One Among Us

by Paige Dearth

  The next morning, the children were fed breakfast in their kennels. Then, two at a time, they were taken upstairs to shower. Maggie and Seth, the two youngest, went first. The steps from the basement were made of wood logs split in half, flat side up. They walked through the kitchen and into the enormous living room. Wooden beams ran the length of the ceiling. The plaster walls were cracked and chipped from years of settlement and neglect.

  Two old chairs covered in red velvet sat where the bed had been the night before. Maggie noticed thin, lace curtains on the windows that overlooked the backyard. She strained to get a glimpse of the outdoors. She hadn’t seen the sky or the sun since John William had stolen her. As she walked by the windows, the sun lit up the lace, and she could see there were things in the backyard…abandoned objects.

  John William led them down a long corridor with rooms on either side. About midway down, he stopped and instructed Maggie and Seth to go inside. The windows of the bedroom were covered with fabric; no outside light entered the room. A king-size mattress was shoved up against the wall farthest from the door. To their right was a large fireplace; to the left, another door led into the bathroom, where a claw-foot tub sat on old and broken gray tiles.

  “Let’s go. Fill up the tub. You two bathe together. I ain’t got time to take care of that little asshole,” John William stated, gesturing toward Seth.

  Maggie rushed to fill the tub with water. “Come on, Seth. Take your clothes off. We need to get a bath,” she told him.

  The small boy looked over at John William and took stiff, jerky steps away from the overgrown brute. The man scared the shit out of Seth.

  “Come on, Seth,” Maggie coaxed. “Let’s get you undressed.”

  “Aggie, I don’t want to take a baff,” he told her, keeping his eyes glued on John William.

  John William enjoyed watching Seth tremble with fear, “Get your filthy ass in that tub, or I’ll give you something to be scared about,” he roared.

  Maggie used a bit of force on the boy to get him undressed. She lifted him up and placed him in the tub. She was starting to climb in with him when John William spoke again. “Come over here, you little whore,” he ordered her.

  Maggie walked over to him slowly, acutely aware that she still might be punished for her part in harboring the notes from Sabrina. Standing before him, she put one arm over her flat chest and covered her crotch with her hand. John William forced her hands to her sides and looked her over. “Myles is coming to pay you a visit tonight. I hope you get everything that you deserve. No one does stupid shit behind his back and gets away with it. You thought you were so clever, hiding your little notes, thinking that fucking bitch was going to save you. Well, now you see where it got you. Nowhere!”

  Maggie’s face dropped to the floor. Looking at John William was almost as painful as hearing his maddening voice. He droned on and on, berating them constantly. Maggie hated him. She stood perfectly still, holding her breath, until finally he slapped the side of her head as a gesture of dismissal. She turned and climbed into the bathtub with Seth.

  Maggie washed the young boy quickly and then herself. John William’s words played over in her mind: I hope you get everything you deserve. The anxiety of Myles’s visit grated on her nerves. By the time she was returned to her kennel, her breath was short, and her throat was tight.

  “Maggie? What’s wrong?” Cali asked, as she watched her friend lose it.

  “Myles is coming to see me tonight. John William said I’m in trouble. I’m scared, Cali. What if he kills me? Then I’ll never go home again,” she whined, not able to express the depth of her worry with words.

  “Good!” Shana yelled. “I hope he beats the shit out of you. Then you’ll get a taste of what you did to me.”

  “Stop it, Shana!” Cali barked. Then she looked back at Maggie. “Mags, everything will be OK. You’re gonna have to play dumb. Just tell Myles you didn’t know what to do with the notes. Tell him the woman forced you to take them and threatened to tell lies about you. Do whatever you have to do to curb his anger. OK, Mags? Do you hear what I’m saying?” Cali persisted.

