Chapter Text
THE COLD steel of the container pressed against her back, and the acrid smell of sweat, blood, and fear made it hard to breathe. Inside, it was suffocating. Dark, unyielding, and endless. The only sound was the soft, broken sobbing of the other girls packed into the metal box with her.
There were too many of them.
They were like ghosts in the dark, too small and too terrified to make a sound unless they had to. Little bodies huddled together, each trying to hold onto whatever shred of humanity remained.
The girl- the one with the freckled nose, the wide, jade-green eyes, and the wild, messy brown hair- wasn't crying. Not anymore. She had forgotten what it was to cry. She had long stopped asking why she was here, or where she was going, or why no one seemed to care enough to help.
Her knees were pressed tightly to her chest, her arms wrapped around her legs like they could hold her together. One hand gripped a small, ragged brown bear that had somehow survived the journey, its fur matted with dirt and tears. The other hand, however, gripped something far more precious- something that made her breathe shallow, ragged breaths.
The girl's fingers clutched a smaller hand- another girl, no older than her, with the same wide eyes, the same brown hair, the same freckle-dusted nose. The same face.
They looked alike in every way that mattered: the shape of their faces, the set of their mouths, the green of their eyes. They were hers. This girl- this sister- was the one thing in the world that felt safe.
A tremor ran through the girl's arm, the smallest of movements, but the girl with the brown bear held on tighter.
They shared more than just a face. They shared a life. They shared a history that no one would ever see, no one would ever care to understand.
Then the door opened.
A screech of metal on metal, the sound of the lock breaking free. The light that poured in from the outside was blinding, too bright, too painful. And just like that, everything changed.
Screams erupted. The sharp, desperate cries of girls wrenched from their place in the dark and dragged into something worse. Something darker. A cacophony of sound, a burst of terror that felt like it could tear the world apart.
The girl's chest constricted. She didn't want to move. She didn't want to leave. She didn't want to be touched, dragged, pulled, screamed at. She didn't want anything to change.
But they didn't give her a choice.
Armed men swarmed into the container, dark figures dressed in black, their faces hidden by masks, their eyes cold and unfeeling. Hands grabbed at her, yanking her up, tearing her from the ground as she kicked and screamed, the brown bear falling to the floor.
She held onto her sister with everything she had.
The other girl's hand was slipping from hers, just a little, but it felt like the earth was cracking beneath her feet. She couldn't let go. She couldn't. Not yet.
"No!" The girl's voice cracked, raw and desperate, as she reached for the girl who had been her everything. "Please!"
Her sister's wide eyes locked onto hers, unblinking, filled with the same frantic terror. For just a moment, they were back in the world they understood. The one where the girl's hand would always be there to hold.
But then the man in the suit stepped forward.
He was tall, his face stone-cold, his salt-and-pepper hair falling just perfectly in place. His eyes locked onto hers, sharp, unreadable. His arms were crossed in front of him like he had all the time in the world. Like she didn't even matter.
And when the girl looked at him, she knew. The weight of it hit her like a blow to the chest.
He was the one who had done this. He was the one who had taken them- taken her- and put them here. And now he was watching as they ripped her apart.
Her breath caught in her throat, and she twisted to the side, trying to hold onto her sister, but the man's cold eyes bored into her like a threat, and in the same instant, she felt the hands of the guards tightening around her, forcing her away.
She kicked and screamed again, thrashing, trying to break free, but it was no use.
The gun was cold against the back of her neck.
The end of the gun made contact with her head, and a sharp, searing pain exploded in her head. Her vision blurred instantly, a hot metallic taste flooding her mouth, and her body went limp, crashing to the floor of the container.
Her body hit the ground with a sickening thud, the sound of it muffled by the ringing in her ears. The world around her swam. The screams, the chaos, the men shouting orders- it all felt far away, like it was happening to someone else.
Through the haze, she locked eyes with him one last time- the man in the suit. The one who had called himself her father.
He looked at her with nothing. Not an ounce of recognition. Not a flicker of care.
He wasn't her father. Not anymore.
And with that realization, everything went black.
The next thing she heard was a voice, loud and forceful, cutting through the darkness.
"FBI! Freeze!"
The words rang out like the sound of a gunshot.
But it didn't matter anymore.