All of the children were taken upstairs that night. The stairway from the basement was narrow and creaky. When they reached the main floor, the house was dark, and it was hard to take in their surroundings. They were led into a large living room. A bed had been set up in the middle with black lights overhead. Seth clung to Maggie’s leg, his fingers burrowing into her thigh.
“It’ll be OK, Seth,” she whispered to him.
It wasn’t long before the music started, and the children were told what to do as a group. Maggie held tightly to Seth’s hand, and as Max pulled her onto the bed, she took Seth with her. The child was lying on his belly, and Maggie straddled him to keep his upper body out of view of the camera. She subtly reached her fingers into Seth’s mouth and quickly shoved them as far down his throat as possible. Seth vomited all over the other children. John William came storming in on them. “Little fucking jerk off! What the hell is wrong with you?”
Seth looked uneasily at Maggie. She responded for him. “He’s too young, John William. He’s nervous and doesn’t know what’s going on or what’s happening to him.”
Seth sat on the bed holding Maggie around the waist as soaking tears fell from his eyes. To Maggie’s relief, John William snatched Seth away from her and half carried, half dragged the small boy back down to the basement. She had spared Seth this time.
The next morning, the children were fed breakfast in their kennels. Then, two at a time, they were taken upstairs to shower. Maggie and Seth, the two youngest, went first. The steps from the basement were made of wood logs split in half, flat side up. They walked through the kitchen and into the enormous living room. Wooden beams ran the length of the ceiling. The plaster walls were cracked and chipped from years of settlement and neglect.
Two old chairs covered in red velvet sat where the bed had been the night before. Maggie noticed thin, lace curtains on the windows that overlooked the backyard. She strained to get a glimpse of the outdoors. She hadn’t seen the sky or the sun since John William had stolen her. As she walked by the windows, the sun lit up the lace, and she could see there were things in the backyard…abandoned objects.
John William led them down a long corridor with rooms on either side. About midway down, he stopped and instructed Maggie and Seth to go inside. The windows of the bedroom were covered with fabric; no outside light entered the room. A king-size mattress was shoved up against the wall farthest from the door. To their right was a large fireplace; to the left, another door led into the bathroom, where a claw-foot tub sat on old and broken gray tiles.
“Let’s go. Fill up the tub. You two bathe together. I ain’t got time to take care of that little asshole,” John William stated, gesturing toward Seth.
Maggie rushed to fill the tub with water. “Come on, Seth. Take your clothes off. We need to get a bath,” she told him.
The small boy looked over at John William and took stiff, jerky steps away from the overgrown brute. The man scared the shit out of Seth.
“Come on, Seth,” Maggie coaxed. “Let’s get you undressed.”
“Aggie, I don’t want to take a baff,” he told her, keeping his eyes glued on John William.
John William enjoyed watching Seth tremble with fear, “Get your filthy ass in that tub, or I’ll give you something to be scared about,” he roared.
Maggie used a bit of force on the boy to get him undressed. She lifted him up and placed him in the tub. She was starting to climb in with him when John William spoke again. “Come over here, you little whore,” he ordered her.
Maggie walked over to him slowly, acutely aware that she still might be punished for her part in harboring the notes from Sabrina. Standing before him, she put one arm over her flat chest and covered her crotch with her hand. John William forced her hands to her sides and looked her over. “Myles is coming to pay you a visit tonight. I hope you get everything that you deserve. No one does stupid shit behind his back and gets away with it. You thought you were so clever, hiding your little notes, thinking that fucking bitch was going to save you. Well, now you see where it got you. Nowhere!”
Maggie’s face dropped to the floor. Looking at John William was almost as painful as hearing his maddening voice. He droned on and on, berating them constantly. Maggie hated him. She stood perfectly still, holding her breath, until finally he slapped the side of her head as a gesture of dismissal. She turned and climbed into the bathtub with Seth.
Maggie washed the young boy quickly and then herself. John William’s words played over in her mind: I hope you get everything you deserve. The anxiety of Myles’s visit grated on her nerves. By the time she was returned to her kennel, her breath was short, and her throat was tight.
“Maggie? What’s wrong?” Cali asked, as she watched her friend lose it.
“Myles is coming to see me tonight. John William said I’m in trouble. I’m scared, Cali. What if he kills me? Then I’ll never go home again,” she whined, not able to express the depth of her worry with words.
“Good!” Shana yelled. “I hope he beats the shit out of you. Then you’ll get a taste of what you did to me.”
“Stop it, Shana!” Cali barked. Then she looked back at Maggie. “Mags, everything will be OK. You’re gonna have to play dumb. Just tell Myles you didn’t know what to do with the notes. Tell him the woman forced you to take them and threatened to tell lies about you. Do whatever you have to do to curb his anger. OK, Mags? Do you hear what I’m saying?” Cali persisted.
But Maggie was lost in her own sick thoughts. She started to shake and broke into a cold sweat. There was nothing for any of them to do but sit and wait for Myles to arrive and dish out Maggie’s punishment.