Out of Sight

Chapter Two

The sweet smell of rain filled her nostrils as she breathed in the spring air. The sky was only partly cloudy with the sun peaking sneakily behind the grey, and light drops of water fell to the ground beneath her feet. This was her happy place. The only time that Ivy truly felt at peace, in both body and mind.

Green grass sprinkled with rain, lay perfectly before her. A small fountain surrounded by a beautiful flower garden full of color, sat in the middle of the lawn behind her childhood home.

Ivy stood for a moment, taking in the peace of mind that the sprinkling rain had so graciously brought to her. She concentrated on each breath and focused her hearing on the sounds of nature.

Birds sat perched in a tall Oak beyond the privacy fence that lined the edge of the property, singing their chipper songs as the sun began to shine more brightly. The dogs of the neighborhood could be heard barking at chipping squirrels, cats, and people casually walking the streets.

And though her heart pounded with sorrow, her mind began to calm from the swirling thoughts and flashbacks of the terrible things she had seen inside the house just behind her. She remembered running out the back door into the yard for just an escape from the reality within the home's walls.

But with each exhale, each negative memory, thought, or feeling left her body leaving her with nothing but quiet.

Peace.

Still swollen from tears, Ivy's eyes flickered open. The feeling of peace was quickly replaced with disappointment as she remembered what she had previously experienced.

The alarm was no longer blaring, and the red flashing lights outside in the halls were no longer on. The cell was just as it was before.

Disappointment was soon replaced with confusion. Ivy crossed over to the cell door and peaked out the window to the cells across from her. Both cells were now closed and the locks were again in place. But the patient numbers on the cells had changed. This time there were what appeared to be initials before each sequence of numbers.

Footsteps began to patter down the hallway toward her cell. The voices of two different men could be heard through the cracks in the door.

So it isn't sound proof, Ivy thought to herself. Not that she thought it would matter, but it might be a good asset in the future.

As the men got closer, Ivy stood back from the door and bent down ready to see who was coming. She did not want to be the first one seen, but Ivy made sure that she could still see the faces of those behind the window.

Shadows passed on the floor once again, as the two men stopped outside the cell door.

"Ivy Tyler," the first man began, "Police officer for twelve years before resigning due to personal matters. Ex-husband was US Army who did four tours. Had one daughter named Elizabeth before she tragically passed unexpectedly."

Her daughter's name rang like a siren in her mind. At that moment, everything surrounding her no longer mattered. She longed for the touch of her daughter, and until this moment hadn't even thought about her family.

She sat there frozen in that moment, with nothing but her daughter's name on her mind.

"Mommy!" Elizabeth yelled as she ran across the house of Ivy's mother.

Ivy filled with joy at the sight of her daughter, and smiled as she opened her arms for Elizabeth. She embraced her daughter in a hug, and kissed her on the forehead.

"How was your day?" She asked. It was usually the same. Though only six, her daughter had the gift of looking at life with nothing but love and always had the same answer.

"Amazing!" Elizabeth shouted delightfully. "Grandma and I played in the flower garden today, and I found an earth worm!" Her smile turned to a frown before she added, "I wanted to keep him, but grandma said he wouldn't live for very long."

Ivy chuckled to herself. "She's right. Worms like to live with the dirt and the flowers."

"Gross!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

Ivy gestured to her daughter's backpack that sat perfectly on the couch beside the door. "Grab your stuff, it's time to go."

A tall woman with long silver hair, rounded the corner from the kitchen. Ivy's mother stood at the bottom of the stairs in front of her door. She stood with sincerity and grace.

Ivy felt a sense of adrenaline race through her body as she locked eyes with her mother.

"Snap out of it," she said. Ivy stood confused.

"Snap out of it!"

"What do you want?" Ivy said quietly through the slat in the door, not sure if either of the men on the other side actually heard her.

She paused as she listened for a response. The men outside the door stopped speaking to themselves and another pause of silence filled the space between them. A tiny light appeared as the small slat in the door was opened, and a tray of what looked like canned corn, a piece of bread, and some chili slid carelessly across the floor.

Ivy watched in disgust as the chili and corn fell across the floor in front of her. She hadn't even stopped to think about the idea of food since she had awoken to her imprisonment. Her stomach growled with hunger and her tongue was dry from thirst.

"What do you want?" She exclaimed weakly, but a little louder than before. The slat in the door was closed, and the sound of footsteps and voices continued as the two men continued on their way down the hall.

Realizing that even though she needed answers, she needed to make sure she was fed first. Ivy scrambled to pick each kernel of corn off the ground and did her best to scrape the chili from the concrete with her fingers, hungrily shoveling each bite into her mouth as if it was the last bit of food she would ever taste again.

She finished the meal in less than a few minutes, and soon found herself wishing they had also brought her a cup of water. Surely they will still give her water while she is here if they're going to feed her.

Her stomach continued to growl, but quieter this time and left room to distract herself with thoughts of how to escape.

So far she had learned that the halls were lengthy but when she had escaped the first time, each end of the hall was blocked by a solid wall. Each cell door only led to another cell, and there were no signs as to any other entrance or exit.

There were two prisoners across from her before but when she had gone back to look for them after discovering she was trapped, there was no sign of either of them even existing previously.

No other objects and nothing usable for any type of weapon, could be found in either her cell or the hallway outside. So even if she did escape again, she would have no means to defend herself if the time came to it.

Pacing the length of the cell over and over, she recounted to herself the knowledge she had already gathered.

But with each passing second that turned into minutes that soon turned into hours, she never heard another footstep or voice outside the cell. The dehydration that was beginning to creep through her body, made her tired and lethargic.

She wasn't sure how long she'd already been there, but she could tell by the strong thirst that she had been there long enough to deplete her body of most of its water.

And crying to herself for hours definitely didn't do her any favors.