My mother and I took our seats, and my dad opened his mouth to make a speech.
“I just want to express my gratitude for all of us to be able to sit around this table tonight. For us to go through hell the past few days and come out of it better than ever- and as a family. I know we have all had different views on whether or not Katie should be here. I want you two to know that your mother and I spoke it over and agreed that Katie will stay here. We simply cannot risk letting her go. She will need to straighten out her behavior. Any other attacks on any of the family members, and she is gone. Now I want everyone to enjoy the meal that was made, and remember this: What we do, we do together as a family. Always.”
My dad took his seat, and right on cue we all tucked into our meals.
This delicious dinner was a welcome distraction from the world of troubles I felt immersed in. I enjoyed every sinful bite, and my worries melted away. I was sure to be in for a world of homework tomorrow after dipping out early.
I needed to clear the air with Katie. I wanted to talk to her after dinner and knew my parents wouldn’t be okay with it.
So, I would wait until later.
I knew after dinner my mom brought food to the girls. I would have to wait until everyone turned in to bed. I ate the rest of my meal in silence. We all had copies of the keys for the doors, but I would need to fly under the radar for this plan.
Once I finished dinner, I passed on dessert. I couldn’t spend another minute with my family acting like I was okay with Katie being here. I knew she had to be, but I wanted to talk to her. I had to tell her I was sorry, and that I never meant for her to end up here. If she knew the truth, and saw I was still the same person, maybe she wouldn’t hate me as much.
I planned to take my keys and go out through the back so George wouldn’t see anything. He did sign an NDA but had undying loyalty to my parents and this family. If he saw me doing something sneaky after dark, he was sure to spill the beans. I didn’t want to be the subject of my parents never ending questions.
I excused myself and headed up my bedroom. Thankfully for me, my parents went to bed early. I was sure that the staff was cleaning up the kitchen now, and that my mom was preparing a bad meal for the girls. I wished Katie could be in this house- with us.
Her attack on me today only furthered my earlier thought that she could potentially be one of us, join our group. I was sure I could convince my best friend of her true potential once I was able to talk to her alone.
Plus, two prying eyes and listening ears.
Yeah, those bitches.
I laid down in my room and turned on my laptop. I should do some homework, but rather decided to indulge myself in an episode of Paradise Hotel. It was a new show, and I loved all the raunchy and crazy drama. It made me feel better about my own life.
Tyler is hot!
I had set an alarm just in case I fell asleep. I set it for eleven o’clock. It didn’t seem that late, but my parents turned in around nine thirty and I figured eleven was a great time to attempt this.
I was halfway through the episode, when Mark knocked on my door.
“Come in.”
He opened the door, smiled, and came and sat on the edge of my bed.
“I wanted to just make sure that you were okay. You seemed off at dinner.”
“I’m fine. Just wanted some time for me.”
He didn’t say anything but regarded me carefully. My brother and I were always nothing but honest with each other.
I could tell he didn’t believe me, but I didn’t really care.
He looked over at my laptop and laughed.
“This garbage?”
He hated reality television shows, and that only made me love them more.
“Yes Mark, this garbage. Now please leave and let me enjoy it.” I laughed, knowing he wanted nothing more than to get away from it.
“Let me know if you need anything, Ames.”
He shut my door softly and I could hear his feet padding across the hallway. The door shut. I didn’t want to have to lie to him, but I needed to. I didn’t really know where Mark stood at this point in time in terms of Katie being here, and Mark was already sort of a wild card. I didn’t know if he would support me or turn me in. I needed to keep a distance and sort my emotions about this out by myself first.
I pressed play, and sure enough started to drift off again before the episode was over.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
My alarm was going off, and I shut it off in a panic, praying that no one had heard it going off. The only person who truly had any chance of hearing it was Mark, and I doubted it. Still, I wanted to be safe, and waited another five minutes before leaving my room. I left a few pillows under the blankets, and softly closed my door.
I was heading down the stairs slowly, taking it step by step. Thankfully, we had no creaky boards in this house. I got all the way to the back door, did a quick look around, and was glad to see that there was no one there.
I padded across the grass and pulled my keys out of my pajama pants when I finally got to the familiar door. I unlocked it, headed down the stone steps, and unlocked the large iron door.
When I swung the door open, I was greeted with one pair of eyes- Katie’s.
The other two were sound asleep, and I found myself feeling internally grateful. Usually I liked my subjects to be sentient and receptive, but I wasn’t here for that. I was here for my best friend, who I knew without a doubt now hated me.
I just had to change that.
“Katie…”
“Amy, don’t. You made it pretty clear that this friendship was done when you let your brother kidnap me and stick me down here. You cemented that when you came in here and clocked me.”
I hung my head down in shame. She was right. I had no choice though!
“Katie, I had no choice. My family and I…”
She cut me off. “You and your family are a bunch of rich losers who have nothing better to do.”
