Page 7

7

ELLA

With a sharp gasp, I snapped my eyes open, and my breath caught in my throat as I took in the dimly lit room that lay before me. The single light bulb swung back and forth, its flickering illumination casting eerie shadows that seemed to dance around the cramped kitchen. I scanned the space, taking in the tattered orange couch and ancient television set across from me. I was in the far corner of a living room, but whose and why? A combination of body odor and stale air smell filled my nose, triggering a violent sneeze that echoed off the walls. As I recoiled from the sneeze, my head collided with something hard behind me, sending a loud thunk echoing through the area and causing stars to skip across my vision.

“Shit!” My skull throbbed as I pressed against the spot where it had smacked the unforgiving glass. Taking a deep, ragged breath, I forced myself to survey my surroundings. The space was suffocatingly small, and as my eyes adjusted to the faint light, terror gripped my chest and squeezed until my heart stuttered in fear. Suddenly aware of the confining walls closing in on me, I frantically searched for an escape. My fingertips scrambled at the smooth surface that served as my prison with four glass walls and a cement floor. There were several openings, most were small but some large enough for a hand to fit through, mocking me. In a desperate attempt for freedom, I reached for the ceiling but even standing was impossible in this cramped space. Panic consumed me as I quickly realized there was no way out.

“Let me out!” How did I end up here? Flashes of memories came to mind—a man in a suit, another one sneaking up behind me on my porch. Terror and anger surged through me. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I’d been drugged and kidnapped. Tears threatened to spill down my cheeks, but I refused to let them fall. If I wanted to survive, I needed to keep a clear head. Forcing myself to remain calm, I reminded myself it would only be a matter of time before Death and our friends searched for me. With their help, I wouldn’t be here for long. The thought of being stolen from my family intensified my rage, and I vowed to kill the motherfuckers who had taken me away from my babies and husband.

“Listen up, motherfuckers! You took the wrong girl. Let me out before you regret being born.” I released an ear-piercing scream and kicked at the cage, hoping to find a weak point. “Let me out! Who are you and what do you want from me?” Sweat beaded on my forehead from the exertion, and I wiped it away with the back of my arm. My pulse pounded so hard my ears rang as I smacked the wall until my fist throbbed with pain. Although I was terrified, I needed to save my energy and use my damn brain to get out of here. I forced myself to take in my surroundings, but all I could make out were rows of stuffed animals on the opposite wall. Most were clowns, but then my attention landed on a Chucky doll. Shivering from the cold temperature of the room, I rubbed my arms and stared at the creepy Chucky. That movie had always weirded me out, but this was on a whole new fucking level of weird.

Slamming my eyes closed, I forced myself to take several deep breaths. Panicking wouldn’t help me get the hell out of here. I slowed my breathing, calmed my mind, and imagined myself and Death killing the pieces of shit who stole me. That anger would drive me and keep me sane. Revenge gave me a little something to look forward to as well.

A sudden sound pierced the silence, shattering my meditation. My head snapped to the side, and I saw a figure approaching, his dark hair standing up in wild tufts. He wore tattered jeans covered in dirt and a faded navy shirt that clung to his emaciated frame. Had he also been imprisoned in this underground cell? His gaunt appearance evoked pity and fear from me in equal measure. I needed to be careful around him, but my mind was already racing with plans to escape. If only I could break free from this glass prison. Think, Ella! Pay attention to your surroundings and take notes.

“She’s awake. She’s awake.” He clapped his hands together as he chanted. The high pitch of his voice sent chills racing down my arms.

My throat suddenly grew raw and dry, but I forced myself to speak. “Who are you?”

He turned on a dime, arms flung out like blades of a helicopter. His grin became manic as he spoke. “It’s been too long since I’ve had company. So, when the boss called and said there was a package for me, I couldn’t contain my excitement.” He stopped spinning and his smile widened even further, revealing yellowed teeth. “Allow me to properly introduce myself, Ella McCloud Fletcher. I am Xavier Hyde.”

