The Lost Children

The basement had been deserted for many years. Long twining cobwebs connected everything in a maze of dust. Boxes were scattered across the floor, some open and toppled on their side, others in tall stacks to the ceiling. The stillness of long disuse was shattered as a long, low shriek heralded the opening of the outer door. A tousled head peeked around the door, then disappeared. Two figures appeared a moment later, and scurried into the room, quickly shutting the door behind them.

They collapsed on the floor and sat looking at each other for the moment. Their panting gasps filled the room as they listened for any other sounds. When they heard nothing, they each tried to calm themselves. The taller of the two, a willowy young woman, stood and began to roam around the room, turning over boxes and picking up things that caught her attention. She continually pushed the long, grimy strands of hair from her dirt-streaked face. Her eyes darted from object to object as she moved around the room, looking for something she could not define. The other figure, also a girl, curled into a ball on the floor.

After a few moments, the girl relaxed, and rolled over to lay on the floor on her back. She looked over at the desperately anxious girl pacing around the room. Her whispered voice was like a shout in the quiet. “I don’t suppose you thought to bring any food with you, did you, Cat?”

Cat stopped her pacing and turned to look at her companion. “No, Tri. I was more concerned in just getting away. I take it that means you didn’t either.”

Tri sat up. “No.” She looked down in her lap. “Do you think anyone followed us?”

“Probably not. If so, they’d be here by now.”

“So now what?”

“We might as well find something else to keep ourselves occupied until we can leave.” She began moving around the room once more. “Maybe there’s something here we can use to keep our minds off our stomachs.” She reached one corner of the room and found a curtained alcove. She pulled aside the curtain and gasped.

“What?”

“Come look!”

Tri stood and hurried to her friend’s side. “What?”

“Books. Shelves and shelves of them!” Cat pulled the curtain fully open and the two girls stepped into the small space.

“Books? That’s what you were so excited about?”

“I used to adore books. My parents read to me all the time, and every time there were presents, there was at least one new book. Look at these. Mary Poppins; The Hobbit; The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe… so many of them. I haven’t seen this many books since…” Cat stopped, and looked at her companion. “Never mind. Let’s just say I love books.”

“To each his own, I suppose.” Tri moved to a stained mattress leaning against the wall, pulled it close to her friend, and lay down. “My thing was fashion. Clothes, jewelry, makeup, all of that. I loved being the most gorgeous girl in school. It made me feel great.”

“Did you really get a sense of accomplishment from concentrating on the way you looked every day?”

“I know, it seems kind of shallow, but I really love clothes—and makeup, and hairstyles, and shoes. All of that.” She glanced out the window, then turned to her friend. “Do you have a watch?”

“No. Why? Have a hot date?”

Laugh. “Hardly. I was just curious how long we’ll have to wait.”

“Well, we left the center about noon, and I’d say it took us an hour to get here, so we should have at least four more hours to go before nightfall.”

“So, what should we do?”

“We could read.”

“Never been big on reading. Why don’t you tell me about some of your favorite books, Cat? You never know. Maybe it’ll make me more curious about reading some.”

Cat sat down next to her friend. “I suppose I could. Any kind of story you would prefer to hear?”

“How about a love story, or a story about a very close family?”

Cat was silent for a moment. “Ever heard of Peter Pan?”

“Yeah. I saw the cartoon once when I was a kid.”

“I take it you never read the book?”

“The longest book I ever read on my own was Green Eggs and Ham.”

“You missed out on a lot. Books are a world in themselves.”

“I always thought of books as a waste of time, before, I mean…”

“For me, they were always the main source of entertainment. I never watched TV much.”

“Me either. I was always too busy going shopping or just hanging with friends.” The two were silent for a moment, then Tri looked at Cat once more. “So, are you going to tell a story?”

“I might as well. It’ll make time pass more rapidly.” She settled down next to her friend and was about to begin when a loud skittering sound came from outside. The girls froze, but when they saw the door begin to open, they jumped up and hid together in the book alcove, pulling the curtain shut behind them.

