by R. Linda
“Not exactly?”
“He’s trying to replace her.” I closed my eyes and rested my head against the window ledge. This was harder to explain than I thought. It’s easier to form an explanation in my head than it is to put it in words. In my head I can almost understand his way of thinking. Almost. If I was deranged. The idea of being in love with someone so much that you lose your mind, your sanity, your everything, when they die would be soul crushing. And I was a constant reminder of what he had lost. Was it any wonder he was trying to replace her, to help ease the pain?
“Your mother?”
“Yes.”
“And he gets angry if she doesn’t live up to his expectations, up to her memory?” My eyes snapped open. Shit, she was making sense of it quicker than I thought she would.
“Yes.”
“Why am I here?”
“To put an end to it all.”
“How?”
“He wants the perfect family.”
“And I complete that?”
“I hope so.”
“So, what? I'm going to be your sister?” she asked incredulously. It made sense. He had Kat, his wife, my mother. And now he wanted a daughter, but…
“No.” This was the part that was worrying me the most; this was the part that was the most twisted.
“Then what?”
I closed my eyes and took a deep, calming breath. “My girlfriend, then my wife.”
“Y-y-your w-wife?”
“Perfect family. He wants to see his son happy. He wants his son to find a love like he had with my mother.”
I froze. The realisation of what he was planning chilled me to the bone. Dread flooded my veins like ice water. He was going to kill Lucy. It was a trap. He wanted me to feel everything he felt when he lost my mother. I didn’t know why I didn’t see it before.
Fuck.
Lucy was in more danger than I thought, and I had no idea how to save her.
“N-n-no. This is too crazy.” She stared at me. “This is nuts; completely messed up.”
“I know and I’m sorry. Believe me.” I took a deep breath and leaned forward, capturing her eye with mine. I couldn’t tell her what took me too many years, and too many bodies to figure out. It would only scare her more, and she definitely wouldn’t go along with my plan. “But you are my last hope at ending this. You have to end this,” I growled, pushing myself up from my position on the floor.
“Why?”
“Otherwise you’ll end up dead, and I’ll have to find another to replace you.” I crossed the room in three long strides and knelt down at her feet. “It will never end otherwise. He will never stop. I can’t keep burying people, Lucy,” I whispered, swallowing the lump in my throat and trying not to think about the fact I could very well still have to bury her. Looking into her eyes, I saw the tears forming.
“How many?” She swallowed back a cry.
“How many have I buried?” She nodded. “Too many.” I shook my head. “You don’t want to know.” And she really didn’t need to know that I had buried thirteen in the woods and sunk five in the lake, plus the ones from when I was too young to help.
Including Kat and Lucy, he had abducted more than twenty women in nineteen years.
“So, if I play happy girlfriend to you, it all ends?”
“Yes. He will stop hunting women and trying to complete his perfect family because he will have it all right here.” I was a little alarmed that she seemed so calm.
“Hendrix, I can’t. He’s sick and twisted. I don’t want to end up beaten like Kat.”
“You won’t. I won’t let anything happen to you. I’m nothing like him. I hate what he’s been doing but I’m powerless to stop him. This is the only way I know how,” I pleaded with her, feeling a single tear roll down my cheek. “Please don’t make me dig your grave too,” I said to her as she reached up to wipe the tear from my cheek.
She didn’t respond. She didn’t have to. The tears in her eyes told me that she had just agreed. Agreed to be my girlfriend.
Lucy
MY MIND COULDN’T focus on anything but the dead bodies. I wanted to believe that Hendrix was lying and that he never really had to bury a body but something in his expression, the sombre look in his eyes told me he had seen more pain and suffering than anyone should have to endure.
“You’re serious?”
He nodded.
I swallowed and squeezed my eyes shut as the room began to spin. “There’s really no way out?”
“Do you think I’d be here if there was?” He laughed bitterly. “I hate what he does. I hate him. But I’m powerless to stop it. You’re my only hope.”
