The Cellar

by Natasha Preston

  “So we’re going into town?” Theo asked. I pulled away as soon as he shut the door.

  “Yeah. ”

  He nodded and looked out of the window. Unless we were talking about finding Summer, we barely spoke at all. We used to talk about most stuff. Theo was only a year older, so we were close, but not right now. Everything we used to talk about and care about was nothing now; none of it mattered anymore.

  “What’s the plan?”

  “We search east to west and meet Dad, Daniel, and Henry somewhere in the middle. ”

  “You have pictures of her?”

  Only about a thousand on my phone. “Yeah. ” I had a copy of the same one the press released. It was a close-up of Summer. Her golden-blond hair framed her beautiful face. She had these deep emerald-green eyes that always smiled. I loved waking up to those eyes, right before I snuck out of her room.

  “Lewis…”

  “What?”

  “How are you doing? Really doing?”

  Terrible. Not knowing where she was or how she was torture. All I wanted was for her to be safe. Sighing, I replied, “Fine. ” Theo frowned and turned back, looking out of the window. “What do you want me to say, Theo?”

  “The truth. ”

  “The truth! The truth is I feel like I’m fucking dying. There, is that what you want to hear?”

  “Yes,” Theo replied. “We’ll find her. ”

  I drove through town and thought about Theo’s words, We’ll find her. I had no doubt that we would find her, but when? Anyone could have her and I didn’t even want to imagine what she was going through. I gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles turning white. What if someone was hurting her?

  “Park in there,” Theo said and pointed to a run-down multistory parking garage. Colorful graffiti covered almost every inch of the dull concrete structure. My car probably wouldn’t be here when we returned. A couple weeks ago, I would have never parked my car in a place like that. Now I couldn’t have cared less if it exploded.

  I parked in the space closest to the exit, and we walked into town, taking back streets. “I don’t really know where to start. ”

  Theo scratched the top of his head. “Me neither. Maybe behind the main street?” We walked between two shops and along an endless street. A couple of teens sat on the doorstep of a piercing shop, giggling to themselves. High, no doubt.

  “Excuse me,” I snapped, having no patience to wait for them to come down from whatever was hilarious. “Have you seen this girl? Her name’s Summer Robinson. She’s sixteen. ”

  The girl squinted her bloodshot eyes as she looked at the picture while the boy seemed to take great pleasure in looking Summer over. I clenched my jaw and forced myself to stay calm and not punch his fucking face in. The straggly girl shook her head and gave me a lopsided grin. “Nopes, sorry, dude. ” Nopes? She sounded like a thirteen-year-old trying to invent new in words at school.

  “Never seen her, but I wish I had,” the guy slurred. I hoped Summer wasn’t around here with low-life scum like him.

  “Thanks,” Theo mumbled and pushed me past them.

  I had a horrible feeling that we were just wasting time here. Even if someone had seen her, would they say? This seemed like a place where everyone respected everyone else’s wish to disappear. It wasn’t Summer’s wish to disappear. She didn’t want to go.

  Theo and I walked around for an hour and a half, asking anyone we stumbled upon to look at the picture. Of course, no one had seen a thing, or so they told us. “I don’t know what to do now. ” I admitted. I should have known.

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  “We keep looking. That’s all we can do. ”

  “Okay, let’s meet up with the others and try somewhere else. ”

  I missed her so much it physically hurt, like I was being punched in the gut over and over. All I could do was look, and that hurt even more. I had promised her I would never let anyone hurt her, and I failed her.

  Sunday, August 1st (Present)

  I woke to the bright sun glaring down on my face. Looking across at Summer’s alarm clock, I gasped and bolted upright. Shit, I overslept! It was almost ten. I threw the cover off and jumped out of bed. Fuck, how could I sleep in so long when Summer was missing? Chucking yesterday’s clothes on, I ran downstairs. Why didn’t anyone wake me?

  “Lewis, come sit down for breakfast,” Mum called as I sprinted past the kitchen to grab my backpack. Today I was concentrating my search in the smaller forest near the park.