The door opened fully, and in stepped a teenaged boy. His curly brown hair was filthy and covered with a knit cap. He also wore a brown overcoat two sizes too big. He glanced up the stairs that led to the rest of the house, and seemed satisfied when that door appeared to be secured. He glanced around the room, and seeing no one, collapsed on the mattress the girls had been using. He pulled a sandwich out of his pocket and began to eat.

At the sight of food, the girls emerged from their hiding place. “Do you have any food you’re willing to share?” Tri asked.

On hearing her voice, the boy rose in a crouch and pulled a knife from his waistband. “Where the hell did you come from? There was no one here a second ago.”

“We were here, we just didn’t know who was coming in—two girls alone are rather vulnerable here,” Cat responded.

“Yeah, well, how do I know you aren’t gang-girls with cells who are about to call in your friends?” Cell phones were forbidden in The Town, but that didn’t stop people from bringing them in, and often it gave them an in into one of the gangs, rising them up the ranks as informants.

“Please, we could have done that before even coming out of hidin’,” Tri sneered at him.

“Maybe. Maybe you’ve done it already and are just waiting for them to show, so you’re distracting me from leaving.”

Cat tried to calm down both her companion and the boy. “Look, if this was a gangtrap, the gang would have been waiting here, and if we were gang-girls, we would never be far from our gang, so either way, the gang would be here already. I think we can all trust that there is little probability that any of us are gangers, okay?

“I suppose.”

“So, why don’t we just have a peace treaty until sunset? We won’t bother you after that.”

“Fine. Just stay out of my way.”

“Geez. You could at least share your food with us, punk. After all, we got here first.”

He glared at Tri, then mumbled something under his breath as he broke the sandwich into three pieces. “There,” he said, handing each girl a piece. “Now go away.”

Tri opened her mouth to retort, but Cat interceded and pulled her to the opposite end of the room. “Let’s sit down over here.” She found a couple of cushions and they sat down. The basement was quiet for a few moments while all three devoured their part of the sandwich.

Tri finished first, and glaring once across the room at the boy who had stolen the mattress she had found, she turned to Cat. “Do you ever wonder what your life would be like if you hadn’t been sent here?”

Cat sighed. “I’d be in college by now. I always wanted to go to the U, but now… You know, I always thought I would become a professor.” She smiled. “I loved going to the campus. It was always gorgeous there, and there were always people going from one class to the next, or studying on the lawn. I always imagined myself studying under one of those gorgeous old trees.” She grimaced. “Even if we do ever manage to get out of here, that will never happen.”

“I know what you mean. Here we’re trash, but out there we’d be on the run. Neither is exactly helpful if you want to be a college student. I always wanted to be a model, but the only pictures I’ll be on if I manage to get out there will be wanted posters.”

From across the room, the boy snorted. Tri turned on him. “What is your problem, punk?”

“The two of you whining over a future you’ll never have. You’ve been dumped by society—get used to it. I have.”

Cat was undaunted by his cocky attitude. “For someone so young, you’re awfully cynical,” she said.

“Yeah, well I’ve been here five years, and I haven’t found anything to hope for in that time that wasn’t taken from me.”

“Five years?” Tri exclaimed. “Damn. No wonder you’re such a jerk. I’ve only been here three!”

He smirked. “Wait another year. You’ll have stopped trying to care.”

“Just how long have you been alone?” Cat asked.

“What do you mean?” his face closed off, and he turned away from the girls.

“I’ve been here six years, and the only way I’ve made it so far without totally loosing it is by having someone to care about that I can trust—like Tri here. We watch each other’s backs and take care of each other.”

“I don’t need anyone!”

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“What happened to your friends?”

“They’re gone, okay? And they ain’t comin’ back. Now leave me alone!”

“You’re the one who started talking to us. Maybe we could help each other. It couldn’t hurt.”

“Right. Like it didn’t hurt when Jax joined the gangers, and it didn’t hurt later when he killed Rusty and left me for dead cause we didn’t join him. No thanks. I’d rather not let anyone have that much power over me again.”

“Come on,” Tri joined in. “At least tell us your name. I’m Tri and this is Cat.”

He thought about it for a few moments, then replied, “Chance.”

“Is that your name, or are you trying to tell us something?” Tri asked.

“It’s my name.”

“Oh. So what’s your idea of a dream, Chance, since you don’t approve of ours?”

