I left, went out, put on my shoes, and crossed the yard to the barracks, wondering if I had heard someone crying and if it was Robin. What horrible thing was being done to her? Could it be worse than being in one of the coffins?
As soon as I entered the barn. I stopped with surprise.
On my cot was a mattress, a pillow, and a blanket, and an the blanket was a pair of blue coveralls, the same white, short-sleeve shirt Mindy and Gia wore, and a pair of panties. I was being rewarded. I was pleased, of course, but at the same time I felt a dark sense of foreboding and guilt as I took off the coarse sack dress and the oversize diaper.
"When Teal, Mindy. and Gia returned, they stopped and looked at me sitting on my cot and reading.
"Why did you get all that?" Teal asked. I shrugged. "It was just here when I returned."
Mindy smiled coolly, her eyes small. "Sure it was. It just grew there."
"Leave her alone," Gia snapped. Mindy turned with surprise. "You're no angel. You have no right to judge her or any of us."
"I didn't say that I did."
"What does all that mean?" Teal asked. "Why are you arguing?"
"Around here, the fewer questions you ask, the better off you are," Gia told her. "Get your work done or you'll soon be where your friend Robin is."
"Where is she?" I asked quickly. "I think I heard her crying when I was with Dr. Foreman before. Is that where the Ice Room is? In that house."
"You didn't hear her crying," Gia. insisted.
"I did."
She was quiet.
"If I didn't hear her crying, who did I hear crying?"
"Forget about it. You don't want to know," Gia told me.
"Is she in the Ice Room?"
Gia didn't reply. Instead, she turned to Teal and said. "If you want to do your friend same good, just keep your mouth shut."
"She's not my friend. We only met when we were brought here. We hardly know each other. I probably know just as much about you as I do her, or you." Teal said, nodding at Mindy, -or Phoebe."
"You're better off," Mindy said dryly, and went to her books. Gia did the same.
Teal walked slowly to her hard cot, her eyes on me. We were all like a bunch of alley cats, scratching and hissing at each other. I thought. It made me feel sick inside. If I followed Gia's advice. I would walk around with a head full of air. Teal looked like she was going to burst into tears again and have another tantrum. It wouldn't do anyone any good, least of all her.
"I can show you how to do the math assignment," I said. "Gia showed it to me earlier."
"I don't care. I'm not doing any of this." Teal said, and kicked her books.
Mindy and Gia looked up and then went back to their work. A deep sense of dread passed through me.
Where was Robin? I wondered, looking at the doorway. Why wouldn't Gia talk about her? What was happening to her?
What would happen to Teal? And then to me?
I worked until lights out. Teal went to sleep before, her back to me.
When I crawled under my blanket. I luxuriated in the softness of my mattress and pillow. My fatigue seemed to seep down through my legs and into the bed. I drifted into my first comfortable night's sleep in a long time, and I was so deeply asleep. I didn't hear anything around me. When I opened my eyes. I didn't resent the morning light as much as I had the day before. Mindy and Gia were just rising, too. I sat up and turned to Teal.
Cold shock began at the base of my stomach and shot up to my heart.
Her cot was empty. She was gone!