Chapter 11



Summer’s POV

I finally calmed down and stopped crying, my throat was so dry it felt like I was swallowing sand. Rose and Poppy had cleaned up and were sitting on the sofa, Rose was knitting and Poppy was reading a book. I felt like screaming and pulling my hair out at the thought of spending another day in here.

Everything was too clean, the surfaces had been scrubbed making the room smell like lemon. There was absolutely no dust anywhere and everything was lined up neatly, the books and DVD’s arranged in alphabetical order and paintings on the walls were perfectly straight and symmetrical. If it wasn’t for this situation I would a room like this.

I sighed and grabbed a book from the bookshelf, not even bothering to look at what it was, I would have time to read them all anyway, Poppy said that once we’ve all read them he will get us new ones. He’s shopping today so hopefully he won’t be back for a while, I was anxious at the thought of new clothes because I know that whatever he picks I would have to wear. I was also scared at reading the newspaper he was getting, would I be in there? Would I see Lewis again? Would it be a recent picture of him looking upset? I hope it’s an old one when we were happy. I can picture his face perfectly in my head but I love being able to see him, like having a photo of him, I have hundreds on my phone but he took it.

All three bunches of flowers were pretty much dead now, I’d already picked a few petals off the counter and thrown them away. I was scared at how he was going to react again, I don’t know why he’s so upset when they die, it’s as if he’s scared, devastated and angry all at the same time, then he shouts, throws them at us and usually hits us.

I started reading the book but I couldn’t concentrate on anything, I just want to get out of here, I need to go home to my family and Lewis. I quickly pushed away all thoughts of my family; I couldn’t think about them, the only person I allowed myself to think of was Lewis. Picturing my mum’s heartbroken face would be too much. Reading was impossible so let my mind wonder to Lewis again.

“Happy Birthday baby!” I shouted excitedly as I bounced on his bed. He groaned and pulled the pillow over his head. He really isn’t a morning person at all! “Come on it’s your eighteenth! What do you want to do to celebrate?”

“I wanna sleep!” he moaned, his voice was muffled by the pillows. I sighed and pushed him over, sitting on his lap. “Hmm I like this idea too!” He finally sounding a bit more awake and looking at me hopefully, running his hands up my legs.

“I’ll bet you do,” I said sarcastically. “Your mum’s made breakfast so you need to get up.” I crashed my lips to his, kissing him hard. I was about to pull away but he tightened his arms around me and rolled over so he was on top. I pushed his cheat and he groaned as he pushed himself up a little. “Do you want your presents now?”

“I love you Summer,” he said, looking deep into my eyes and completely ignoring my question. My heart felt like it was trying to burst out of my chest.

“I love you too, birthday boy!” He chuckled and got off the bed pulling me up with him. My eyes shot to his toned chest and I groaned internally, wishing I hadn’t made him get up for breakfast.

“Like baby?” he asked with a huge smirk plastered on his gorgeous face. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a t-shirt out of his wardrobe and threw it at him. He chuckled and put it on, we walked out of his room and he grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder making me scream.

“Lewis!” He laughed and tickled the inside of my leg making me wriggle around and scream. He threw me down on the sofa and kissed the top of my head. He looked around and saw all the balloons and birthday banners.

“Did you know about this?” He questioned, frowning at all the decorations.

“Of course I did, I helped. Don’t be difficult Lewis, it’s your eighteenth and everyone’s excited!”

“Fine,” he said with s sigh.

I got up and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Happy Birthday.”

He smiled and kissed me, “Thank you. I know I said this like two minutes ago but I really do love you,” he said as he pressed his forehead to mine making my heart go wild and my tummy flutter.

“I love you too.”

Poppy stood up, breaking me back to reality, she looked at the clock and put down her book. “We need to sort through our clothes, Clover wants them all bagged up by the time he gets back,” she said, putting the book back on the shelf and walking into the bedroom.

I followed Poppy and Rose grabbed the bags before joining us. We all started grabbing clothes out of the wardrobes and draws and stuffed them neatly into the bags, by the time we had finished we had filled eight huge black bags. I watched Rose and Poppy closely; they kept looking at each other and seemed nervous, this obviously wasn’t something that had happened before.

“Why is he doing this?” I finally asked after watching them exchange worried looks for too long, I wanted to know.

“I don’t know Lily,” Rose said quietly.

“It’s Summer!” I snapped. She sighed and looked at me, pleading with me to accept this was my life now and my name but that wasn’t something I could do, maybe it was easy for them because they had nothing but I have a loving family, great friends and the best boyfriend in the world.

“Lily is your name now,” she said sternly. We looked at each other for a few seconds, neither one of us wanted to back down; finally she sighed and picked up two bags. “Let’s put these out by the stairs ready for Clover to take later.” She walked out of the room without looking at me again.

“Don’t worry Lily, it’ll be fine, we just need to stick together.” She squeezed my shoulder gently and grabbed some bags. I picked up two and followed her out of the room. Will it be fine? I thought that but the longer I’m down here the more scared I am that I won’t get to see Lewis again.

Once we had finished moving all the bags to the bottom of the stairs we cleaned the bedroom and sat back down on the sofa. I felt my heart sink a little bit as we continued reading and knitting, this room makes me feel more and more claustrophobic with every passing minute.

Rose put her knitting away about an hour before he would be back for dinner and started cleaning the kitchen surfaces and scrubbing the table so hard I thought she was going to scratch a hole in it. Me and poppy cleaned the lounge area and made sure all the books lined up properly before we all started to make a chicken pie and vegetables for dinner.

