The Cellar

The Cellar - Chapter Three

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.