by Amy Cross
"What are you waiting for?" Natalie whispers.
"It's okay," I say firmly, hoping that the girl in the bag can hear me. "I'm just going to untie your legs. Do you understand? I'm not going to hurt you."
The girl starts wriggling frantically, as if she's trying to get away from me. She has no way of knowing, of course, that Natalie and I are friendly, so it's only natural that she should try to get away from us. The panic in her movement is obvious, and when I lift the slit a little further, I can see the whites of her terrified eyes. It's clear that, while she might still be feeling the effects of the drugs, she's capable of understanding us and reacting to the things that we say to her. It's odd, then, that she hasn't screamed or said anything, but I'm sure that all of that will come later. For now, she must be in shock.
"Look," I say, my heart pounding as I untie the rope and free her legs. "See? I'm helping you. Now I'll do the other one," I add, before loosening the role around her waist and freeing her other arm. Finally, I sit back and watch as she continues to wriggle inside the bag, and eventually she manages to sit up, although she still hasn't fully emerged.
"What's she doing?" Natalie whispers.
"You can come out," I say, trying to sound friendly and welcoming. "Please. Come out. We're not going to hurt you. We're friends. We want to help you."
"Tell her we're nice," Natalie whispers.
"Tell her yourself," I reply, aware that the girl might respond more favorably to Natalie, since they're closer in age.
"We're nice," Natalie stammers, but she sounds terrified. This is the first time she's met a new girl down here, so she must be filled with trepidation.
"You must have a lot of questions," I say, as the girl stares wildly at us. "It's okay. We can answer them. We're..." I pause for a moment, aware that I need to pick my words very carefully. "We're not the ones who kidnapped you. We're not the ones who brought you here. We're like you. We both came here the same way. We can help you, but you need to come out from in there and talk to us."
I wait for a reply, but after a moment I realize that the girl is shivering. No, not shivering... She's trembling with fear. My heart breaks as I realize that this poor young thing is so frightened, her whole body is shuddering. She probably thinks that we're going to hurt her, which I guess isn't an unfounded fear. I want to think of something to say that might calm her down, but I doubt there's anything in the world that anyone could say right now. She's come to a very dark place, and nothing I say is going to change that basic fact. I want to tell her not to be scared, but the truth is: she should be scared. She should be absolutely terrified.
"Where am I?" the girl suddenly blurts out, her voice trembling. She seems to be crying, but it's hard to see her properly since she's still inside the bag, as if she's terrified to come out.
"You're in a basement," I reply. "You're down here with us. We're all in the basement together, but you have to understand that we're not the ones who brought you down here. We're not the ones who took you, and we're not going to hurt you. We're going to help you, so you just need to stay calm. Please." I wait for her to say something, but the only sound that comes from the bag is a kind of slow, quiet sobbing. "My name is Elizabeth," I say eventually. "This is Natalie. Can you tell us your name?"
"Where am I?" she asks again, still trembling with fear.
"You're in the basement of a house," I tell her. "I don't know where the house is, I'm afraid, but we're someone quite rural. There's a small window over on the other wall, you can look out when it's light, but all you'll see are fields. In the summer, there are sunflowers. I'm afraid that's all I really know. I don't even know what state we're in."
"Someone grabbed me," she blurts out suddenly. "Someone injected me..." Her voice trails off.
"Do you remember what happened?" I ask, surprised that she doesn't seem to be suffering from the usual memory loss. I guess he's changed the drugs he uses.
She doesn't reply. If anything, rather than climbing out of the bag, she seems to be withdrawing a little further inside.
"Just relax," I say, before turning to Natalie. "Maybe you can fetch a glass of water for her. She must be thirsty."
"I don't want anything," the girl replies.
"You need to drink."
"I'm not eating or drinking anything here." There's a pause, and then suddenly she pulls the bag away and stares straight at me. She's young, maybe in her late teens or early twenties, and she has large, brown eyes filled with pain and fear. "I'm not taking anything from you," she says firmly. "You've probably drugged it." She turns and looks across the dark basement. "What the fuck is this place? Where the fuck am I?"
