The Light

I could feel the chains tying me to the wall rattle as I moved. It was almost time to eat and I was getting ready for the food to be slung under the door, but that didn't happen this time. I heard the bolt sliding and felt my panic rising as I watched the door that hadn't opened in years slowly creak inch by inch. Once the door was done creaking I saw HIM step through; the Catcher was what the others had called him. I had been alone for so long I almost forgot about the others.. The other women and men who had sat in here with me, ate food with me, whined and groaned about the tightness of the chains with me. The Catcher had with him a little girl, tiny with blonde hair and green eyes, she seemed scared almost as if she didn't know why she were here. I smiled at her, or at least think I did, it's hard to be sure after so long alone. After he chained her up he brought in our food and left, sliding the bolt into place. I began to scarf down the hard bread and cold soup when she spoke to me, "Where are we?".

I tried to think of an answer and to form it into words, but all that I could get out was "holding.". She cocked her head at me and replied, "Do you not know how to speak?".

I thought about that for a moment, I hadn't had to speak out loud in so long I wasn't sure I could anymore and so my only answer was a shrug. After I had finished my meal the girl tried again to talk with me. "Where are you from?"

"Here."

"Have you never been outside of this room then?"

"Before."

"Before what?"

"Holding."

Her questions confused me, none of the others had ever asked these questions. I had only ever lived in one other room born to my original master by my mother and then sold to the market where the Catcher had kept me in this cell to be bought, but no one had wanted me; the others got new masters and I got to stay here.

"Don't you have a family?"

"Had a mother, before Master sold me."

"Sold? What do you mean sold?"

I waved my hand around the cell. "To the market, never left holding. No one wanted me."

The girl began to cry now. "What's a market, and what's a master?"

I looked at her lost... How could she not have a master? We all had master's unless we were in holding.

"Master's own us. Master's raise us. Master's teach us. Master's sell us. Who was your Master?"

"I have no Master, nor have I ever. I have a mother and father and two brothers. I have a home and a life. Why did this happen to me!"

"What's a home?"

"It's where you live with your family. Where you grow up and play. Where you eat and sleep. It's where you feel safe and happy."

I didn't understand a lot of the words she was saying, but just nodded anyway.

"How did you come to the market?"

"I was taken. I was just headed home after sneaking out to Lucy's party. It was only an hour after midnight, for heaven's sake I'm fifteen I was just being like everyone else."

I felt more confused by the moment as she spoke but again just nodded.

And then she said, "My name's Cas, what's yours?"

"Name?"

"What do people call you?"

"There is nothing to call me?"

What was a Cas? A new type of slave? We didn't have names like that before, how could so much change in just a few years alone.

"You mean you've never had a name before?"

I just shook my head, I was tired of trying to understand her nonsense.

2 Weeks Later

Cas as she insisted I call her was nice to have around, if you ignored some of the funny things she said. Like "My grandma told me to always do my best." What was a grandma? I couldn't tell you.

She began asking me other questions that I could answer though.

"Do we ever get released from these chains?"

"No"

"Where do you go to the bathroom at?"

I showed her the corner I used, she seemed uncomfortable but nodded.

"How long have you been here?"

"Since I was sold... At least 10 years."

"How can you tell time passing?"

"How many feedings I've received."

"Is there any way we could ever escape?"

"Escape is not allowed. Be good and he won't punish you."

"Have you ever been outside?"

"No, but I used to watch it rise outside while Master was asleep."

"It do you mean the sun?"

"If that's what it's called then yes."

"What if we never get to leave here?"

"Someone will want you. You are pretty."

"What about you?"

"I accept my fate."

"Don't you want to be free?"

"Nothing is free. That's what Master used to tell Mother."

"Why did he tell her that?"

"Because she wanted to be free."

"Do you know what free means?"

"To walk in the light."

One Month Later

Cas doesn't talk much anymore, now she just cries. The Catcher has come to get her a few times. I wonder if there are any Master's who would want such a noisy slave. I try to give her tips.

"Don't cry, no Master likes that."

"I don't care what they like."

The bolt began to slide open again. And the Catcher entered the cell slowly approaching his boots clicking across the floor. As he unhooked Cas from the wall and led her up the stairs. When she reentered the cell with the Catcher she seemed better than before.

"Has a Master finally chosen you?"

"What no!"

"Then why are you better?"

"Because I got something.". She whispered as the bolt slipped back into place and the Catcher returned upstairs.

"What?"

"A phone."

That confused me even more, I saw no wire nor plug in for a phone. Slaves weren't even allowed phones if I had ever been caught near the phone I would have been punished.

"Don't lie."

"I'm not.", she replied as she pulled out a little silver and flat object from her pocket and began to do something with it.

I could hear little tiny click noises coming from the contraption and went to my spot as I hid. I didn't want anything to do with the punishment this would bring.

AAt some point I fell asleep. But then there was a loud sound that I could hear all the way from upstairs... That was unusual. Then many sets of footsteps seemed to be running down the staircase and one reached the base of it and slid open the bolt. I looked up panicked unsure of what was happening. Then these funny looking people broke mine and Cas' chains and kept saying I was "safe". That same word Cas had used when talking of her "home". I didn't know what would be an appropriate response for this.

Next they led us up the steps and I could see the outside through an open door. I stopped right on the inside of it, making sure I didn't cross and just watching the light play across the outside. The funny person who had first opened the cell came over to me and said, "Don't you want to come outside with us?"

And so I stepped out into the light.