Chapter Seventeen
Myra
One Week Later
I have officially lost my goddamn mind. I am so hungry that I would eat my leg just to make this feeling go away. I’ve access to running water at the sink, so I am just drinking an unreasonable amount of water. I’m trying not to over-hydrate, or I will just end up throwing up again.
There hasn’t been any movement in the house all week. Did they just die of a fucking heart attack up there? It doesn’t smell bad, so I don’t think anyone is rotting up there.
I was able to stretch far enough to pull the covering off the window up by the ceiling.
I can at least see if it’s daytime or nighttime now.
I’m desperate to find a way out of this shackle.
I don’t care if it’s just to kill myself; I need to be out of this fucking basement.
I was able to get a nail out of the shitty wooden floor down here, so I have been trying to break the lock on the shackle.
That is what I have been doing for hours now.
How I have the patience for this is beyond me, but it’s not like I have anything else to do.
I am on the brink of driving this nail into my eyeball when the shackle falls off my ankle.
I stare at it in disbelief, not fully understanding what I just did.
It finally clicks, and I jump up. “What the fuck do I do now?” I ask myself aloud.
I really need to stop talking to myself, or eventually I’m going to start answering too.
I go to the basement stairs and stand there, staring up at the door.
I didn’t think I would get this far, so I don’t know what to do now.
At least an hour has passed before I finally take the first step up the stairs.
It creaks under my weight, but I don’t stop.
I keep stepping up until I reach the top platform.
I laugh to myself when the door is unlocked.
This is the first time I’m seeing any part of this house, so I don’t know where I’m going.
Stepping out of the basement, I walked into a normal-looking kitchen.
This prompts me to go directly to the fridge.
There are several different kinds of beer, but in the bottom drawer is a pack of sliced cheese.
At least it’s the good kind—not that I’d care if it was the gross plastic cheese; I am so fucking hungry.
I grab the pack and rip it open so I can munch on it as I walk through the house.
I know I need to not eat super quickly, or I will definitely throw up.
I step into the living room, and once again, it looks normal.
Outside the window is a normal-looking neighborhood with houses and fences in front.
It’s a cute little neighborhood, but I wonder if they know fucking psychopaths have me tied up in the basement.
Well… they did. I’m in their living room now.
Before I know it, I have finished the cheese. I am definitely going to regret that later. I’m realizing that I am free and I’m wasting my fucking time, so I go to the front door. I slowly turn the knob and pull it open, but as soon as I see the outside world, an alarm goes off.
“Wonderful,” I say. Instead of stopping, I throw the door open and sprint out of the door.
I have no fucking idea where I am, so I just turn right and run.
I get no more than about six blocks before I hear a vehicle behind me.
I turn to run through someone’s neighborhood, but another one pulls up in front of me.
Well… it was a good try. Maybe they’ll kill me now.
“Shame. Shame, Pumpkin,” Walter says from behind me. “And here we had a present for you.”
“Why don’t you just do both of us a favor and shoot me in the fucking head or something?” I ask flatly as I turn to face him.
“It wouldn’t be as much fun for little Miss Rose. If you weren’t here to watch us break her in,” Alvin says from behind me.
“She does look just like you, Myra. Think she will scream the same as you did for Daddy?” Walter says, walking closer. He turns me to face Alvin, and I immediately tear up when I see her in the back of the van. She has tape over her mouth and around her wrists.
“Please let her go,” I say tearfully. “Please don’t hurt her. Please.”
“I’ll make you a deal, Pumpkin. As long as you stay alive, she stays alive.
If you try to run again, she will take your place with double the clients.
No one will touch her as long as you are alive and cooperating with us,” Walter says.
“So… You can go if you want. In fact, I’ll even give you a phone to call Dominic right now if you let us have her. ”
“No,” I snap. “You’re not hurting her. I won’t let you do this to her. I won’t let you try to fucking break her like you did me. You will both burn in fucking hell for this.”
“Go get in the van with her then,” Alvin says. “Cooperate, and no one touches her.”
I pull away from them and go straight to Rose. The moment I step into the van, I start pulling the tape off of her. “I’m so sorry, Rose. I’m so sorry. I swear to God, I won’t let them hurt you. I will get you out of this and back to your parents.”
