Living in the Shadows

18) Here Comes the Sun

Her screams were muffled by a cloth. Liza just shook her head. If the chick just stopped making a noise, if she just quit fighting Robert, it would all be over and she could run along. If she just stop fighting, she wouldn't be just another name on the growing list of victims.

Soon Liza closed her eyes, and sleep over took her. This was now her world. Forget the masked marauders who saved her. Forget the best friend and mother who drove off into the night. Forget the past.
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Another week passed by. Another name added to the list of dead girls. The blond chick was dead and her screams added to the ones already filling Liza's head. She looked at herself in the mirror of the new motel room. She lost weight from lack of eating. Scars grew where the ropes had dug into her skin. Her hair had lost all glow and laid greasy and flat against her scalp. And her eyes...

All life was gone. All hope was gone. Her eyes were as dead as the girls scattered across ditches. Her own death was coming soon. She could feel her own heart beating; each second becoming slower and slower. She could feel the strain in her lungs as each breath was taken. She could feel the warmth leave her body. trapping her in the cold. Yes, death was imminent. She could feel his presence growing closer and closer with each passing day.

"Soon," she whispered. Her father walked into the small room, a familiar smell plastered on his skin.

"Did you go home?" she asked in a tentative voice.

"You must forget that place Princess," was his only response.

" How can I when you litter this room with the smell on it?" she replied meekly.

The doors stayed open, causing his shadow to grow across the room.

"Because I will finally end our connection with that cursed place."

And with that he disappeared outside, only to come back in carrying a body in his arms.

He laid the woman on the bed away from Liza's view. Her arms were soon tied to the posts before the chance of her waking up became reality. The pattern never changed. He always tied the girl to the bed before setting up the chair in front of Liza. He wanted to make sure Liza saw everything, even getting a drop of blood to stain her body.

But this time it was different, and Liza felt something that she had not in months: Fear.

Instead of one chair there was too. As Liza turned around, she realized her mistake. One the bed laid two woman. Two woman she home she would never see again.

"Finally realize what's happening," her father mocked.

Liza didn't say anything as she watched her father tie her mother and best friend to the equivalent of the electric chair. She let the tears silently fall as she knew there was nothing she could do.

Robert turned to scoff at her before slapping her mother awake; a bruise already appearing from earlier.

"He sweetheart," he said lovingly. 'Ready to receive your own death sentence."

Eleanor was not gagged, but she did not speak. She just hung her head in shame.

"Aww, no sassy remark like last time." He laughed, looking down at his pitiful wife. He kissed her cheek softly. "I've always loved you Eleanor, and I always will. But I have to move on."

She nodded her head. "Can I say some last words to our daughter?"

"Of course."

Eleanor looked at what was once her light of the world. She felt unbelievably guilty for leaving, she always did. She felt sorry for not taking her kids with her when she had the chance.

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

"I'm sorry Liza for ever leaving you. I hope you find peace soon and know that I will be waiting for you with open arms on the other side."

And with that she closed her eyes, letting her husband stab her in the heart, his sign of letting go.

He looked up at Liza pity displayed on his face. For the first time in years he cried. He cried silently with his daughter, already missing the love of his life.

"I should've showed you your friend some mercy and killed her while she sleeps. But she deserves the same rights as your mother. She should be able to say her last words."

And with that, he woke up Becca, guilt is showing on his features. These two kills were not a release of anger as all of his others had been. It was the letting go of the past by hurting the person you love the most and by hurting the person Liza love the most.

Becca woke up at calmly, already knowing that this was bound to happen.

"I have nothing to say to you girl other than that you can say your last words to Liza."

Becca looked to her friend honestly surprised she was alive, and found yourself wishing that she wasn't.

"It should have been you," she said with venom.

"What?" Liza asked shaking.

"It should have been you,"Becca repeated.

She took a large breath.

"It should have been you that died, not Lucas. He loved you so much that he sacrificed everything for you. You should've never come to Rose city and I hate you so much for it. You and your brother. You should have never come back and you both deserve to die."

Becca regretted the words as soon as she said them, but she didn't voice her regret as Robert slashed at her throat with the knife.

He looked at his daughter with anger in his eyes.

"What did she mean he should have never come back?"

No answer.

"Liza, answer me!"

No answer.

"Liza Queen," he grabbed her face. "Answer me," he screeched.

"Damion's alive."

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes