The Past

"What do you want to talk about?" Punk questioned, walking into the kitchen with Teresa. He didn't want to invite her into his home, with his children, but he was curious as to what she wanted to chat about.

"I want to talk to you about Saint Jude's." Teresa nodded, "I'm sure you're curious how someone who is in the whiskey business-"

"The drug business." Punk corrected.

"The whiskey business." Teresa said, "Can be involved with… running a mental institute." She said, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

Luckily enough, Punk had immediately cleared his laptop and paper work as soon as he walked into the kitchen, so she wouldn't see. It was important he still played dumb.

"Yeah, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a tad curious about that… not only that but… why you've put April there. Obviously you know people running it otherwise, you can't get her in there." Punk said.

"My associate, Linda, she runs the place there. She's… spiritual." Teresa nodded, "The idea is to… naturally help people who are sick, like April."

"April isn't sick." Punk spat, sitting down across from her at the table, "There's nothing wrong with April and you know that."

"Her records state otherwise. You're fooling yourself if you think she's wired up correctly." Teresa said.

"April… went through some stuff when she was younger, yeah, she'll be the first to admit to that, but she's fine now… she wants to be left alone." Punk shook his head, "It's obvious this is your idea of punishment for her. You don't want to help her." He said as Teresa laughed a little.

"This isn't just her punishment. This is yours." Teresa said, "They use different methods at Saint Jude's, to help the patients." She nodded.

"I'm not surprised." Punk said, "How does a place like that still get away with being run?"

"Because people are in it. And who is going to take away the aid from the mentally ill? Huh?" She asked him.

"It's very obvious it's not helping anyone. Those people there, they've probably had no other choice, or they've been taken there just like April, against their will." Punk said, "I know it's not just a mental institute. There's something going on."

"Oh, like what?" Teresa smiled.

"I don't know." Punk said truthfully, "Drugs maybe? It would fit." He said.

"I'm just trying to be a successful business woman. Like my husband would have wanted." Teresa smiled, "You remember my husband? The man you shot in his own home?" She questioned as Punk looked at her, "How do you think your family would feel if… if someone just came into your house and shot you?" She questioned, "How your wife would feel, and those… those beautiful little girls." She said.

"Your husband was a terrible human being, just like you." Punk said, "He got what he deserved. He kidnapped my wife, faked her death, took her from her baby and black mailed her to work for him. And you supported it too." He said.

"We treated April well." Teresa said as Punk shook his head, "We did. We protected her. We treated her like family-"

"Because you were using her and making her clean up your dirty work." He said.

"Which is all she is worth, I hate to tell you." Teresa said as Punk shook his head.

"She is worth so much more than you could ever imagine." Punk said, "And yet again you're trying to shrink her into thinking she's less than what she is. But the only problem is… she knows her worth now, which is bad news for you." He said, "You can't just push her around."

"I can whatever I like to her. She's in my house now." Teresa smiled, "Did she tell you about me and her?" She smirked as Punk folded his arms.

"Yes." Punk nodded, "I'm not surprised you took advantage of someone who was hurting. It fits your character." He said.

"No, she wanted it." Teresa smiled, "I'm a little jealous of you. She's beautiful." She nodded, "I just… I couldn't help myself."

"Well clearly." Punk nodded.

"Must have been difficult." Teresa said, "When she had that miscarriage." She nodded as Punk looked across at her.

"How do you know about that?" Punk shook his head.

"I have April's medical records." She smiled, "I know everything."

"That's… that's illegal." Punk said, "How the hell do you have her medical records?"

"So she can get proper, specific help at the institute, of course. I get all the patients records." Teresa said.

"And how do you do that? Who have you got working for you to get them?" Punk questioned.

"Like I would tell you." She said, "I bet you told her everything would be ok." She nodded as Punk glared at her, "Probably a blessing in disguise, for the baby I mean." She said, "I doubt April is very motherly."

"You don't know anything about her." Punk shook his head.

"I do, actually." Teresa nodded, "Maybe you don't." She said as Punk looked across at her, "Let me introduce you to April at 15." She said, reaching into her purse and bringing out a photograph as Punk looked on at it, "After giving birth to her first child."

"Have you definitely been here for a year?" AJ asked, sitting with Connie at one of the tables, pretending she was drawing a picture just so she could chat to her.

"Yeah." Connie nodded.

"But you're… you're like, maybe 7 or 8 months pregnant." AJ said, "Don't you understand what's happened here?" AJ questioned as Connie looked at her.

"Of course I do." Connie said, "But this place is better than being in a camp somewhere, so I'm not… I'm not fighting it." She said.

"Someone here… raped you." AJ whispered, "And if you can't remember then that means they probably drugged you." She said as Connie looked across at her, "This place is not safe for anyone. I was brought here for a punishment, that's how this place works."

"Yeah and there's no way out, so get used to it." Connie said.

"Do you want to give birth here or give birth in a hospital… with people who know what they're doing?" She questioned as Connie just shook her head.

