Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“When father put you in the basement …” I have to clear my throat to continue. “That night, how did you get out?”
Her brows furrow, and tears gather in her eyes. “Has he put you down there?”
“No,” I quickly answer, grabbing her hands between both of mine.
They’re so cold, and they tremble.
“He hasn’t. I just realized I never asked you that.”
She looks at me for a moment longer, trying to discern if I’m telling the truth, before she begins speaking.
“In every room, if you push on the light in the back right corner, you can then move it to the side, into the wall. A button will become exposed. Press it and the door will unlock. It was placed there in case anyone escaped from another cell and your father was locked into a room.”
“How did you know about it?”
“Your father was speaking about having it put in with the contractor. He always acted as if I wasn’t there, which made him say things he shouldn’t have in my presence. I didn’t think I’d ever need that information, but the moment he put me in that room, I remembered it. It got me to you.”
“And I wasted it,” I murmur.
“What?” she croaks.
“Nothing.”
“No, tell me, Selina.”
I close my eyes while I say, “I’ve always wondered if I hadn’t wasted those few seconds, if we could have made it. Out the house, away from father.”
“No, we wouldn’t have. Your father would never have let me escape him, let alone you. So, don’t you dare blame yourself for that. Do you hear me?”
I open my eyes, but only to look at the floor.
“Do you hear me, my sweet girl? You mustn’t feel any guilt for that.”
I give her a nod. It’s the best I can do. When I meet her eyes again, I can see it didn’t convince her at all.
“But if you see an opportunity …” She lets her words trail off and my face scrunches up with my confusion.
I see her throat bob with her swallow. No dress covering it here. Just a loose white hospital gown.
Her eyes dart to the side, looking, checking.
“If you see an opportunity to run, you take it.”
Her words shock me. If anything, I would think her time here would tell me to obey, to make sure I didn’t end up like her.
“Where would I go?”
But the moment the words leave my mouth, I picture a planet I’ve never been to, but feel like I know. With greener grass and bluer water than I’ve ever seen. With a sky and clouds that look like something out of a dream. Bothaki would take me with him if he were freed. I am certain of that.
“Anywhere you could hide, sweetheart.”
I, too, look around the visiting room, checking for eyes and ears that might be paying too close attention to us. I wouldn’t put it above my father to have someone in the room to watch us while I visited my mother. But there’s only two other visitors today, one helping an older woman eat, and the other reading to a woman that looks far too young to be here. Hopeful that I won’t be overheard, I bring my chair a little closer to my mother’s.
“Have you ever seen someone escape from father’s basement?” I ask.
“I haven’t. Why do you ask?”
“There’s a man down there. Well, not really a human man, but a male. I’ve come to … care for him. I saw him when I went down to get another book. Father has him imprisoned in the cell with the wall that separates the two.”
“Selina, you mustn’t put yourself in a position of trying to save someone else. It would only put you in here. I couldn’t … You can’t end up here, dear.”
“I can’t let father keep him there. Torture him, kill him.”
“This man, he’s made you promises? Told you all the ways he’ll love you if you help free him?”
I shake my head. “It’s not like that. He’s not using me, if that’s what you’re asking. He’s never asked for my help. I think he’s more worried with getting me out, really.”
Wrong words. My mother’s hand grips mine, even though I can tell it’s not as tightly as she would like. Another side effect from her treatments here.
“Get you away from what, Selina?” she asks hoarsely. “And don’t tell me nothing.”
“Father found out about me going to the library,” I begin. “In fact, he’s known for a while, but when he saw me talking to his prisoner, and even more than that, his prisoner talked back to me when he won’t speak to father, and he told me I would help him or …”
“Or end up here,” she finishes for me, the quivering in her voice making me wish I hadn’t told her the truth.
She has enough to worry about. Enough pain in her life, without me adding to it. But in the end, she’s still my mother, and even with all she’s suffered, she’s more worried about me than herself.