I always knew I was different. Knew I lived a different sort of life. I just didn’t expect to end up here – like this.
I’d say I lost track of time, but I’m not sure I had it to begin with. It all happened so fast, one thing after another. I tried to think back, to see what I could have done differently. How I might have avoided this. Avoided him. I had been so, so naïve.
He had brought me here after the first place. All I knew was that the house was big and that it was remote. I never heard anything aside from a few birds, even from my room upstairs. And definitely nothing here in the cellar.
Tears again, stupid tears. I shivered. It was cold here, and damp. He was teaching me a lesson. I tucked my knees into my chest and pulled the worn blanket up over my body. He’d stripped me bare before bringing me down, before binding my hands together so tightly that my wrists were raw from the thick rope. I’d not been to the cellar before, he’d only threatened this. Only shown it to me once. And I had pushed and goaded. He had no right to keep me here – a captive. His captive.
“Let me out!” I screamed for the hundredth time, my voice hoarse, my throat too dry.
This time, though, there was an answer. The light went on in the outer room; it creeped in from beneath the door. I sat up, my heart in my throat, holding my breath as I watched that door, refusing to shrink away from it.
I heard his footsteps approach and swallowed the lump in my throat.
I was going to be punished and it was going to be bad. I knew it. He’d promised it and he always kept his promises.
