Why had she gone to the bathroom in the airport? Why hadn’t they made more of an effort to hide after they left instead of going to the most obvious place of escape? She lifted the bowl to her mouth while Rhodi undid the ties on her ankles. Her muscles felt bunched up and useless. She considered her chances of darting past Rhodi and out the door, but how far would she actually get before they dragged her back? Taured had walked into the airport with a gun in the pocket of his tan jacket and jabbed it into her mother’s side. That’s all her mother had imparted to her in the back seat before they were separated at the compound. Summer rested the bowl in her lap, letting the warmth seep into her thighs.

“Rhodi...my mother?”

“She’s in isolation, same as you.” Her tone was matter-of-fact, her touch rough; she didn’t look at Summer as she finished undoing the straps. Summer’s eyes followed her to the door, where she grabbed a few things off her cart and brought them back into the cell, setting them on the floor.

“Is she okay?”

Rhodi clearly wanted to say something. She puckered her lips, leaning against the doorframe, and craned her neck to see if anyone was coming.

“She’s taking the brunt of what y’all did. You know that, right?”

Summer stood up, the bowl of broth flipping off her lap. She stepped through the puddle to get to Rhodi, but she wasn’t fast enough. Rhodi was out the door, metal slamming in Summer’s face, blowing her hair back with its force. The steel had not touched her nose, yet it ached from the threat, anyway. Resting her forehead on the cold metal, she rolled her head from side to side. The sounds she made were sharp and high, a choked-off scream. She wept, folded over her own knees, face slimy with tears and saliva and snot. She dripped onto the floor as her wailing scraped over her throat again and again.

Rhodi had left her with another bottle of water, a dress and a blanket. Wrapping herself in the blanket and ignoring everything else, Summer sat facing the door, her back against the wall. Taured’s voice was the only sound in her head now, and she whimpered, remembering the last thing he’d said to her outside of his car before he had the sisters take her mother away: “I’m going to have fun with her punishment, Summertime.”