I walked towards her and bent down keeping a safe distance in case she wanted to go full John Wick on me. I opened my mouth to speak, when she spit in my face. Literally.
I pulled myself up, realizing any friendship we had was truly lost. I needed to stop thinking of her as such.
“You really shouldn’t have done that, Katie.”
18
Mark
I was unsure of what my sister was doing, but she was sure as hell up to something. I heard her come inside ten minutes ago, and she slammed her door pretty hard.
Who was I kidding? She went to see Katie. I wasn’t sure of their status at this point. Either they were still friends or hated each other’s guts. I knew Katie was probably upset with Amy, with all of us really.
Maybe Amy was done with her. Something like this could surely sever a friendship, but I hoped that Katie and I could remain friends, or more than that.
I had come up with a plan. It wasn’t a rather good one, or very effective, but it needed to be done. This business my family and I have going on has nothing to do with Katie, and I never should have brought her into this world. I made a mistake, and I was the only one who could fix it.
If I did this, my family would hate me forever. They would probably kick me out, or worse we would all be cell mates in prison.
I wanted to wait at least another hour or so before I headed out to the basement. I hoped that the other two girls would be sleeping so it would give Katie and I a chance to finally talk. I needed Amy to be asleep when this happened, so I figured the waiting game was my best bet.
I decided to kill time with a book. Reading was my favorite pastime, and I settled on something scary as a way to pull me out of my current nightmare- reality. I opened up the tattered, old book and started reading.
I had read and re-read this book so many times, and I never grew tired of it. The story, the characters, and the dialog pulled me in and kept me there until the very end. Truth is, I had lost the time to sit down and read a good book especially since I f
irst took Anna.
Who knew having kidnap victims would be a full-time job?
Not me, that’s for sure. I feel like since my family and I started this whole thing, I have lost part of myself along the way. Sure, I hate when girls treat me like crap or disrespect me. I like to watch them get tortured sometimes. That doesn’t make me a monster though? It doesn’t make me invalid of having feelings? I have feelings towards Katie, real ones, so I can’t be all that bad right?
I was about to do something for the greater good, putting aside the very real and very serious consequences that it could potentially have on my family. That made me a good person.
Before I knew it, I found myself lost in the world of necromancers, werewolves, and witches. The supernatural fantasy world was one of my absolute favorite genres. It never failed to interest me, and this series was one of my favorites.
Mom and Dad had always insisted on getting me brand new copies of the books, but to me there was nothing better than the smell and feel of an old book.
When I saw that I was about two hundred pages in, I decided to call it a night- with the reading. I still had something I needed to do.
I put a bookmark in and tucked the book into the shelf on my reading corner. I slid on my converse, pulled on a dark hooded sweatshirt, and very carefully opened my door.
I practically tiptoed out, and all but held my breath going down the stairs. Sneaking around was hard when you were six foot one.
I reached the bottom step after what felt like an hour long walk and breathed a loud sigh of relief. Hard part was over. The nice thing about having freshly groomed and well-maintained grass was that it was soft and practically silent as you walked across it.
I opened the back door and closed it with the utmost care. I did a brisk walk across the large yard, mostly because I knew my parent’s bedroom had a clear line of sight into the backyard, and I didn’t want to screw my chances up now. Not when I was so close to making things right.
You got this.
I finally got to the all too familiar back door. I opened it with my keys and tiptoed down the steps. If they were all asleep, I didn’t want to wake them, only Katie. The other two could go to hell.
I got to the big iron door and rolled my eyes at the chains. These things always make a ruckus, and that was the last thing I needed right now. I made a mental note to ask dad to switch these out, but who knew if he would ever talk to me again after tonight.
I was able to get the chain undone, and I crept inside. To my surprise, Katie was the only one awake, and she looked mad.
“Two for one deal, huh? I already told your sister.”
Amy came here, like I thought.
I walked over to her and sat down. This was a risky move given that she nearly beat Amy to death. I decided to take my chances, knowing that deep down in Katie’s heart, that she could never truly hurt me.
“I wanted to talk.”
“About what?” Katie looked disgusted with me, and I will admit that it bugged me way more than it should.
“That I’m sorry for everything, and for what I did. You don’t deserve to be down here. You deserve to be free, and I took that from you. But I want you to know that I trust that you won’t say anything about us to anyone.”
“What are you talking about?” She looked confused, and I realized my mistake. I didn’t even tell her the good news yet.
“Where are my manners? I left out the best part. I’m letting you go.”
“You are?” She looked overwhelmed, but I was sure she would have jumped for joy had she not been shackled down and with a broken ankle.
I can’t believe my mom did that to her.
“I am. But there’s something else.”
“And what is that? What more could you or your family possibly want from me?”
“They don’t know. But I love you Katie. I want us to be together.”
She looked puzzled for a moment, and then considerate as if she was mentally picturing the idea of the two of us together. It can’t come as a shock to her, given that practically anyone and everyone in this town knows the magnitude of my feelings toward her.
