Blue (30 page)

“Thank you,” Tabitha said, nodding.

Tabitha ran into the bathroom, opened up the paper bowl, and smelled it to be sure that it was what she thought it was. She pushed on the sides of the paper cup, poured the contents of the paper bowl into the sample cup, and closed the lid.

Tabitha walked out of her bathroom to see the nurse standing in her doorway, waiting to collect the sample. She handed it to her and the nurse turned and set it on Marguerite’s tray.

The nurse walked down the stairs, Marguerite following closely behind her, pushing her cart.

“You better eat your soup, young lady,” Marguerite whispered as she walked by Tabitha’s door, picking up the tray. She pushed the cart against the wall and made her way down the stairs.

C h a p t e r 
27

Anytha slowly opened her eyes, her cheek pressed against what felt like a cold, hard, linoleum floor. She picked up her head slowly as pain pounded against the inside of her skull, and she set her cheek back down against the floor to keep the room from spinning out of control. She closed her eyes and took some deep breaths, stretching out her arms. She straightened out her back and slowly sat up. She still had tape over her mouth, but her arms and legs had been untied. She reached up and pulled the wet tape off her face, and pulled a sopping wet sock out of her mouth. She closed her jaw slowly, massaging her facial muscles as they relaxed for the first time in what felt like over twenty-four hours. She reached up, placed her hand against her throbbing forehead, and let her fingers run across her scalp until she felt a large bump on the back of her head. Touching the knot only increased the throbbing in her skull, so she rested her face in her hands to try to ease the pulse.

The room was dark and cold and damp. Anytha sat perched up against a wall that seemed to be made of cinderblocks, and she looked to her right to see a tiny strip of blue light coming from the side of what must have been the hinges of the door. She carefully forced herself onto her hands and knees, and crawled over to the light, hoping to gain a better understanding of where she had found herself. As she crawled, her hand came across a piece of paper on the floor. She picked it up and brought it over to the tiny separation in the hinge of the door, where a flicker of light peeked through into the room. Though she could only read a word at a time, she knew it was a letter from Inali.

Don’t even dare make a sound. If you do, Tabitha is dead. And as you know, since everybody already thinks she is dead, it shouldn’t be a problem for anyone but you.

Anytha crumpled up the paper and felt around the doorway. The walls started only inches from each side of the door, so she knew that she must be in some type of closet. She crawled around the closet, stepping carefully with her hands and feet to inspect every inch of it. She ran her hand along where the floor met the wall, and in the corner of the room, her hand found a plastic container.

She let her fingers explore the bottle, and picking it up, she realized that it was a gallon jug. She wrapped her fingers around the cap and unscrewed it, then sniffed the liquid inside; it had no smell. She put her finger into the bottle and tasted what was on her finger, but there was no taste. She felt the thirst in her throat for the first time since she awoke, and she grabbed the jug by the handle, gulping down a few sips of the water, but being sure not to let herself over-indulge since she didn’t know how long she might be stuck in this room. She ran her hand again along the wall, and she found another plastic jug, but this one was almost empty. She unscrewed the cap and sniffed the liquid in this jug, then took a long drink of the water, until the jug was empty. This one would be for using the bathroom.

She ran her hands up and down the walls in the room, and found nothing but blank, cinderblock walls. She sat down in the corner and felt her head beginning to pound again. She felt her eyes beginning to droop, and she knew that Inali must have drugged her with something strong. She could barely stay awake, even with only the hard floor beneath her body. She lay down with her arm under her head and allowed herself to fall back asleep.

Anytha was awakened by the sound of shuffling feet on the other side of the door. She looked up to see that the light peeking through the hinges was brighter than it was before she had fallen asleep. She forced herself to sit up again and crawled over to the door, pressing her ear against the hinge where she saw the light peeking through. She tried desperately to hear what might be going on, hoping that she wouldn’t hear Inali’s voice on the other side.

“Put on a mask before she comes in,” Anytha heard a man’s voice say, and then she heard what sounded like a drawer being opened and closed.

“Okay. Send her in,” a woman’s voice said, and Anytha heard the sound of a door opening, a couple of footsteps, and a door closing again.

“Have a seat on the table, sweetie,” the woman said, and Anytha heard the sound of crinkling paper, like the sound of someone sitting on the sterile paper covering the patient table at a doctor’s office.

