A tiny ray of light in the darkness.

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.”

–Emily Dickinson.

Leticia.

Hope? Hope was one of the most horrible words that existed after love. All her life she had hoped; for her mother to love her, for Maverick to love her, for him to find her beautiful, and now, for her to just die and let it end once and for all.

But if we always got what we wanted, would life be life? It was irritating, it was exasperating! For the love of everything loveable, was it so hard to let her go where she craved for once? Why could nothing ever go her way? Who told them she wanted to be rescued?

To give up like this was impossible. For the first time in her life, she was resolute about a particular decision.

Leticia fought to grip the hands that had caught hers just when she was rejoicing on slipping out to a fall. She tried to twist her hand in such a way that she could get her fingers beneath his palm. As she bent her fingers, it touched his wrist.

She dug into the skin of his wrist with all her might, dragging her fingers southward. Leticia did not care about getting him hurt at that point, all that mattered was to make sure he let go of her hand.

Her fingers sunk deep, and as she dragged, his skin tore. The familiar red liquid seeped out of the injury, flowing onto her palms. Her hand was wet, and it seemed to work as his grip on her loosened a bit. All she needed was a few inches deeper and she would be free.

The man was quite resolute. He was holding her tighter now. Gritting hard, Leticia tore into his skin with all the strength she could muster, even when her ribs were feeling the pressure.

She flung her hanging legs in an attempt to break free as she caused him to bleed further. He still refused to let her go. Who on earth was the boneheaded man? 

While she was thinking about the next thing to do, she felt the grip on her hands stronger, as though multiple people were holding her this time. It turned out she was right, as two other hands had clamped her wrist.

Then they began to pull. Leticia twisted and turned in their hands, shaking her head as she realised that they were succeeding in the torture. Several hands were pulling her up until she got to the window.

A scream escaped from her lips when she realised that she could not have her way once again.

They held her down as she thrashed on the floor like a fish that was thrown out of water. Leticia, eyes teary and dazed, heard as they screamed for a doctor to bring the injection.

"I don't even know the father... I don't..." Her jaw shook as the tears blurred her eyes, flowing out when she blinked. Nobody heard. Nobody listened as usual.

They were all concerned about saving her life. She was lifted from the wet floor and placed back on the bed. After that, they chained her hands to the bed, whatever they did next, Leticia did not care. Her reality glared her in the face, but there was no giving up. She really could not give up like this.

The days passed as her misery increased and each day that passed, Leticia woke with a start, drenched in tears. There was no comfort in the room and its deafening silence. The pain was too much to bear, and no matter how much she shut her eyes after waking up, wishing it was the last time she shut it, it was futile; her nightmares and the constant daylight reminded her of that.

Leticia had gotten used to seeing police officers outside her room trying to get in. At a point, they stopped coming. But even when they left, she still had another issue; surveillance of both human and camera every moment. It felt like she was a specimen hidden to watch the growth and she hated it.

Then there was Dana; she would always come to Leticia's room every day. Dana would ask questions even though she knew Leticia would stay mute, then she would tell Leticia that she was recovering very fast, or how her day went, or talk about her "boys" and how they were giving her a headache at their ages.

Somehow, Leticia had gotten used to the quiet, being in her head all day, and at the same time, she had gotten used to Dana's company. Leticia even found herself waiting for Dana the usual time she showed up.

There was also her bump. She could now see the swell through her hospital dress, although she was unable to touch it because of the shackles. Leticia would have made peace with the pregnancy, but there was something else going on in her mind; what would become of her if she lost this one again? Maybe, just maybe she decided to accept that it was not so bad, then one morning or in the middle of the night she would wake up soaked in a pool of blood—that turned out to be the babies'.

Leticia shuddered as the image came alive in her memories, blocking it out. She turned to check the time when the door creaked. It was her usual visitor.

"Hey, Letty!"

Leticia threw a weak glance at her, wondering what got her so excited this time around. The woman was tiny and bubbly, full of life and forever excited—for no particular reason.

Dana had started calling her "Letty" and it reminded Leticia of Michelle. She missed her best friend, but chances were that she would never see Michelle again.