“I am with my parent,” she says quietly. Walter slams the door shut before getting in the front with Alvin. The cab is separate from where we are, so as long as we talk quietly, we can still communicate.
“Rose, I…”
“I know. You know, Dominic says I’m stubborn like you.”
“You met Dominic?” I ask.
“Yeah. He is staying with Matt, Natalie, and Trish in the pool house in the backyard,” she says.
“Did you… Do I even have the right to scold you for what I think you just did?” I ask.
“Go ahead, but I would do it again,” she says.
“What did you do?” I ask. She takes my hand and places it on the inside of her left arm. I tilt my head slightly at her, confused, but then I understand. “Is that… That’s not birth control, is it?”
“Nope,” she grins. “Trish and I found out where you were, but no one really had a way to get to you. I suggested that I could use myself as bait, but Dominic all but grounded me for saying that.”
“Fuck, Rose. Why did you do this?” I ask.
“Truthfully?” she asks. “I wanted to meet you, and I was afraid you would end up killing yourself or they would kill you before I got the chance.”
“Rose, honey. You don’t owe me anything. I’m the one who abandoned you,” I say.
“Did you know that Paul is the fire chief that you surrendered me to?” she asks. “He said that he didn’t think that you knew it was them.”
“Feels like a lifetime ago.”
“Paul and Megan are great,” she says. “They’re going to be super pissed off at me, though. They won’t be angry for long because Trish is probably already tracking me, I’m sure.”
“What kind of genius brat spawn did I create?” I ask, making her smile again. “Rose, they are terrible people… Did they…”
“No. They are super disgusting, but no one touched me,” she says. “I’m sorry they have hurt you so much.”
“I… me too,” I say. “I wish you hadn’t used yourself as bait.”
“Eh… I… I found the landline here and called last week. I simply told him that I wanted my mom and I would do whatever it took to get her back. They are kind of dumb and drove straight to me. I managed to get out of the house while everyone was sleeping and took a bus a few cities over. The moment I was alone, they showed up. I wasn’t even actually restrained until about 3 miles ago. ”
“It’s been what… Nine weeks? There’s no point in my being free because I have nothing to go back to. You need to get away from them because you actually do have something to go back to,” I say.
“Nothing to go back to?” she asks. “They all miss you. A lot. They don’t smile. I don’t think Dominic actually sleeps. Oh… I guess there is one good thing that came out of this.”
“Oh?” I ask, confused.
“Dominic and Matt are definitely hooking up,” she says.
“How… Rose, you are fourteen years old,” I frown.
“With the internet,” she laughs. “Also, I was in public school until recently. I am set to graduate high school at 16 years old; I don’t think it’s out of the ordinary that I know what sex is.”
“That doesn’t prove that they haven’t moved on from me,” I say.
“Believe me, they haven’t,” she says. “When they talk about you, they light up. It’s literally the only time I see them smile.
They are constantly reminding themselves that they will find you and bring you home to them.
They have never even thought about giving up.
Dominic and Matt took a leave of absence and no longer take clients.
They focus all their energy on finding you.
Natalie works occasionally, and Trish works on her projects sporadically.
If they aren’t actively working on trying to find you, they are consoling each other.
I got sick of seeing everyone sad and decided to take the situation into my own hands.
They are all making it too complicated. It’s not really that hard.
I kind of understand why they didn’t want me to do this, but it’s almost guaranteed.
They would not be able to resist taking me because they are sick freaks.
I left a note for Trish, so I know she will be able to track me.
I’m very confident in the things that I make, so I know that the tracker works perfectly. ”
“You are so smart,” I say. “But maybe way too brave.”
“We just need to hang in there,” she says. “I know what I am getting myself into, and I will do it over and over again just to save you the way you saved me.”
The van stops, and we both shut up. When they open the door, Walter simply points to the ground in front of him to tell me to get out. I comply without hesitation, and he chuckles. “Take her down to the basement. No need for shackles, because you know the consequences.”
“Come on,” I say quietly to Rose. The girl is a damn good actor because she simply nods her head and walks. Something about the way she carries herself makes her seem scared, but she’s not. She might be a bit crazy, but she’s not scared.