Rachel Swenson woke up in the dark, sitting on a cold floor with one wrist handcuffed to what she guessed was a pipe. She held up a hand in front of her, but couldn’t see it. Then she listened. There was the sound of traffic, maybe a car horn, but it was distant, muffled. Closer, she could hear the drip of water. Final y, the scratch of a footstep. First one, fol owed by a second.
She felt along the ground for a weapon, but found nothing. So she bal ed her free hand into a fist and waited. The scratching stopped. She lifted her head. The breathing was quick and near. Something clicked, and light splashed onto her face. Then a hand covered her mouth. Another pinned her against the wal. She opened her eyes and saw a young black boy smiling back. Behind him, a second face surfaced. Not much older. He was smiling, too.
“You gonna scream, lady?” The first boy’s voice was soft, an edge glittering underneath.
“She’s al hooked up to the pipe.” The second wrenched Rachel’s shackled wrist. She winced, but didn’t cry. One of them slapped his hands against the wal s while the other hopped around in front of her. She could almost see the thoughts speeding between them, the frenzy building. Two kids, about to step into their adult lives.
The second came close again and crouched.
“Don’t,” she said. He tore her blouse to the waist and punched her hard on the jaw. She hit her head against the wal and slumped awkwardly to the floor.
The first was on top of her, tearing at the rest of her clothes. Then he was gone, thrown into a corner by his friend. The dominant one would go first. His pants were already half undone. He pul ed at his zipper and came closer. She was on her back, vision blurred in one eye and bleeding from the mouth.
“We gonna do what we do.” The kid pointed behind him. “Both of us gonna hit it. So just let it be.”
“No.” She didn’t know where that word came from or why. But she knew she was good with it. The boy cocked his head and wrinkled his nose. “That what you want?”
She shook her head and didn’t know what she meant. The boy disappeared for a moment. He returned holding a brick.
“You want to feel it or no?”
This time she opened her mouth to scream. The boy lifted his brick and the world went gray.