“I’m Nurse Mattie. I apologize for not being able to shake your hand,” the woman said, as Anytha heard the sound of flipping pages. “And you’re obviously Rebecca. How are you feeling?”

“I feel fine,” the voice of a young Rebecca answered.

“Well, that’s good to hear. Rebecca, I have some bad news to share with you. The urine test that you took this morning came back positive for a highly contagious virus that has been going around the compound. I’m very happy to hear that you aren’t feeling sick yet, and it may stay that way, but you may start feeling some symptoms like nausea, vomiting, cramping—things like that. In order for us to protect the rest of the girls and staff in the compound, we are going to have to put you in isolation until the virus has cleared your system. We will have someone bring you your meals into your room, and we will have Dr. Hance come visit you weekly to check on you until you are cleared. One of the nurses will come by your room daily. Feel free to tell her about any symptoms that you are having, including any abnormal bleeding or anything like that, okay?”

The girl must have nodded, because Anytha didn’t hear a response.

“We’re here for you, sweetie. Let us know if there is absolutely anything that you need,” the nurse said.

“How long does this usually last?” Rebecca asked.

“We’re not sure yet. Hopefully not too long,” the nurse replied. “Dr. Hance will escort you back to your room. Go ahead and put on this mask before you leave to be sure that you don’t infect anyone else.”

Anytha heard the door open, close, and open again.

“One more for today,” the man’s voice said, and the door clicked closed. A few seconds later, Anytha heard the door open again, then the sound of another set of footsteps, and the nurse telling this girl the same thing she had told the girl before her. The girl, who was named Elizabeth, started to cry, and the nurse comforted her from across the room. The doctor came back in and ushered the girl out.

Anytha pulled her ear away from the door as she heard the nurse turning on the water in a sink and washing her hands. The door opened again and closed.

“So. What’s the next step?” the nurse asked.

“Well, the test won’t even work until they’re around twelve weeks. So, until then, we just wait,” the man said.

“And then what?” the nurse asked.

“Well, I’m not sure yet. All I know is that we definitely don’t want them becoming infertile. If they’re negative, I’m sure we’ll just terminate.” the man said.

“What about the ones that come back positive?” the nurse asked.

“Well, we’ll just have to wait and see what Inali wants to do.” the man said.

“But they’re going to know that they’re pregnant before too long. I mean, we can’t keep it a secret forever,” the nurse said.

There was a knock at the door, and it opened again.

“Excuse me, Dr. Hance, we had another test come up positive today. You want me to send her in?” another woman’s voice asked.

“Wow. Three in one day. Great. Sure, bring her back,” the doctor said.

Anytha heard the sound of the door opening again and a short silence fell across the room.

“This is Tabitha,” the other woman’s voice said, and the door clicked closed. Anytha felt a scream well up from inside of her, but she held her tongue.

“Actually, Mattie, you can go. I’ll handle this one,” the doctor said. Anytha heard the door open and close again.

“Tabitha,” the doctor said, sounding flustered. “Inali will be very disappointed to hear about this, but I guess I should just tell you. Your urine has tested positive for a contagious parasite that has been going around the compound. You’ll have to be put into isolation until we can clear you of it.”

“Oh. Well that’s weird,” Tabitha said sarcastically. “I thought I was just pregnant.”

Anytha felt the sound of a hand forcefully slapping a cheek resonate through the room and into the closet, followed by a small whimper. Anytha felt her eyes twitch closed as she winced at the sound, swallowing her screams, and everything within her that wanted to pound on the door and call her sister’s name.

“Get out of my office,” the doctor said, and the door opened. “The nurse will escort you back to your room.”

Anytha heard the door close, and the room became silent. She knelt by the door for a long time, waiting with her ear pressed against the opening in the hinge and taking a break only to get a small drink of water from her jug. About half an hour passed, and all the shuffling in the building stopped. The light beside the hinge of the door grew dim again, as it was before she had fallen asleep. She again lay down in the corner with her arm under her head and tried to go to sleep.

Before she could really rest, she was startled to a seated position by the sound of someone opening the door in the room outside the closet, and the light beside the hinges grew brighter again. She heard the rustling of keys, and the sound of the doorknob of the closet being jostled and clicked open.

