Chapter Three



Summer





Saturday 24th July 2010

Rose and Poppy picked up Violet’s body and carefully laid her in the body bag. Even though they struggled to move her, they never asked for my help. There was no way I could have helped them if they asked anyway. I couldn’t move but I was aware that my whole body was trembling. They moved in tune, and I realised it wasn’t the first time they had had to stuff a dead person into a bag. How many times had they ‘cleaned up’ after his murders?

My eyes fixed on Violet. She looked peaceful, as if she were sleeping. Of course, I knew she wasn’t. Rose zipped the bag up and I sagged in relief, mentally thanking Rose for creating the plastic shield between Violet’s still face and my eyes.

“Goodbye,” Poppy whispered, and placed her hand over where Violet’s heart would be.

I watched in horror as they stood up and grabbed a bucket and mop. They’re really cleaning up the blood.

The water in the bucket quickly turned pink as it mixed with the blood. My stomach turned when Poppy lifted the mop to rinse it, a string blood stretched between the floor and the sponge pad and dripped back to the floor.

A horribly strong metallic smell filled the air. I gagged and pressed my fist against my mouth. As quickly as the blood poured onto the floor, it was gone again. They were fast but thorough, not one spot was left unclean. How many times have they done this?

If it wasn’t for Violet lying in a bag in the corner of the room you would have never known someone had just been murdered in this room. That was the scariest, most horrific thing I had ever witnessed and they just cleaned it all up as if they were mopping muddy footprints.

“He’ll be back after he’s had a shower to get her body,” Poppy said, wiping a tear from her face.

“How many people has he… Had he k-killed?” I whispered, still staring at the body bag in shock. I didn’t even recognise my own voice, it was so hoarse. I held my breath as I waited for their reply.

Rose lowered her head and replied, “Since I’ve been here, he has killed eight.”

I shook my head in disbelief. That many. “What? How does he get away with it?” How could he even get away with killing that many people?

“The girls he chooses are usually living on the streets. If no one notices they’re missing then no one would suspect anything,” Rose said, and tucked her hair behind her ear. “I fell out with my family when I was sixteen, we had never been close. Shortly after my eighteenth birthday, I left home. I had been living on the streets and in hostels for ten months when Clover found me. I’ve been here almost three years now.” I was stunned. Tears trickled down my face and dropped to my lap. “Please don’t cry, Lily, it’s not that bad down here.” Not that bad! He had kidnapped us. He was keeping us locked up in his cellar. He would rape us when he ‘fell in love’ with us, and if we dared to fight back he would kill us. How the hell is that not that bad?

“Please don’t look at me like that, Lily. I know what you’re thinking but if you do what he says everything will be fine. He’ll treat you well.”

“Apart from raping me you mean!”

“Don’t call it rape in front of him.” She warned.

I looked away from Rose. I couldn’t believe what she was saying. How could she think this was okay? She couldn’t have always been like that. There must have been a time when she hated him as much as I did. How long did it take for her to become brainwashed?

Poppy and Rose got up and walked to the kitchen area. They started talking in hushed voices. I didn’t even try listening even though I knew it was about me. My heart felt like it was trying to burst through my chest. I was so terrified of him coming back down here.

Someone will find me soon. I wasn’t on the streets. I had a family and friends, people that would know I was missing. Soon enough the police would be called and they would start searching. I wondered who would be the one to realise first? My parents when I didn’t return home? Or Lewis when I didn’t answer or reply to his texts?

Squeezing my eyes together, I tried to push the image of Lewis’ broken face out of my head. I couldn’t even think about my parents. Gulping down the rising lump in my throat and pressed my fingernails into the palm of my hand. Don’t cry.

“How long have you been here, Poppy?” I whispered.

She half smiled and walked the few steps from the kitchen table back to the sofa. Sitting down beside me, she squeezed my clenched fist. “Just over a year. Mine is a similar story to Rose’s. I was living on the streets when he found me, and I was eighteen too.”

“Why me then? It doesn’t make sense!” I shook my head fiercely, feeling anger rise inside me. “My family will look for me. They’ll find us.” They had to.

“Maybe,” Poppy said, and gave me a weak smile. She didn’t have to believe me. I knew they wouldn’t just give up. I was not spending years down here like they had. I would never get to the point where I thought this wasn’t that bad!

A noise at the cellar door made me jump. My heart leapt and my stomach turned over. He was coming back. I couldn’t hear anything until the door handle turned and the door was pushed open. Why didn’t I hear him outside? The air left my lungs as if I had been punched in the stomach. Soundproof. We couldn’t hear anything out there, and no one could hear us.

Rose stood up and walked to the bottom of the stairs to meet him. How could she stand to be anywhere near him?

“I’m ordering pizza for dinner,” he announced. “I think we all deserve a treat tonight, and we need to welcome Lily to the family properly.” My stomach turned again. Family. What the fuck was wrong with him! He turned to me and smiled. “Lily, we usually get two margaritas, a pepperoni, and a barbecue chicken. Is that okay with you? I can order something else if you’d like?”

I stared at him in shock. Was he seriously discussing dinner with Violet’s dead body lying on the floor in a bag? He was sick, evil, and twisted. I didn’t want to talk to him, ever. Poppy nudged me discretely, prompting me to answer him. Taking a shaky breath, I replied. “T-that’s fine,.”

He smiled. “That perfect then, I knew you would fit in well. I’ll go and order now, it won’t be long.”

Without another word, he bent down and scooped Violet’s body up into his arms. It was clear from his face that Violet was heavy. He pressed his lips together and walked up the stairs slowly with her. The cellar door had been unlocked the whole time he was just down here.

I watched in horror as the door closed behind him and locked. “W-what?” I mumbled. My eyes stung where I had been too stunned to blink. This was a dream. It had to be. Things like this didn’t happen to me.

