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  Just how long did he plan to be gone? At least a couple days from the way he talked.

  I wanted to cry. But I wouldn’t let myself until I’d thought through the situation I was in now. If this bowl of rotten dog food was all I had to eat, it was going to have to do.

  Pulling the bowl to me, I felt my stomach rumble. I wasn’t going to eat it yet. I was just preparing for when the time came that I had to.

  As disgusting as it was, I reached in and began pulling out the maggots. One by one, I pulled them from the bowl, placed them on the floor, and stomped them with the heel of my foot. When the bowl was free of the white, wriggling worms, I slid it aside. I sat back and looked around the dank room.

  I felt myself falling apart, and I did nothing to stop it. I cried, knowing I shouldn’t. I should’ve conserved my energy and kept as much liquid in me as I could.

  But I couldn’t stop myself from throwing a little pity party.

  Chapter 14

  I had no way of knowing how long it was before Ron returned. It could’ve been several hours. It could’ve been a couple of days. The minutes all ran together in the basement with no way of telling time.

  All I knew for sure was that the things I’d had to do to survive were things I wasn’t proud of doing.

  I didn’t want to lick the water off the concrete walls as the rain seeped in. But I did. Until my tongue was raw from scraping it against the rough concrete.

  I didn’t want to shit on the floor beside my bed. But I did. Three times.

  I didn’t want to eat that dog food. And I didn’t. That was still a line I wasn’t able to cross. Though my stomach rumbled and I was weak, I held out. Ignoring the voice in my head that shouted out for me to just close my eyes and eat it, I waited. I still had hope that he would bring me food.

  Turns out, Ron did bring me something, but it wasn’t the food I was craving.

  I woke to Ron shaking me. When I opened my eyes, he smiled down at me. It took everything I had, but I pushed myself up and sat with my back to the wall.

  “Did you miss me?” he asked, smiling.

  Hungry and hopeful, I nodded.

  “Good. I knew you would. I see you haven’t eaten. Is there a reason?”

  “Yeah. It’s rotten dog food.”

  “So you’d rather starve than eat old dog food? Interesting. Are you often stubborn, or is it just when it comes to what you eat?”

  “I’m not picky. I just won’t eat rotten food. Would you please bring me a sandwich or something?”

  He considered this for a moment and said, “No. Girls in the basement eat basement food. If you want a sandwich, then you must learn your lesson.”

  “I have,” I said quickly.

  “Oh have you?” he asked suspiciously. “What lesson have you learned?”

  Shit.

  “Well, I’ve learned that I shouldn’t make you angry.”

  He nodded.

  “And I shouldn’t talk back to you.”

  He shook his head. “I’m afraid you’re wrong. It seems you haven’t learned your lesson yet. But don’t worry.” He kissed the top of my head and stood. “You will. Until then, I’m afraid this is your dinner,” he said, nudging the bowl with his foot. “It won’t be so bad. Remember, it could always be worse.”

  That was no lie.

  It wasn’t until Ron was gone that I noticed the woman. Had she not moaned, I may not have noticed her.

  She was chained where Stephanie had been. She was taller than Stephanie and had more meat on her bones. Her hair was light brown and curly. She was also naked, just as Stephanie had been, and just as I was now.

  “Hey,” I said. “Hey, are you awake? Can you hear me?”

  Her eyes fluttered and she looked at me. She struggled against her restraints, but she could’ve struggled till the end of time and it wouldn’t have done any good.

  “Where am I?” she asked. She had a raspy voice, the kind women have when they’ve spent their lives smoking. She looked to be in her fifties, so she must’ve gotten an early start.

  “You’re in the basement of a psychopathic asshole.”

  “How’d I get here?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I was in a bar. Dancing on a table. Some guy helped me down. He held out his hand. I thought that was so sweet. I sat with him and had some drinks. He flirted with me. I decided to go home with him. I don’t even remember leaving the bar.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Melinda.”

  “I’m Nicole. Are you married?”

  “Yes. When he finds out this john kidnapped me, he’ll kill him,” she said angrily.

  “John? You’re a prostitute?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And your husband knows?”

  “It was his idea. We needed money and that’s a sure, quick way to get some.”

  “It’s also a sure, quick way to end up restrained in a basement.”

  “Honey, I wish you’d have told me that yesterday.” She pulled against the chains again, but still no results. “How long have you been here?”

  “I’m not sure. More than a month, I know.”

  “Shit. I better not be here that long.”

  “There was a woman before you. She’d been here a long time.”

  “Where’s she now?”

  How could I tell her? To tell her what had happened to Stephanie would be to tell her what was going to happen to her.

  “She didn’t make it,” I said simply.

  “The son of a bitch killed her, didn’t he?” she asked.

  It surprised me that she would ask such a question so bluntly. But judging by the way she looked and talked, and by her line of work, I was sure she’d seen a lot of stuff. There was no sense in sugar-coating the situation.

  “Yes. And he wasn’t nice about it.”

  “Of course he wasn’t. Assholes like him are never nice about nothing. I had a feeling he was gonna want some of that kinky stuff. For the right price, I’m up for anything, though. Anything except this.” A few minutes later, she asked, “When he does you, how bad is it?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, how rough is he? Does he like it in the backdoor? How big is he?”

