I curled around myself and stayed that way for hours, thin arms and legs tucked tight in the illusion of safety. The hope that none of this was real, that my parents would come and make it all go away was nearly gone.

But I was a good girl. I always ate all of my supper and never fought with my older brother.

Why?

What had I done to deserve this?

The cell door unlocked and opened. I didn’t move, I was to scared. Rough hands grabbed me and I heard a zipper.

“The doctors think the serum will work better if you’re a woman, pizda. So I volunteered to help…" he laughed…

I woke gasping, heart pounding. My hands shook but I forced myself to move, to eat, to get back to the tracks. As I walked, all I could think of was the dream. The first I’d had since leaving Camp 32. I had no memory of the room or voice, perhaps it was my imagination giving me ideas about what lay behind the darkness inside me.

But I couldn’t fool myself for long. I knew what I had seen.

It was a glimpse of the truth.