Chapter 2: The Detention Facility

It’s been two weeks since I was arrested. I don’t know what is going to happen to me, all I know is that my entire body aches, and I have never been more terrified in my life.

The Keeper is staring at me with disdain. She loathes me and has made it clear since day one. She takes a step forward, towards where I am and I instinctively flinch. I know how fond she is of using the whip she carries around her waist.

“Speak, Eel. Tell me what you know,” she says with a menacing look.

“I’m innocent, I don’t know anything…”

The slap she clouts on my face silences me. Tears well up but I blink them away. I don’t want to crumble in front of her, not again.

“If you were innocent, you wouldn’t be here, Eel!” She reminds me with hatred.

I nod. Not because I agree with her, I know I’m innocent, but because I know saying otherwise always leads to more pain. I try to control myself, but I can’t stop shaking. My legs feel weak, all of my body feels on the edge of collapsing. They don’t get that I have nothing to say to them. I’m innocent! I have no accomplices or any useful information to give to them. I fix my eyes on the only picture hanging from the wall in the interrogation room. Our president Laurent stares back at me with his confident and reassuring gaze. His picture is everywhere in Estermond, even inside interrogation rooms. I used to think he was the greatest man in all of Estermond, but now I’m not so sure anymore. I’m actually not even sure the Righteous Regime is as perfect as I thought, after all, they detained me confusing me for an Eel. That shouldn’t happen.

Suddenly, someone opens the door of the interrogation room. Another Keeper comes in.

“Is she talking?” She asks not even glancing at me.

The other Keeper shakes her head. “No, same old same old,” she replies.

“Then let’s take her back to her cell, there is no point in wasting more time with this Eel,” she suggests looking annoyed.

Fortunately, the other Keeper agrees and I am dragged back to my tiny stinky cell. The  Keeper shoves me inside and then she slams the heavy metal door. I kneel on the floor. Everything hurts, but at least it’s over for now. Unexpectedly, I feel a pang of sharp pain on my back, the Keepers are really fond of using their whips on me to try to get me to talk. Relieved that they are done with me for today, I let the air slowly out of my lungs.

I unexpectedly start to sob. My back, my feet, my face, my arms... everything aches. Pain has become a constant partner in the solitude of my cell. Involuntarily my mind takes me back to the day I was arrested, the feeling of having Lt. Jareth Jordan holding me against the pavement before he put me in handcuffs, my mother dying a few steps from us; everything is fresh in my mind. It was a nightmare from which I still can’t wake up. I try to remember my mom as she was when I was a little girl. I don’t have a lot of memories of her, I was a child when she abandoned us, and dad always refused to talk about her. Know I understand why, she was an Eel. That is why he got upset every time I asked him to tell me something about my mom.

A couple of hours go by as I try not to think of where I am or all the pain the Keepers have inflicted on me. I look the burnt on my wrist, the Keepers marked my prisoner number on my skin. 3312. My name used to be Aubrey Campbell, now I am prisoner 3312.

Someone opens the door to my cell, my whole body starts to shake, dreading what the Keepers are going to do to me now.

A Keeper walks in followed by a man with dark hair. I draw my breath in. Dad. A beam of hope shines on me. My dad is here, he surely is going to be able to clarify the situation. I’ve been waiting for him for days.

“How humiliating... yes, that used to be my daughter. This is such a shame!” He says to the Keeper standing next to him.

Used to be my daughter? His words feel like a dagger to the heart along with his cold stare. Is he disowning me? My own dad?!

“Dad…” I mutter with a trembling voice as I try to stand.

“Don’t move, Eel!” Shouts the Keeper as she takes her whip. I instinctively flinch as tears start to flow freely down my face. Then the Keeper turns her attention to my dad. “Prisoner 3312 was with your former Bearer during an Eel revolt in front of one of our ministries, apparently she turned your daughter against the Righteous Regime. Do you know when they got in touch? You were supposed to prevent that from happening, Mr. Campbell,” the Keepers says as she looks at him with disdain like he is to blame for what happened.

“I had no idea they were in touch, if I had known anything was going on, I would have denounced them right away,” my father replies, “I’ve always been faithful to the Righteous Regime and to our president Laurent.”

“I find that hard to believe. I have to say your position is extremely suspicious. First, your Bearer joins the Eels and now your daughter does the same... betrayal runs in your family.”

Terrified, my dad gazes at the Keepers practically trembling.

