Prevail

Chapter 9

Henrietta woke from a slight doze. Every part of her was stiff and sore, especially her neck from where it was in a weird position.

Even in the low light she could make out the dark bruises across her skin. They had only hurt her when Crow called Nico and Haze, but that was probably days ago. She couldn't be sure.

The pain was one thing, but the betrayal was worse. She should have known better. She knew Nico and Haze weren't being honest about their work. She knew getting involved with them would only leave her burned, better yet, beaten.

It was always too good to be true. That's why she was alone and remained alone.

She wondered if they were even looking for her or if she was even worth the trouble. They had known each other a little over a month. That wasn't much of anything.

She did miss them though.

She also wondered if anyone at school or work was worried about her. She assumed not.

"Eat up," one of Crow's cronies yelled, throwing the metal tray of sludge-y food through the slot on the door. She could care less about what it was. It had been a long time since she had eaten. They had given her water occasionally, so at least they didn't want her dead yet, but she wasn't sure how long that would last.

Henrietta heard arguing outside of the door so she scooted closer, still picking at the food on her tray.

"They weren't supposed to get the feds involved," Crow growled. His loud footsteps indicated that he was moving further away.

"But boss, they gave up their whole business for the girl. We might have more leverage than we planned for," someone said.

She couldn't hear the rest of the conversation.

The tray her food was on was made of heavy metal. She tested the weight by resting it in the palm of her hand. She could get a good swing with this. But then what? They almost always locked the door behind them whenever they came into the space.

She decided to take her chances, hanging out by the door, waiting for someone to come in.

"It's been three days and we still haven't heard from your boyfriends, " the same man that was talking to Crow earlier said. He was one of the guys that had beat her up, from what she could remember anyway. "How about we take some more pictures for them? I think they like seeing you all bruised and bloody."

She listened to the jingle of his keys, hearing the key go into the lock.

As soon as he stepped into the door, Henrietta swung the tray as hard as she could at his head. There was a loud crack as the man fell to the ground. The tray had snapped in half, leaving some very sharp shards that she tucked away in her pocket.

The door was still unlocked. Henrietta poked her head out, seeing the hallway was empty.

She didn't know which way to go, so she chose left. She walked the hallway for what felt like forever, before she found a staircase that went up.

Her head spun. The whole room had to be spinning. It was so bright, and everything ached. Just as she took her first step up, she crumbled. She struggled to pull herself up, feeling one of her wounds on her side re-open. She could feel the blood running down her stomach.

She was so out of it, she didn't notice until she was grabbed from behind again.

"Let go of me," she protested.

Crow chuckled, "Feisty little bitch. You don't think we have cameras everywhere?"

"I didn't even do anything to you. No one is looking for me, so why don't you just let me go?"

He dug his fingers into her cut, and she cried out. He laughed again.

"Don't worry. If no one is coming for you, I'll just keep you to myself."

He threw her into her cell harshly.

"And from now on, you get no more food."

She pushed herself up into a sitting position. She learned a few things from that. The biggest thing was that there were cameras, which means they were always watching her.

The other thing was she was probably going to starve to death, but at least that would be better than being a toy for Crow.

She still had some shards from the tray too. At least if anyone tried to come bother her, she could stab them.

She couldn't believe it had only been four days. It felt like a lifetime. She was going to go crazy sitting alone in the dark.

Henrietta tried not to dwell on what Crow had said about Haze and Nico. She knew they had lied to her, she had known that the whole time. But she also knew Crow wasn't a good guy, and his perception of them was probably off. Either way, the supposed Macklin Brothers was the only way she imagined she would ever get out of here. She was doing her best to cling to that dying hope, no matter their lies.