Her Name

"What's your name?" It was a normal question. She shouldn't have hesitated, she should have known how to respond.

"What's your name?" The man who asked was a big man, with strong arms and a stomach that stuck out. He held something bright in his hands that made the badge on his chest shine in the darkness of the room.

"What's your name?" Others had started to enter her room now. It wasn't actually hers, but she liked to think it was since this was where he made her stay. They all made the dark room bright with their lights, each and every pointed at her. They also had other things in their hands, but those were black and metal, and they were pointed at the stairs leading upstairs instead.

"What's your name?" How was she supposed to respond? She didn't have a name here, only a body. A body that he used over and over again.

"What's your name?" Why do they keep asking the question? Can't they tell that he's going to come back, and when he does he'll hurt them all. He'll hurt her for being a bad girl and letting the strangers in.

"What's your name?" She really didn't want anyone to get hurt.

"What's your name?" She doesn't remember anything from before this place. Sometimes she'll remember odd things, like a stuffed bear, and sometimes she'll remember a woman's voice singing her to sleep. She doesn't believe those are her memories, how could she have ever had something so nice?

"What's your name?" He raised her since she was young. She didn't know who he was, but he was always there watching her. He doesn't let her leave her room, so she's never seen the sun at day or the moon at night. She doesn't have any windows in her room.

"What's your name?" They grab her, but she doesn't scream. They usher her out of her room, and down a hallway she's never seen before. Before long, she's stepping through a door into the brightest thing she's ever seen. Is this the outside world?

"What's your name?" She's getting farther and farther from the house she once knew. She's inside a car, and the man with the badge from earlier turns to look at her, a question asked.

"What's your name?" She doesn't answer him, too distracted from the noise she hears from the house. It was a scream, followed by a loud bang. She doesn't see him leave the house with the men with badges.

"What's your name?" They keep driving, getting farther and farther away, and they never stop asking their questions. There's more, of course there are, but only one question sticks out from their words.

"What's your name?" They take her to this place full of white, where nice people in nice clothes with nice smiles ask her lots of questions about her. They try to get her to answer them, but she doesn't. She doesn't ever answer. They tell her where she is-- a hospital-- and what happened to her. She doesn't believe their words. He would never steal her away from a home, would he?

"What's your name?" He was nice to her. Sometimes if she behaved he would let her have ice cream, a treat she favored dearly. He would only be mean if she was acting bad, and that wasn't his fault, was it?

"What's your name?" They try to contact her family. They try to use her dental records, whatever that is, and her fingerprints as well. She doesn't think it's possible for her to ever have had a family. How could she ever have had a family when he was the only one who she ever saw?

"What's your name?" Soon she's allowed to start walking the hospitals corridors. The one her room is in have a lot of decorations, and she wondered if maybe a child in this place got good news instead of the bad news that she kept receiving.

"What's your name?" It's not until a little girl asks her the cursed questions as shes roaming the hospital's halls that she thinks about answering. She's never responded so far, but the little girl looks like what she imagined she looked like so long ago, before he came into her life. She had bright eyes and innocence plastered all over her face.

"What's your name?" The little girl repeats her question.

"I don't remember. I don't think I've ever had a name."