Stepping out of the shower and putting on a clean set of clothes felt like heaven. Towel drying my hair, I stepped back into the room that Amanda had given me. She said it was the master bedroom, which explained the bathroom connected to it, and that she would take the couch downstairs. She wanted me to have my privacy, and for that I was grateful.
After making sure my hair wasn't still dripping, I silently made my way to the door and cracked it open. When Amanda had shown me the room upstairs, I noticed multiple other doors down the hallway and figured they were other rooms. My guess was that she was running some sort of place for people to stay at.
"Hi," a voice chirped. I opened the door a bit further, revealing a boy who was about ten years old. His mop of curly blonde hair was hanging down in his eyes, and he brushed the strands out of the way. "I'm Jayden, but most people call me Jay." He smiled, showing his crooked teeth.
"Hey buddy, what trouble are you causing now?" Cole asked, coming up the stairs. I remained a silent observer as he walked over, ruffling the young boys hair affectionately.
"Who's she," Jayden asked, pointing at me. Cole looked up from the boy and over at me, smiling gently.
"That's Ellie, she's going to be staying here too for a little while. Don't bother her too much okay?" Cole stated, crouching down so he could be eye level with the kid. "Go help Amanda set the table," He added, shooing Jayden off towards the stairs. The little boy grinned and ran off, bounding down the steps two at a time.
"Supper is ready if you're hungry," Cole said, standing up and brushing his hands on his pants.
"Okay," I replied quietly, stepping outside of the room and closing the door behind me. I followed behind Cole, the steps creaking on our way down.
Rosen was already sitting down next to Jayden, and Amanda had her spot at the head of the table. Cole took the seat across from Rosen, and I internally sighed in relief that I wouldn't have to look at him constantly the whole time.
I sat down and stared at the mashed potatoes and corn on my plate, no meat.
"When you run a place for boys to stay at, you got to save costs on food," Amanda said, noticing my staring.
"What exactly is this place?" I asked, poking at my corn.
"This is my home, and I keep it open to anyone who escaped the Def and needs to lay low for a while. Most leave and go off on their own after a few weeks, but some come back to stay every once and a while," she explained. I glanced at Rosen. He had mentioned he lived in New York for a year, so he must have lived here in her house.
"You keep saying the Def, who is that?" I questioned. Amanda set her fork down, shooting daggers at both Rosen and Cole who were doing everything they could to ignore her.
"You didn't tell her anything did you?" she sighed.
"The Def are the bad guys," Jayden bumped in, his face bright even as he said this.
"Def is short for Defaecatio which means cleansing in Latin," Amanda explained. "They are somewhat like a cult, or like a..."
"A secret organization, like the Illuminati," I said, looking over to Rosen. He looked at me guiltily. I can remember him saying he had a fascination with secret organizations one day when we were at Mr. Milkshake. Was he just saying that to hide the face that there was one looking for him?
"Exactly," Amanda nodded. "They first began as a religious group back in the early 1800s in Italy. It started with a few very religious men who had derived from the church, believing that all sources of evil in people was caused by the possession of demons,"
"You mean they believed people we're doing bad things because they were possessed?" I questioned, wrinkling my nose at the idea. I was a skeptic when it came to ghosts.
"Yes, so they created this group to stop that. They thought the only way to drive a demon from a person's body was to kill the host. So they began hunting down people who had sinned, and killing them." My eyes were wide as I listened to all this, enraptured by the history of it all. These people killed other human beings just because they sinned.
"They began to preach their beliefs, recruiting others into their cause. Over the years it spread worldwide, but their belief system has changed a little bit.They don't believe that the demons are the cause of this evil, but that the sin people cause is contagious. The more people sin, the more it spreads. They think that God will grant them a special place in heaven for getting rid of as many sinners as possible. They are dedicated to cleansing the world from all evil." She concluded.
"Those are the people after us," I exclaimed in disbelief. "Why, what did we do?"
"You haven't done anything," Rosen said, shaking his head. "There is more to it than that. The Def no longer preaches and searches for people to join them, they force people to believe in their cause and fight for it."
"I don't understand," I said, looking at him.
"The Def have an army of highly trained soldiers to do their bidding. The way they get these soldiers is by kidnapping children. Usually when they are too young to comprehend what's happening. They raise them on their beliefs, while simultaneously training them how to kill people." Rosen explained. "They never know any other way, which means they don't think they are doing anything wrong."
It was hard to wrap my mind around an organization that was so secretive and hidden. You would think they would be all over the news like a terrorist group or something. Why hasn't anyone noticed?