“Like Jekyll and Hyde,” I muttered. Anxiety set in as I scrambled to come up with a plan. Should I attempt to befriend him and gain his trust until I could make my move? Or should I resort to threats and fight off the son of a bitch? My mind raced with the few options I had, but one thing was crystal clear. I had to time it perfectly. I only had one chance, and I couldn’t fuck it up.

My thoughts were cut short as he approached, and I gasped in horror. Crawling over his shoulder was a massive spider, its hairy legs inching closer and closer toward me.

Trembling, I pointed at him and stammered out, “There’s a s-s-spider on you.”

A cruel grin twisted his lips as he looked at me with large, wild eyes. “Yes, there are many here. You’ll see them.”

My heart dropped as I realized the gravity of the situation. “Many?” I croak out. “What kind are they?”

“My masterpiece! I have worked for years to breed the perfect spider, and here they are–big,hairy, and extremely venomous,” he replied. “They love dark places to hide. Don’t worry Ella McCloud Fletcher, they only hurt if they bite.”

My hands trembled uncontrollably as I prayed that the venomous creatures wouldn’t attack. But deep down, I understood my fate rested in their unpredictable nature and my quick thinking.

I gulped, wondering how dangerous they were, and what would happen if one bit me. If there were a lot of spiders like Xavier said, there could be more than one bite.

“Please, I’m begging you, don’t let them hurt me.” My body shook with my pleas. “You don’t understand, you don’t want me here. I’m involved with very powerful people, and I don’t want you to get killed.” I definitely want to hurt you, though.

His maniacal laugh echoed off the cement floor and walls.

“Don’t worry that pretty little head of yours. If you behave, then the spiders won’t get near you. You have my word. I’ll keep you safe.”

Before I realized it, I opened my damn mouth and said, “You’re holding me hostage, so what in god’s name makes you think I can trust you?”

Xavier’s smile fell, and he knelt next to me, the glass the only thing between us. The spider climbed down his arm as he placed his palm against the side of the cage … right next to a large hole that was definitely big enough for the creature to crawl through. I would kill that motherfucker the second he entered my tiny space. Thank god, I still had my tennis shoes on. My sundress offered little protection from the frigid temperature or the critters, but by damn, I would beat the hell out of the spiders.

“My little pet wants to meet you.”

The venomous spider scurried through the small hole and down the side of the cage. My mind was consumed with terror as I desperately searched for a way out. But then I saw it, my only chance. With a burst of adrenaline, I lifted my foot and brought it down with all my might, crushing the bastard against the glass with a sickening crunch. Guts and legs splattered across the floor and wall, creating a disgusting mess.

Xavier’s face contorted in horror, and he released a blood-curdling scream. His dark eyes locked on mine, filled with anguish and betrayal.

“Why would you do that? He was my friend.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “We clearly don’t have the same definition of friendship.” A wave of disgust washed over me as I wiped the remains of the spider off my shoe and onto the cold concrete floor. Meeting his gaze head-on, I delivered my ultimatum.

“If you keep me safe from these monsters, then we can be friends. Otherwise, I can’t protect you when my husband comes for me.”

His attention darted to the dark corner behind me, where two more spiders skittered closer to my cage.

“You’ll be my friend?” His voice trembled with fear and desperation, tears glistening in his eyes.

My insides twisted in disgust at the thought of befriending him, but I had no choice if I wanted to survive.

“Of course,” I replied, trying to ignore the spiders inching closer. “I bet we have a lot in common. And you’ll definitely need me on your side when my husband finds me.”

He nodded, his attention flickering back to the spiders. “I … I would like someone to eat dinner with.” The misery and loneliness in his voice were palpable.

My stomach churned at the thought, but I forced a smile, unable to meet his stare or bear looking at the grotesque creatures any longer. “Then keep me safe, and I’ll have dinner with you.”