  Wow. She didn’t mess around. “I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know? You’ve been here over a month and he hasn’t done you yet?”

  “He’s tried.”

  “How’d you stop him? How could a little thing like you fight him off?”

  Fortunately, the door opened at the top of the steps and Ron appeared. I was glad. I had no idea how to tell her the reason he hadn’t had sex with me yet. I wasn’t even sure of the reason myself.

  Ron came down the stairs smiling. Stepping off the bottom step, he looked at us and asked, “How’s my girls?”

  Neither of us spoke.

  “Come on, ladies. Don’t be so glum. It can’t be all that bad, can it?”

  “Let me go, you prick, and I’ll tell my husband not to kill you.”

  “Do you think your husband plans to kill me?” he asked, walking toward her. “Or do you think he’s happy that I’ve taken such a foul-mouthed burden off his shoulders? After all, you’re just a whore. No one cares what happens to you.”

  “My husband does,” she yelled.

  “Does he? Then why does he sit idly by while you let any man that comes along have his way with you? In fact, why does he offer you to these men, recruiting them, so to speak?”

  She said nothing.

  “I’ll tell you why,” Ron said calmly. He knelt down beside her head and leaned over her. “Because he doesn’t care about you,” he yelled. “He cares less about you than any other whore on the street. You’re a worthless bag of spent sperm and deserve nothing more than for me to kill you right now.”

  He slapped her across the face. The loud, sudden smack made me jump.

  She didn’t cry, though. In her line of work, she’d probably had more tha
n her fair share of getting slapped around by some dickhead.

  He smiled. Then, he stood and came over to me. Kneeling beside my mattress, he stroked my hair.

  “And you. How are you?”

  “I’m okay,” I whispered.

  “Are you?” he asked as he kissed my forehead. “You’re just as beautiful as you were when I left you. Although you seem to have lost a bit of weight. I don’t like that, Nicole. I don’t want to see you looking like Stephanie. That’s very unattractive on a woman, don’t you think?”

  I nodded.

  “You need to eat, don’t you agree?”

  I nodded.

  “I’ll tell you what. You eat what’s in that bowl, and I’ll make you something nice for dinner. Okay?”

  Again, I nodded. What else could I do?

  He kissed my forehead. “That’s my girl. I’ll come down later and check on you.” He glanced back over his shoulder, then whispered, “Don’t let that one rub off on you. She’s a hard pill to swallow.”

  He stood and walked out of the basement, leaving me to eat the contents of the bowl.

  Chapter 15

  I sat with my back against the wall. In my lap was the bowl of rotten dog food. Even from this distance, the smell was horrible. I stared at it, listening to my stomach rumble, and tried to talk myself into eating it. I reminded myself that if I ate it, I would have a nice meal for dinner.

  Using my left hand, I picked up a piece and brought it to my lips. I opened my mouth and slowly put the piece in, holding it above my tongue. Just before I dropped it onto my tongue, I had a better idea.

  Lifting up the edge of the mattress on my right side, the side against the wall, I dumped the dog food on the floor and covered it with the mattress. Now Ron would think I ate it and make some real food. I didn’t like to think of myself as a genius, but it was starting to look I just might be.

  I set the bowl back on the floor and waited for his return. But then I got to thinking. Ron was a tricky devil. He surely wouldn’t be fooled so easily. What if he didn’t believe me? What if he looked around to see if I’d dumped it? Worse still, what if he smelled my breath and didn’t detect the stench of the dog food?

  Working myself into a near panic, I reached under the mattress and pulled out a piece. I quickly ate it. Holding my breath, I chomped it a couple of times and quickly swallowed it. I waited a while before I breathed through my nose to avoid tasting it.

  I did all this with my back to Melinda. I didn’t trust her. What if she told on me to win Ron’s favor and try to save herself? I wouldn’t throw her under the bus like that, but she seemed just the type to do it to me.

  Eventually, Ron came back. I waited as patiently as I could while he cleaned up my pile of excrement. When he’d picked it up and sprayed the floor with cleaner, he finally asked me about it.

  “I see we ate our food.”

  Behind him, Melinda struggled against her restraints and cursed aloud.

  “Yeah. It was disgusting. But at least I had something to eat.” It was weak and I was sure he’d see through it, but I wanted more than just something good to eat. I wanted out of this basement. And if I had to make him think I’d learned a lesson, then so be it.

  He smiled at me. “I knew you’d learn, Nicole. I had a feeling about you as soon as I put my arm around you in the parking lot of the mall. I could just tell you were special.”

  As he scrubbed the floor beside the mattress, I considered kicking him in the face. I didn’t of course. That would’ve been stupid. I’d never get out of the basement doing things like that. Instead, I sat there silently and watched him until he was finished.

  “Do you feel that you’ve learned something down here?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “And what have you learned?”

  “I’ve learned to appreciate not only you, but the things you do for me. I’ve also learned that it’s never as bad as it could be.” I threw that last part in for good measure. After all, those were his words. That should show him that I listen to him and agree with him.

