Her laughter took Max by surprise, if his silence was any true indication of his reaction.
"Water," he answered after a span of silent seconds. There was no inflection in his voice, no anger or loss of control in response to Alice's behavior.
Nodding her head in acceptance of the water proved difficult. Alice was sluggish and uncoordinated. But the jostled movement had been enough.
Chair legs scraped against the floor, the rhythmic thud of shoes against the ground announcing Max’ approach. The joints in his knees clicked when he knelt down in front of her, betraying the length of time he'd been sitting motionless in the chair.
With a face masked in shadow thick enough to conceal his features, he held a plastic bottle of water between them.
Alice's efforts of accepting the bottle were thwarted by a weakness in her arms, a remnant of injury she’d sustained by falling down the stairs. It wouldn’t surprise her if she was suffering from a concussion, if the pain she felt at the back of her head were any indication of how hard she’d fallen.
“Why are we still in the basement, Max?”
It took him a few minutes to finally answer the question.
"You walked through a door, Alice."
Settling himself on the concrete at her feet, he studied her silently before adding, "and now you're here."
After uncapping the bottle, he grabbed her chin, sliding his thumb along her bottom lip before pulling her mouth open. The lip of the bottle met her mouth, tilting up to pour cool water over her tongue as he said, "Swallow."
Cool liquid slid down her throat, a soothing balm against the burning flesh, and she swallowed fervently, greedily, until only a few drops were left.
Pulling it from her lips, Max recapped it and tossed it to the side, the plastic ricocheting off a wall that only existed in Alice's peripheral vision.
Her head fell back against the wall, a thick blanket of silence sliding between them until his smooth, deep voice broke it apart completely.
"I have something I'm going to show you." He paused, looking Alice over with a critical eye. "After that fall, I don’t think you can walk. I'm going to carry you."
"How far did I fall?"
It wasn't until her words echoed back to her from the walls of the dark, desolate room that she knew she'd spoken them aloud.
"Far enough." A grunt escaped his lips, his strong body lifting her from the floor. Heat was thick across his skin, uncomfortably so.
As he carried her through the space, Alice couldn’t make out much of the objects that were down there. A flashing light caught her sight, a door that was closed and an electric panel to its side. Beyond that, she could see the empty black square of what resembled a television. And next to that, a shelf with rows and rows of DVDs.
Max’ steps were labored over the cement floor, his thick leather boots creaking with every small movement of his ankle; the sounds amplified by the pervasive moments of silence that came between.
Reaching the second level, Alice clenched her eyes shut against the onslaught of bright, white light that bathed the room. She opened her mouth to question him about what he’d been doing in the basement, but speech failed her, the words thick on the tip of her tongue.
As if sensing her struggle to fill the deafening silence, Max spoke, relieving her of that small part of her anxiety.
"I'll give you time to regain your strength. We have a lot to discuss.”
Kneeling down, Max dropped her weight on the cushions, keeping his eyes on her as she settled against the couch.
He stepped away after climbing back to his feet and crossed through into another room, disappearing from sight.
When he returned, he had a plastic case in his hand. Alice recognized it as a DVD, but there was no cover photo or anything to indicate if it was a movie or something else entirely.
Sitting on the coffee table in front of her, Max set the case aside and looked down on her with a sullen and dark expression.
“Before I show you this, before I let you in this far, I want you to know that I'm not a monster, Alice. Not entirely."
Dread shot through her, memories of the strange conversation she’d overhead while climbing down the stairs. “Who’s in the basement, Max? Who was that woman I heard?”
He stared at her for a few tense moments before answering, “She’s not in the basement anymore.” There was no inflection in his voice. It was a placid tone with no hint of emotion.
Alice breathed out, a shudder running over his skin as her head turned to glance around the room. “Then where is she?”
He grinned, the expression more menacing than friendly. “She’s in the garden.”
Shaking her head, Alice attempted to clear the fog of pain that muddied her thoughts. “Who is she, Max? Why was she in our house and why did she go outside?”