My mouth dropped open in shock. "They kidnap kids." My gaze landed on Jayden, who continued to eat not bothered in the slightest by this conversation.
"Jay was one of them," Cole said, answering my internal question. "One of the guys escaped last year, bringing Jay with him,"
"So people do leave?" I asked, looking around at all of them.
"All of us left," Amanda grinned. "Like I said, my house is a safe haven for any defected soldiers."
"That's why they are after us," Rosen added, looking to Cole. "We first escaped four years ago, but they found us and brought us back. Thankfully they thought we were too valuable to kill us, so we started planning our next way of escape." He smiled, like he was proud of his accomplishments. "We were able to leave again the beginning of this year, and stayed with Amanda before going off to Shorely."
So many questions raced through my mind, but I was still trying to process everything they had just told me.
"Why haven't they found this place yet?" I asked Amanda. You would think they would have figured it out by now.
"They think i'm still working with them," her face darkened a bit. "I relay information to them about deserters. I usually head them in the right direction, but anybody who stays with me knows that so they change course for a different place than they originally told me. The Def keep me around because they know I can give out information on the whereabouts of the ones who've escaped."
"So they know we are most likely going to come here?" I squeaked, feeling very unsafe.
"They probably already know we're here, but they won't do anything about it." Cole said. "They want us to continue to think this place is safe and use it as a trap for any deserters. They'll wait for us to leave and then talk to Amanda, sending them in the wrong direction. When we leave is when we will take you home," Cole reassured. "They'll think you're still with us and by the time they figure out you're not they won't care anymore. They only care if we have a close connection to you, because they'll use that to get us to go back with them. Leaving you alone is a sign to them that we don't care, which means they won't care."
I shuddered, looking at my half eaten food and setting my fork down. I had lost my appetite.
"You guys have all killed people?" I whispered, hoping Jayden wouldn't hear it.
"Haven't you," Jay butted in, tilting his head as he looked at me. He genuinely looked confused as to why I've never murdered someone. I felt nauseous.
"We were brought up thinking it was the right way Ellie," Rosen said quietly, staring at me intensely, begging for me to understand.
"I guess it's just a lot of information to take in," I muttered, looking away from his gaze.
"You're in good hands. Rosen and Cole are two of the best, they know how to avoid them," Amanda smiled at me.
After we all helped clean up, I went back up to my room to think.
I had only been laying on the bed for a few minutes when there was a knock on my door. As I sat up, Rosen pushed the door open and peaked inside. To say I was surprised would be an understatement.
"I just want to talk," he said gently, entering the room and closing the door behind him. He hesitated, shoving his hands in his pockets, before he sat down at the end of the bed. I scooted down so I was sitting next to him, but made sure there was a good two feet in between us.
"I am really sorry I dragged you into this whole mess," he admitted. "I knew I shouldn't have kept talking to you, but at first I just wanted to make sure you were safe and then I guess I just really liked talking to you. Hanging out with you and your friends just made me feel normal. Like I could actually go off to college and have a family. Have a life."
"It's not all your fault, I shouldn't have trusted you so easily after you had a gun to your head," I replied, a small smile on my face.
"Yeah, probably not your best decision," he let out a small laugh, surprising me. This was the Rosen I had gotten to know at Shorley. We both were quiet for a few minutes before I spoke up.
"Why are you and Cole so different now. Was everything back home a front?" I asked cautiously, afraid of offending him. I still didn't trust either of them, and If the opportunity rolled around I was leaving.
"Cole played cold hearted so he didn't get attached. He has a big heart, and he knows that's his weakness. He was smart to stay closed off," Rosen said, looking down at the hardwood flooring. "I didn't put up any act when I was at Shorely, that was all just me. I let my guard down. The person you see now though, this is the real me too. This is the me when I'm on the run for my life and have another person to worry about. I come off harsh, because I know how this world works. It's a cruel place Ellie, and the things i've seen and experienced have scarred me." He took a deep breath. "I have to be prepared to lose anyone and everything at any moment."
I was speechless. How do you reply to something like that. I felt bad for him, and I cursed my feelings because I was supposed to hate my kidnappers. The thing was though, I could see where they were coming from. They really had made no move to hurt me so far, and kept making promises about protecting me. I'm not sure how they could have orchestrated this huge story if it was all a lie.
My heart was conflicted.
Boldly, Rosen reached over and grabbed my hand making me whip my head up to look at him. I didn't feel disgust or fear, and instead was remind of us kissing on the beach. I tried not to blush.
"Listen to me Ellie," Rosen said urgently. "You can't trust anyone anymore okay? Including me."
Thanks for reading!