  He nodded and smiled. Then, he leaned toward me.

  “Are you ready to have me yet?”

  “Not exactly,” I said slowly. When I saw the look on his face, I quickly added, “I still haven’t got to know you that well. I mean, I’ve been down here and you’ve been so busy, we haven’t spent a lot of time together.”

  I watched as the smile that had nearly faded when I started talking reappeared.

  “You’re right.” He opened his mouth to say more, but Melinda began to scream at him.

  He quickly stood and walked across the room. From a cabinet hanging over the utility sink, he produced a skinny pole-type object with two prongs sticking out the end. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was. I wasn’t sure until I saw him use it.

  With this object in his hand, he walked to Melinda and stood over her. “Do you like screaming?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she screamed up at him.

  He leaned down and touched the prong end to her bare belly. Oh, how she screamed then. In fact, each time he touched it to her skin, she screamed and thrashed and howled in pain. That’s when I figured out the device was an electric cattle prod. I’d seen them used before, but never on a human.

  “Do you like screaming now?” he asked, as his eyes took on a crazed look.

  Through her screams and clenched teeth, I heard her try to say no to him. Either he didn’t hear her or he chose to ignore her, and he stuck the prongs to her skin a few more times.

  Finally, he stopped sending the volts through her body and left her writhing on the floor. He returned the cattle prod to the cabinet and came to me. Squatted beside me, the crazy look that I’d seen in his eyes as he shocked her was gone, replaced by the affectionate look he always gave me. The one that made my skin crawl.

  “Do you feel that you should be allowed back upstairs?”

  I nodded.

  “Can I trust you to have dinner with me at the table and act civilized?”

  Pushing my luck, I asked, “Haven’t I always been civilized?”

  “Indeed you have, Nicole. Most civilized.”

  Then, he leaned in and kissed me on the mouth. It shocked me because he’d never kissed my mouth before, but it absolutely startled me when I felt his tongue slide in between my lips and swirl around in my mouth. The urge to bite him was powerful, but I managed to fight it. A few seconds later, he withdrew his tongue and leaned back. I watched as he licked his lips, clearly tasting me. He smiled and nodded, and I was certain then that he’d been checking for traces of dog food.

  From his front pocket, he pulled the key to the handcuffs that bound me to the water pipe. He leaned across me and unlocked the one secured around the pipe. He helped me to my feet and led me up the stairs, one hand on my wrist, the other around my waist.

  I couldn’t help but be excited. I was still trapped here in this house with a madman, but at least I was out of the basement. I’d successfully made him think I’d learned whatever lesson he thought he was teaching me. When I got home, I’d have to a clear a shelf for my Academy Award. Until then, I’d have to continue to make him think I’d learned something in the basement.

  In reality, I had learned many things down there. I’d learned that he was far more dangerous than I’d previously thought. I’d learned that a few whacks of an axe would completely dismember a body. I also learned that when repeatedly shocked with an electric cattle prod, human flesh smells like burning bacon. I learned licking seeping rain water from a concrete wall chafed the tongue. I learned that necrophilia existed, though I’d previously failed to believe anyone would ever stoop to such grotesque levels. Most importantly, I’d learned that Ron was a sick, twisted psychopath who flew from one extreme to another, and who enjoyed inflicting torture on other people. He saw joy where others found pain.

  Yes, I had learned many things down there.

  Chapter 16

  Once we were in the hallway upstairs, Ron turned to m
e and said, “You smell most foul.”

  Trying to keep up the attitude he liked, I said, “Don’t hold back, Ron. Tell me how you really feel.”

  He led me to the bathroom, opened the door, and turned on the light. As he removed the cuff from my wrist, he said, “You take a shower and I’ll bring your things. Once you’ve cleaned up, I’ll make us that dinner I promised you.” He smiled.

  I went in the bathroom and happily, though weakly, showered. When I was finished, I pulled back the shower curtain and saw my things stacked neatly on the counter. Feeling better than I had in quite some time, I rushed to them.

  The first thing I did was put on my clothes. I’d been naked for too long. Then, I brushed my teeth longer than I ever had in my life. While I scrubbed away the gross taste and germs, I wondered how effective a toothbrush would be as a weapon. Then, I combed my hair.

  When I opened the door, Ron was standing there waiting for me. He filled the doorway, as if he thought I might’ve had the strength to attempt to flee. I’d barely had the strength to clean myself. Fleeing was out of the question. At least for now.

  After he snapped the cuff back on my right wrist, he led me to the kitchen where he once again snapped the other cuff to the underside of the table. He then set about making our dinner.

  While he worked, I rested my head on my arm on the table. I must’ve dozed off because the next thing I know, he was shaking me gently and holding a plate of hot food.

  My eyes snapped open at the delicious aroma. I sat up quickly, allowing Ron to set the plate where my head had been.

  Ron had kept his word and made me something nice for dinner. Steak, mashed potatoes with gravy, and green beans. For dessert, chocolate mousse. I shoveled food into my mouth with the spoon until I was certain I would burst open, spilling the contents onto the floor.