He nodded eagerly, his eyes wild with excitement. “I’ll take care of you. Be right back.” With that, he scurried away, leaving me alone with the unsettling presence of the little monsters and an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Anxiety speared me, and I searched the floor and cage, but I didn’t see the poisonous beasts inside again.

Xavier’s return was announced by the clanging of metal. My heart pounded in my ears as he approached, holding several large plugs to seal the holes in the glass prison. Panic set in as I noticed them at the top, my only source of oxygen. With each plug that was secured, my breathing became shallower and more frantic. Finally, Xavier produced a key from his pocket and slid it into the lock on the structure. He unlocked the front panel, and hope surged through me. Was he going to let me out?

He reached in and held a palm out to me. “You’ve been sitting for hours, and your legs might be asleep.”

How was this man vicious one minute and kind the next? I took his hand and allowed him to assist me out of my confined quarters. Slowly, I stood and stretched, my body rebelling with the sudden movements with a sharp spasm in my back and a searing cramp in my calf. But it was nothing compared to the slimy and chilling feeling that consumed my insides at his touch.

“Thank you. It feels nice to stand.” If I broke through his distorted reality, maybe he would help me escape, but it would take a while to earn his trust.

“Not for long.” His cackle filled the room, and I cringed. “Let’s get ready for dinner.” Xavier grabbed my biceps and pulled me along after him.

For being so skinny, he had a surprisingly firm grip, and I suspected he was much stronger than he appeared. I had to be careful and choose my time to run carefully, or I would only manage to piss him off.

“Do you cook?” I didn’t give a fuck what he did, but I needed conversation.

“I’m an excellent cook.” He nodded, excitedly.

I scanned the little room and searched for a door of any kind, but I didn’t see any yet. Three dirty windows lined one of the walls, but they were too small for me to crawl through. As night fell, the basement grew even darker. I had lost track of time since my watch was taken, but I estimated that hours had passed, judging by the sound of crickets beginning to chirp in the distance.

Nestled in the shadows lurked a kitchen table, its surface stained with dried blood. As Xavier flicked on another light, a swarm of spiders scattered, revealing the true horror of the room. My pulse pounded wildly against my neck as I realized the gravity of the situation.

Panic surged through me as my desperate gaze darted around the tiny space, searching for any glimmer of hope. Suddenly, my attention locked onto the family seated at the table. Their once living bodies now preserved and posed like grotesque dolls, their faces frozen in eerie, twisted grins. A surge of revulsion ripped through me as I came to a horrifying realization—at one time these were real people. Had he slaughtered them like animals and saved them as trophies?

“Meet my mother, father, and little sister.” His voice held a sickening pride as he gestured towards each figure.

My stomach churned as Xavier proudly introduced each member of his “perfect” family with a nonchalant wave in their direction. Bile burned up my throat. I turned my head and puked all over the floor. A string of saliva clung to the corner of my mouth, and I wiped it off with the back of my hand, scared shitless to look at him. He was much more deranged than I’d initially realized.

“You don’t like my work? It took me a very long time to preserve them.” His tone was laced with disappointment. “I’ve practiced on animals all my life, so humans were a challenge, but one I loved.”

What the fuck! He’d done all of this, no one else had helped him?

I’d better talk fast. “I’m so sorry. No, your work is amazing. It’s just that whatever drug they gave me is making me nauseous.”

He blinked several times, and I suspected he was trying to figure out if I was giving him a line of shit or not.

“I suppose that would upset your stomach.” He pulled out an empty chair at the table. “Sit. Let me get you some soup to eat. It will help.”

Horrified at the thought, my legs trembled. I sank into the seat, then realized I needed to make sure no creepy crawlies were blending into the color of the wood. I jumped up and looked around the chair, table, and floor. Maybe our activity had scared the disgusting bastards off, and they would leave me alone for now.

Xavier sang as he opened a small, dirty, and scuffed white refrigerator and then removed a large bowl.

