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A bunch of the guests have begun raucously dancing in the center of the roo as it always does The band in the corner picks up theirdeeply and the violin whining like a banshee

The guests don’t look at h the trays are si around the room, their eyes trained not to see us because … well, ants the sight of a kidnapped nineteen year old ?

No, no, I i Leave that curvy one in the background She’s far too unlike us, with our pearls, our thin waists, and our shining actor’s teeth

I findme It would be so absurd, so out of the ordinary

I quickly kill the smile

I’ve been here for ato work out that s mistake

Sn that we’re human, after all, and that’s just another distraction they don’t need

Still, I consolemy feet to cramp—still, I haven’t been selected by any of the men yet

Most nights they co a woainst the wall and turn aze away and silently pray they leave me alone

And so far they have

But what happens when one of these sick bastards picks you?

I push the question down

I can’t think that far ahead

All I can think about is …

Another platter—another circuit

I don’t even feel like I’ my body anymore I switch to autopilot and let my mind abscond to a drea around but the creatures brave enough to come out in the cold

I iuitar on ers on the strings and hear her, sweeter I’ to i the sound of my voice

But now I long for it, the freedo, the freedom to dream

Another platter