Live, Die, Repeat

Chapter 21

Two days. Ash had been sitting in a cell opposite Anna and Zach for two fucking days and was going crazy. The whole weekend had passed, and now it was Monday, and she was missing being in school and living a normal life. She had wanted to call the cops, but her gut had told her that they were corrupt, and she would have ended up here anyway. But, still, when she saw the scene in the cellar she should have at least tried. Instead, she had panicked and tried to help Will, and then had to watch him as he had killed himself. Watching Ben and her father drag away his body had torn her soul in half, she hadn't stopped crying since then.

She knew he was crazy. She knew he believed the story he told her, and she had tried to support him, and wanted to have that faith. But to see him die for that belief, it was a lot to take in. She was even more upset because the cellar was hidden behind a secret door in the kitchen pantry. How many times had she been right next to it getting popcorn to microwave, and never knew that there could be some poor girl down here getting killed?

Now she was one of those girls, while her dad and Ben were upstairs talking through their options. After talking with Zach and Anna, she realized she had given her father even more leverage against Anna. She wished she could get one of those knives and cut her father's throat, it was more than he deserved. Maybe cut his balls off first, and then the throat.

The door to the cellar opened, and a set of footsteps came down, revealing them to be her father. He pulled a folding metal chair from against the wall and unfolded it to sit between she and her sister. "So, what should I do with you two."

"Let us go," Ash said evenly.

"I'll do what you want dad," Anna added.

"If it were that easy, I would certainly do that. But you both know it isn't easy. I'm not sure I can trust either of you."

"I'd ask what Ben thinks, but we all know he doesn't," Ash scoffed.

"Shut up Ash, I don't need you mouthing off."

"You think Ben isn't going to blow this for you? He can't keep his mouth shut. You know he's at school mouthing off about Will," Ash yelled bitterly.

"That is the weakest link, you're right. But he'll be fine. He has a lot to look forward to. He just needs some experience," her father reasoned.

"Keep telling yourself while you rot in prison." She muttered.

"You have an active imagination. It will help while you sit down here till we decide if you can behave again. Right now, it isn't looking too good," he threatened. "Maybe we should see how you like the manacles instead of your dearly departed friend."

Just the mention of Will brought the tears back to Ash, and she had to turn her back on her father in grief.

"My dearly departed friend was the one who got all the security footage from the school you know," Ash called out over her shoulder.

"What are you talking about?"

"Didn't little Ben mention the present that he got that kept him away from us for a while? Did the principal forget to mention that someone came looking for all those videos of Ben being the biggest bully in the school? Hard to run for office with things like that floating around, even more so if some of those victims seem to have disappeared."

Ash smiled to herself to see her father rattled, and she watched as he pulled his phone out to send some texts, probably to Ben.

"That idiot." She heard him mutter. "Why the hell weren't you a boy, you would have been so much better at this than he is."

"Why they hell are you so misogynistic that you think Anna and I couldn't have run for office?" Ash countered.

"Running for office is easy but getting people to do what you want takes playing dirty. Which is why we're here."

The door to the cellar opened, and Ben stomped down heavily. When he got to the bottom, Ash could see he had a tiny young woman over his shoulder. "Ben, holy shit, she's a kid!" she exclaimed, horrified.

"Ben, you were supposed to take it easy!" her father bellowed.

"Relax! We never got to teach Anna that message, and now we can teach Ash too." Ben reasoned as he walked over to the manacles. "And according to her passport, she's 18, so she isn't a kid. Just short," he giggled as he deposited her in a heap on the floor.

Nobody deserved this, Ash thought to herself as Ben hooked a manacle to the girl's left wrist. She couldn't see much, her head was drooping to her chest, but she looked like a little doll. Long, dark hair similar to her own, and a tanned complexion. And they were going to kill her and make them all watch.

"Fine, hook her up and call me when she awakens." The senator stated and turned to head back upstairs.

"I'm going to have a lot of fun with this one before she dies," said Ben gleefully.

"You're a sick person," Ash spit at him, while Zach and Anna looked on horrified.

"Yeah, but I'm still going to have fun!" he grinned maniacally. "I've never done it with an audience."

His grin turned into fear as he felt one of the manacle chains wrap around his throat, and he was spun around with his back to the tiny girl, who now had a small silver blade pressed against his throat. "Hey Ben." She cooed as she wrapped her legs around his hips, preventing him from getting up.

"Aaarghhh!!!!" Ben screamed.

Ash watched, transfixed, as the small girl reached down and pulled the large hunting knife from Ben's belt, and slid it across the floor to her cell. She quickly reached through the bars and grabbed it.

"Give me the keys Ben." The girl said, pressing into his neck with the tiny blade. Ben instantly dug into his pocket and pulled out a small keychain. The girl grabbed it and tossed that to Ash as well.

They heard rapid footsteps as her dad heaved back into view. "Let go of him!" he bellowed.

"Why would I do that? So that he could rape and kill me?" the girl asked in a sultry Italian accent.

"If you don't, I'm going to kill you myself." The Senator said.

"But no rape. Still not convincing me," the girl said with a grin.

Ash slowly reached the keys through the bars to unlock the door. Ben tried to say something about it but the tiny girl tugged on the chain and so he just gurgled and sputtered a lot.

"Stupid bitch," Ash heard her father mumble as he drew his own knife out and advanced on the girl. "Sorry Ben, but it's your own fault."

"Dad, no!" Ash heard Anna yell as the key finally clicked in the lock.

She saw her father raising the knife to stab the girl and rushed forward, sinking Ben's knife into the senator's back, and hearing him scream as he fell on top of Ben and the girl. She could hear another gurgling scream, and suddenly blood was flowing everywhere. She lay on top of him, sobbing and exhausted at the exertion.

"Ash! Are you okay?" Anna screamed.

"I'm fine, hold on!" she replied.

"Can I get a little help here?" came the muffled voice of the girl, who she realized was trapped under both Ben and her father. She quickly rolled her father off of her, and then looked down to see the girl looking up at her with a grin and a pair of familiar brown eyes. "Can I offer you a liver and banana sandwich with horseradish on rye?" the girl asked in a soft whisper.