“I assure you that I am a Good Citizen,” he says with a trembling voice.

“And your daughter? What can you say of her?” The Keeper inquires.

“Nothing. This girl is nothing to me now. She is not my daughter. Execute her, she means nothing to my family,” he says before turning around.

I feel my heart breaking into a million pieces. My dad doesn’t consider me his daughter anymore. The pain is too much to bear. I call him desperately, but he doesn’t turn around. The Keeper steps out of the cell and closes the door behind her. I keep calling my dad repeatedly with no answers. He has already forgotten about me.

Hours go by, I can’t stop sobbing. The tortures have been hard to endure but losing the love of my family is excruciating. I wonder if my Grandma feels the same way.

“Here’s your food, prisoner 3312,” the raspy voice of the Keeper startles me.

She slides a food tray through a small window at the bottom of the door, although what they serve can barely be consider food. The food tray makes my small cell reek of fish. I can eat the fish right now and get rid of the stench, or stay lying on the dirty floor until I no longer notice the smell. Lately, I’ve been choosing the latter. What is the point of eating if I’m going to be executed soon anyway? That is what the Righteous Regime does to people who betray them, the Eels: they interrogate us to get information on other Eel traitors, and then we are executed so we don’t cause any more trouble. Even my dad just gave his consent for me to be executed.

I sigh in despair, there is nothing I can do to save my life now. Authorities consider me an Eel. They don’t believe that I am innocent, Lt. Jordan saw me during the riot next to an Eel holding her hand so he assumed I was an enemy of the Righteous Regime. I was so shocked I couldn't explain to him what really happened, that the Eel in question was my mother and that I haven’t seen her in almost 12 years. When I was capable of explaining myself, it was too late. I was already here at the Detention Facility, being interrogated by the sadistic Keepers who couldn’t care less about the truth. I think they just enjoy the sight of pain and nothing more.

I sometimes wonder what happened to Zack, he was across the street calling my name. He surely saw when Lt. Jordan detained me… did he try to help me? I have no way of knowing. Maybe he did and Lt. Jordan didn’t listen to him, or maybe he was too scared to talk. It’s all irrelevant now, I’ll probably never see Zack again. I’ll never be his girlfriend as I wanted, I’ll never know what it’s like to kiss him or even hold his hand while walking. I guess I’ll never know a lot of other things because I’m about to get executed at the age of 19. I know this because I know the Righteous Regime has no mercy with Eels and they are convinced I am one.

I still can’t believe this happened to me. I was always obedient, I always followed the rules, I always worked hard. I wanted to become a Shark, a member of the elite force that defends our nation from Eels, and instead, I ended up as an Eel myself. I had everything to succeed, my instructors always commented proudly that, not a lot of girls get the chance to become a Shark and I was one of them. Was. Now I’m rotting inside this stinky cell paying for a crime I didn’t commit, disowned by my father, and forgotten by the world. Everyone thinks I’m an Eel and soon I’ll be dead. At least I hope it will be soon, I’ve been here for too long and I don’t know how much longer I can take this suffering.

I fall asleep. My dreams are agitated and uneasy. My pain accompanies me even when I sleep. When I open my eyes again I let out a soft groan. Sleeping on the hard stone floor only makes my body ache even more. The hours start to go by as I wait for something to happen. The fish plate is still there. I eat some, as I expected, it tastes horrible.

All of a sudden, someone opens the cell door. I start to shake, I’m not ready for another round of torture or as they call it “interrogation”. What do they want? I have nothing to say to them, I’m innocent.

“Follow me,” she orders me.

So, this is it. The time for my execution has come. My heart sinks to my stomach. The Keeper steps out of the cell and gestures for me to do the same. I can hardly walk, I’m limping because my left foot hurts from the toenails they pulled out to force me to sign the confession admitting I was an Eel. She starts to walk down the grey stone hall, I can’t keep up her pace. She turns to see me and rolls her eyes when she notices how slow I’m moving. I really wish I could go faster, if this is the day I’m going to die I rather get it over with and put an end to my misery. At the end of the hallway, there is a large staircase we have to climb, it’s really hard for me to do it so the Keeper clasps my arm to force me to go faster. She is hurting me, but I’m too scared to complain. Once we reach the top of the stairs the Keeper drags me in front of a metal white door and knocks. A female voice from within tells us to go in. Fear washes all over me. My time has come.