I was hoping she was okay though. If she just stays quiet and listens. She doesn’t look like she could take what they do to people here.

I still can’t stop thinking about her and the look on her face. I already know better than to make a face like that, but this girl—this beautiful girl—she’s never seen anything like this before. She doesn’t know what this hell is. She has no idea.

By now, she’s not as innocent as she was when she first got here. They take that from you in the first hour. But she still has no idea how bad it can get. She might even think there’s a chance of getting out.

I flush the toilet, pull up my pants, and wander over to the sink. The staff member at the door sighs and rolls his eyes. If I take too long at the sink, he’ll drag me away by the arm.

I count in my head. Twenty seconds is all you’re allowed. I’m going to wash my hands every chance they give me. It’s one of the only things I can do to stay human, even though by this point there’s not much humanity left.

Like when we had to keep going… although we knew what was happening to her.

During that hour, I didn’t imagine the sounds I heard coming from the office down the hall—the crack of a belt, and anguished cries. I’ll hear those cries for the rest of my life. There’s no doubt in my mind.

It was that girl. That was her voice. She was still human, too. That was her problem.

We’re not allowed to be human here. Our parents send us here to become well-trained animals.

My thoughts fly back to her trying to help. Trying to save someone she doesn’t know. Hell we’re not even allowed to know each other’s names. Maybe from outside of here… the thought hits me.

Did she know him? Is that why she did something so reckless?

He didn’t seem to know her.

Either way, he’ll spend tonight being tortured in a room alone to teach him a lesson.

What lesson?

Don’t know. I don’t think there’s any lesson to be learned at all. They just want to break us so they can send us back to our parents as shells of ourselves. Shells are easier to deal with than a full person, I guess. It’s easier to control a person who doesn’t have any interest in living.

I don’t want to live either. I would rather die than be here.

But that girl’s eyes⁠—

The way she still cared. I don’t want them to take that away from her.