"I told you," I start to say, "you're -"
"Shut up," she says suddenly.
I stare at her. "Please -" I start to say.
"Shut up!" she shouts.
"Why's she so mad?" Natalie asks.
"Fuck," the girl says, getting to her feet and hurrying up the steps. She tugs on the door, desperately trying to find a way out. "What the fuck is this place?" she calls back to us. "How do we get this door open?"
"There's no way out," I say, trying to stay calm for her benefit. I'm determined to help her, and to make sure that she doesn't panic too much. After all, this is a highly unusual situation, and she's going to have to deal with it calmly eventually. Inevitably there'll be a period of anger and fear, but I'm certain she'll settle down after a while. "The door's locked and the window's sealed, and there's no other exit. Believe me, we've tried. We've tried over and over again."
Ignoring me, she continues to tug on the door. Despite being fairly petite, she seems to think that she can somehow force her way out of this place. I guess she's desperate, and I don't blame her. She must be terrified. She's been torn away from her world and thrown down into this basement. She must have a million fears flooding her mind, and it's quite understandable that she doesn't trust us yet.
"Why don't you come and talk to us?" I ask, making my way over to the sink and pouring a glass of water. "You must have so many questions."
"I don't have any questions," she replies, hurrying down the steps and over to the window. She grabs a chair and pushes it against the wall, before climbing up and trying to remove the perspex cover that's fitted over the bars and glass. "I just want to get the fuck out of here. I don't want to know who did this to me and I don't want to know what he's going to do next, I just want to get out of here. I won't tell anyone, but I have to get away from this fucking place."
"The window won't open," I tell her.
"Keep away," she replies, looking over at me for a moment. "I swear to God, if you come anywhere near me, I'm going to smash your fucking face in."
"I'm here to help you," I say weakly.
"Bullshit," she spits back at me, using her elbow to try to break the perspex. "Fucking bullshit. I'm not sitting around here waiting to get fucked over by some asshole. No fucking way."
"You're just wasting energy," I tell her.
"Was I like this when I arrived?" Natalie whispers.
I nod. "The best thing is really going to be for you to just come down and talk to us. There's so much that you need to know, and I'm sure we can allay at least some of your fears if you just give us a chance."
"If you come within ten meters of me," the girl continues, fixing me with a determined stare. "I'll kill you. I'm not joking. I will fucking kill you if you come anywhere near me, do you understand? Either that, or you'll have to kill me, but I'm not joking."
I open my mouth to reply, but I'm not sure what to say.
"Do you fucking understand me?" she shouts.
"Please try to calm down," I say. "No-one down here is going to kill anyone else. I know you're scared, but you have to listen to me. We're not your enemy. We're in exactly the same position that you're in. We both came here in exactly the same way, and we're just like you. We can't open that door or that window. We can't do anything except wait, and try to help you, and try to explain to you how things
work here. I know you want to escape, but right now there's nothing to do except listen to us. Please. We're your friends."
She stares at me, and finally she seems to have stopped crying and trembling. It's as if some part of her has suddenly realized that she needs to listen to what I'm saying.
"This is a dream," she says after a moment, her voice sounding calmer than before. "This has to be a dream. This can't be happening to me. There's no way any of this can be real. This is like... it's like... it's like a dream. That's all it can be." She sniffs back her tears. "It's a dream. It's not real."
"It is real," I tell her, "and it's not a dream. But if you come down from that chair, we can talk to you properly and answer your questions. You need to -" I pause, as there's the sound of footsteps on the ceiling above us. For a moment, I'm worried that he might be planning to come down here, but then I hear him going through to another room. "You need to listen to us," I say eventually, looking back over at the girl.
"Who the fuck is up there?" she asks, staring up at the ceiling.
"I'll explain everything," I say, trying to calm her down. "Just come and sit with us. There's so much to tell you."
