The Dreadful Story of Cassidy Harper *Discontinued*

Chapter 13

Hands shaking Cassidy began to sift through the junk, every item burned her with guilt and dread. After frantically flinging the objects aside she finally she found it, the ID bearing the face of the tarp girl. She was smiling, cheeks flushed and free of tears.

This girl was alive, happy, and Owen he... He killed her....

Cassidy looked at the door, behind which Owen was humming, cheerfully preparing lunch... lunch for her...

Owen loves you, right? So who cares. Who are you to judge? Bet those girls had it coming.

Cassidy shook her head, trying to clear the frightful fog that threatened to overwhelm her. Maybe Owen didn't mean for her to see all of those... With shaking hands she set aside the first box and picked up another. Cassidy slowly lifted the lid, and it revealed contents just as horrifying as the previous container.

This one was full of shattered cell phones. Different brands and companies were mixed together in a mess of broken glass and plastic. Most of them looked like someone had taken a sledgehammer to them, and their inner parts were visibly crushed. It was for that reason that the only phone still in one piece stuck out like a sore thumb. But Cassidy recognized it.

How could she not? It was on this device that she'd kept all of her pictures... her boys, Owen... Tentatively picking it up, Cassidy eyed the door wearily.

There was a chance it would still work. If it turned on she might be able to call someone without Owen hearing...

You really want to do that?

Cassidy squeezed her eyes shut. She could still hear Owen shuffling around the kitchen. If she was doing it, it had to be now...

Why would you even want to leave?

Eying all of the sick trophies surrounding her, Cassidy knew she had to leave before she became just another ID in an old shoe box... Owen wouldn't keep her around forever.

So? What's wrong with that. At least he cares, hell, even loves you! What do you have besides him? Your aunt? Chris? Maybe even your uncle?

Pushing her hands over her mouth, Cassidy silently sobbed. It was right. Without Owen she was nothing, less than trash. What did she have waiting out there? Nothing but pain and loneliness. But in here, she had Owen. A man who took care of her, who wanted to be around her. Cassidy's mind wandered to the intimate time that she'd spent with him, touching him.... She loved Owen....

Dropping her hands into her lap, Cassidy realized that she truly loved Owen...

Glancing down at the phone she gripped in her hand, she resolved herself to let this go, to put it back, and be done with it.

As Cassidy went to set it down, she eyed an ID that she had carelessly thrown to the side in her previous search. It... was hers. Trembling, Cassidy reached and gingerly picked it up.

That poofy, light hair, and those sunken, dead eyes, it really was her. Cassidy slowly traced over her name, Cassidy Harper, birthday 3/16/1998...

Tears leaked from her eyes and warped the image in front of her. Cassidy felt her heart start beating faster, the hands holding the card became moist. She wasn't special...

Owen would kill her just like all of the other girls...

She had to leave! Owen would kill her. Slice her open, cut off her limbs, beat her to death, whatever! Cassidy couldn't stay here. No matter how bad it was out there, that was better, so much better, than what awaited her in this house. Owen was sick...