The Break of Dawn

Ganesh Deodat

How many days has it been since he locked me back here, Nayuta thought to herself as she started losing her mind. Her father, Ayananto, treated her as if she was just some trash he had found on the street. Looking at her, he felt nothing. She was his anyway. He was the one who took her as a baby off the street. Why wouldn’t it be fine to experiment on her? It’s only tiny drugs that won’t harm her, she’ll understand this is just for work. This is how we survive, how she has a roof over her head, all she has to do is be the lab rat, that should be fine, shouldn’t it? After all, she owes him her life. People would die to be in this gracious place, and what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her, right? The room was built in such a way that it seemed like a normal hotel room. A small bed, miniature television near it, with a small desk near the entrance. But there was always this sinister presence that she sensed around her. The eerie feeling never left her side the moment she was brought into this room, as if the place was an abandoned shelter with spirits flowing through the walls. On nights that she felt restless, she could almost see them piercing through the cracks of the floorboards, only in the corner of her eyes, but they would be gone in the blink of an eye. These small injections changed into what seemed to be tortuous blood work, the everlasting pain draining her ability to walk. Her father started to see her weakened state, and it amused him and became an addiction, to the point where he was dying for more. But she began to build

more resistance towards the drugs. In the small moments when she was sane, she wanted to start a rebellion against her father. Although the injections left her body weak, the thought of fighting back strengthened her mentally. She had been trapped in this room for so long and now all she could think about was escaping Ayananto. Her father loved to rant to her, thinking that she couldn’t understand him under the influence of drugs. In one of these rants he mentioned the sleeping pills. She began to notice a pattern: every night, around 12:22 AM, her father’s invasive snores would begin piercing her walls. And when her father mentioned something about the padlock keeping her from the outside world, she instantly made a mental note of it. She began thinking about how she would get out. Her room always had this sinister feel to it. The small television in the corner was her only way of gaining knowledge of the outside world. The room seemed like a modern hotel room, other than the prison-like door blocking her escape and the chair that she was forced to sit on while her father experimented on her. Being completely shut off since birth, she was getting to the point of just wanting to break out. The way I need to get out of this bullshit that he threw me in is definitely not talking. These shows nowadays ain’t showing the information I need. Jumping out the window is badass. If there’s any way I want to get out of this place, at least let it be somewhat admirable, or so she thought. The clock was ticking, as she looked up she saw the clock hit 12:43 AM. Tonight was the night. His snores took up all the surrounding space as she started working on the padlock with the pins she had stolen months ago. As the lock opened, she barged out, seeing the full moon right outside the window.

“So you’re finally awake, kiddo. I’m impressed you made it out of that hellhole. Although you didn’t get that far. Did you enjoy the view? I’m sure the night might have been a good one, if only you weren’t dealing with these types of drugs,” Ayananto rambled. “What the heck happened? Where am I? I thought I made it out!” As she tried to catch her words, her father started to fume. “You wanted to leave? This heaven I’ve made for you, and you just want to leave it? You’re so ungrateful. I should have left you in that alleyway with your mother. Maybe then you would be grateful for all these things I do for your spoiled ass,” Ayananto screamed as he looked her dead in the eyes. “Every damned person in this cruel world would be dying to be where you are, Nayuta. DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?” Nayuta finally caught her words. This fight won’t just be one-sided. What if he locks me back in there? She mustered up the courage to say, “Then get someone else. I can’t do this anymore.” She got up from the couch and punched him. In that punch, she channeled all of her rage and desire for freedom. Crimson-colored blood dripped down to the ground. The anger fueled her motivation to get her father to listen to her, to get her point across that she never wanted to be associated with this cruel man. A thought dawned on him: she was obviously resistant to the drugs and was now useless anyway. There were others before, there will be others after, he thinks to himself. “Fine then, just wait until you start crawling back, begging for me to let you back in, but that will never happen. You filthy pig, leeching off of what made you, you will die in those streets quicker than they did!”

It went better than it should have. He’s just letting me go? With all that torture, she could destroy him and he was just going to let it slide, and throw her out like an unused toy? He grabbed her by the back of her shirt and dragged her down the stairs to the back exit of the building. She was thrown into the back alleyway. It was where the lowest caste were banished. “Go, these are your people now. Join the people exactly like you, the trash that needs to be exterminated.” Then the man disappeared into the darkness. As Nayuta’s vision started to fade once more, she thought to herself you’re lucky old man . . . my body can only resist this last dose for so long . . . She pulled herself under a dumpster, hidden from view, as the last thoughts drifted from her mind and the light in her eyes faded. Who knows, maybe this wasn’t the right decision. After all, did being his lab rat mean it would be a safe haven? The night passed quickly. When she woke there was only one thing she took note of: the breaking of a new dawn.