  But Maggie was lost in her own sick thoughts. She started to shake and broke into a cold sweat. There was nothing for any of them to do but sit and wait for Myles to arrive and dish out Maggie’s punishment.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  When Maggie reached the top of the ladder, it opened into the attic. She gasped at her surroundings. The wooden rafters were exposed. The walls were the original wooden sheathing of the house. They were water stained where rain had leaked through the battered roof. A small lamp on a desk at the other end of the attic cast an eerie glow, throwing shadows across the room. The dust-covered floor creaked as Maggie walked toward Myles.

  Several men stood around the desk where Myles was sitting. He peered over at her, his black mood penetrating her entire being. She could hear the sound of her heart in her ears—boom, boom, boom. Her legs went limp, and she fell to the floor. She didn’t want to live, yet the thought of death made her more afraid.

  “Take a bow, Maggie. You’ve managed to put our entire operation in jeopardy,” Myles said. He stood and moved around the desk. “You think you’re pretty smart, don’t you?”

  Maggie shook her head, unable to utter a word. It was as if her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth. She looked up at Myles, her eyes begging for mercy. Myles was wearing a white wife-beater; his tanned arms and shoulders looked as if they were chiseled from stone. His muscles were tense, and his jaw was taut.

  “Please, I’m so sorry,” Maggie pleaded in a quiet voice.

  “Sorry isn’t enough, Maggie. What you’ve done can’t be excused. When you do bad things, you’ll always be punished. That’s what you’re about to learn. You’re nothing but a rotten kid, and from now on, you’ll be treated just like all the others.”

  Myles’s bitter, seething voice had the impact he had intended.

  Thoughts of Shana flashed through Maggie’s mind. Shana had sustained ruthless brutality. Maggie shuffled across the floor on her hands and knees in a feeble attempt to get away from Myles. But there was nowhere to run.

  “That’s right, go on and slither into the corner, you little fucking snake. There’s nothing that’s going to protect you,” Myles said, confirming her mounting fear.

  Myles turned on his heel and addressed the other men in the room. “Let’s go,” he told them. “John William, you know what I expect you to do.”

  The men followed Myles down the ladder and left Maggie alone in the attic with John William. He approached and towered over her. His breath came out in bull-like puffs. His hands dangled at his sides as if they were dead weight. He leaned into Maggie, his demonic eyes alive with craziness. He purposely unbuckled his belt and slid it out of each pant loop slowly to give her the full effect. Then he lifted the belt and brought it down hard on her. The slap of leather stung her skin. The buckle ripped holes in her cheap, thin T-shirt. Maggie curled into a ball and covered her head with her hands. But it was no use. Nothing would prevent the punishment that awaited her.

  Three days later, John William delivered her back to the kennel. Cali and Max stood as he roughly carried her in and practically threw her on the thin mattress. She was naked. Her body was covered in bruises, welts, and angry red marks that looked like circles of blood. Maggie never opened her eyes, and the others, with the exception of Shana, hoped that she wasn’t dead or near death.

  “John William, please let me help her,” Cali begged.

  “You can’t even help yourself, bitch. Be quiet or you’ll be next,” John William barked. Then he locked Maggie’s kennel and trudged up the stairs, shutting off the light before slamming the door. In the blackness of their homemade dungeon, Cali tried to get Maggie to speak.

  “Mags? Are you OK? Mags? Can you hear me? Come on, baby, answer me. Let me know you’re alive. Sweetie, give us a sign. Tell us about one of the books you’ve read. Come on, Mags, please,” Cali begged. Then sh
e sat against the chain link fence of her own kennel, unable to stop the flood of tears. Feeling helpless and frustrated, Cali allowed herself to let the heavy sobs control her. Cali ached to hold Maggie and willed her to be alive.

  Eventually, even Shana began to worry whether Maggie would be OK. After all, Maggie had healed her many times, and she never really wanted her to die. On the other side of the room, Max was consumed with consternation. He tried to be strong for all of them and fill them with an optimism he didn’t feel.

  “She’s going to be fine,” he said. “As soon as John William comes back, we’ll ask him to let us help her. Maggie is strong. She’s a survivor.”

  But no one believed him any more than he believed himself.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Cali had just fallen asleep when she heard a small groan escape from Maggie. Her senses sprang to life. “Mags? Mags? Are you awake? Mags, talk to me.”

