Leah's eyes opened and she immediately felt her head pound harshly; the sun beamed in, in slashes through the window. She let out a sigh as she moved her gaze to the side of her. Everything was blur until Leah placed her glasses up on her face and looked at the clock. It was 2pm in the evening. The drug Jared had gave her had only worked for four hours which was unusual.
Leah warily climbed out the bed. The house was as silent as a mouse, which was odd. She wandered to the landing and that's when she heard a large noise that caused her to gasp a little. It sounded like an axe, hitting a table. She could hear Lindsay humming in the kitchen now as she stood near the staircase, only adding the tense atmosphere that Leah felt blanketed in all of a sudden.
The silence fell again.
Leah began to creep down the stairs with shaky legs, tiptoeing in the process so that nobody heard her. The slamming sprung to her attention again and Leah felt a mixture of puzzled and frightened as she whisper- yelped. It appeared to be coming from below her..
The basement.
Theo suggested to throw her in there on her first night, which of course petrified the living daylights our of Leah. It was confusing though. What was down there that was so worrying?
Leah was curious, but she knew Lindsay would try to stop her from going down if she was caught, therefore, she couldn't be spotted.
She slivered against the wall passed her, her eyes catching a glimpse of the hooks in the kitchen. Only to her surprise, they were clean and the tiles were no longer splattered in ruby blood anymore. The body had also been removed. Where had they taken it?
When Leah reached the door of The Basement, she heard people having a conversation and then another whack, preventing Leah from hearing what they were saying. Her lip quivered as she dared to slide through. What was she doing?
The door was open, so she stood at the top of the stairs and listened out. She was stupid for going through with this.
" Well we might as well do it whilst she's sedated. She'd only want to know what was going on." She heard Jared's voice pronounce and she tried to slide in more for a look at them, but she couldn't chance getting caught. The things they'd do to her if they discovered her earwigging.
" Your mother was the same, son. Leah will come around. They just take some time to adjust to their new surroundings, but that does not mean for one second that you go easy on them," Gabriel explained and Leah had moved close enough to catch Jared nod his head. He never replied though.
" Place this in that fridge there." Gabriel instructed.
Leah couldn't help it. She felt as her other leg took another step onto the very top stair. It nearly gave up on her, but she caught herself.
Only Leah wish she hadn't took that step...
What Leah saw could only be described as the most indescribable, vilest and last of all sickest thing she had ever witnessed in her eighteen years of living. She thought she'd seen it all, but it got worse. So much worse.
Gabriel had a large axe in his hand. Red liquid covered his arms and clothing like a mask. On the table, was the two teenagers from earlier. The boy had no legs as Gabriel sliced through it and the girls head was hammered of grimly. Chunks of her arms were cut up at the side of Gabriel like meat and Jared wrapped them in a bag before placing it in the fridge. Jared then took a drink from the cup and pored it down his throat.
You should of just got it out the way
I bet she wouldn't be so hungry if she knew
If you're going to get pregnant, you have to eat, right?
Cannibals.
They were cannibals.
Leah felt every bit of colour drain out of her complexion instantly. The rosy in her lips and cheeks had faded and she was practically a ghost. Her throat was dry; she couldn't talk. Her breathes was heavy and she was clouded by disgust, causing everything to move in slow motion. This couldn't be. It couldn't..
" Jared.." Leah managed to whisper, and the boys swung their bodies round automatically, noticing her deadly face gazing at them. As Leah viewed Jared, his hands and clothes were drenched in crimson blood. It started from his chest and ended at his trousers. He looked as if he'd quenched it like juice as it covered his entire mouth area and leaked down his neck. She didn't had time too scream before she covered her mouth and did nothing as she lost her balance. One leg fell forward and Leah collapsed down the staircase, her head slamming against the floor and her unconscious figure on the ground; her head began pouring with blood almost instantly.
" Leah!" Jared shrieked before running to her side and checking her pulse. It was beating.
" I thought you sedated her?!" Gabriel roared at his son and Jared looked up at him.
" I did. But I only gave her a bit because we're running low." Jared told him and Gabriel looked at his son with disapproval. On the bright side, Gabe could now see if his oldest boy could handle what was coming. If Jared thought these past couples of days had been bad, he didn't know what was about to hit him like a ton of bricks. Leah was going to go insane when she woke up. They'd been feeding her human, and she had no idea.
Jared picked Leah up into his arms and carried her to the bedroom. Gabriel followed closely behind, huffing as he left unfinished business in the basement.
Jared reckoned Leah would freak and attack when she awoke, so he tied her arms up to the bed, but not as tightly. She was already knocked out of conciseness. He'd stop her blood flowing with the rope and she'd probably die.
He didn't get another.
Jared grabbed some bandages out a cabinet and removed her glasses to place them on her wound. He shook her body to try and wake her but she wouldn't budge. Jared dragged his hands through his hair as he raced to the bathroom and poured a cup of water. He stormed up to her and threw it in her face, but that wasn't successful either.
" Leave her." A voice said from behind him and he turned to see his father and mother stood behind him. Gabriel snaked his arm around his wife and left. Jared looked back at Leah, sighing and scratching the back of his neck. He turned to the door and slowly left the room, glancing again at her before shutting the door.
--
When Leah's eyes finally fluttered open, her head pounded furiously and she winced. It took a while to take in where she was. Everything was so blurry. she couldn't see and she realised her glasses weren't on. Leah went to get them from the nightstand when something tugged at her arm. She was tied to a bed.
That's right. She was still at that farm.
