Cora sat on the bench, clutching her stomach. It had been too long since she had last eaten, and she was beginning to fear that her stomach would cave in on itself. More than ever, she wished she had gone for the fruit at the stand. She kicked herself for being so bold to try and take something valuable.

She looked up when the heavy door clicked and swung open, unsure if it was worth trying to stand.

The woman had not been back to see her in a day and a half. The first evening, Cora had been ready for her, thinking over how she would confront her. Now, on the second evening, all Cora could think about was the burning hunger inside her.

“Hey.” An unfamiliar voice spoke into the dim room, and to Cora’s surprise, a boy rounded the corner. The smell that came with him made her mouth water. “I brought you something.” He approached the cell without hesitation, then stooped and slid something between the bars, setting it on the dirty floor. “It’s not much.”

Cora waited until he had backed away to snatch the crusty bread and scarf it down, satisfying her hungry stomach. When she had finished, she looked out to see the boy still standing there. “What do you want?” she asked, on guard now. People didn’t do nice things for others without a catch.

“I just thought you’d be hungry, that’s all,” the boy replied. He approached the cell again and sat down on the dirty floor. His dirty blonde hair looked like it hadn’t seen a comb in days, and his clothes looked equally dirty.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“My name’s Seth.” He smiled. “What’s yours.”

She crossed her arms, flinching when her shoulder resisted the movement, and kept her mouth shut.

“Ok, I can do the talking,” he said. His gaze drifted around the room. “I heard there was someone down here, and you never know with them…” He looked up as if he could see the room above through the ceiling. “So I snuck the bread from the kitchen and brought it down.” He paused, as if waiting for a response. If he wanted some sort of grand gesture of thanks, he was in the wrong place.

Cora kept her arms crossed, determined not to respond to this stranger.

Finally, with a sigh, he stood. “I’ll be back with more,” he said, heading to the door. With one last glance in her direction, he disappeared from the room, closing the door behind him.

With a huff, Cora paced the small space, then returned to the bench. Outside, the wind blew, rustling the leaves of what she assumed was a bush that grew in front of the little window. The movement made shadows dance on the cell floor. She rubbed her shoulder, thinking of where she would be now if she had chosen to take the fruit instead.

When the door swung open again, she startled out of her reverie. The man who had dragged her there stepped inside, a dark expression on his face. The dark suit and slicked back hair made him look even more menacing in the dim light. “Back up,” he growled, grabbing the door.

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Cora tensed. Was this her opportunity to get out? She took a step back and watched as he unlocked the door, eyes searching for a hole.

He opened the door just enough to slip an arm through and toss something in. It clattered on the floor, the sound echoing off the stone walls. Before it was still, the man had his arm back and was locking the door once again. “Here.”

She moved forward to see what had fallen only to find pieces of food scattered on the floor around a metal tray. She glowered at the man, despite the longing in her stomach. “What’s this?”

He sneered at her. “Boss doesn’t want you dying when she makes an example of you. She wants to send her message clear, to all you lousy rats.” He scoffed, then turned and left the room, slamming the heavy door behind him.

Lousy rats. That’s what everyone called them. She picked up small chunks of meat and bread, shoving them in her mouth. It wasn’t the first thing she had eaten off the dirty ground. She had lived on the streets as long as she could remember. No one cared about people like her.

She watched the shadows on the floor until they disappeared and darkness filled the space. At least I’m not outside. Not that outside was much worse than this…

The creek of the door caught her attention and she shot up, ready to defend herself.

“Hey. It’s me. Are you awake?” A lantern bobbed in, held by the boy who had visited earlier. He walked straight up to the bars of the cell and put the lantern down on the floor, sitting next to it.

The light glinted off the metal tray that lay upside down on the floor.

“What do you want?” she hissed, pacing.

“I wanted to come see you. Did you like the bread? I see they sent some more food down. I’m glad. No one should be left hungry no matter what they did.” He met her eyes. “What did you do?”

She remained silent. Why is he asking? What does he care? She began going over possible motives in her mind.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” he finally said, fiddling with the bottom of his shirt. “You still shouldn’t go hungry.”

She rolled her eyes. Lots of people go hungry.

“It’s really dark in here,” he said, looking up toward the window. “I guess that doesn’t do you much good, huh.”

“It’s not supposed to.” She crossed her arms again, ignoring the pain in her shoulder.

To her surprise, he smiled and stood so that he was eye level with her. “Are you going to tell me your name?”

She stared at him. “No.” It’s not like I’ll see him again, once I get out of here… one way or another. Another was sounding less appealing.

“Do you want a blanket?” he tried. When she did not answer, he asked another question. “Where are you from? Do you have any family around here?”

The questions brought up feelings she had worked to suppress. None of the “rats” had families, and they were from all over the city. “You ever heard of mind your own business?” she snapped.

The boy lifted a hand. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Are you so desperate for someone to talk to that you’ll go to a stranger in the basement?” she ground out. He could leave now. She was done dealing with him.

His expression fell and he turned to the side. “You’re right. I’m sorry I bothered you.” He turned to leave, then paused at the door, looking down.

Cora stared at him, trying to decipher his body language.

Then he looked up at her, a smile on his face once more. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He closed the door quietly, and Cora was left to her own thoughts once again. Never in her life had she met someone like him. In her experience, people were always the opposite. She sat on the bench and leaned her back against the damp wall. There was no way she was going to be able to sleep…