Cory said, “Why’s it so damn dark down here?”

“Just hurry up and find the damn thing.”

“I’m trying.”

“It wasn’t never over there. It’s over there.”

“Where?”

“There.”

“Where?”

“I’m pointing right at it.”

“Unless you plan on pulling a flashlight from your asshole, I can’t see where the fuck you’re pointing, Cody.”

“You ain’t even close to it,” a woman said, “y’all moved it over here by the baptismal tub.”

“Didn’t nobody tell you to speak, bitch,” Cory said, “don’t say another word unless you want me shutting that mouth for you?”

A short silence fell over the room, and Cody said, “Get over here and help me pick him up.”

Cory marched across the basement and grabbed me by the ankles. They moved faster now that they knew where they were going. When we reached the box, they body-slammed me into the side of it. Cody let my legs go, said, “Let me get the keys.”

I didn’t lay there long before the lid of the box got tossed open, and they tried to shove me down inside.

Somebody grabbed me by the nuts and squeezed until I puked some and collapsed into the freezer box. The lid slapped shut, and I heard the lock click into place. Cody got the last word in when he said, “Goddamn, now I gotta wash my fucking hands.”

9.

Being crammed inside a freezer ain’t a damn bit comfortable. Moving around took all my effort, but after some work, I was able to get balled up and produce some warmth that way. I laid there and tried coming up with an idea of how I’d escape, but my options weren’t stepping forward from the lineup when asked. If I got a moment where I evened the numbers, it would be my best chance. I started thinking of how I could get in touch with Marshall when there was a knock on the side of the freezer.

“Can you hear me in there?” It was the woman. She was hard to hear through the freezer’s stainless-steel body and however many inches of styrofoam. I figured her to be afraid of somebody hearing her make a sound.

“Barely,” I said back. “The motor’s too loud.”

“Let me see if I can unplug it.” She started grunting and cussed herself for having short arms, and then the motor cut off. “Got it.”

“Maybe it won’t be so cold in here now.”

I was speaking more to myself than I was to her, but she said, “Might take an hour or so for it to warm up in there but hold tight.”

“Thanks.” I didn’t know what else to say to her besides that and got quiet. It was hard carrying on a conversation when you couldn’t see who you were talking to.

She asked, “They just get you, or they got Marshall too?”

Her asking personal questions made me realize the voice sounded familiar. Being inside the freezer muffled it too much for me to recognize it with any certainty. I asked, “Who am I talking to?”