20

SUMMER

Friday, January 21st (Present)

Clover slapped her cheek hard, and the sound echoed through the room. Violet cried out in pain and held the side of her face as she fell to the floor with a thud. I couldn’t watch this anymore. I couldn’t stand by and do nothing like I had with the other girl, and if he killed me too, then that was fine. Maybe he would be doing me a favor anyway.

I reached out to grab another vase. It wouldn’t kill him, but that didn’t even matter. This was about standing up for what was right. My fingertips had barely grazed the vase when Poppy grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me backward.

“No,” she hissed in my ear. I struggled in her arms, but she had a tight grip on me. I can’t do this. My legs gave way and I collapsed to the floor. It was too much. I was tired to putting on a smile and playing happy families.

Violet stood up straight, trying to seem confident and unafraid, but her hands shook with fear and her eyes were too wide. I admired her bravery, though. I’d never seen anyone look as terrified as her but she faced him anyway.

He took one small but purposeful step forward and something flashed through his eyes—something pure evil. Before I could blink, he launched himself at Violet and started punching and kicking her continuously. With each blow, she screamed a deep, throaty scream. Her arms darted in front of her face and she curled up in the fetal position to protect herself.

I watched, again. Whenever this happened, I couldn’t tear my eyes off the scene even though it was the last thing in the world I wanted to see. And it never got any easier. Rose and Poppy still flinched and backed up, but they were used to it now. They didn’t look like they were going to pass out or break down.

The sound of Violet’s screams pierced right through me, rooting me to the spot. I gulped. My legs turned to jelly and I fell to the floor. Poppy dropped beside me and wrapped her arms around me. He was killing her. I wanted to help, but I couldn’t move, and Poppy’s arms held me tight.

Blood trickled from Violet’s nose down her chin. The blows to her body were harsh and brutal and every single one tore through me. I burst into tears at the sound her painful cries. Grabbing her hair, he pulled her up. She screamed in pain and gripped her chest. He sneered and punched her in the face. She stumbled back, slammed into the wall, and sunk to the floor.

She gagged and spat red-stained saliva on the floor. Clover jumped back and wiped his forehead, eyes wide and nose turned up in disgust. The blood on his hand turned his face a pale white and he turned and ran up the stairs. Poppy released me as soon as he closed the door. I ran to Violet. She was limp on the floor and covered in blood. Her matted hair was tainted red and clung to her face in clumps.

“Violet,” Rose whispered, gently placing her hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to be all right. We’ll get you cleaned up.” Would it matter? Surely he was going to come back for her soon enough. “Towels, Lily,” Rose ordered.

I jumped up and ran to the cupboard, eager to help in any way I could. I didn’t know a thing about first aid, but I knew we needed to stop Violet’s bleeding as soon as possible. Rose snatched one of the towels off me and pressed it against the cut on Violet’s head.

“Take the other side,” Rose ordered. Other side? I stepped over Violet and noticed what Rose was talking about. There was another deep cut on her head, almost exactly opposite to the other one. It was barely a centimeter long but blood flowed freely from it.

I sobbed, no longer being able to hold back my tears. “I’m sorry, Violet, I’m so sorry,” I whispered and pressed down hard on the towel. She whimpered and hissed in pain. As much as I wanted to pull away and stop hurting her, I knew I couldn’t. “Sorry.” We all knew doing this was pretty much a waste of time. When he came back down, he would kill her if she hadn’t already died, but we couldn’t leave her. We had to try.

***

Poppy knelt down beside me with a plastic bowl of water, cotton balls, and thick padded bandages. “We should get her to bed as soon as we’ve cleaned her up. Hang in there, Violet.” Poppy dipped a cotton ball into the water and very gently dabbed it around the cut Rose was tending.

“Ahh!” Violet cried out. “No, it stings,” she said, gasping to catch her breath.

“I know, and I’m sorry. We need to clean these, though. I promise it won’t take long, and I’ll be as gentle as I can.” Poppy brushed the cotton ball along the bottom of the cut. I grabbed Violet’s hand, and she squeezed it tight—it reminded me of a woman gripping hold of her birth partner’s hand. Blood seeped through the towel I had pressed on her cut with my other hand, staining my fingers red.

My chest felt like it was being squeezed. I was utterly terrified she would die. She was my only chance. Was this too bad? She could have internal injuries we couldn’t see and her head looked really bad. I could still hear the loud thud as her head smashed against the hard wall. What if something happened to her? If she died then I didn’t know what I would do. I should have tried to help her. Looking at her swollen and bloody face, I’d never felt so helpless before.

Poppy bandaged one cut and moved around to do the same with the one I was tending. I moved the towel and Poppy cleaned the cut. Rose stood awkwardly over Violet, holding the bandage up, ready to put it on as soon as Poppy was finished.

“Okay,” Rose said once we’d cleaned and bandaged Violet’s wounds. “Let’s get her in bed.” Rose and Poppy picked up either end of Violet’s body, and I supported her back.

Violet cried out in pain, and the sound echoing through the cellar made me flinch. She held her chest and breathed deeply. Broken ribs? “We’re nearly there,” I told her. We needed painkillers. If she had broken ribs as well as the cuts to her head, she was going to be in a lot of pain. He didn’t let us just have pain pills, though. That was controlled by him—he only allowed us two at a time.

I ran ahead and pulled the cover back on her bed, ready for her to get in. Rose and Poppy carefully laid her down. I covered her to her hips, not wanting to go higher and lay it on her ribs. “Am I going to die?” she whispered. Her breathing was labored, and it sounded like she was struggling to take every one.

