The Numbers on Her Wrist

28

When we first arrived at Zoe's door- almost half an hour ago- the apartment building's hallways were completely abandoned and empty of people, of the traffic of chatter. I had pounded upon my best friend's door for at least a full two minutes before she awoke and got to the door to answer me; I am sure that a few of her neighbors were a little less than pleased with us during that time.

Now, Samuel shuffles around the large apartment with Tiana- Zoe's beautiful, little sister- who had been fighting nightmares throughout the darkness of the past weeks and had a particularly nasty one that had roused her form her bed not long after our arrival. The girl with beautiful eyes and skin speaks incessantly and inconsistently, as she jumps between her stories about school life, then to her dreams, then to her friends, then to losing her last baby tooth; she even opened her mouth in order to show Samuel where it fell out. I can barely concentrate on speaking with Zoe because I am so fascinated with how well Samuel interacts with Tiana and I can see how much she seems to admire him after only a short while with him.

Zoe places her hand over the top of mine, drawing me from my thoughts about the two, her bright eyes shining into mine despite the darkened room. Her stare roves over me carefully as I return to the conversation. "Are you alright, Amy?" I wait a beat before I nod once and run my hands over my uppers arm as the air conditioning turns on; it blasts cool air throughout the home- I wince slightly as my cool fingers touch a raw cut on my forearm and I wonder at how it got there. My friend grimaces as she sees my flinch, standing and grabbing her favorite blanket from off the couch to offer it to me. I graciously accept as her gaze wanders over me again, over the scrapes and bruises on my cheeks and knuckles.

"Those street fights will be the death of you," she says and she is only half joking.

I smile a little and take her hand, squeezing it only once and glancing over to where 598 observes the things in Zoe's home. Everything from DVDs, books, and games to pillows, chairs, and kitchen appliances is looked at- I am willing to bet that 598 has not seen or heard of more than half of the former items and the latter objects are either too fancy or too impractical for the Association to even think of buying.

I wait as Tiana drags Samuel away from us and back into her room, going on about how she has a doll-house that they should play with and explaining the new paint she bought with the money the Tooth Fairy gave her. Only after she is out of hearing range do I clear my throat to speak.

"So, about her..." I say quietly, gesturing towards the teen as she inspects an embroidered towel that hangs upon the refrigerator's door handle. Zoe shrugs lightly, scratching the back of her neck absentmindedly, and looks over her shoulder at the vulnerable girl who stands within her kitchen. She keeps her voice at the same level as mine, "She is from your orphanage then? 598- like 564?"

I nod grimly, knowing that I have not told her much more than the fact that I need to find a safe place for 598 to stay; I decided against my initial instinct to tell her of the horrors that I will be risking by aiding this girl a long time before we even got here- instead, I will only explain to her the dire circumstances that she and we are in.

"There isn't really a good time to save someone from there. The orphanage, the Association, has ways of convincing the poor children to stay; there are punishments put into place and ingrained into their minds. Even thinking of a plan to escape or try to buy someone's freedom could cause things that no one would want to even imagine; what happens after a failed attempt is cruel and gruesome and sick." I shake my head, "If they know we are helping, if they know that I am helping, the consequences are life-threatening for both 598 and myself." I almost spit out the next words, "There are only two options that this organization has come up with that they would do to cover as many tracks as possible before the authorities came."