“But, I don’t get it.” It was so fucked up, I couldn’t wrap my head around. How was I supposed to end this?
“He has Kat. His ‘wife’, my mother…” he paused to let that sink in. My stomach rolled. Kat had taken on the role of his mother. “And now I have you. If we don’t screw up, he’ll be satisfied. He won’t abduct another woman. He won’t beat anyone to death again.”
My heart stopped, and my blood ran cold. I shivered and rubbed my hands over the goosebumps on my arms.
“How long has he been searching for?”
“My entire life, basically. He found Kat a couple of years ago, and I thought it would end because she’s his perfect fit. She fakes it well, does what she needs to stay alive.”
“But he wants more?”
He nodded again.
“How many times has he tried to find someone for you?”
Hendrix winced and tilted his head back. The Adam’s apple in his throat bobbed as he swallowed. “Four.”
A tightening in my chest made me gasp for air. I couldn’t breathe. Four women were dead because they didn’t play nice. Because they fought for their freedom. Because they fought to live. And they paid the ultimate price. “How many before Kat?”
I wasn’t sure I wanted the truth, but Hendrix was opening up and I wanted to know everything. He said he was powerless, but I didn’t understand why he didn’t just run, unless it was all just an act, and he was as fucked in the head as his father. The saying ‘the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’, often held a lot of truth.
“Kat is number nineteen.”
My mind went blank, mouth dropped open. I couldn’t function. Couldn’t form a thought. Twenty-three women were dead all because of Ray’s quest for the perfect family.
“That I remember. I’m sure there were more from when I was younger, more that I blocked the memory of.”
“Oh, my God.” I clapped a hand over my mouth and cried. Hot tears flowed down my cheeks, and my breath caught in my throat. “I’m not going to survive this, am I? I’m going to die.” Sobs wracked my body. I lunged from the bed and darted into the small toilet before emptying the contents of my stomach, grateful that Hendrix hadn’t restrained me today.
“No. Lucy, you won’t die. I won’t let you.”
“You said yourself, you can’t stop him.” I heaved into the toilet again.
“I can’t. Alone. But with you, I can. If you do this. If you play along, be the perfect girlfriend, I swear to you I will find a way to get you and Kat out of here.”
I laughed, but there was no humour in it, it was full of disbelief, pain, and anger. “If there was a way out, you wouldn’t be here, would you?”
Hendrix groaned and rubbed his hand over his face before walking out of the toilet, only to return a moment later with the cup of water that he’d brought for me with lunch.
I accepted it and let the cool liquid sooth my throat.
“It’s not that simple. But I will find a way to save you and Kat.”
“Then why haven’t you done it before? Why didn’t you run all those nights that you came into the bar to see me?”
“My father is a very smart man. I’m talking genius-level smart. He doesn’t leave anything to chance. Do you really think he’d let me out of this house without some sort of insurance that I’d return? Not only did I
have a tracking device strapped to my ankle, he had Kat chained up and threatened to gut her like a fish if I tried anything. I’d rather die myself than let him kill another innocent person, and he knows this. He knew by threatening her, I couldn’t leave, I couldn’t alert anyone. I couldn’t do anything.”
Hendrix reached out a hand and helped me to my feet. I could barely stand, I was trembling so much. Fear gripped my chest so tight, I thought I would die.
I didn’t want to die.
“He’s always one step ahead,” he said as he led me back over to the bed.
“So, you can’t save me or Kat.”
“I just have to outsmart him, but in the meantime, I need you to play along. He’s going to want to see you soon. It’s been almost a week and he’s getting impatient. I can’t keep him away much longer. And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll put on an Oscar-worthy performance so he doesn’t decide to punish you himself.”
“Punish me?” I wrapped my arms around my waist, trying to keep warm from the chill that seemed to linger over my body. “How?”