Tick tock, little gears spinning round. Each perfect piece makes such a lovely sound. I craft my machines with meticulous care. While your city sleeps, unaware, unaware.

Oh, how they dance to my mechanical song. Never suspecting anything’s wrong. My clockwork children will rise with the dawn by then it will be far too late, far too gone.

Ratchets and springs, such delicate things. Like puppet masters pulling invisible strings. Each calculation precisely designed to leave your precious order far behind.

Wind them up tight, set them just right. Release them all on this wonderful night. My beautiful chaos about to unfold. A symphony of brass and tarnished gold.

You called me mad, locked me away but genius needs no light of day. In darkness deep my work was done. And now at last my time has come.

The gears are turning, can’t you hear? The moment of truth drawing near. My masterpiece about to start as all your world falls apart.

Final tick … final tock … Let the clockwork madness walk.

The words of his song cast even more gloom over my situation. Each note pierced my mind like shards of glass, amplifying the already suffocating dread. The haunting melody painted a vivid image of death and destruction, leaving me paralyzed with fear. From the sound of it, he planned on killing more people, and I suspected I was one of them.

“Chicken noodle soup is good for the soul,” he said, pulling me from my thoughts.

“I love soup. Thank you.” I sat on my hands, so when he turned his back to me, I wouldn’t run over to him and slam his head against the wall. It would have to wait before I attacked him since I had to figure out an exit strategy first … like where the damn door was and what I could use as a weapon.

“It’s good for the soul. Good for the soul.” He busied himself and poured two bowls full and then he put them in the microwave and warmed them up.

“How long have you been down here?” I had a million questions for him, but I had to be careful and not piss him off. I stared at his sister and cringed. How could Xavier stuff his own parents and sister after killing them? If he hated them enough to end their lives, why did he have them at the kitchen table? To create the perfect family. If that was true, what the hell was he planning for me?

My thoughts ran rampant as I tried to figure out why I was here. Maybe he’d been watching me and decided I would be a good addition to his group. A sharp needling sensation spread through my chest as I struggled to swallow, the feeling as devastating as an open wound.

“Not sure. Off and on for a few years. I needed a place to hide after …” He tilted his head toward his family. “They were going to leave me. Said I was fucking cuckoo. How can you leave your son? That’s when it occurred to me to keep them alive forever … with me. They can’t leave me now.” The corners of his mouth curled up into a sneer.

“Is that what you’re going to do to me?” My voice hovered above a whisper with my question. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. “I have babies at home. You wouldn’t want me to be away from them for long, right? You know what it’s like to miss your family so much it breaks your heart.”

His brows knitted together.

I continued, hoping to break through his twisted thinking. “Twins. They’re nine months old, and they need their mother. Please, please let me go.”

Conflict twisted his features as he stared at me. “Boss wants you alive for now.”

His boss ? If Xavier wasn’t behind all of this, then who was and how could I pull the information from Xavier? His words bounced around in my head as I tried to piece together the answers. Then my brain latched on to what else he’d said, and a big sigh of relief escaped me with the news he wasn’t going to kill me … today. Maybe that meant I had time to figure out how to get away from Xavier, but only if the spiders didn’t get to me first.

I tucked my hair behind my ears as he retrieved the bowls from the microwave and set them on the table. He hurried to a drawer, pulled it open, and removed two spoons.

“Eat, eat.” He handed me the utensil before he sat down next to me.

I stared at the soup, wondering if there were spider legs in it as well as the few noodles I could identify. I stirred it, hesitant to take a bite until Xavier began to loudly slurp down the meal. If I wanted to keep up my energy, I had to eat. As I lifted a spoonful to my mouth, I glanced sideways at Xavier.

“Who had you kidnap me?” I took a tiny taste of my dinner, and to my surprise it was good. My stomach growled in agreement.

He tilted his head toward my bowl. “Don’t worry about that. Eat, then you can tell me why you married a serial killer.”