He would be here in five minutes and my hands started getting clammy. I couldn’t relax. Was he going to have the newspaper? I just wanted to get this over with now, so he could leave and I could breathe properly.

“Good evening flowers,” he said cheerfully. My blood froze and I instinctively moved back, putting as much space between us as possible. “Here are your new clothes.” He put dozens of bags down and smiled at us all. Rose and Poppy walked towards him, looking excited about all the new clothes. I copied them and moved closer but still keeping a safe distance. “I want you all to change into this and give me the clothes you’re wearing now.” He handed us three identical bags and gestured towards the bathroom door, Rose went first. He’s now controlling what we wear?

Poppy wouldn’t make eye contact with me she just looked down at the floor. This definitely wasn’t normal, well normal for him anyway. Rose came out after a few minutes and handed him the bag with her old clothes. “You look beautiful Rose,” he said, smiling warmly at her. She had on a light pink skirt with the outline of big white flowers on it; it came just below her knees. She also had a white top with matching light pink cardigan.

“Thank you Clover, and thank you for the clothes,” she said, smiling back. I wanted to grab her and shake her; I just don’t get how she can be so casual around him.

He kissed the back of her hand, “You’re welcome.”

“I’ll go now,” I said, walking off as I didn’t want to be around them anymore. I closed the door and quickly locked it. The last thing I wanted to do was dress for him but the alternative wasn’t better. It wouldn’t be long before they knocked on the door so I reluctantly pulled the clothes out of the orange bag. They were exactly the same as the ones Rose was wearing. Did he give me the wrong bag? Does he want us to dress the same now? A shiver ran down my spine, he is seriously f*cked up.

I changed into the same clothes as Rose and took a deep breath before going back out there. Rose and Poppy looked shocked for a split second before they composed themselves and smiled. “You look just perfect Lily,” he said, looking me up and down, making my skin crawl and my stomach turn upside down.

“Thank you,” I said quietly, leaving a huge gap between us in case he wanted to kiss my hand as well. Poppy walked off to change into her outfit, the same as ours and Rose went back to the dinner, I followed her and got some plates out of the cupboard, keeping an eye on where he was at all times. It was no surprise when Poppy came out wearing the same.

“Wow Poppy, you all look so incredible, such good girls.” He smiled at each of us and sat down in his seat at the table, taking a sip of his water. I didn’t bother speaking or making eye contact with them, they clearly didn’t have a problem with this; they have accepted it and I can’t. At least the new clothes had distracted him from the dead flowers on the side, althoug I'm sure he'll notice soon.

We ate dinner, taking about his shopping trip and our day. I never understand why he asks us this; we do the same thing every single day, it’s not like one day we’re suddenly going turn around and tell him about our day out at the zoo!

Lewis took me to the zoo a couple times but he refused after the third time as he said I get too excited and embarrass him, the grumpy old man! I felt myself smile as I pictured him grabbing me to stop me from jumping up and down as there was a baby lion that looked like Simba from the Lion King.

“So I have to sort something out tonight, there’s a disgusting whore that’s working just down the road and she needs to be stopped,” he spat out in disgust, his hands clenched into fists so hard that his knuckles were as white as snow. The look on his face was pure hate and it scared me, he didn’t know this girl or why she was doing what she’s doing but he still thinks he has the right to hurt her.

After dinner he left and I felt sick, he was going to get that girl. Rose said he’d only killed ‘one of us’ a few times since she’s been here and a few other girls that he feels he can murder for whatever sick reason he has. Since I’ve been down here it’s happened a lot more.

“Lily, here’s a newspaper, do you want to see it?” Poppy asked sadly as she handed me the paper. I nodded and reached out taking it and sitting on the sofa. I was on the front page, the photo was taken the day after Lewis’ eighteenth, he went out clubbing with his friends, I couldn’t go because I wasn’t old enough, he felt guilty for ages and took me shopping, to the cinema and out for dinner, silly boy.

There was a picture of my parents; they’d released a statement to my kidnapped appealing to him or her to let me go. I couldn’t read it though, I could barely look at their broken faces without my heart shattering into thousands of pieces, Lewis was the only one I could think of and see, he was always so strong and he looked after me so I know he can get me through this.

The cellar door opened and I jumped in my seat and closed the paper, pressing my back into the sofa. Rose and Poppy were either side of me in an instant, knowing they needed to stay away from him and that we needed to stick together.

He pushed her down the stairs as usual and my blood ran cold, she was crying and begging for her life, he just laughed at her.

“Shut up,” he growled, punching her in the face making her fall to the floor, whimpering in pain. “You dirty whore.” He pushed her down and stamped his foot on her throat making her gag. All I could see was her terrified begging face as she struggled to get breath. He leant down and slashed a long deep cut in her thigh. She screamed as the skin flapped open and blood spurted out, instantly turning the floor bright red.

“P-please,” she gagged. He moved his foot off her throat and she gasped for breath, her whole body was shaking, probably from the shock. He moved so his feet were either side of her body. “Please don’t kill me,” she sobbed.

“Don’t tell me what to do whore!” he screamed, slowly dragging the knife across her stomach. The noise she made was sickening; she was screaming and gagging at the same time. I was completely frozen and could barely breathe. Blood was pumping out of her stomach and thigh, her eyes were rolling around and she wasn’t moving much, she was losing so much blood. You could see the flesh, tissue and muscle of her stomach as the cut was gaping open. She gagged a few times and gasped for breath before finally her body stopped moving. He took a deep breath and moved away from her. “No,” he screamed, ripping off his shoes and throwing them at the dead girl on the floor, his shoes were covered in blood. He ran off upstairs, “Clean it,” he shouted as the locked the cellar door.