"We just want to help," Natalie murmurs, although she suddenly seems very shy and has taken to half-hiding behind me.
"Please," I say. "Let us help you." I wait for a response. "At least tell me your name."
Above us, there are more footsteps. He must surely be able to hear us arguing down here.
"Who the fuck is that?" the girl asks. "Hello?" she shouts. "Can you hear me? Help! I'm trapped down here!"
"Don't do that," I say.
"Why not?"
"Because he's the one who kidnapped you."
She stares at me, and I can see that she's trying to work out what to do. "Holly," she says eventually. "That's my name. Holly Carter."
"Hello, Holly," I say, trying to keep things calm. "As I said earlier, my name is Elizabeth, and the girl cowering behind me is Natalie Bay."
"I'm not cowering," Natalie mutters, still staying firmly behind my back.
Above us, there's the sound of more footsteps. Whatever he's doing up there, it sounds like he's hard at work. I have no idea how his rituals work, but it's very rare for him to bring a new girl back, so I imagine he's busy. And excited. He's probably preparing some fresh ice for tomorrow.
"Who is that guy?" Holly asks, staring at the ceiling. "Why did he do this?"
"I'll explain everything," I tell her.
There's an awkward pause as Holly continues to stare at the ceiling.
"Let me out of here," she shouts eventually, before reaching up and banging her fists against the wood. "Hey! You fucker, let me out of here!"
"Please don't do that," I say, starting to panic.
"Let me out of here!" she screams, pounding on the ceiling. "You fucking cocksucker, let me out of here! I swear to God I'll fucking kill you if you don't let me out of here right now!"
"Stop her," Natalie whimpers, glancing nervously at the door, as if she expects him to come down at any moment.
"Please, Holly," I say, stepping closer. "Don't do that. You really don't want to make him angry." I put a hand on her arm, but she pushes me away.
"Don't touch me," she shouts as she starts banging on the ceiling again. "Don't fucking touch me! Let me out of here right now, or I swear to God I'll make you regret it! Do you hear me? Let me out of here or I'll cut your fucking balls off, you fucking cocksucker!"
"Please -"
"Let me out of here!" she screams at the top of her voice, banging her fists against the ceiling. There are tears in her eyes again, and she seems to be panicking more and more. "Let me out of here! Help! Someone help me! I swear to God, someone has to get me out of here! Somebody help me!"
Ben Lawler
Today
"I'll just pay it now," I say, standing at the motel reception desk. It's late, almost midnight, and I figure I might as well hit the road as soon as the sun comes up in the morning. As I pay for my two-night stay, I'm feeling pretty foolish. All this time and money was wasted on a wild goose chase. I got two of the women from the house on Willow Road to meet me, but the third was too stubborn. For whatever reason, Holly Carter is never going to agree to come with me. It's back to the drawing board.
"Just leave your keys on the desk in the morning if no-one's around," the woman says as she tears off my credit card receipt. "Oh, and someone was asking for you earlier. A woman."
"A woman?" I ask, surprised.
She nods. "Now, I don't mean to cause offense, Mr. Lawler, but if an extra guest ends up staying the night, you're gonna have to pay an additional fee. It's not a problem, but you have to pay, do you understand? No freebies."
Glancing out the window at the dark parking lot, I find myself wondering if maybe Holly has changed her mind. She seemed so determined to get rid of me earlier, but is it possible that Natalie was right? Does Holly have an urge to come and find me?
"Where is she?" I ask.
"Dunno," the woman says. "She was here about an hour ago, but when I told her you were out, she just left."
"What did she look like?"
"About my age," she replies. "A little thinner. Short hair."
"Thanks," I mutter, as I head out the door and walk along the dark path that leads to my room. I can't help glancing over my shoulder to see if I'm being followed, but so far it seems like there's no-one else here. I can't think of a single person who'd be looking for me in this town, but I can't get too carried away. The odds of Holly Carter having suddenly had an epiphany and deciding to come and find me are slim. Besides, I didn't even get a chance to tell her how she could contact me. Unless she systematically went through every motel and hotel in town -
"Mr. Lawler," says a familiar voice.