Thank god, I had plenty of practice mastering my expressions while working for attorneys. My face remained stoic as I slightly tipped my chin and stared at him.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He leaned in close, his body only inches from mine, and his putrid breath assaulting my senses. His bloodshot eyes bore into me with an insane intensity, the manic darkness that possessed him now fully focused on me. I could feel his madness radiating off him in waves, suffocating me with its ferocity.

Then he said, “I know your secrets, Ella. All of them.”

A loud cackle burst from him as he shifted in his chair, grinning like he’d just won the war. I had news for him—he wouldn’t live that long to see the end of it.

Time blurred in the cage. Without my watch, I was left with no way to mark the passing hours except the sporadic appearances of the spiders that seemed to dance at the edges of my vision. Sometimes I wasn’t sure if they were real or if isolation was already breaking down my grip on reality.

“Do you know why I chose glass?” Xavier’s high-pitched voice drifted through the darkness as he approached. He’d been watching me for what felt like hours, his presence a constant reminder of my captivity.

I remained silent, refusing to engage. My throat was raw from earlier screams that had earned me nothing but his amusement.

“It’s because I want to see you change.” He pressed his palm against the wall. Xavier’s voice deepened as he spoke. “Watch as the woman who thinks she’s strong enough to handle Death crumbles into something … more manageable … more moldable.”

A spider descended on a thread directly in front of my nose. I jerked back, hitting my head against the glass. Xavier’s laugh echoed through the room.

“Did you know that one bite from my pet would make you very sick?It would take a week for the venom to kill you, though.” He tapped the spot where the spider now rested. “But that’s too quick. Too merciful. I prefer to watch the mind dissolve first.”

“Fuck you,” I spat, my voice trembling.

“Such fire.” He pressed his face close to the wall that separated us. “But fire needs oxygen to burn. And in there? Well, let’s just say I control how much you get to breathe.” He clapped his hands and then threw his head back and cackled.

To demonstrate he held all the power, he moved to the air holes I relied on and slowly began to cover them, one by one. My chest tightened as panic clawed at my throat.

“Please,” I whispered, hating the weakness in my voice.

He uncovered the holes but kept his hand hovering near them. “See how quickly you break? How easily you beg? Death would be so disappointed.” His words slithered through the cage like poison. “But don’t worry. Soon you’ll forget all about him. Soon you’ll learn to plead for my approval instead.”

How could he have possibly discovered the truth about Death? How could he have learned about the closely guarded secret that those who cherished Sebastian above all else had fought tooth and nail to keep hidden? The thought of everyone I loved being exposed to this evil man was enough to make my blood run cold.

My stomach churned as he pressed something against the glass—a photograph. It was me, sleeping in my bed, taken through our bedroom window. “I’ve been watching you for months. Learning your habits. Your fears.” He showed another photo of me with the twins at the park. “Everything you think is yours? It was only borrowed time.”

Tears streamed down my face as I realized the extent of his surveillance, of his obsession. How long had he been plotting this? How many times had he watched me, while I thought I was safe?

“You’re going to be my masterpiece,” he whispered, his breath fogging the glass and his eyes wild. “My perfect bride, preserved forever in this beautiful cage. But first …” He gestured to the spiders gathering in the corners. “First, we have to strip away everything you think you are.” His maniacal sneer sent me scurrying backward.

I curled into myself, trying to make my body as small as possible in the confined space. The spiders seemed to multiply in the shadows, their presence a constant reminder of my helplessness. Xavier’s soft humming filled the air, a twisted lullaby that would haunt me if I ever slept again.

“Sweet dreams, my love,” he sang, dimming the lights until I was left in near total darkness. “Tomorrow we’ll peel away another layer of the woman you used to be.”

As his footsteps faded, I pressed my forehead against my knees and tried to hold on to memories of Sebastian, Death, and my children. But in the suffocating confines of the glass cage, even those began to feel like dreams, while Xavier’s psychological torture became my new reality.