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might eat itself, twisting and turning in an attempt to find something to digest. 
     
    I was so numb.  It was like the part of my brain that dealt with emotions had given up and run away.  No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to muster up the amount of fear I knew I should be feeling.  Even when I cried, it was like watching someone else.  The tears flowed, my head pounded, my nose ran, but I felt disconnected from it all.
     
    I had no idea how long I sat there.  There was no way to tell time besides the gradual changing of the light outside.
     
    As my hunger grew and the sugar in my blood faded away I lay down on the cot and drifted into sleep, one sentence of Jenny's repeating over and over in my head: 
     
    Welcome to hell.
     
     
     

Chapter 4 : Prisoner
     
    I woke with a start to the creaking of the door down the hall.  The light outside my window was dusky.  The light in the hall clicked on, and heavy footfalls approached.  The jingle of keys, and one of the other cell doors opened.  The click of something being slid across the floor.  The process was repeated with Jenny's cell.  I sat still and quiet as the lock on my door rattled, unable to reconcile the sight of Travis, cold and emotionless, outside my door with the smiling picture of the man I had gone on a date with.  The memory of that date was like recalling something from ages past...something completely unconnected with the present.
     
    The door opened slightly, and a tray was set down and slid just inside before the door was closed and locked once again.  I didn't move until the footsteps had retreated, until the metal door to freedom had closed behind the silent form of the man I had just recently thought might be my first boyfriend.
     
    Finally my hunger overcame my fear.  I picked up the tray and set it on the desk, on top of the other one from earlier.  On a paper plate lay a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cut into two triangles.  Another glass of orange juice. A boiled egg, peeled and wrapped in plastic.  A single pill that looked like a multivitamin, which I refused to take and flushed down the toilet instead.
     
    Even once the food was gone, I was still hungry.  I had thought I knew what real hunger meant before, but now I understood how wrong I had been.  This gnawing, twisting feeling, only slightly eased by the sandwich and egg, this was real hunger.  I could have sworn I could feel my body eating away at my fat reserves. 
     
    The orange juice left a strange taste in my mouth and as soon as it was gone, I went into the bathroom and drank handfuls of water to get rid of the oily sensation.  Once I was done I stood there, staring at myself in the mirror.  Already my hair looked duller, my cheeks a little hollow.  The face that stared back at me was that of a frightened girl that I barely recognized.
     
    “Jenny?”  I stood at the door and called.  “Jenny, are you there?”
     
    No movement, but a quiet voice answered.  “I'm here.”
     
    “Please, please tell me what's going on.”
     
    Jenny sighed.  “It's better if you don't know beforehand.  It only seems worse when you know what's coming.”
     
    “I'm scared.”  As I said it, I realized it was true.  A deep unease, threatening at any moment to transition to full-blown panic, was growing in my throat.  My heart felt weary from the strain of beating so fast for so long.
     
    “I know.”
     
    “Why is he doing this?”
     
    I couldn't see Jenny's face, but thin fingers appeared in the window of her door and gripped one of the bars.  “I don't know.  I just know that it's best not to fight.  He likes it when you fight.  But it will make things worse for you.”
     
    My breath caught in my throat, but I managed to strangle it from a scream back down to a sob.  “I want to go home.  My parents....”
     
    “It's best if you don't think about them.  It's best if you don't think at all.  Just do what you're told.  Focus on