As she brought her vision twelve o clock, she seen a figure move towards her until the cold metal touched her temple and the glasses were propped on her face. She blinked a few times and when she opened her eyes, she saw Jared sat in front of her on the bed. He smiled at her.
"Hey, how you feeling?"
Leah's head ached like mad, the pain sprawling from her forehead to the back where it throbbed. She shut her eyes but it only caused the pain to spread. " What happened?"
Jared moved closer to her. " You fell down the basement stairs, sweetheart. I was so worried about you."
Leah furrowed her brows in confusion when she slowly moved her head to the side and seen a plate of meat and a glass of water at the side of her.
That's when the bloody horror flashed back to her.
She saw Gabriel aggressively swinging an axe at the corpse. She remembered Jared causally placing it in the fridge. Leah remembered feeling sick to her stomach before letting herself flop down the hard, wooden staircase. She let out a weakened scream and Jared quickly covered her mouth. Leah moved her head away from him.
" G-get away from me! I saw you.... what you did! You're.. you're fucking sick. " Leah's stomach curdled like she'd drank off milk and she felt she was about to vomit any second. This man had ate humans. What vile person does that? Was he even human himself? This was all too crazy to comprehend. It was too much for her; she couldn't handle this life. What did Leah ever do too deserve this?
Jared swung a slap at her face and she yelled in agony. They knocked her glasses of her eyes slightly. " Leah, don't ever cuss at me. I've told you numerous times now! I won't have it."
Leah continued to screech. Her face bright red from tears. Her clammy cheeks lighting up the darkened room- it was filled with evilness and a monster who never left her side. Who always reminded her that this was reality. This was who she was now.
This was her family..
"Now, stop crying. You need to eat," Jared demanded as he grabbed the meat and water from the nightstand and Leah began kicking her legs like a maniac and painfully yelling from the top of her cracked, worn out voice.
" N-no. No! I won't eat that. You're insane, Jared. You need help!" The tears never ended. Her eyes watered like a broken tap. Her head was beating from her eery shrieks. She couldn't take it.
Leah was breaking.
Jared towered his leg over her and she weeped and weeped in utter fear for her life. Jared brought the plate to her face and took a strip of the neatly cut human. Leah didn't have time to stop Jared when he brought the food up and shoved it in her mouth. He grabbed her jaw to help her chew it and realisation hit her of what she was doing.
Automatically, Leah shaped her mouth and spat the meat out into Jared face, saliva followed along with it as it shot him right in the eye. He fell back slightly as the teenagers guts flew at him and Leah shook her head side to side, screaming and crying for help that was never going to come in this rural area. Even if it did, they'd be eaten before they had the chance to save her.
Jared wiped the chewed up meat out his eye and his face went red with fury. He slammed his fist into her leg and she yelled painfully- agonised. Jared went into the pocket of his jeans and pulled his pocket knife out. Leah's eyes widened in fright from the weapon he held and she began to shake her head no, rattling like a woman gone mad.
" Don't, Jared. Please don't kill me! I'll do anything you like. I'll be good, I promise." She begged but her words fell on death ears as he flicked the blade up and did three enormous slices up her arms. She howled for about three minutes straight and Jared took the plate and water again. Her screeching stopped and became a soft cry as Jared brought the cup to her lips. She thirstily quenched the water in one big gulp, hydrating her dry uvula.
He then took a second strip of meat and Leah shook her head no.
" Please, Jared," she sobbed. " don't make me."
Jared didn't listen and pushed the meat into her mouth. He quickly placed his large palms over her lips, forcing her to eat it. The meat tasted sweet and Leah felt it rising back up in her throat. With every chew, she cringed more, thinking what part was she eating. Which one was it? The already dead boy. Or the terrified young girl? She just wanted to be safe. Safe from Jared and his psychotic family.
Was that ever going to happen?
For now, she had to do what she had to do. She'd get beat if she didn't swallow the meat and truly, she had no other option. Leah knew it was going to get barfed straight back up; if she did that, she wouldn't just get three slices. Those soon to be scars flooded the bed sheets as it soaked her entire arm, leaking down to her aching armpit.
Leah pushed it down her throat and gasped for air as she swallowed. She begged her stomach would not throw it back up. But Leah was going to find it impossible to control it.
It was human.
Human.
" Open." Jared demanded and Leah shakily opened her mouth to show him she'd swallowed it. Like a mom assuring a child had took their medicine.
Jared climbed of her crumpled body and placed the plate of meat at the side of him "See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"
Leah was too afraid too answer him. Jared frightened her. Nobody had ever made her feel this way. Even intoxicated Derek.
" Now, we're having dinner soon. Which Mom had to make alone, again. Because of you," Jared said and Leah bowed her head in shame, her glasses sliding down her nose " I will untie you, Leah. But you need to learn, this is your life now. So stop fighting it."
A final cold tear slid down her face. The rope still splintered her already burnt wrists but it didn't even hurt anymore. She'd gotten use to it since being here. How long had she been here?
Jared shuffled towards her and kissed her lips. Leah pulled a sour face and tried to push him of with her chest, but that made him grin as he got a sexual thrill of it.
" If you want me to touch you, just say. You don't have to be shy around me." Jared assured her with a malicious smirk and Leah felt a shudder transfer through her body up to her cheeks and they became bright red.
Jared cackled before leaving Leah tied to the bed in the room, not even bothering to bandage her wounded arms. Leah quietly weeped to herself- her bleeding stained the bed sheets. This would continue until Jared came back into the room to untie her for dinner.