Looking around the room, Hannah could see that Emily wasn’t the only one who has disappeared. She could see her friend Jules opposite her in a state of panic, looking for her little brother Joey.

“JOEY?!” She shouts repeatedly in the hope that he would hear her and come out of his hiding place, which Jules hoped was the only explanation. Hannah runs over to her.

“Is Joey missing as well?”

Sniffling through the cries, Jules stops to give a confused look. “As well? What do you mean ‘as well’?”

Hannah answers “Emily’s also gone. What’s happening??”

They both survey the room, noticing others who are realising their siblings have also disappeared.

Jules begins to panic more now. “How could this have happened? The doors where locked, the lights were out. HOW?!”. She struggles to breath while Hannah tries to calm her down.

“I don’t know but I’m going to find out”.

She climbs up onto Jules’ top bunk bed and stands there. From up higher, she can see everyone and can hear all the cries. Hannah whistles so loud that the sound bounces off the walls. Everyone shuts up and turns to face her.

“We need to work together and need to know exactly who is missing. Anyone who has a missing sibling come ov…..”

A laugh? A deep, eerie laugh begins to holler over the Tannoy system.

“……. you silly children. You know what happens here and yet you STILL can’t get it into your puny little brains that attempting to achieve ANYTHING here is futile. I almost feel sorry for you. 6 years and you still have that small, tiny, miniscule droplet of hope left that you are able to survive this. To survive me. Your parents weren’t as stupid. They were able to see that giving you up was the best way for them to survive. Well, let’s see how far you are willing to go.”

You could hear a pin drop but mostly you could hear the fast-paced beatings of the hearts in every single person in Site C.

The children hugged.

Then the doors unlocked.

Nothing will be the same again.