Rebecca continued crying in the dark, balled up in the bathroom stall. She heard muffled voices from the other room, then yelling and banging of some sort. They had woken up, but she didn't move from her position. She didn't want to meet them, she didn't want to be here, and she most definitely didn't want to be separated from Una. The sudden crackling and popping noises scared Rebecca a bit, and she momentarily stopped crying when a voice sounded. Then the man who was talking said her name.
"Someone please go and fetch Miss Browning from the bathroom. It's through the wooden door." The voice sounded monotone, almost as if he were bored.
Her heart began beating rapidly.
They know my name. How did they know I was in the bathroom? Can they see me? As scared as she was, the feeling only intensified with the realization that she was being watched. She wanted to throw up again, but there was nothing left in her stomach to vomit out. Tears welled up in her eyes again, why did this have to happen to her? She'd heard stories of kids getting kidnapped, but she never actually thought-
Suddenly a glow filled the room as the bathroom door opened. Someone was coming in, probably to 'fetch her' like the voice had asked. She didn't want to be fetched. She wanted to go home, to curl up in her bed and snuggle with Una, to hug her parents and tell them she was so so sorry for going into the city alone. She knew they would be sick with worry right now, and the worst part was that they would have no idea where to start looking for her. At that thought, the girl felt another sob well up in her chest.
Will I ever be found?
"Hello?" a male voice echoed. She didn't want to be heard and tried to stay quiet, but the sadness was too much to hold back. The tears in her eyes fell from her lashes and she let out a sob, immediately closing her mouth afterwards. Her chin trembled when the footsteps slowly approached the stall door. She didn't want to be seen like this, it would be embarrassing. But she watched through the darkness as the door slowly opened.
"Hey are you in there? Are you okay?" he whispered. Her eyes had adjusted to the very dim lighting, and she saw a curly haired boy kneel down just outside of the doorway. She recognized him, from when she'd woken up, he was the boy that had been asleep in the bed right next to her's. Though she barely got much of a glance at the others before running through the door in an attempt to escape. That was when she found the bathroom, and the nausea hit her like a train.
"It's Miss Browning right?" he asked. His voice was soft and friendly. And knowing that someone was trying to be comforting made her want to cry even more.
Rebecca opened her mouth, then closed it. She squeezed her legs harder, hugging them closer to her chest as if it made her safer. "Yes," she managed to croak out. Her voice was wet and wispy, making it obvious how much she'd been crying. She heard a bang as another person busted into the room, and suddenly the bathroom lights flooded back on. The sudden brightness was blinding, and Rebecca squeezed her eyes shut. The newcomer busted into the connecting stall, and she heard a torrent of vomit splash into the toilet water. She made a face of disgust, know that was probably what she'd sounded like a few minutes ago. Blinking and squinting, Rebecca got onto her knees and found the flush lever, sending her own stomach fluids down the toilet drain. She then sat again, though this time against the other side of the stall.
"I'm okay," she lied to the boy next to her. She used her tank top to dry her face, but that did nothing to reduce the red puffiness that gave her weakness away. "Wh- where are we?" she whispered to him, staring at the floor to avoid eye contact. She folded her legs up to her chest again, putting her arms around her legs. She didn't want to move back into the main room, even though she knew she would have to eventually.