  But there was no response; maybe she’d dreamed it, Cali thought.

  Just then, Seth, who had slept through all the commotion, called out, “Aggie? I’m scared. I had a dream about a monster that was gonna eat me.”

  Seth’s voice broke through, and Maggie’s mind began to swim back to the surface from the deep place it was hiding. “Seth,” she whispered. “I’m right here. It was only a dream.”

  “Mags? Oh my God! Mags, you’re alive!” Cali squealed.

  Then the others heard Maggie as she dry heaved. She hadn’t eaten anything in days, and she was dehydrated. On the second day of isolation, Maggie had squirted a small amount of urine into her hand and had drunk it. That was the extent of her intake in the three days they kept her from the others.

  Maggie made animal like noises as her stomach rose and fell in violent spasms. “Try to crawl toward my voice, Maggie,” Cali instructed. “Come over to me. Let me help you.”

  Maggie’s fingernails dug into the dirt floor as she pulled herself toward Cali’s voice. Cali stretched out against the chain link fence, slid her hand through, and began to stroke Maggie’s face. As she drifted back to sleep, Cali stayed awake, never taking her hand off Maggie.

  In the morning, when John William went to the basement to awaken the children, Cali begged him to let her help Maggie eat. “She’s going to die, John William.”

  Myles had instructed John William to make sure that Maggie lived. But he acted as if he had to consider Cali’s request. “What are you gonna do for me?” he asked dryly.

  “Anything you want! Just let me go in with her,” Cali pleaded.

  John William took Cali by the arm, unlocked Maggie’s kennel, and pushed Cali forward. He came back a few minutes later and threw down two bowls of oatmeal and two glasses of water. Cali rushed over and grabbed the water. She put Maggie’s head in her lap and got her to swallow small amounts of water. Then slowly, with the patience of a saint, she fed Maggie the oatmeal.

  It took several days for Maggie to regain her strength. Seeing the improvement, Max and Cali set out to understand what had happened to her.

  “Maggie, what did Myles do to you? You know, they kept you away from us for about three days,” Max offered from his kennel.

  “I can’t remember everything, Max. I know they took me up to the attic. I remember some of the stuff they did. There were a lot of men; all of them had sex with me. It wouldn’t end. Most of them hit me and…” Maggie’s voice trailed off at the memory.

  “And what, Mags?” Cali pressed.

  “And they brought me out to a barn in the middle of the night. First, they put chains on my hands and hung me by my wrists. After a long time, I couldn’t stand the pain anymore. I thought the chains were going to cut my hands off my arms. After a while, they hung me from my feet. They jabbed me with lit cigars. That’s where the burns are from,” Maggie explained, pointing to her hips and lower abdomen.

  “When I woke up, I wasn’t in the barn anymore,” Maggie continued. “I was in a small cage. I could barely move because it was so tiny.” Maggie began to shake. “After that, every time they had to pee, they would do it into the cage I was in. They said I was their toilet. The last thing I remember is them throwing a whole bunch of snakes in the cage with me. I couldn’t get them off me. I was freaking out. All the men were laughing at me. Some of the snakes bit me…and then I woke up here,” Maggie said. She sat on the dirt floor, grabbed fists full of hair on either side of her head, and rocked back and forth.

  Cali grabbed Maggie and held her tightly.

  “I’ll n-n-never do a-a-anything to try to g-g-g-get away a-a-again,” Maggie stuttered.

  Cali looked at Max across the room. Then, she turned and looked over at Shana, who was lying in a fetal position on the dirt floor of her kennel, scared that what had happened to Maggie would happen to her next.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  While Myles still saw Maggie regularly, he also opened her up to more clientele. He didn’t trust the girl any longer, and as a result, her days of being sold only to his high-paying perverts were over. On the main floor of the house, the original homeowners had built a study with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. The cartel converted the study into a waiting room for clients. For entertainment, they had erected a pole in the middle of the floor.

