I don’t answer. It doesn’t seem like he’s talking to me. Where am I?

Eventually, I move my eyes and look at his face. Mr. Jay glares at me like I’m the one who kept us in here for so long.

He scoffs. “You’re done.”

I don’t bother to hope. I know he doesn’t mean that I’m done here at the school. They’ll never let me out. They’ve made that clear. I’m too worthless and stupid to be let out of this place. I’ll never tell them exactly what they want to hear, so they’ll never send me anywhere else.

“Done?” I ask. My mouth feels tacky and dry.

He leans in close, his eyes nearly black with anger. “Done for the night. You’ve wasted enough of my time. Get up you fucking animal.”

I can’t. My stomach is in knots. My legs feel weak. In some faraway part of my brain, I’m still in the neighborhood. I’m still looking out at the girl through my front window. For once, it’s not a cage. She’s outside in the sunlight, and I can look at her as much as I want.

Mr. Jay’s fingers dig into my arm. He escorts me through the hall—dragging me, really, and muttering things under his breath.

We stop outside the staff bathroom. He bangs in through the door, leaving me in the hall.

When I first got here, I might have seen this as an opportunity to try to run away. Now I know there’s no point. I won’t get to the front doors. Even if I did, there’s miles of empty land between me and the nearest place I could go for help.

The teachers would find me.

I turn my head, and there she is.

For a few seconds, I think I’ve gone back into my daydream. Maybe my mind really has split off and I exist there now.

The girl sits in a chair with no desk in front of it, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes bright despite the lack of light in the hall or in the room.

That’s the room they take people to for punishment. When they want to hurt somebody so bad there’s no record of what they’ve done. That’s the room with no cameras.

I stare at her face, hungry for the sight of her.

Her dark hair is a mess on one side, like she hasn’t brushed it in days. Her skin is pale, even her lips. She doesn't look like she did. She’s sick now like me. Fuck. Everything twisted in knots inside of me get tighter. Not her.

I stare at her but she doesn’t look up. She doesn’t see me.

She’ll never see me.