"You're gonna get yourself killed. You can't defeat this place." Connie said.

"No, but I'll try." AJ said, "There's gotta be a reason why it's all girls. Linda said it's not good to mix boys with girls but… I know that's just a ridiculous cover up." AJ said, drawing little stick people around her blank piece of paper, "You said everyone here has been trafficked, didn't you?" She asked as Connie nodded.

"Everyone I've spoken to." Connie said as AJ looked at her.

"Why?" AJ whispered to herself, looking at Connie, noticing red marks on her wrists, "Where is your room?" AJ questioned.

"Uh… upstairs." Connie nodded as AJ looked at her.

"I didn't know they used upstairs." AJ said, "Do they give you anything before bed?" AJ questioned.

"Uh… no, I don't think so." Connie said.

"Do you hear anyone else go in and out of the rooms upstairs?" AJ questioned as Connie shook her head.

"Why do you have so many questions?" Connie asked, "We're here to get help."

"You're being brainwashed. All of you." AJ looked around with worry, standing up from the table.

"April, you're gonna get hurt." Connie warned as AJ just shook her head and walked off. She waited for the men in white coats to rotate, which they normally done according to her recent observation. She quickly slipped by them and got out of the sitting room, rushing down the dull corridor in order to hopefully find her way upstairs. She found the whole thing strange and she was starting to think that a certain something was going on, something that she just couldn't relive again.

She ran all the way down the long corridor, finally finding back stairs, opening up the door when she heard Linda from down the corridor.

"Get her now!" She exclaimed as two men began running down the corridor.

AJ quickly left the door and ran up the stairs, bursting through the door to the second floor as she looked on at all the doors with locks on them. She tried her best to look around for any other information but she was quickly grabbed by the two men who had ran after her.

She was dragged down the stairs back to the ground floor where she saw Linda standing waiting.

"You know you shouldn't be going upstairs, April." Linda said as the two men held AJ by the arms, "I told you how important it is to obey the rules here." She said as AJ looked at her, "You will receive a punishment." She nodded as AJ gulped, "Take her to my office."

"April is very tired today, very sore… she was out helping in the garden all day yesterday." Linda said, walking down the corridor with Punk the next morning as he looked around.

"I find that surprising." Punk said as Linda nodded.

"I suppose you would. She's still a little sedated, she might not make much sense but… if you demand to see her." She nodded, opening up AJ's room door as Punk walked in and closed it behind him.

He looked over and saw AJ fast asleep in the bed. He sighed to himself. He didn't know if he could really let her go through with much more of this. It had only been a few days and it was killing him to see her this way, but he knew how stubborn she could be.

He walked over, sitting down on the chair by the bed, tapping her lightly as she opened her eyes. She sat up slowly, reaching over and hugging him, with a little more desperation than the day before, like she really didn't want to let go of him.

"Are you ok?" Punk asked softly, rubbing her back as AJ winced lightly, pulling back and nodding.

"I'm fine." AJ nodded as Punk sighed.

"I think we should just get you out of here, Ape. It's not worth it." Punk said, "Teresa… she's gonna do what she wants to do regardless. We don't need this place. We can… we can find another way-"

"I need to help the people here." AJ said tiredly, "I can't leave them."

"We can do that without you being in here. It's not right." He sighed.

"I know someone here. Someone who I was in a camp with." She said, "And… and it's all girls here, all girls who have been trafficked." She said, "They pick them up from camps, Phil. They pick them up and they pretend they're gonna help… but I think… I think this is a camp." She nodded as Punk looked at her, "I do." She said as Punk nodded, cupping her cheeks.

"Then you're leaving this place." Punk said.

"No… no, I need to find out more, we could use this-"

"Do you know for sure?" Punk asked.

"Well… no, but… the girl I know, she's pregnant, but she's been here for a year. She says she can't remember anything about getting pregnant. The second floor is just rooms full of locks." She said, "And everyone here thinks they're being saved. I'm… I'm literally gonna go out of my mind." She shook her head as Punk sighed.

"April, I'm not letting you stay here." Punk said, "No way." He said.

"I'm fine. I can handle myself." AJ nodded, "I just need a couple more days to really… to really figure it out." She said as Punk shook his head.

"Teresa came to the house last night." He said as AJ looked at him.

"What? Why? Are the girls ok? Are they ok?" She asked him.

"Girls are fine." Punk assured her immediately, "She just came and she spoke to me." Punk said, "She too said that this place was to help people, naturally. I don't know what means but… I know it's shady. She also has all the people's medical records here. Which means… they're working with a doctor who can get them-"

"Yeah, I found that out too." AJ nodded, "You… that's your job, you gotta find out who is getting the records." AJ said.

"She also… gave me this." Punk said, taking the picture out of his pocket, handing her it as AJ looked at it, taking it slowly as she looked at her fifteen year old self cradling a baby in her arms, "What happened to the baby, April?" He asked.