Poppy smiled. “It’s going to be okay.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The only way this could ever be okay would be if I got out soon. I felt so sick. Even the thought of eating made me want to throw up. There was no way I would be able to eat fucking pizza! The images of the knife puncturing through Violet’s chest, her falling to the floor, the blood pumping from the wound, and the blood sticking to the mop, ran through my mind on a loop.

I sobbed and curled my arms around my legs. “Shh, Lily, don’t cry.” Poppy soothed.

“I want Lewis.” I cried, hiccupping as I tried to catch my breath.

“Don’t do this to yourself, Lily. You need to forget everyone. It’ll be easier. I have.”

“I can’t forget him. I need him.”



I woke up to someone lightly shaking my arm in an annoying way that I was so used to. I smiled and looked over, expecting Lewis to be grinning back at me. I gasped when I saw the long dark brown hair and blue eyes. It wasn’t Lewis I had woken up to, it was Rose. How could I have fallen asleep!

Gasping in shock and the realisation that all this wasn’t just a horrible dream, I shoved myself back against the sofa.

“Sorry I scared you, Lily. Clover’s here with the pizza,” she whispered. “Come, sit with us.” I stopped breathing, my lungs felt as if they were being crushed. Could I sit with him and eat? Did I have a choice? Rose put her hand on my shoulder and nudged me forwards. “Here, you sit next to Poppy.”

My body tensed as I sat down at the table. He was opposite me and sat there as if nothing was wrong at all. To him this was normal. The realisation was like being slapped in the face. This is his normal.

The oak table was covered in a bright white cotton tablecloth and a fresh vase of white lilies. The pizza had been removed from the boxes and piled on two large serving dishes either side of the flowers.

“Help yourself,” he said, and gesturing to the food with his hand. He made it sound like I had a choice, but the steely look in his cold eyes told me I didn’t. He wanted us to eat as a family, and I didn’t want to find out what he would do if I refused.

I reached out and took the slice that was closest to me, quickly retracting my hand so I was as far away from him as possible. He gave me a warm smile, his eyes glowing now. I dropped my eyes to my plastic plate and nibbled at the end of the pizza.

While Rose and Poppy discussed what we would be cooking for dinner for the rest of the week with him, I forced down a few bites in silence. The food felt alien in my stomach. I gagged every time I swallowed the mushed up food.

Rose held her hand up, gaining my attention even though she wasn’t looking at me. “Oh, Clover, before I forget, we’re getting low on books again.”

He nodded his head. “I’ll get you some more.”

“Thank you.” She smiled and sipped her water. I wanted to scream at her. How can she not see how fucked up this is!

“Right, thank you for your company tonight girls. I’ll see you in the morning,” he said, and rose from his seat. “Have a good evening.”

My body froze as if it had been locked in a freezer for days. He leant over and placed a kiss on Rose’s cheek, and then Poppy’s. Not me, please not me. I could hear my pulse smashing in my ears and bile rose in my throat. He bowed his head towards me and turned and walked away.

I let out a big sigh of relief. I couldn’t let him touch me. He stopped on the top of the stairs and unlocked the door. I didn’t take my eyes off him as he left the room and locked the door from the other side. I wanted to make sure he had really left.

Rose and Poppy got up and gathered the plates together to clean up. There was only one of him and three of us. We could overpower him if we worked together. Had they tried that before, or were they always too scared? I wasn’t even sure if Rose would want to.

“Come and watch a film with us,” Poppy said. I looked up at her and realised they had cleaned everything away and Rose was now sitting in front of the TV.

I joined them on the sofa and stared at the screen but couldn’t take anything in. Wrapping my arms around my legs, I sunk back in to the sofa to try to make myself disappear. Nothing felt real anymore. Hours must have past because Rose switched the TV off and they both stood up.

“Lily?” Poppy said in a soft voice, as if she were speaking to a young child. “Come on, we need to all get showered and go to bed. I’ll show you the bathroom, you can go first.” She led me to the bathroom and gave me some pyjamas. Whose pyjamas were they? Violet’s?

She left me to it. There was no lock on the door. I wished there was so I could shut myself in here and stay away from them all. Turning the shower on, I ran my hand under the water until it warmed up. Why was I doing this? Because he could kill you without question. Stripping out of my clothes, I stepped into the shower and sunk to the floor. I started crying, gasping for breath as my cried turned hysterical. I gripped my hair and closed my eyes as my tears mixed with the hot water.

Eventually I forced myself to get out of the shower and get dressed. Crying wasn’t going to get myself anywhere, and I didn’t want any more attention that I was already getting. I wrapped the towel tightly around myself and opened the bathroom cabinet. I noticed straight away that there were no razors, in their place were two boxes of waxing strips. Nothing in the cabinet could cause any damage – to anyone.

Closing the door, I made the mistake of looking at myself in the mirror screwed to the front. My eyes were bloodshot and puffy. I looked like I had been in a scrap with a cage fighter. I spun around, not wanting to see how awful I looked any longer and pulled the pyjamas on.

“Are you ready for bed?” Rose asked as I walked back into the room. I nodded in response and wrapped my arms around myself. “Okay, I’ll show you where you’ll sleep.” She led me into the room beside the bathroom. The walls were painted light pink and the furniture was white, there were four single beds with pink quilt covers and pillows. On the bedside tables were identical light pink lamps. It all matched too well, like it was decorated for quadruplets. “This one is yours,” she said, and pointed to the bed against the wall on the left. Mine.

I was too exhausted to argue, so I numbly walked over to the bed and climbed under the cover. Closing my eyes, I prayed sleep would come soon and take me away from here. And that when I woke up, it would be in my own room.