Afterparty

She hammered violently on the door, tearing jolts of pain from her bloodied fists. There was no response. The bare cement walls were closing in around her. Searing heat radiated through the old tin roof, making every breath burn her parched mouth.

They would be back soon, pinning her, beating her, touching her. She had learned to shut the worst of it out, but it couldn't last forever.

She looked through the iron bars of the window at the miles of dusty plain. Nothing but bare earth and dead shrubs to the horizon. Even if she could get out, there would be no chance on foot.

She thought back to her friends, her family, old worries that seemed so pale, and wished she could bring them all back. She thought back to her last memories outside this room; a night, dark rooms with loud music, drinks. The room spinning. A hand on her arm, a car. Then black.

The old iron doors at the head of the corridor creaked open, and footsteps started towards her cell. Voices laughing and joking, a mocking mirror to her despair.

Screams rang from a cell across the hall. She was safe, for now.

Word Count = 200