"I think so." Samantha thought back to the dreams she'd had since waking up in Eternity. "I know he did it to me."
"But why? Why is he doing this?"
"I wish I knew." Samantha looked over to where they'd left Miss Brigham. "Maybe we can find out." She sat Miss Brigham upright and shook the girl until her eyes opened. "I want you to promise me you won't scream when I take this gag off. If you do, something very bad will happen. Do you understand?"
Miss Brigham nodded, her eyes wide with fear. Samantha removed the gag from her mouth and Prudence gave her a share of their remaining water. "Oh, thank you. That gag tasted so dreadful. I don't think I shall ever get that taste out of my mouth. Perhaps now you can untie my hands and feet before the reverend finds out what you've done and you all get in terrible trouble for harming a poor girl only trying to do her job-"
Samantha slapped Miss Brigham across the face. She hated to do it, but they didn't have time to listen to the girl's ravings. "We're going to ask you some questions and you're going to answer them. If you don't-" Samantha raised her hand to illustrate her point. Miss Brigham flinched and nodded her understanding. "Good. Now, how long have you been here?"
"I woke up here this morning. The reverend was sitting by my bed. What a wonderful way to face your first day in a new place. He's so terribly handsome. I always thought ministers were old, grouchy people, but he's so handsome and nice. I can't wait until I marry him-" Samantha cut her off by raising a hand to strike again.
"If you got here this morning, then where were you before?"
"I'm not sure where I was before today, but I'm certain it was somewhere very far away and very unpleasant."
"What about your parents? Your family? Isn't someone out there looking for you?"
"I wish there were, but I'm afraid not. I'm an orphan, you see. My parents died when I was a very small girl. I can remember them a little bit. My mother had such lovely dark hair. Not as dark as yours, more of a brown, but I remember it was so shiny and soft. I used to wish I could sleep in her hair at night. What a wonderful bed that would make, so soft and warm and how comforting to have my mother right there next to me if I had a bad dream. My father was very plump and he had a long beard down to his waist, a red one like my hair. His whiskers tickled when he picked me up to kiss me. That's really all I can remember about them. I don't remember any brothers or sisters. How sad. I should really like to have a lot of brothers and sisters. When you have siblings you never have to worry about having someone to talk to because there's always someone around. Don't you think so?"