Katie was such a beautiful light, and people liked her not because her dad was the Sheriff, but because she was genuinely an amazing person. I loved her so much and had since the day I saw her.
“I would like that, Mark. Let’s get out of here before anyone sees me.”
I realized she was right, and that our talk had gone on far longer than I originally planned. I started to unshackle her, and I helped her to her feet. She leaned all her weight on me as she tried to get up the stairs with essentially only one good foot.
We made it all the way to the top, and I helped her sit while I locked up the door downstairs, and the one upstairs. It took me about a minute, and I was finally locking up the door when I felt something hard crack down on the back of my head.
I fell forward, clutching the back of my skull in pain. She tricked me. My only stipulation of letting her go was that we were going to be together, as a couple. If she didn’t want that then she wasn’t getting out of here. I knew I had to get up, but the pain shooting through my entire head made it nearly impossible to get up, but I had to.
I managed to pull myself up off the wet grass, discouraged knowing she probably got a good head start. I remembered her ankle and laughed to myself.
Biting the hand that fed you? Not a good choice Katie.
I sprinted towards the front, knowing that was really the only way out. Katie was soon in my line of sight, and she was almost about to clear the front gate when a hand shot out of the gate attendant box and grabbed her. George.
19
Katie
I was almost there. I could see the gate.
I felt an arm grab my shoulder back, and all those promising thoughts slipped away instantly. My initial thought was that I didn’t hit Mark hard enough, but when I turned to the side and saw George, the gate attendant holding me, my heart sank.
He was in on this too.
And I had just blew my last chance at getting out of here. I didn’t play it smart. I laid all my cards on the table much too early, and now there was no way in hell that Amy or Mark would willingly be my ticket out of this hell hole.
“Leaving so soon?” George sang voice full of malice. His eyes looked glazed over, and his grip on my arm was starting to hurt.
“I’ll take it from here George.” Mark came over, hand rubbing the back of his head.
“And risk the chance of letting her get away again? No thanks. In fact, I think I will let your parents in on this one. Might have a shot at getting a raise. Gate attendant to kidnap capturer should come with a steady pay increase, no?”
Mark looked extremely irritable and pushed his hair out of his face. The back of his head looked bloody, and my heart panged with guilt. I knew I shouldn’t feel guilty, but I was nothing like these people. I didn’t crave violence. Hurting anyone, even if they did deserve it, felt wrong.
“Sorry about the head Mark.”
His eyes shot to me, clearly still pissed about the whole thing. He didn’t even give me the satisfaction of a response but started to head into the house with George pushing me to follow.
Let’s wake up Mommy and Daddy Psycho. Fun!
George seemed absolutely delighted with himself, like a little boy on the river with his dad for the first time, who caught his first large fish. That’s exactly what I was. The fact that George was the one to stop me before I was able to escape would be seen as a victory, one worthy of a prize. I’m assuming George enjoyed the cash prizes best.
We walked into the giant foyer, and neither George nor Mark had the pleasure of waking up Sharon and Paul. They were already awake- and angry.
“Would someone like to tell me what the hell is going on? Mark why are you bleeding? Why is George away from the post? And why the hell is Katie free?” Sharon looked from Mark, to George, and then to me. If she was expecting me to speak to her after I have
seen her little shop of horrors, she was out of her mind.
Mark was the first to speak but was cut off swiftly by George.
“Allow me, Mrs. Puntzer. Mark tried to free Katie, but she turned on him and tried to hit him in the head. She was able to get all the way to the gate, where I grabbed her.” George finished up his story with a bow, and I wanted more than anything to wipe that little smug look of his face.
If my ankle wasn’t broken…
I had forgotten about my ankle until now. Adrenaline and fear will do that to you, I guess. It was now a sharp throbbing pain, and George was putting a lot of weight onto that side of my body.
“Is this true Mark?” Mr. Puntzer looked at his son, who looked guilty.
“Yeah apparently this is what happens when you kidnap someone out of love… or was it purely fear Mark? Fear that I was getting too close to this sick family torture shop?” I opened my mouth to further my verbal beatdown but was interrupted by a harsh slap delivered by Sharon.
“Shut your mouth. Paul, take Katie back to where she belongs- her room with the other sluts.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. I mean I could, because at this point every horrible thing this family continued to do really wasn’t shocking me. Rather, it was furthering my assessment I made when I first realized where I was. They’re all nuts.
Mr. Puntzer grabbed my shoulder and kept a firm hand as he walked me back to the room. He was taking his time, making sure not to put any weight onto me. If I was crazy, I would have thought he was trying to avoid hurting my ankle further. But those who tortured people had no empathy, and Paul tortured people. Him and his sick family tortured girls for their own enjoyment.
He unlocked the door, and I had to stop myself from breaking down. To be this close to freedom, even after a short period of time, and then have it taken away from you was soul crushing. I felt weak, vulnerable, and terrified as I spent my days locked in this room with these girls.
The Iron Room Page 9
