Cali and Max noticed a change in Maggie. She seemed a little happier and more settled than the rest of them. While they were both relieved when any of the children showed signs of joy, Maggie’s seemed to linger. They decided to find out what was going on with her. On a Saturday morning, after showers, Cali and Max went into Maggie’s cell.
“Hey, Mags,” Cali greeted. “What’s going on?”
Maggie looked up from the new book that Dr. Barnes had given to her and smiled. “Nothing. Just reading this book that Dr. Barnes gave me. It’s about a girl who gets her period,” she said, showing them the cover of Judy Blume’s book, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
A smile crept onto Cali’s face. She had read the same book right before she’d been kidnapped. While Cali reminisced, Max pursued the conversation. “So, you’ve been awfully upbeat lately. What’s going on with you? One of your clients give you more candy?” he asked, trying to get her to open up.
“Nope. I wish,” she stated simply, but her facial expression revealed there was something more.
“You look like you have a secret. We could all use a little sunshine, Maggie. Come on, what’s got you so happy?” Max asked in a pleading voice.
Maggie loved the other kids, even Shana. But Max and Cali had been her rocks. They were always there for her and never let her down. Still, she remembered the note that instructed: Don’t tell the others about me. Maggie felt a surge of guilt for holding out on her friends, the very people that she considered her family. She wanted to do what Sabrina had instructed, but she also wanted to share the news with the two people she trusted most.
Maggie’s voice dropped to barely a whisper. “Did any of the clients ever say things and tell you not to tell anyone?”
The little hairs on the back of Cali’s neck went stiff. “Like what kinds of things, Mags?” she asked gently.
“I don’t know. Like things that make you feel good?” Maggie hedged.
“Well, once I had a guy who told me he was going to get me out of here and bring me home so that I could be his son,” Max offered.
Cali chimed in, “Yeah, sure, there are always one or two people who promise to get you out. That just makes them feel more powerful. At first, you believe them and wait for them to make good on their promise. But months later, when you’re still here, you know it was all bullshit. They get you all hyped up, and when nothing changes, you feel totally deflated. Did someone promise to get you out of here, Mags?”
“No, nothing like that.” Maggie paused and filled her lungs with air as if she was getting ready to jump into a swimming pool. “That woman, Sabrina. She’s been giving me notes. One of them said not to tell any of you guys about them.”
Maggie looked at Max and Cali to see if they had a reaction. The looks on their faces told her that she had struck a nerve with them.
“It’s nothing bad. It’s just that her last note said, I know who you are,” Maggie told them. “If Sabrina knows who I am, then maybe she’ll send the police here, and we’ll get to go home,” she added, hoping the other two would agree.
Cali plopped on the cot next to Maggie. “Listen, Mags. First of all, it’s really dangerous for you to bring notes back here. Where are they?”
“I wrapped them in newspaper and put them in the toilet,” she admitted.
“OK, well, second, it would be really great if this Sabrina woman was for real, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up. All these people know we’ve been taken from our families. They’ll do and say whatever it takes to live out their own little fantasies,” Cali explained.
“Yeah,” Max added, “she might be turned on by making you think that she’s gonna save you. It’s always some fucked-up mind game with these pervs. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but you gotta remember that none of these assholes wants to help us. If we get out of here, we could identify them, and they’d go to prison.”
Maggie had never thought about any of the adults who had sex with kids going to prison. She accepted what Cali and Max were telling her—and even considered that there was a high likelihood that they were right. But she had a feeling about Sabrina. The other two weren’t in the room with Sabrina. They didn’t know that she was kind and looked at Maggie differently than any of the other clients had.
“But what if Sabrina is different? What if she’s really going to help us?” Maggie protested.
“Then we will all be home soon,” Cali assured her.
Max added, “Maggie, you sure are one special chick. I think you might just have enough hope for all of us. We just don’t want you to be disappointed, OK? If nothing changes, we don’t want you to be any sadder than you already are just being here. All right?”
“OK. But I still think that Sabrina is different. Just wait, you’ll see,” she told them with a child’s optimism.
Max and Cali then changed the subject and started asking Maggie about some of the books she had read. She read almost three books a week now, and the older teens found her ability to retain information amazing.
While they were chatting excitedly, none of them knew that Shana had eavesdropped on their entire conversation.