Gabbie wakes up, it’s completely dark around her. She’s not sure where she is, but she recognizes the smell. The smell of sewage, mixed with the fresh smell of wet grass and human sweat. She’s back in the cabin in the forest. She scans where she is with her hands, she’s on a wet concrete floor. She moves her hand to the right, a wall. The left, another wall. She moves forward and bumps into cold iron bars. She’s locked in a cage, she realizes. “Hello?”, she whispers, in hope someone is here to help her, but no-one replies. She pulls the iron bars in hope they’ll give in and she will be able to escape from here. The iron bars are wet and feel rusty. She tries to search for a lock, so she’ll be able to work out a plan on how to break it. on the complete right of the iron door, she feels the lock. “Damn it”, she mumbles to herself. It’s not a padlock, it won’t be easy to break. Suddenly, she hears footsteps coming down from, what sounds like, stairs. They walk up to her.

“Hello, who’s there?”, she shouts with a shaky voice. She hears keys tingling. The person walks up to the cave she’s locked into and they stick a key in the lock and turn them. The iron cage door unlocks and opens with a loud screaming sound, it hurts her ears. The person grabs her arm aggressively and drags her out of the cage. “Hey! Hey! What are you doing?!”, she shouts. They don’t reply, but suddenly they stop walking and let go of her arm. She’s in a different room by now, she recognizes it. She looks to her left, yes. She really is back in the cabin in the forest. There’s a window on the top end of the ceiling, or let’s just call it a hole in the foundation as there’s no actual window. They’re always connected to the outside world, including all the water which gets inside once it’s raining outside. The person who released her from the cage quickly walks up the stairs in the middle of the room. On top of the stairs, they open old wooden bulkhead doors, they get up and close the doors with a loud slam. These stairs, the doors… Gabbie remembers escaping from them before. She starts shaking and tears start falling down her cheeks.

She looks around her, everything still looks the same as when she ran away from this place. But, besides the little furniture, it’s completely empty. Where’s her family? What did they do to them? She looks down to her feet, the black heels she’s gotten from Carmén are all wet from standing in the pools of water in this basement. Whilst looking down, she spots something shiny in the water. She kneels down and grabs it with her hand. It’s a key. She observes the key better and gasps, it’s the key to their family home which her mom used to carry with her. It’s engraved with her name on the backside of the key. “Mom, I miss you…”, she whispers. Suddenly she hears a whispering voice coming from the hole in the foundation, it’s coming from outside. She slowly moves towards the hole and looks up, in hope to see something or someone, but no-one is to be seen. She listens carefully as the whispers continue. “Gabbie, Gabbie”, she hears. “Mom, is that you?” Gabbie says confused. The voice sounds exactly like her mother, but it’s impossible it’s actually her. She’s dead. Or is she? Did she fake her death and did she return to save her? And is her family already safe and she’s the last one to be saved? Gabbie smiles. She has found some hope again, hope this will all be over soon.

She looks up to the hole in the foundation again, but the hole is too high on the wall to get a clear view. She needs to get up higher to have a clearer view of who’s outside there, whispering her name. She turns around and rushes to the corner of the room where a small wooden table with two chairs is located. They used to sit here and have their food. She quickly grabs one of the chairs and places it in front of the hole in the foundation. She carefully places her left foot on the chair and pushes herself up. Quickly after, her right foot follows. The chair is wobbly and she almost falls immediately after placing her right foot on the chair. She tries hard to find her balance again. She peeks outside. All she sees are the trees of the forest. No-one to be seen. So who was whispering to her? Is she all imagining it? Is she getting delusional from all the trauma she has experienced? She slowly but quickly starts to doubt herself.

Suddenly two bare feet and parts of naked legs jump in front of the hole. Gabbie screams and almost falls from the chair. She can quickly hold on to the wall to keep her balance. The person in front of the hole stands still completely, like they’re a doll. “Hello?”, Gabbie carefully whispers. The person starts to kneel down. Gabbie is too afraid to watch but she forces herself to keep watching. She needs to know who this mystery whispering person is and how they can help her. The person slowly revealed their face. Gabbie is in shock, she screams and starts crying. “Mom? How? Help me!”, Gabbie screams. It’s too good to be true, her mother is still alive! Her mother stares her right in her eyes, no emotion on her face, she says not a single word. She just stares at her. “Mom! Mother! Help me! Where’s the rest?”, she shouts while remaining in full panic mode. It’s silent for seconds, which feels like forever to Gabbie. Suddenly, her mother pulls her head closer to the hole, like she’s about to say something. Gabbie pulls her head closer to the hole as well, she needs to know why she’s here and how she will be able to get out of here and run away with her to their freedom, together. Gabbie stares her mother right in the eyes now, she’s just a few inches away from her face. “Mom, what happened to your eyes?”, she asks, confused. Now she’s this close to her, she notices her pupils are huge, like she’s on drugs. But she is the most decent person in the world, never used any drugs or drank any alcohol in her entire life. Gabbie is confused and takes a step back. Suddenly, her mother starts screaming loudly. Gabbie jumps and the shock causes her to fall off of her chair. She falls onto the ground and hits her head hard. Everything around her turns black. Suddenly she hears a feminine, “Gabbie? Gabbie?!”