  “No time,” I replied.

  “Lewis! Come and get something now,” she snapped.

  I sighed and darted into the kitchen. “Just throw something together for me then!”

  Dawn sat at the kitchen table staring blankly into a full cup of coffee. The phone sat next to the mug. It hadn’t been more than a few inches away from her since Summer went missing.

  Mum handed me a plastic shopping bag full of food. “Thanks,” I mumbled and sprinted out of the house. I had food in the backpack, but I wasn’t planning on eating anything in there. It was full of Summer’s favorites—sports drinks, malt balls, gummy bears, a Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut bar, and gingerbread men.

  I stepped outside and was taken aback at the amount of people outside the house. News reporters lined the waist-high brick wall around the house. “Lewis, Lewis,” the crowd shouted all at once. Flashing lights exploded from their cameras.

  Ignoring the questions fired at me, I hopped in my car. Just as I turned the key in the ignition, the passenger door opened. “I’m coming with you,” Henry said and buckled his seat belt. I nodded and sped off, telling myself, Today I will find her—but I said that every day.

  12

  CLOVER

  Friday, March 11th (2005)

  I parked the van in the darkest corner in the abandoned parking lot and walked toward the department store. I had never felt so alive before. Very soon she was going to be mine and I couldn’t wait to take care of her. My perfect Violet.

  It was warm out for March, but even so, the street was deserted. For the past two nights she had been huddled in the doorway of a dated shoe shop. I walked along the alleyway between the corner store and bank. As I had hoped, Violet was sitting against the door of Bentley’s Shoes.

  “Hello,” I said, smiling at the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. I would never admit it aloud, but she eclipsed my mother with her looks. She was pure and innocent, and I was drawn to her immediately.

  She gasped and looked up, startled. “Um, hello. ” Her eyes were pools of light blue tropical ocean, and I knew her wispy dark brown hair could be tamed into a sleek, presentable style. “Can I help you?”

  “I would like to take you for a coffee. ” I smiled.

  Her mouth dropped open. “Why?” She frowned, her eyes darkened. “I’m not like that, you know?”

  I held my hands up. “No, no, that’s not what I meant, and I’m glad to hear you’re that type of…person. I would just like to buy you a hot drink and perhaps something to eat. There’s a twenty-four-hour café just down the street. ”

  “I don’t get it. What do you want from me?”

  “Nothing. ” It’s you that I want to help. “Please, just let me buy you a late dinner?”

  “Just dinner?”

  I nodded, smiling. “Of course. ”

  She hesitated and then rose to her feet slowly. “Okay. ”

  My heart leaped. “Wonderful. Let’s go. ”

  “I’m Catherine. ”

  Catherine didn’t suit her at all. She was Violet. “Colin,” I replied and offered her my hand. “Are you hungry, Catherine?”

  “Yes,” she replied, smiling and dropping her eyes to the ground.

  “Well, the café isn’t far. ” She walked beside me, leaving a gap approximately a foot from me. I didn’t like it. “How long have you been living out here, Catherine?”

  “Um, a year al
most. ”

  “That long?” How on earth could her so-called family allow her to sleep on the dirty, dangerous streets for even one night? “A beautiful young woman like yourself shouldn’t be sleeping in the cold. You should be looked after. Cherished. ”

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  Violet blushed, hiding her face behind her hair. Her shyness was endearing. It wasn’t something I was used to. Mother was a very strong and forceful person. The other women that I had encountered sold themselves on a daily basis. Violet was the first sweet and innocent woman I had met.

  “Where is the café?” she asked.

  “Not far. You’ve never been?”

  She shook her head. “No, I stick to the other side of town, where there’s more people. ”

  “This side isn’t bad, Catherine, just a little neglected. The café is decent. ”

  She looked back over her shoulder and bit her lip. Was she considering running back? The streets were deserted, with the exception of a few homeless people littered in shop doorways.

