40

Malaya sat on the mattress with its soft blue bedspread and pulled the pillow against her chest. The walls of the bedroom were painted yellow and pretty lace curtains hung on the walls, but even here she didn’t feel safe.

Sleep should bring relief from the constant fear, but instead it brought with it its own terrifying dreams that jolted her awake in the middle of the night. At first she’d been afraid that she’d wake up in the small, windowless room on a dirty mat on the floor, but now a new fear had settled over her.

He’d promised he’d find her if she escaped.

“Malaya?”

She jumped at the sound of her name and pressed her body against the wall behind her as Detective Lambert entered the room.

Malaya let out a small breath of relief. “Detective Lambert.”

“It’s okay.” She sat down on the edge of the bed and smiled. “I just wanted to come by to see how you were doing.”

Malaya drew her legs up to her chest, not sure how to answer the question. This morning she’d woken up in a room with three other girls with similar stories to her own. Everyone told her she was supposed to feel happy and safe here. Instead she felt lost. Nothing could protect her from the evil lurking in the shadows.

She forced a smile. “Everyone here is nice. I have my own bed, a bathroom, and plenty to eat. But I don’t know how to not be afraid.”

“You’ve been through a lot, Malaya. The feelings you have are normal. It will take time, but the fear and the sadness will fade one day.”

Memories from the past few days swept over Malaya until she could barely breathe. It might get better, but things would never be the same.

“I thought you might want to know that we caught the man who kidnapped you. He’s not going to hurt any more girls.”

“What about the other girls that were with me on the boat? Did they find them?”

“Eight of the girls were working in a factory and picked up yesterday.”

“Only eight?” That wasn’t even half of the girls.

“We’re going to keep looking for the rest of them.”

Malaya squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “I can’t forget their faces, and knowing they’re still out there . . . People can do such terrible things.”

“I know.”

“And Teo. What will happen to him?” She looked up at the detective. He was the one person she didn’t want to leave behind.

Detective Lambert shook her head. “He’ll go live with someone else. A family who will take good care of him.”

“I hope so.”

“I wanted to give you something before you left.” Detective Lambert pulled something from her jacket pocket. “I thought you might want this picture. Tala had it with her when she died. I thought it might be something for you to remember her by.”

Malaya ran her thumb across the photo and felt a tear roll down her cheek. “We had the pictures taken a few days before we left for the United States. We thought we were the luckiest girls in the city that day.”

Detective Lambert’s brow rose. “You’re the other girl in the photo.”

Malaya looked up at her and nodded, her eyes still rimmed with tears. “We were cousins, but we grew up as best friends. It was her father, my uncle, who found out about the opportunity to send us to the States. He convinced my father that we would have a better life, and that maybe one day, our families could join us.”

“I’m so sorry, Malaya. For everything.” Detective Lambert reached out and squeezed her hand. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know how to forget what happened here. How to forget that she’s dead, or how I will tell my family that she isn’t coming home.”

Guilt mingled with joy from the knowledge that she was going home. She was one of the lucky ones who’d survived and would see her family again. Malaya stared at the photo, her stomach aching over the reality of her loss. If only Tala had been so lucky.