ᴍʏ ᴇʟᴏʀᴀ

Seven

She found out she had done well when Husband came home that evening with her pins and no interrogation.

For the rest of the night, she was quite happy because one, Husband didn't hit her; two, Husband had gone to sleep early and three, her plan was going perfectly well.

That was why the next day, she didn't spit in his drink and cheerily kissed him when he came down for breakfast. This made the male smile, happy that he might have succeeded in breaking her. The couple wished each other a good day, both having different plans of their own.

Elora finished her chores, ate, took her bath then went back to the kitchen to bring the frozen tuna out of the deep freezer so it could defrost before afternoon.

And now, holding her pins in her hand, she stood in front of the door.

The door of the room she had been prohibited from going in.

As usual, the door was locked and that was why she had pins with her. After years of unlocking her older siblings luggage to steal their stuff, it didn't take her long to unlock the door.

Elora opened the mahogany door slowly, half expecting to find a dead body inside or in fact, a lot of dead bodies. She wouldn't put it past the man anyway. Instead, she came upon a tidy study immediately noticing the shelves of books, a globe, a couch and a big standing fan. The room felt stuffy as it seemed Husband hadn't been here in a while.

She stepped inside the well-kept office, slowly making her way to his desk where she picked up the land line and dialed her home number. Unluckily for her, it rung but nobody picked. Getting anxious that something might have happened to her family, she decided to call her brother, the first born.

"Hello?" the voice on the phone was gruff and dry and it made Elora sob at once.

"Hello? I swear if this is another fucking prank call, I'll call the police. Don't you people have any conscience? If you don't have any information about the missing person and just called to disturb, respectfully die."

Elora broke down in tears. She was so happy, God–she was so happy she could die. Suddenly, she felt alive, like she could escape this. Hearing her brother's voice had brought a different type of hope to her. The type of shining hope that could not be covered up.

"Elijah..." She wailed, holding on to the phone tightly.

"E-Elora-Elora? ELORA!"

"Elijah..." She cried even harder, happy her brother recognized her at once. She thought she had been forgotten.

"El where are you? Please, tell me. Big brother will come pick you up, just te–" the line went dead.

"Hello? Hello? Eli-Elijah? No, God no. Elijah!" She cried as she lowered the phone and dropped the floor, crying and crying until she could no more. She cried loudly, called for Elijah but he wouldn't answer. He couldn't answer.

Still sniffling, she finally gathered some strength and stood up, picking up some papers and Elora's heart leaped knowing this room would answer some of her questions. And it did, starting with what she was holding.

She was holding the deed of the house she was currently in that Husband has bought a day before she was brought here. She searched the desk, looking through papers thoroughly and noticed her birth certificate, a forged affidavit of her parents signing their parental rights to a Kenric d'Ambray and a marriage certificate of her and a Kenric d'Ambray.

She saw another affidavit of her name being changed to Mrs Elora d'Ambray with her own signature and something that looked like her thumbprint. She saw a certificate–actually, she saw certificates of Kenric d'Ambray. The twenty six year old man had a PhD in psychology and law and a masters degree in social science.

The terrified captive shook like a leaf as she dropped the documents and opened the desk drawers hurriedly. She didn't know what to expect but she almost passed out when she saw pictures of herself in her hometown with her family, her walking on the road, her buying things, her smiling, her with Sean and another gruesome picture of a tied up Sean.

The pictures fell out of her hands as she felt another attack coming in. She grabbed her hair, wanting to tear it off her head. She heaved as her eyes dilated, salty tears flowing in torrents. Her heart pounded in her ears as every object closed in on her. Elora slapped her head wanting to forget–to forget everything. She wanted to forget her stalker, her abuser, Husband. Him.

She wanted to forget Kenric d'Ambray.

She screamed as she banged her forehead on the table, wanting to die. What was she thinking? This man would never let her go. She could not escape him and Elora Peters, no, Elora d'Ambray had finally accepted that.

She wished for death over and over again and when she could not find some sort of weapon to instigate her death, she turned around to go find one in the kitchen.

But Elora stopped dead in her tracks, her voice went silent and her tears dried up instantly.

Because, there at the wide open door was the devil in human form looking at her with cold calculating eyes and rigid body that exuded calm venomous dominance.

Elora d'Ambray wished for a quick death.