“Think of the worst possible thing a person could do to you… That’ll only be the beginning,” he whispered and walked out the door, locking it behind him and leaving me alone with my thoughts.
Hendrix
I WAS PREPARING dinner when my father finished up work in the shop. Kat was still unconscious in my bed and I didn’t want to wake her.
“What the fuck are you doing, boy?” His voice boomed behind me, making me jump and spill spaghetti sauce on the stove.
“Uh, making dinner, sir,” I answered as I snatched the cloth from the sink to clean up my mess before he noticed.
“Where’s your mother? It’s her job to cook.”
“Um, well, she’s still not… not well. She hasn’t woken up yet,” I mumbled, “so I thought I’d cook for you instead. It’s not much, but at least it’s food.” I tried to reason with him, hoping that he wouldn’t get mad at me. It was his fault anyway that Kat had been asleep for six hours.
I grabbed a colander from the cupboard and drained the pasta. I wasn’t the greatest cook, but I knew how to make spaghetti bolognaise at least.
“Lazy, stupid, good for nothing, little bitch. One thing I ask for and she can’t even do that right. Useless woman. Speaking of, where’s your little beauty? This is getting beyond rude. I don’t run a fucking charity. She needs to get out here and show her appreciation.” He sneered.
Her appreciation? She had nothing to be appreciative of. My fingers tightened around the wooden spoon in my hand. I took a deep breath to calm myself before I snapped it in half and tried to stab him with it. “Tomorrow,” I said. I knew I needed to agree with him. Now was not the time to argue or fight with him. He had to meet her and as much as I wanted to keep him away from her, the sooner he met her, the better. Once he met her and she passed his expectations, he would leave her alone because she was mine. But I needed time to prepare her.
I served up four plates of dinner and put two aside. One for Kat and one I would take to Lucy later when he’d gone to bed.
“We can have a special dinner to welcome her to…” Hell. I wanted to say hell. “To our f-family.” I tried to hide my disgust. This was not a family. This was a nightmare.
“You’d better hope your mother is well enough by then to cook, cos I ain’t eating this shit again tomorrow night,” he growled before throwing the bowl across the kitchen where it smashed against the fridge, splattering sauce and pasta everywhere.
“Clean it up. I’ll go feed myself. Useless fucking shit.” He turned and walked out. I heard his keys rattle and the door to the garage open and close.
He was leaving. And that meant he was going to the pub. Which also meant one thing. Trouble. We were in for hell tonight. I cleaned up the mess and ate my dinner. There was nothing wrong with it; it tasted fine. He was just an arsehole and wanted things a certain way. After I washed up and reheated a plate for Lucy, I went to check on Kat. She was still asleep but stirred when I tried to wake her. I left her a glass of water and some painkillers for when she woke, knowing she’d need them.
Lucy was lying on the bed curled up on her side when I walked in. She didn’t look at me when I closed the door.
“I made dinner,” I told her in hushed tones as I set the plate down on the card table along with the glass of water before taking a seat under the window like I had earlier.
Her back was to me and I watched it rise and fall every time she took a shaky breath. I heard her sniff and knew she was crying. I wanted to comfort her and make things better for her, but I didn’t know how to begin. I could never make it up to her for putting her through this. I got up and slowly made my way over to her. Gingerly sitting on the edge of the bed, I reached out and touched her shoulder. I felt her shudder and curl up even tighter into a ball.
“Lucy,” I said softly, not wanting to scare her. “Everything is going to be okay. I promise. I will make everything okay.” She rolled over and looked at me with puffy red eyes.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Hendrix.” She was right. I didn’t know if I could make everything better, but I could try, and I would.
I nodded my head. “Okay, but I can promise you I will try to fix this, to make it all right again.”
We sat in silence while she ate her dinner. I needed to find a way to tell her that tomorrow she would meet my father officially. I hoped Kat would be well enough by the morning to explain to Lucy how he expected her to behave because I honestly had no idea. Kat had mastered obeying him and being the perfect wife, except for whatever happened earlier.