He stood and pulled the mattress towards them. “I always imagine some uninhabited island or maybe a ranch in the middle of nowhere. Someplace where I don’t have to see other people. I’d have my music, a garden for food, and I’d go to town maybe once a month to get meat and other stuff I needed. Minimum contact. If I could work it so I’d never see another human again, I’d do it.”

“Wouldn’t you get lonely?” Tri asked.

“Are you kidding? After this? You really haven’t been here long.”

“But the rest of the world is not like this. This is just a place we’ve been put because of something we did. The rest of the world is much better,” Cat said.

“You’re fooling yourself. In the rest of the world, the kind of stuff that goes on here is just hidden better. You wanna know what I did to deserve to be dumped in here forever? I snuck into a concert. Horribly criminal, huh?”

“I’m sure it was just a mistake. Besides, they’ll probably let you out eventually.”

“Have you ever heard of anyone here being ‘let out?’”

“No, but that doesn’t mean…”

“Please! This place has been this way for at least ten years. And no one has ever been let out. And the reasons kids are being sent here get stupider each year.” He turned to Tri. “What were you sent here for?”

“Shoplifting.”

“Obviously a dangerous crime. What about you, Cat?”

At this, Cat turned away. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

“What? You can push me, but I’m not allowed to push back?”

Tri interceded. “Leave here alone, jerk. She was raped, okay? She fought back, and the guy died. She doesn’t like to talk about it.”

Chance was silent for a moment. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, that’s what my parents, the DA and my attorney all said. Zero tolerance policy, you know? Can’t let a killer go free, after all.” Tears streamed down her face. “I used to wish that it was all a big mistake, you know? That they’d come in to find me and that they’d tell me it hadn’t actually happened, that I could go home and everything would be normal. But really, nothing can ever be normal again.”

“I know the feeling. When I snuck into the concert, I didn’t even think about the consequences. It wasn’t an all-ages concert, either. When they told me I was going to be sent here, I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t understand why…”

“Me too. I wasn’t even trying to shoplift. I was at the mall with a bunch of friends, and we were at the makeup counter, and instead of putting the sample back, I dropped it in my purse. It was automatic response, ya know? An action I performed every day and didn’t think about, at least until they grabbed me as I was trying to leave.”

“What the hell gives them the right to so this to us?” Cat’s face was scarlet. “We all know that what happened was wrong, but why are we being punished in a way that punishes us for life? It’s not fair!”

“Damn. I’m really sorry. I’m the one who started this.”

“No you’re not,” Tri said. “You just brought it up. Everyone here has a similar thought or story. Most of us just try not to think about it.”

Cat took a deep breath. “She’s right, Chance. It’s not you, it’s this place. This is why I prefer to talk about other things. Sometimes it’s easier to dwell on the past.”

“Maybe. But dwelling on the past won’t change our future.”

“And how do we do that? We’re stuck here,” Tri said.

“I don’t know. But don’t we owe it to ourselves to try?”

Cat sighed. Even so, I don’t know that there’s any way to change anything.”

“You never know until you try.” Chance looked out one of the nearby basement windows. It was getting dark. “You want to know a secret?”

“What?” Tri asked.

“Every night I trek out to the fence and try to find a way out.”

“I’ve never heard of anyone escaping.”

“There’s always a first time. If I find one, do you guys want to go with me?”

The girls looked at each other a moment, then turned to Chance as one and answered, “Yes.”

“We could bring food,” Cat said.

“I know a couple of places to get other supplies we might need,” Tri said.

“That would be great. It’s almost night now. Why don’t we plan to meet here every other afternoon, and we can leave a stockpile here, just in case?”

“It’s a good idea,” Tri said.

“We’ll keep our fingers crossed. Maybe we could even make some kind of map, so we’ll know what’s been tried, and we can help you come up with other options.”

“That would be great.” Chance looked outside once more. “Time to go. I’ll see you both soon.” He stood, stretched, moved to the door, waved once, and was gone.

“Do you think it’ll work?” Tri asked.

“Who knows. Still, it never hurts to have someone else to depend on. And if he does find a way, we’re out of here. Come on, let’s see if we can find someplace to crash until they serve breakfast at the center.” They stood, and slipped quietly out the door.