“Would you teach me?” I piped in.
Clover smiled triumphantly, as if he thought I had finally come around to his sick way of “living.” “That’s a wonderful idea, Lily. I’m sure Rose, Violet, and Poppy would love to teach you, wouldn’t you, girls?”
“Of course,” Rose agreed. My heart leaped with hope. A plan was already forming in my head, almost by itself. I managed to eat a little more food and smile at him almost politely. I could do this. I could play nice, and it was easier now because there was light at the end of the tunnel. We had a way.
Once dinner was over, I expected him to leave, but he took Rose’s hand and led her into a room that I hadn’t been in before. It looked half under the stairs and couldn’t be very big at all. I assumed it was a closet. What was going on? “Where are they going? What’s in there?” I asked, looking at the closed door.
Poppy lowered her head and bit her lip. “That’s the room where he…” she whispered. Her eyes filled with tears.
“What? Where he does what…” I trailed off, realizing what she was trying to say. My blood froze inside my veins. The room where he rapes us. He and Rose were in there now. She went so willingly, no hesitation, no sign of horror in her eyes. “I need to go home,” I whispered to myself more than to them.
“You need to stop this, Lily. There is no going home. The sooner you accept that the easier it will be. Trust me. Please?” Poppy said.
All I could hear was the sound of my frantic pulse smashing in my ears. Shit. “No.” I sat down and tried to absorb everything. Rose was being raped in a room just feet from me. But was she? Did she want to now? Surely she couldn’t be that brainwashed that she wanted him. I gulped and felt a tear trickle down my cheek.
“Lily?” Poppy put her hand on my shoulder making me jump. “Sorry. Are you okay?” I shook my head and stared ahead at nothing. I felt empty. There would be a time when he would want me to go into that room. Could I survive that? I would rather die than have him near me. If I did die, though, I would never see Lewis or my family again. It was an impossible choice. Either stay alive in the hope of being reunited with my family but be raped, or die never having said good-bye to the people I love but die free of him.
I wasn’t sure how long I sat as still as a statue while they were in that room, but it didn’t seem that long. The door opened, and I quickly curled myself up in a ball, wiping my tears from my face.
“Good night, Flowers.”
“Night, Clover,” Poppy and Violet said from beside me. I couldn’t talk to him; I couldn’t even look at him. Disgusting, sick bastard!
Rose sat down and flicked the TV on as if nothing had happened. There were no tears, no acknowledgment of what he just did to her. I didn’t dare say anything. Pressing my side into the arm of the sofa, I turned my head so my hair fell in my face, hiding the fresh tears that fell for Rose.
After the movie, it was finally late enough to go to bed. I wanted sleep. I needed the escape. “Lily, do you want to shower first?” Rose asked, and I nodded. Actually, I didn’t. I didn’t want to shower at all. “Okay.”
Without hanging around to talk, I grabbed the pajamas from my bed and went in the bathroom. Why was I even doing this? My second shower of the day lasted longer. I let the hot water cascade over my body and wash away what felt like inches of dried-on dirt. Would I ever feel clean again?
Yawning, I switched the shower off and quickly dried myself. Even though it wasn’t really late—only ten at night—I was exhausted. My mind had been working overtime and desperately needed a break. It was strange to think I was looking forward to sleeping here. I would actually like to sleep the entire time I would be down here.
As I walked between the bathroom and bedroom, I glanced back at the stairs leading to the door. How the hell am I ever going to get out of here? I didn’t believe it was impossible, like they did, but I knew it wasn’t something I could just do impulsively. I had to play it safe because if anything went wrong, he would kill me without thinking twice.
I got into bed and pulled the quilt over my head so I was completely hidden. The bedroom would look quite pretty if it wasn’t in the middle of hell. Closing my eyes, I stupidly tried to contact Lewis. I prayed that by some odd miracle he would hear me. But of course, he wouldn’t be able to. Please come, I begged Lewis in my head and started crying silently.
***
A loud bang followed by a high-pitched scream woke me up. The color drained from my face and my heart skipped a beat. What was that? I threw the cover off myself and sprinted to the door. I slammed into Poppy, who grabbed my arm and shoved me farther back into the room.