  “How far?” she asked again and glanced back behind her. My van was in sight, just a few feet away. We were almost there. “I think I should go back. ”

  We were by the back door. I reached into my pocket and unlocked the van. Violet gasped as the door clicked unlocked and the sidelights flashed. “What…?” She shook her head and her eyes widened.

  “It’s okay, Violet. I’m going to take care of you. ”

  “Violet? What? I’m not…” She took a step back, glancing over her shoulder, looking where to run. I sighed. She didn’t understand what I was trying to do, what I was trying to save her from—yet. Her body trembled and she flopped to the ground. I did a double take. She’d fainted. Quickly opening the back door, I picked her up and laid her inside.

  ***

  I carried her slender frame and placed her down on the sofa. She had woken up as I carried her down the stairs and had been crying ever since. She looked around, eyeing the room in shock. Even though she was crying, shaking, and had makeup running down her face, she was still a very beautiful woman. “Violet?”

  “N-Not Vi-Violet. I’m not,” she said, stuttering and gasping for breath.

  “Please stop crying, Violet,” I said. “Calm down. Everything is going to be all right. ”

  She took a few deep breaths, concentrating hard as she tried to relax. Her occasional sobs pierced through me like a knife. Strong women didn’t cry. Mother had never cried. “What do you want from me?” she whispered.

  “A family. ”

  Her eyes widened in horror. “I’m not having your baby!”

  “A baby? I never said I want that. ” Did I want a child? No. Certainly not now and not with someone I barely knew. “Violet, I don’t want a child. A family isn’t defined by offspring. I want the five of us to be a family. I will take care of you all, and in return you will take care of me. ” That was how a family functioned.

  “What? Five? What five?”

  “That’ll come later. Please make yourself at home here. I built this for you, for all of you. Violet, don’t be afraid of me. I want to help you, to care for you. ”

  “Why do you keep calling me that?”

  I frowned. “Your name?”

  “Yes. ”

  “Well, because it’s your name,” I replied and smiled. “Now, I’ll come down for breakfast at eight in the morning and again for dinner at six thirty in the evening. I’m afraid my work will keep me away in the week, so it will only be the weekends where we will eat lunch together. ” Violet stared at me with a blank expression, her mouth hanging open in the most unladylike way. “Please do not look at me like that. ”

  Her mouth snapped shut. “Why are you doing this?”

  Sighing, I stood up. Which part had I not been clear on? “I’ve explained that. I would like a family and I would like to save my family from…” I stopped, searching for the appropriate word to make her understand. “Corruption, pain, humiliation. ”

  “Oh,” she replied, taking me by surprise. Was she understanding now? “I don’t feel those things. I just want to go. ”

  “Violet, if there’s one thing I do not like, it is people being ungrateful. ” Her mouth dropped open again, and she raised her eyebrows. This girl had a face of a million expressions.

  “Now please, allow me to explain how things are to be done. ” Her eyes widened and she nodded numbly. “Good. I will take care of you. I’ll take care of everything. In return, I expect you to keep your home clean and tidy at all times. I cannot abide dirt and mess; it’s disgusting. ” Her eyes widened to the point where they began to water. “You’re to shower twice a day—germs spread fast. ” I raised my eyebrows.

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  “Yes, okay,” she whispered.

  “I will provide you with everything you need—food, toiletries, entertainment. We’re a family, Violet, and soon you won’t be alone here. ”

  She gasped quietly. “I won’t?”

  “No, you won’t. I know this is a lot to take in. It’s very new and very exciting. We will both need an adjustment period, so for a few days, just get used to your surroundings. On Monday, we’ll test-drive our routine. Okay?”

  I could tell she had a million other questions but now was not the time. “I’ll let you get some rest and settle in. Oh, would you like the tour or can you show yourself around?”

  “I can show myself,” she whispered, sitting rigid on the sofa.

  “Very good. ” There was just the living area in the main part of their home, with a bedroom, bathroom, and our room to the side of the living room area. It was quaint, perfect for my four flowers.