Turning, it takes me a moment to work out where the voice is coming from. Finally, I spot a figure standing in the shadows nearby. I can't make out her features, but I know it's her.
"Ms. Carter?" I ask.
"Why did you come here today?"
"I told you. I wanted to talk to you about the house."
"And that's it? Nothing more?"
"Well, you didn't really give me a chance to explain the whole thing," I point out. "You kind of threw me out of your office before I could get started." I pause for a moment. "How did you find me, anyway?"
"You're not alone," she says. "I can tell. You came with the others, didn't you? I can sense them nearby."
"It wasn't easy to persuade them," I reply, figuring I need to be honest this time. "Well, it wasn't easy to persuade Elizabeth. Once I'd got her onside, Natalie kind of followed."
"Figures," Holly says. "Natalie's basically Elizabeth's puppy."
"I was with them a few hours ago. We had a drink, just to talk about things. I was hoping to get the three of you together for -"
"Do you have any idea how dangerous that would be?"
"When was the last time you saw them?" I ask.
"A long time ago, and we agreed back then that we'd never, ever be together in a room again. Not even for a second. We had good reasons for that decision, Mr. Lawler, and those reasons haven't changed over the years. I don't know how you managed to get the others on your side, but I can assure you that I won't be so easily led. I agreed back then to never see them again, and nothing's changed my mind. What happened in that house is over. It's finished."
"So why are you here?" I ask, peering into the darkness but still only able to make out the vaguest hint of her outline in the shadows. "If you really believe it's over, why did you come and find me tonight?"
"To warn you to stay away. I always knew someone like you would turn up eventually, acting like he knows best. I could see the arrogance in your eyes as soon as you walked into my office. How old are you, Mr. Lawler?"
"Twenty-nine."
"So you were a teenager when all the stuff at Willow Road happened." She pauses for a moment. "It was half your lifetime ago. It's just a story to you, l
ike a movie. Don't you think it's a little presumptuous of you to start trying to butt in and fix things? Don't you think you might be better advised to just leave the whole thing alone? It's in the past."
"Two girls have died," I reply. "I'm not here because of what happened all those years ago. I'm here because of what's happening now, and because of what I'm scared might happen in the future."
"We stopped it," she says firmly.
"How can you be so sure?"
"I saw it die."
"Then explain the latest deaths."
"I don't have to. That house is hundreds of miles away from here. I swore when I left that place that I'd never go back, and that I'd never go near the others again, and I'm going to stick to that decision. I'm sorry if two people have died, but it's really nothing to do with me. I don't care if Satan himself has taken up residence on Willow Road. I'm not going back, and I'd be very grateful if you could just leave me alone. As I'm sure you can imagine, it's a subject that I'd really rather avoid."
"Is there any way I can persuade you to at least listen to me?" I reply. "If I stay around tomorrow, can we meet for lunch or dinner? Let me tell you what's happening."
"I don't want to know. All I want is to make sure that you leave me alone."
"And what if I can't?" I ask. "What if the situation is so serious that I have to get you on my side?"
"Then I'll kill myself."
I pause for a moment, trying to work out whether she really said what I think she said.
"I'm not kidding," she continues. "I refuse to let this all get opened up again. If it comes down to it, I'll kill myself. I'll take a knife and I'll cut my wrists and I'll leave a note blaming you. Is that understood?"
Sighing, I realize that there's no point arguing with her. She's clearly made her decision, and I doubt there's anything I can say to change her mind. Whereas Elizabeth Torbett and Natalie Bay were at least willing to listen to me, Holly Carter obviously wants nothing to do with the current situation. It's probably her way of protecting herself from all the weirdos who come around trying to get a piece of her. In a morbid kind of way, the three of them are celebrities. The media called them the witches of Willow Road. It's no big surprise that they want to keep well away from that place.
