Truth or Lies? by A. Gomez (book club recommendations txt) 📗

grinning from ear to ear. “It was the funniest thing I ever heard. I can’t wait for the other girls to meet you.”

Other girls. I almost forgot. My heart sank to the bottommost, lowest and darkest recesses of my stomach. How was I going to help us all get out? And then it hit me! “Lilly! I can make you some special chocolate or whatever you want! You probably don’t have the ingredients I need for this special chocolate or dessert so Debbie will have to get Mr. Hong here sooner rather than later to deliver the ingredients! Right?”

Her eyes beamed. “Right!”

“Shhh, not so loud,” I placed my finger over my lips and glanced over at Betty. “From what I understand, Mr. Hong has been helping girls get out of here so I think with his help, we may have a fighting chance.”

Betty began to stir. I glanced at the clock, it was almost six-thirty. Wow! We’d been talking for over an hour. I got back to my bed and sat next to Betty and stroked her hair so she knew I was still there. Lilly got up and headed to the bathroom.

“We have to start getting up,” she said. “We have to be downstairs by seven-thirty, starting our chores for the day while some of us make breakfast. Then at breakfast, Miss Debbie goes over our appointments for the day.”

I rubbed my forehead, frowning. This all sounded like a boarding school or boot camp or something, with the small exception that the girls were being sold or rented for sex. I wished I could break a window, jump through it with Betty Lou into the neighbor’s yard and run as fast as we could away from there to find help. But I couldn’t even see one other house.

30

We walked down together. Betty and I were holding hands. A mass of girls of all shapes and sizes began to emerge from out of nowhere and pass us without giving us a second glance as we headed down with Lilly. Lilly was grinning. I supposed she was really excited for me to meet the rest of the girls. As we walked down, I noticed Inara and Elsa ahead of us. They looked healthy and well taken care of. As a matter of fact, all the girls did. But emotionally and mentally I was sure they were far from healthy or happy.

I was the only one still wearing pajamas. I had no other clothes. At least I still had my booties, although they had specks of blood on them. Not too bad though. I was sure that would change if I was supposed to have appointments like the rest. The thought was unnerving and made me sick to my stomach. I had to get us out of there one way or the other, even if it killed me. We were all in the kitchen and the other girls were receiving their daily chore instructions from Debbie. One by one, they went off to their assigned spots in the mansion. I saw no one going outdoors, however. Hmm, how curious. It was not as though they could escape. From the looks of the wall that surrounded the house, there was no possible way any of the girls could jump or scale that thing. My interest was piqued. There was a reason they didn’t want the girls outside. Perhaps Chang did have neighbors that were close enough to hear the girls cry for help.

Betty and I took a seat at the kitchen table, watching everyone scurry around. These girls looked so young; a few of them looked high school age. One tall, redheaded girl approached Debbie and was confused as to why she couldn’t cook breakfast today. Something about her mannerisms and her voice sounded familiar. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I couldn’t get a good look at her face. She kept shifting from foot to foot, not being able to stand still. I knew a girl like that… could it be…? I coughed to see if she’d turn to look at me, and she did.

“Caroline Fitzsimmons!” I gasped. I quickly scramble from my seat and took her in my arms, holding her in a tight embrace.

“Isabel Grace?” She sounded confused. “How? I don’t understand!”

“Oh, Caroline,” I breathed. “I heard you went missing. My mom just had coffee with your father and everyone is worried and scared for you. I never thought I would see you in a place like this.” My voice was shaky; I was trying to hold back the tears. “I never thought I would see you again! I’m so glad you’re not dead.”

“I wish I were,” she said, softly crying. “I’m so stupid, Isabel Grace.”

“Shh, hush now, Caroline. We’ll talk about this later.”

“Yous two know each other?” Debbie was shocked, her eyes wide.

“Yes, we do,” I answered. “We grew up together.”

“Well, that’s very nice but you’re going to have to let go of her. Yous two can’t be showing any kind of emotion like that. The Boss doesn’t like emotional girls.”

Caroline was having trouble composing herself. I didn’t let go of her and she didn’t let go of me.

“An,” Debbie called.

I could see a large Asian man approaching us. It was the man from the hospital. I started patting Caroline’s back telling her to let go but she wouldn’t or couldn’t. She was frozen. The man started reaching for her hair and was about to yank her out of my arms by her hair when I pushed her away, hard, sending her flying into the table. I didn’t wait to see what the man was going to do next, instead I throat-punched him, sending him staggering backwards. Everyone gasped and stopped what they were doing to stare at us. An was catching his breath sooner than I expected. He was about to lay one on