“Hendrix.” Lucy’s voice was soft as she pushed her plate to the side.
“What’s wrong, love?” I asked, turning to look at her. She looked nervous and unsure.
“Um… I need a shower,” she whispered, ducking her head.
“Oh, um, sure,” I answered, realising that she’d not had a shower since she got here, and now would be the perfect time for her because Ray was out of the house.
“Come on.” I led Lucy to the bathroom, but she hesitated, looking from me to the door.
“Sorry, love, but I’m going to have to wait out here,” I told her, watching as her face screwed up in disgust. “He could be home soon, and I don’t want to risk him stumbling in on you or you trying anything that would get you hurt—or worse. You’ve got two minutes before I come in there and check on you. Towels are under the sink.”
She sighed and dropped her head, pushing the bathroom door open and closing it behind her. I waited against the wall silently, listening to the sound of the shower when it switched on. I was just about to walk back into the bathroom when she had finished, and pushed the door open a crack.
“I have no clothes,” she whispered. I turned to look at her. Water dripped down her face and fell to the floor from her wet hair. She gripped the towel around her tighter and ducked her head.
“I’ll find you something. Come on.” I took her back to the room and locked the door before running back up to my room and finding her a t-shirt and shorts to wear, at least until Kat could sort out her wardrobe, because if I screwed that up, my father would lose his mind. He had particular tastes and liked what he liked.
I returned to Lucy’s room and gave her my clothes then I faced the wall and waited for her to change.
Once she’d put on the clean clothes that were far too big, I turned and began pacing, trying to work out how to tell her that tomorrow was the day.
“How’s Kat?” she asked, momentarily stopping my movements around the room.
“She’s still asleep, but she’s okay. I keep checking on her.”
“Okay.” She paused and watched me pace. “Hendrix, what’s wrong?”
What's wrong? Where to start? Everything was wrong. I had a sadistic father and I just abducted a girl to keep him from killing anyone else. Everything was wrong. I hated him and what he’d done to those poor women. I hated what he’d done to me and what he w
as making me do to Lucy. I didn’t want this. I wanted a normal life.
“Tomorrow.” I stopped pacing and looked at her. My t-shirt swamped her tiny frame. She’d lost weight. He cheekbones protruded so much they looked as though they were about to pierce through her skin.
“Tomorrow?”
“You need to officially meet…” I swallowed the lump in my throat that was preventing me from getting the words out. “My father.”
“W-why?”
“Because he’s pissed off and thinks you’re being rude.”
“Rude? You must be joking! I’m the one being held captive.”
“I know. It’s just the way his twisted mind works. He thinks he’s doing you a favour by letting you ‘stay’ here and that you should be grateful he’s allowing you under his roof. I'm sorry, love.”
“That’s just… I can’t even… wow, oh my God. This is…” She couldn’t even form a coherent sentence.
“Look, it won’t be too bad if you do what he wants.”
“What he wants? He’s not right in the head. What the hell is he going to want from me? I can’t… I won’t,” she cried. I knew what she was thinking.
“No. No, Lucy, nothing like that. I won’t let that happen,” I tried to reassure her. “He’s going to expect you to look a certain way and behave a certain way. Kind of like Kat does. I will get her to help you through it because she understands what he expects more than me.”
“O-o-kay.” Lucy bit her lip to stop it from trembling.
“In his mind, you’re my girlfriend, so he will expect you to act like it.”
“Like how?” she asked with wide eyes. I could see how terrified she was, and I was about to make it worse.
“I don’t really know. Just act like you’re my girlfriend and please, please make it believable.” She had to make it believable, otherwise he’d hurt her.
“If I can’t?” she whispered.
“The last four girls he picked to be mine couldn’t do it. They just sat and cried; I understood that. It’s a lot to expect from anyone, and most people don’t react the way he wants them to.”
