that very room. On her bed. Because of this, Andi was huddled in a corner, far away from the bed, with her head between her knees. She didn't want to open her eyes. She was too afraid of what she would see. Despite seeing the spirits for three years now, the sight of their scarred, disfigured bodies was not something she could ever get used to. 

I got a tattoo like that too. I was dead a week later...

Sie werden dich töten... ⁽¹⁾

They tortured me all night...

Olyan sok fájdalom... ⁽²⁾

Get out... you need to get out...

The voices suddenly stopped when the door to her room opened. Andi's head snapped up, and she peered through the strands of brown hair that fell over her face, shrouding most of her view. If she could hide behind her thick hair forever, she would. But that wasn't an option. Not here. 

At the door stood her mother. She was dressed properly, in a combination of clothes that Andi saw almost every day -- a white shirt, neatly pressed and tucked into a black skirt that reached her knees. Behind her, on either side, stood two guards, dressed completely in black. They had large contraptions in their hands, which Andi knew, from the few movies she had seen, were not guns. They terrified her enough that she didn't even want to know what they were capable of. 

Andi's mother wore a smile on her face. She behaved as though nothing was wrong with the fact that she was dressed so perfectly, compared to her daughter who wore nothing but hospital scrubs over her skinny frame. Hospital scrubs with blood on it. And it wasn't Andi's blood. 

"How are you feeling?" her mother asked, walking further into the room. The guards remained by the door, not putting a foot past the threshold. 

Andi stared up at her mother, lifting her head a little and allowing her hair to move back, revealing more of her face, her red eyes and her tear stained cheeks. 

When she failed to answer, her mother walked closer to her and held a hand out. Unlike Andi, her mother's bronze skin was free of any imperfections. Andi was scared to touch her. For as long as she could remember, she was punished for something she couldn't control. The last thing she wanted to do was make a mistake that would lead to more pain. 

"It's okay, mija," the woman coaxed, bending a little more till, ultimately, Andi took her hand and stood up. She was a little unsteady, which probably had to do with the fact that she hadn't slept in days, and she wasn't exactly fed well. 

"Your father did a terrible job taking care of you," her mother continued, removing her hand from Andi's grasp to place her fingers on Andi's chin. She tilted her head up and turned it to each side slowly, as if she was inspecting her. "I should never have left you with him." 

Andi felt a spark of hope. Did that mean everything would be better now? 

"Don't worry, mija. You're with me now. You're with your mama. I'll take care of you," she smiled down at her. "I'll help you reach your full potential. And then... then you will help me." 

Andi didn't understand what that meant, but she didn't have the chance to ask. Her mother's hand dropped from her face, and she took two steps back. As soon as she did that, the guards stepped inside, and advanced toward her. 

Surprised, Andi jumped back, unaware of what was happening. "Mama?" She called out with uncertainty. Wasn't her mother going to help her? 

The men grabbed her arms, and Andi now acted impulsively, kicking out and trying to get away. "Mama!"

While the two of them restrained her, her mother stepped forward again, pulling out a capped syringe from her shirt's breast pocket. Andi only spotted a deep purple liquid in it before she felt herself being injected. 

Then, almost instantly, the men backed away, causing Andi to fall to the floor on her knees. She made no attempt to move, even as the guards backed out of the room once more. 

"What--" instead of asking her mother what just happened, her words were cut short, because Andi felt sudden pain. No, not pain. It was more like a terrible burning. like fire coursed through her veins, filling up her entire body. Her scream filled the room, and her body curled in on itself on the cold, granite floor. 

"It'll be over soon, mija," she could hear her mother saying, amid her screams. But Andi noticed nothing else after that. She didn't notice when her mother left. She didn't notice that her vision had become blurry. All Andi felt was the burning. All she heard were voices, and the distant sound of thunder. And all she could remember wishing was that she died soon, so the suffering would end. 

NOTES

⁽¹⁾ | German for "They will kill you."

⁽²⁾ | Hungarian for "So much pain."