Her hand moved clumsily, and somehow, the man didn’t notice.
She squished them in her fist, like she used to hold candy she didn’t want to share; pressed them tight so they didn’t make a sound. Her thumb found the clasp, her nails dug into the hinge.
Somehow, like a miracle, despite her arms not behaving, it came unclipped.
She didn’t let herself feel victory, just tucked them into her palm like a treasure. She was vaguely aware of the man keying in the code and the door beeping.
The man dropped her onto the mattress with a grunt.
The door slammed and beeped again.
She lay there for a second. So sleepy.
No, there was no time.
Her vision spun, her limbs ached.
Then, she started to move like a puppet with strings knotted all wrong. Her legs moved in circles. Her shoulder dragged against the wall. The key scraped against the concrete wall. She fell forward, then leaned into the cardboard pressed up against the wall.
It crunched beneath her weight.
She clawed at it. Tore it back and bent low.
“Thane,” she rasped. Her tongue felt too thick. “Thane…”
“Dory?”
It took a few minutes for her cotton- wool mind to understand that he was talking to her…
Dorothy…
Faolan…
She blinked. It was like everything was underwater. The hole in the wall was just a blur of shadow.
“I have…the keys,” she slurred.
A stunned silence, followed by multiple voices urgently whispering.
“Dory…Dorothy, can you show me? Hold them up. One at a time.”
Her fingers weren’t working right. She fumbled twice before managing to lift the first one.
Too small.
The second. Too long.
The third…
“That one!” Thane hissed. “Wait…let me see again. Yes. That one. That’s it.”
Her grip trembled. She tried to unclasp it, but her nails slipped. Sweat slid down her temple as she bit her lip and tried again.
Finally, it slid free.
She dropped it.
The key hit the ground with aclink.Its twin stayed clipped, forgotten in her twitching fist.