Inali opened the door, and light flooded into the closet as Anytha stared up at him. Anytha backed up against the wall and pushed her spine straight up against it, as Inali squatted down in the doorway and interwove his fingers together. He looked at the floor.

“I talked with your mother today,” Inali said calmly, lifting his gaze to meet hers. “She was devastated to hear that you told me you were so angry with her, that you didn’t think you would ever be able to speak with her again. She cried and cried,” Inali said, crouching down to look Anytha in the eye. “Sometimes I even surprise myself with how well I can fool people. She even offered me a little nugget of information that I wasn’t aware of, which is why I’m here tonight. Anytha, you didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend. Ari, is it?”

“No—no, please,” Anytha screamed frantically. “What did you do to him? Please—just don’t hurt him.”

“Nothing. Don’t be so dramatic, I would never hurt a perfectly innocent person,” Inali said, reaching out and stroking Anytha’s hair. “I just need you to break his heart for me?”

“What? Why?” Anytha asked, shaking.

“Because, your poor mommy won’t be surprised when she can’t get in touch with her estranged daughter—who is obviously avoiding all contact with her. I don’t want someone else trying to track you down right now either. So, I’m going to have you call him, and once I’m convinced that we’re calling the right number, we’re going to leave a message on his answering machine. And you’re going to break his heart. You better be convincing. Got it?” Inali asked, pulling a cell phone out of his pocket, along with a knife.

Anytha sat up, swallowing hard as she let the tears that had been pooling in her eyes dribble down in a rush, and she let out a loud, squeaking sob.

“Anytha, I need you to pull yourself together,” Inali said, sitting down and putting the blade of the knife away. “I’m not going to hurt you if you can break his heart. Get yourself together. Unless you want me to go track him down and throw him into this closet with you—where I promise, nobody will be able to find you.”

“What do you want me to say?” Anytha asked, stammering a bit and attempting to gather herself.

“Tell him that you’re sorry that you haven’t called in the last two days. Tell him that your mother insisted the only way she would consider keeping the baby is if you broke up with him and moved back to Pretoria. Tell him that you’re sorry it has to happen like this, but you have to do it,” Inali said. “Just convince him that it’s over. And you’re doing it to save your little brother or sister. Go ahead. Practice it a few times.”

Anytha ran through all the details a few times and practiced saying them without wavering. As she stared at the sharp blade in Inali’s hand her voice became surprisingly steady as she practiced what she would say aloud in front of Inali.

“Well, now you’re sounding plain cold. That’s not Anytha. The Anytha I know is warm, and sweet, and it would break her heart to break someone else’s heart. He’ll know right away it isn’t real,” Inali said, running the knife along her neck. “I think practicing is making you stiff. Let’s call him, shall we? Just remember, if you don’t convince him, or me, I will go and find him. So, honestly, you’re doing this because you love him. And you don’t want to see him get hurt. Isn’t that precious?”

Inali pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Anytha. She dialed Ari’s number and handed the phone back to Inali, who held it up to his ear. Anytha heard Ari’s usual answering machine message resonating into Inali’s ear, and she saw a smile spread across his face as he placed the phone up against her ear. She heard the beep.

“Ari, it’s Anytha,” she said, pausing to compose herself a bit and choking back a sob. “I’m so sorry that I have to do this, but my parents have given me no other choice. I just wanted to—first of all—tell you how sorry I am for not calling you the last couple of days. I’ve just been trying to figure out what I was going to do—how I could possibly go through with what they were asking me to do.”

Anytha sobbed aloud, and Inali flicked open the blade of the knife again.

“I’m sorry—I’m just—my mom told me that the only way that she will consider keeping the baby is if I move back to Pretoria. And my Dad won’t let me live with them unless I promise not to speak to you again,” Anytha said, feeling her fear well up in her throat, but forcing it back down and wiping the tears away from her eyes.

“I can’t believe that they are being so unreasonable, but I can’t risk them finding out that I have been talking to you before the baby is born. So, I guess—the only thing I can do—the only thing I can think to do, is to end this for now—us. I hope that you can forgive me. I hope that you don’t hate me. And I hope that maybe, one day, when this is all over, we might see each other again. I love you, Ari. Thank you for showing me the truth.”