  Saturday, March 12th (2005)

  “Good morning, Violet,” I said, as I walked down the stairs. Nerves bubbled in my stomach. I wanted her to be okay and for everything to be all right. I had explained everything to her yesterday, but I wasn’t sure if she fully understood. She sat on the sofa huddled into a ball. Seeing her like that reminded me of how she used to sit on the street. “Are you all right?”

  She looked up at me, gaping as if I had grown a second head. “I’m fine,” she finally replied. I smiled wide, my heart soaring. She is mine.

  13

  SUMMER

  Saturday, July 31st (Present)

  I woke up and my head felt fuzzy, like I’d been wasted the night before. My throat was sore from crying so much. I could still feel his hands on my hair—it made my skin crawl. I didn’t want him to touch me ever again.

  “Lily, are you okay?” Rose asked and sat down on the bed.

  Summer. “Fine,” I lied.

  She nodded and broke into a warm smile. “You need to have a shower. Clover will be down for breakfast in half an hour. ” I should just let him kill me.

  Sighing in defeat, I got up. I didn’t want to give up. I was stronger than that. The image of a huge reunion with Lewis and my family made me hold on to hope that I’d get out. Whatever was going to happen down here, I could go along with it because I would eventually get out and go home. Think of this as if it’s happening to someone else. It’s happening to Lily, and I’m not Lily.

  I grabbed the clothes that were hanging on the front of my wardrobe and went to the bathroom. Black boot-cut trousers and a light blue shirt with matching cardigan. Even though the clothes looked fairly modern, they still made me look older—in my twenties. They were a size too big too, but that was good; it meant my figure wasn’t shown off. I didn’t want him looking at me.

  After taking a quick shower, I dressed and tried to mentally prepare myself to put on the act again. I used to spend ages in the shower, but now they barely lasted beyond five minutes. The natural-looking makeup was my next step. What I really wanted to do was plaster a ton of it on my face just because he didn’t want me to. How could he think he got a say in how I looked? I didn’t even let Lewis determine how I wore my hair or makeup.

>   “Lily,” Rose called through the door at the same time I heard the creaking of the cellar door opening. “Come on. ”

  Panic gripped me. I swung the door open and stepped into the main room. I didn’t want him to come look for me if I wasn’t there when he entered. He walked down the stairs with confidence. It threw me every day how normal he looked. Weren’t people like him supposed to look like monsters? There should have been something physical that gave him away—but he looked normal.

  “Good morning, Flowers,” he said cheerfully. I replied, saying good morning instantly. I did it at the same time as Rose and Poppy, so he wouldn’t single me out again. He sat down in his usual seat and waved his hand, gesturing for me to sit opposite him. I held my breath and sat down.

  Did anyone suspect there was anything odd about him? Someone must have. As far as I knew, he lived alone. Did anyone find that weird? A fairly antisocial thirtysomething living alone? I prayed that someone would see through his perfect-gentleman act long enough to raise the police’s suspicions.

  “This looks incredible,” he said and smiled at Rose. It was fucking scrambled eggs on toast! “So, I’m going shopping to get some new clothes for all of you. ” Someone must find that strange, a grown man shopping for a load of women’s clothing alone. Although they would probably just think he was a cross-dresser. After all, that was easier to assume than what was really going on.

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  “That sounds nice, thank you,” Poppy responded. He looked over to me so I smiled, praying it looked like a smile and not a grimace.

  “I hope you’ll like what I buy. ”

  Rose grinned. “I’m sure we all will. ” Unlikely.

  “Good. The clothes you have on at the minute are all fine for now, but if you would bag everything else up, I’ll take it when I return tonight. Please make dinner for eight o’clock tonight. ”

  We fell into a silence that they all seemed comfortable with. I forced a few bites of egg down and nibbled on a slice of toast. He looked at Rose differently than Poppy; there was more there. If he wasn’t so cold and dead inside, I would almost think he genuinely loved her. Why her? “Do you think you would be able to get us a new mascara too, please?” Rose asked.