Dana plopped on the elevated bed beside her still bearing a tooth-full smile. "I changed my hair colour." She bounced the hair with her hands as she spoke.

True. The colour was a light share of brown, not light enough to be called blonde but fainter than the normal brown colour.

"It's pretty, right? I think it suits me better than the red I used before."

Leticia only stared at her, but there was no denying the fact that Dana was gorgeous. Her large eyes carried a certain sparkle, and her skin glowed. Whatever it was that made this woman so happy, Leticia craved it. But even if she had it, she knew it would never last in her hands. Happiness was never hers to begin with so she could not blame it whenever it ran from her.

"You look good today, Letty. You're gaining back flesh."

Leticia shifted her gaze to her hand that was circled by the chain. No way. The hand was as thin as a skeleton's. It would comfortably slip out of a handcuff.

"I'm really being truthful here. You look way better than three weeks back for real. I guess it's because of the pregnancy." Dana shrugged.

By the way... It had been on Leticia's mind to ask how long in her pregnancy she was.

"Can I..."

"Oh my God! You just spoke!" Dana let out a dramatic gasp. "Sorry, you can go on. I was just, you know, taken aback."

Leticia hesitated before she continued. "How old... Are the babies?" She dropped her gaze when she saw the change of Dana's countenance. "Okay, just forget that I asked-"

"No, no. That's not it. I was just wondering why they had not informed you. Letty..." Dana moved closer, taking Leticia's chained hands into her warm grip. "You're like twelve weeks pregnant, that's three months."

Leticia's ears perked up. Three months? "I'm sorry, what month are we?"

"June." She glanced at her phone. "Eighteenth June."

Leticia let out a loud gasp. The wheels in her head spun, and her brain cells had begun the calculation — a calculation of the possibility that the father of her baby was someone else. She shook her head. She would not get her hopes up yet.

"How long have I been here? When was I found?"

"Whoa! You have a lot of questions today! Oh my God, I'm so happy to hear you speak over twenty words in less than twenty minutes. Oh back to your question. Philip and I were going to attend his parents' anniversary that day so that's like..." She squinted her eyes. "Yes, it was on the twenty-fifth of may. That was three weeks ago."

The first thing that hit Leticia was Maverick's birthday, and she tried to walk down her memory's lane. Maverick's birthday was on the twenty-third of March, and... she remembered! She slept with him that night and twice more then he travelled four days after his birthday.

Relief, so intense yet mild worked its way through Leticia's soul. Her eyes went glassy, tears filling them to a blur. The babies were Maverick's. She was not carrying the seed of monsters. Maybe Hope was not so horrible a feeling.

"Maverick?"

Leticia nodded, sniffing back the snot that was almost dripping down her nose. She moved to stop it with her hand but was restricted by the chain.

"I should call a nurse to take off these shackles now. They have overstayed their welcome." Dana lowered herself to the ground and shuffled into the slides, then walked out of the room.

Leticia, on the other hand, had not recovered from her discovery. A voice in her head had asked how she was so sure that it was Maverick. For a few moments, she went apprehensive, taking in the possibility that it was not him and she was only trying to give herself false hope. However, the direction of the circumstances built back her confidence. The point was simple; if the babies were for those monsters, then she would not be up to three months pregnant because it took a while in their custody before they started... That. Precisely after Hannah's death.

Hannah... Leticia had tried her best to suppress the memory,  the one that dominated her nightmares-

Her train of thoughts was cut off when Dana's voice reached her ears. Dana was asking the nurse to remove the chain, to which the nurse agreed.

In a few minutes, Leticia was feeling her free hands, and the first place it went was her stomach. She grazed the small ball on her abdomen in a circular motion, a sob breaking out on her lips.

Leticia grabbed the swell, as though it would be taken away from her and curled up into a ball as she cried. She knew she could never be happy, but there was something, something growing in her shrunken, dried up heart. That she had someone or rather some little people to protect; some little people who would love her without conditions.

There was also the big question; would they stay? Or would they leave like others?

It took me weeks just to complete this chapter because I didn't want to write rubbish, and I hope it melts your heart❣.

I know, I know, we are all happy that Leticia is finally free from the suffering... Or is she🤔 stay booked to know😁

Your girl, Caupcayke🥰

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