  When John William informed the three girls that they would dance and strip for the waiting clients, Maggie pursed her lips, and her eyes bulged as if she was about to go into a full-blown seizure. Shana, on the other hand, no longer cared what she had to do. She was constantly high. Shana took pills from John William and any of the clients who offered them to her. Drugs weren’t a problem, in the eyes of the cartel, if it meant the kids would be more desirable. That’s exactly what drugs did for Shana. She was willing to perform sexual acts without the slightest trace of resistance. She gave herself over to them completely.

  “Cali, I can’t dance,” Maggie confided, when John William left them alone in the basement. “What am I supposed to do?” She was always on edge now, fearing they would severely punish her again.

  “Well, I’m going to teach you how, so don’t worry about it. Besides, Maggie, you can do anything. Never forget that,” Cali assured her.

  Cali had loved gymnastics as a young girl. Before she was kidnapped, she’d dreamed of going to the Olympics and winning a gold medal. Those skills would come in handy now in her fucked-up life.

  While Maggie had recovered physically from the trauma of her punishment, she had lost her sense of independence and confidence. Cali wanted Maggie to regain her spirit, and she was determined to teach her how to dance. She would have done anything to help Maggie. She knew that the young girl was special. Cali didn’t know why or how, but she was certain that Maggie’s life would have meaning.

  Maggie was processing the new information. “If I can dance, does that mean I won’t be sold for sex anymore?”

  “No, baby. It means that you’ll be able to dance for the clients while they are waiting their turns. I’ll teach you how to dance and strip,” Cali explained.

  “Strip? I have to strip?” Maggie whined. She already hated what she was doing with strange men.

  “Really, Mags? What’s the difference? You have to strip when you’re alone with these assholes. It just means there’ll be more guys watching you, that’s all. Hopefully, the guys that are willing to sit around and watch won’t be as crazy as the assholes that blow in here, fuck us, and leave,” Cali said, trying to present the “bright” side.

  “OK. I guess so, Cali. What do you think, Max?” she asked, knowing he was listening to their conversation.

  “I think it might make things easier for you. Like Cali said, the guys who are willing to sit around and wait could be less violent,” Max told her.

  “I hate this,” Maggie declared, but she was resigned to doing what was expected of her. “But you swear you’ll show me everything you know? I don’t want to piss Myles off. I never want them to punish me again.”

  That same afternoon, John William took the three girls up to the second fl
oor. They all stood around the pole, looking at it as if aliens had just plunked it down in the middle of the floor. John William turned on the music. “Let’s go. I want to see what you got.”

  Cali quickly stepped up and began dancing with one hand on the pole. She used some of the moves from the gymnastics routine she had memorized for competitions in middle school. Then she put her left hand on the pole above her head and placed her right hand at waist height. In one swift movement, she swung her legs up, clamped the pole with her knees, and let her head hang.

  Maggie watched in awe as Cali manipulated her body in different ways. Cali was fluid and graceful. It all looked so easy. Cali’s feet were back on the floor, and she began to shimmy up the pole as if she were a monkey. As soon as her feet hit the floor a second time, John William stopped the music. “You are supposed to strip, you brainless tramp!”

  When John William turned the music back on, Cali began to strip, and when the song finished, he seemed somewhat satisfied with her performance. Then Cali walked over and put her hand on Maggie’s shoulder.

  Maggie flinched at her touch. She couldn’t imagine doing all the things that Cali had just done. Not without looking like a complete fool.

  Cali leaned in closer to Maggie. “Come on, Mags. It’ll be fine. I’m gonna show you everything.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Maggie awkwardly held onto the stripper pole and danced at the same time. She was embarrassed and doing everything in her power not to break down and cry. When she looked over at John William, his eyes narrowed and glittered with malicious amusement. Seeing this, she straightened her back and closed her eyes to hear the rhythm of the music. She allowed her hips to sway; she bent her knees and elegantly waved her arms, as if they were wings. Maggie hated John William, and deep inside she suspected that he knew that she was far smarter and wiser than he would ever be.