HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

A white van.

Iris noticed the white van slowing down in front of them before Alice did.

‘I’m being paranoid.’ She told herself. And yet, she picked up her pace to get home. It was late, nearly eleven at night, and neither her dad nor aunt knew she went to the after-party of her eighth-grade graduation.

She sped past Alice, her heart pumping so loud she felt it in her ears. Alice, probably thinking it was a competition (because she thought everything was a competition), picked up her pace as well.

Neither of them, however, were fast enough for the four men that jumped out of the van, grabbing them and placing cloths over their mouths.

Neither of them were ready to be tied up and dragged across the gravel and concrete.

And neither of them were ready to spend years there.

Iris and Alice never liked each other. Or more accurately, Alice never liked Iris. The only time they ever interacted in a non-hostile way was when they played for the same team at school, and graduation.

But when they locked eyes as they bounced around in the van, they shared an unspoken agreement (at least, to Iris, they did); they were in this together.

For the next two years, they did everything together. They cried, laughed, reminisced.

In Iris’s eyes, they became close friends, bound by the constant torture and trauma they endured together. Separated only by the rusted chains that held them apart, yet they still found ways to be close.

Iris relished the time she could spend with Alice.

A small part of her had hoped for the day they could talk to each other with no animosity in the air. She hoped that when they finally escaped (because saying if was too negative), they would still be as close as she thought they were back then.

But that never happened. Iris never got her wish.

***

It was a normal day for them. Both had gotten requested by clients, and were unchained and pumped with anabolic steroids, so it would like they had been fed properly for the past two weeks. They were cleaned up and changed into new clothes.

Iris was taken back to the basement first. There was a problem, she could tell, because there was only one guard on duty instead of the usual three, and this guard was clearly drunk.

A proper meal was laid for her on the floor, courtesy of her last client. Her regulars liked to treat her to a hearty meal after having their way with her.

The first time a client paid for her meal, Iris was skeptical of the sweet aroma of beef coming from the plate.

She had pleaded, begged that he wouldn’t touch her. Streams of tears fell out of her eye every inch lower his hands went.

‘Is this his version of kindness?!’ She had thought bitterly as she rocked back and forth on the floor that day, attempting to ease the terrible ache between her legs.

By the end of that night, however, she ate it, making sure to share with Alice, as neither of them got enough food to last for the day.

Hours passed that day before Alice came back. She was in a grey dress, only one speck of dirt on it. Iris guessed that she had a nicer client, since she was cleaned and wearing new clothes. She knew Alice didn’t always have good clients like she did.

Some days Alice would come back in battered clothes, frizzy hair and a stench of cologne on her.

“Did you notice the guard on duty today reeks of alcohol?” Iris asked her, gulping down a piece of toast before giving her the other one.

“Of course, it’s only a drunk guard that would put us in the night chains during the day!” Alice laughed.

The night chains, as Iris and Alice called them, were chains that allowed them to sit or lay on the floor, and the day chains were the chains that forced them to stand through the long hours of the day.

Iris let out a small sigh of relief at Alice’s remark. She must’ve had a better client today if she could smile.

Neither of them talk about the things they see (or do) outside the basement.

A nonverbal agreement that if you didn’t say it, it didn’t happen.

Iris felt the usual thin sheet of drugs as she chewed the steak. She discovered it two weeks ago when she threw up the bread they gave her for breakfast. It was what they used to knock them unconscious. The sheet was so thin and transparent that one couldn’t see or notice it on their food unless they focused. It takes affect two minutes after digesting, and doesn’t dissolve from mere saliva.

She hid it on the roof of her mouth, making sure it was properly secured before speaking again.

She liked to save it for the night, since she couldn’t sleep properly.

“What do you think happened?”

Alice chewed more slower this time, taking a big sip out of the water bottle they gave her.

“Maybe someone escaped.”

Iris didn’t say anything. Not because she had no answer, but because something else caught her attention. Underneath Alice’s wrists, a small bit of orangish flakes were gathering.

‘Orange flakes… orange flakes?’

Iris didn’t remember much about her science class, but she knew that orange flakes weren’t normal around heaps of metal

She glanced at the chains holding Alice, and it all came rushing to her.

“Alice! Alice, your chains!” she whispered-yelled, trying not to draw attention to herself. Alice looked at her, confused.

“What about them?”

Iris couldn’t form coherent words.

‘We’re free! We’re free!’ Was all she could think about.

Alice, now understanding, pulled on the chains and gaped as they broke free with minimal effort. She rubbed her hands, her eyes looking behind to the back door.

“Don’t just stand there, help me out! Mine aren’t as rusty, but I bet the both of us combined could break them!”

But Iris noticed that Alice wasn’t paying attention.

She noticed how she stood up, eyes fixated on the door, only stopping her constant stare to glance at the guard.

She noticed how Alice dodged her feet, how she didn’t flinch when she called her name.

And she didn’t want to believe it.

Iris thought about the night they had been taken, how if she had trusted her instincts, she could’ve avoided all of it.

‘No, she’s coming back for me. She has too. She’s just looking for something to break the chains with. She must be looking for food, to regain her strength.’ She told herself, pushing down thoughts that said otherwise.

But Alice never came back.

She ran, and never once looked back.

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