Shaking my head, I perched on the side of her bed. “No, you’re not. You’re going to be fine. We’ll look after you.” That bastard wasn’t going to get his way. I would do everything I could to make sure she was okay. I wanted to make up for letting this happen. “Try and get some sleep.” If she were asleep, she wouldn’t feel pain.

Violet closed her eyes and continued breathing hard. I doubt she would sleep much, but at least she was getting some rest. Wiping my tears away, I took a deep breath to calm myself. What was going to happen now? He would be back eventually. Did he expect a body wrapped up in a black bag?

I gasped as I remembered. “We have painkillers!” When Poppy and Rose pretended I was ill, he had brought two down for me. Rushing to my bedside table, I grabbed them from the drawer and ran back. “Violet, take these!” Her eyes flicked open. She looked at the pills and opened her mouth, accepting them immediately. “Want water with them?” She shook her head. I couldn’t take them without water—it was gross and they stuck to my throat. Violet had to have been in a lot of pain.

“Just one, Lily. We’ll need to ration them,” Rose said. As much as I wanted to give her both, I knew Rose was right. We only had two and getting more wouldn’t be easy.

“Thanks,” Violet whispered once she’d swallowed the pill I popped in her mouth.

Rose stood up from the bed. “We’ll leave you to get some rest.” I shook my head, not wanting to leave her on her own. Rose shooed me with her hand and widened her eyes—she wanted to talk about something without Violet. I got up and followed them out.

“What?” I asked as Rose shut the bedroom door.

“We need to think of something for when he comes back. He won’t be happy with this outcome.” Violet surviving. The sick bastard! “I’ll speak with him and try saying Violet thought we were going to come to harm or something. I’m not sure yet.”

I sniffed and wiped my eyes again. I was just holding it together. All I wanted to do was curl up in a little ball and cry, but I couldn’t give up. I still had hope. “Will she die?”

Rose sighed. “I’m not sure. I truly hope not.”

Violet couldn’t die. I had only known her a few hours but down here that seemed like years. Everything down here seemed longer. She was the only one who was as desperate to get out as I was. I needed her.

***

My heart jumped into my throat as I heard the cellar door creaking open. I gripped Violet’s hand and closed my eyes, saying a silent plea to Clover to leave Violet alone.

Someone opening the bedroom door made me jump. I leaped up but then sagged in relief as Poppy stepped in and closed the door. She was by herself. So he was listening to what Rose had to say?

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Rose is speaking with him now.”

“Should we try and listen?”

Poppy shook her head. “No. If he came in and caught us, he wouldn’t like it.”

I clenched my jaw shut as the overwhelming urge to shout and scream at him flooded me. There were so many things I wanted to say to the bastard, but not one I could say without getting myself killed.

“How long do you think it’ll take her to convince him?”

Poppy shrugged. “If she can, it could take a while. He doesn’t change his mind often.” His sick, screwed-up mind. Something really shitty must have happened to him, but that wasn’t a good enough excuse to do what he was doing. I sat on my bed next to Poppy and we waited silently for Rose.

While we waited, I thought of so many things I would be willing to do if he just left her alone. I would never complain about being down here again. I would never again shout at Poppy or Rose for calling me Lily. I would never try to think of ways to hurt him.

I looked over at Poppy as we heard the cellar door open and close again. I didn’t want to get my hopes up but he hadn’t come for her—that must be good. Rose opened the door and smiled. “It’s all right.”

“What?” I asked, my eyes wide in shock. He wasn’t coming back for her? I hoped but never expected it to happen.

Rose nodded and sat down on Violet’s bed. “I explained that she was scared. Said she thought he was going to kill all of us and was just trying to protect us. He mumbled incoherently for about ten minutes. I couldn’t understand a word of what he was saying.” She stopped and frowned. “It was odd…and frightening.” I gulped. Rose being frightened was frightening. “Eventually, though, I managed to convince him that she didn’t know what she was doing. She hadn’t understood that we’re a family.” I clenched my jaw. We are not a family.

“So he’s going to help her?” Poppy asked. Her eyes were wide with surprise.

Rose bit her lip as she searched for the answer. “He’s agreed to letting us help her. He won’t be bringing any medication down for her as punishment.” I sat frozen. He was going to leave her in pain. I felt the air leave my lungs as if I had been punched in the stomach. He wasn’t being merciful—he was being vengeful. She had done something he didn’t like, and he was making her suffer for it. My hate for him consumed me. I gritted my teeth. My blood boiled. I wanted to kill him. I wanted him to die in the way he had killed so many girls.

“Okay.” Poppy nodded. “Well, it will be fine. We’ll look after her. She will heal with our help.” She would heal, but how long would she be in intense pain until then? I looked away to Violet’s fragile, broken body. She would have been better off if she died. Living here, in her situation, was much worse than death. I’m so sorry.

We sat in the bedroom for hours. A loud bang followed by several thudding noises came from the main room. I gasped in surprise and my heart started racing. “What’s that?” I asked, moving in between the door and Violet’s bed. A shrill woman’s scream answered my question. “No.” He was doing this now?

Rose looked at the closed door with her mouth hanging open wide. There was something about only hearing what he was doing that made it so much scarier. In my head I imagined more blood, more gore, more violence.

“No, no, please?” the woman shouted.

Tears filled my eyes. “Rose, what do we do?”

She gulped. “You do nothing. I’ll stand just inside the door and wait until it’s over. He’ll want to see at least one of us.” Poppy walked with her, and they creaked the door open and stood at the threshold. My heart was in my mouth as I listened to the awful sounds of her crying and begging for her life. How could he not care that he was killing a person?!

“What’s going on?” Violet rasped from behind me. Another guttural scream echoed through the room and I froze. “What’s that?”

“Shh,” I whispered, letting my tears drip to the floor. “That’s the reason we do what we’re told.”