Authors note: Hi guys! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been lacking gruesome inspiration. Here's an update I've had in my drafts for a while. Remember to vote and all comments are appreciated! Now enough blabbering. Here's the next chapter. - Audrey
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Things have been ghostly lately.
I'm not quite sure what I mean by that honestly, only that things have been slow, and the air feels heavy.
The only sounds I hear are whispers from Jasper every now and then asking if I'm alright.
I'm not alright.
Things feel odd and out of place.
I feel out of place.
I glance at the clock and notice it's already ten and Jasper had yet come down from the basement in which he had started cleaning out hours ago, bringing box after box down into the vast darkness.
I had been perched on our cream colored love seat staring at our decorative longhorn skull for about two hours now seemingly having an unspoken conversation with it.
I was surprised that Jasper had not yet checked on me, seeing as lately all he did was hover about my person and tell me i looked cold all the time.
I'm not sure if he was talking about the temperature or emotion, but right now i was feeling a bit of both.
It seemed like fall had decided to come early and the leaves from trees had turned shades of red and yellow and littered the sidewalks and the roof of our home.
I loved fall, it was a cold season filled with warm colors to make up for the absence of heat and something about that idea made me happy.
Jasper didn't like fall. I'm not sure why. We didn't usually agree on anything although and sometimes i wondered how we worked.
While contemplating the balance in our relationship i found my eyes growing heavy and soon enough i drifted into unconsciousness.
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Fear.
That is the emotion that fills my mind as i awake to the damp basement that has been my home for two years now.
The only sense of time i have now is the markings on the wall behind the heavy curtains and the soft sounds of the news when he watches it upstairs.
Him.
I hate him with all my person. I wish nothing more than a gruesome death upon him; a death that leaves him crying out in agony as I watch with a smile of satisfaction and joy as he bleeds out upon the very basement floor I had bled upon.
My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of the door creaking open and I hear a cry of despair from Zoe.
My head snaps to the left where he had left her shackled in the chains that suspended her in mid air. The cuffs around her hands had cut into her skin, leaving dried blood trailing down her arm. Her once fiery hair had become dull, just as she had.
Our eyes locked.
We both knew he had come to finish his job, and I watched as her bottom lip trembled, cracked and dry, and covered in her fresh tears of sorrow. I watched the last glimmer of light flicker out behind her eyes as she seemed to tell me goodbye with that single glance.
I choked back a sob, praying to God that he would spare me soon and let me die in peace at the bottom of this horror filled basement and join the rest.
"Hello my pretties." His awful voice echoed throughout the room.
Zoe was shaking so hard the chains rattled against the wall, creating a continuous echo throughout the dungeon.
"Shut up." He seethed, coming into full view.
He stood perched on the bottom step and looked upon the last of us with pride.
I moved closer to the wall and closed my eyes as his gaze flickered towards me.
"Oh Iris, you look simply breathtaking today." He cooed out loud.
I giggled, opening my eyes in shock at the noise escaping from my throat and screamed internally as I saw his smile of extreme pleasure.
"Oh what a pretty laugh you have, I had thought you had lost it." He says, reaching behind his back and pulling
out a long kitchen knife.
I frown at the sight and run over the things that I could have done to displease him in my mind, all while preparing myself for the cutting he was about to deliver upon me.
He notices my distress and runs over to me, dropping to his knees and letting the knife clatter upon the floor as he puts his hands on my face.
I gasp at the contact and shut my eyes, afraid of what he might do to me today. He had never acted like this before, and I wondered if my time had finally come.
"Iris." He whispered rapidly, causing me to look at him with alarm.
I stayed silent as he stared at me intently.
"Answer me when I talk to you!" He spat, winding his arm back and delivering a blow to my jaw, causing me to hit my head against the wall harshly to the point of seeing black spots in my vision.
"Yes sir?" I answer, mouth full of blood and a stinging sensation about my body.
"You win." He says, suddenly smiling and holding me close.
I couldn't hold back as I collapsed into his embrace, sobbing my heart out as he clung to me tighter, mistaking my act of emotion as one of happiness as
he stroked my hair and planted kisses atop my head.
"I must take care of the last one." He says softly, picking up the knife next to my leg and standing up.
He turns slowly with a wink as he finally faces zoe, who has now stopped crying as she looks at him emotionless.
"Zoe. We could have had a future, you and I. If only you wouldn't have been so damn stubborn all the time. If only you behaved like my darling Iris. Then maybe, maybe you could have stayed with us." He smiles at her wickedly as he takes his knife in both hands.
He walks towards her and uncuffs one of her hands. Making her body fall in a half suspended position, stretching her arm painfully as she led out pitiful scream.
He traces the blade down her pale arms, slicing down the one holding her in mid air and smiles as the blood pours from her wound.
Her screams echo throughout the room as I cover my ears and cry at the way of the world.
He cuts a chunk of flesh out of her arm, laughing cruelly as he drives his fingers into the wound, stretching it out as she screams.
I watch her eyes fall back as
she passes out with one last look at me, silently exchanging her goodbyes before she goes.
He slashes her across her face, admiring the way the fluid from her eyes ran out across her body.
"You didn't deserve to see the beauty of this world." He says with a laugh.
He places his hands upon her breasts with a glance towards me.
"Yours are much better." He murmurs softly. Taking his knife and sawing them from her chest.
"You didn't deserve to be called a woman." He spat as the flesh fell to the floor.
With one swift movement he stabs her through where her heart had stopped beating long ago and looks at her with a satisfied smirk.
He turns back towards me and I cower against the wall in fear.
He takes long strides towards me, sitting with me against the wall as if he is exhausted.
He places his thumb against my lip and kisses me softly.
I kiss back, accepting any sort of comfort I could.
I was done with trying to have courage.
All I needed was to survive.
And he was my only hope.
He smiles at my response, growling as he presses his lips harder against my own and I find myself gasping with desire.
What the hell am I doing?
He laughs happily as he pulls me close and kisses my collarbone.
"I knew I picked the right one."
He picks up his knife again and strikes me with the butt, causing me to fall to the floor.
My vision fades as he kisses my temple.
"I can't wait to start our life together, my darling Iris."