Deranged {#WATTYS2015}

IV. The Girl With The Broken Promise

Slowly rising from the deep depths of oblivion, awareness came in a flash and my eyes cautiously shot open. Ignoring the empty wasted gnawing pain of hunger, I drew out a shaky breath. So many thoughts scrambled themselves to the surface of my brain that a thin film of perspiration began to form on my brow and upper lip.

I spent what felt like a whole eternity, locked up in the cold, dark basement with little to eat and drink. Every day I would wake up surrounded by nothing but darkness, just like the day before. The sounds of my excruciating screams and cries for help were relentless. I sobbed for hours and hours, until eventually my voice went hoarse and my throat grew numb.

I doubted he would let me go, but the thought still lingered. Fear sunk in and there was nothing I could do to stop it, no comforting words or thoughts, nothing reassuring came to mind only a name he'd left me with days before. "Marcus," he'd claimed. "But what does it matter?"

"It's kind of like when you first meet someone..the first thing you've been taught to notice is their appearance. The way they look on the outside atomically determines whether or not you like that person. You associate their appearance with their personality, and therefore, some fall under the category where normalcy lies. But, that's the thing." He paused, that cruel and malicious stare too much for me to cope with. There was something threaded into the fibre of all that was his being, something he wore like a mask. "Take yourself for example, you're beautiful and you just so happened to be friends with the cool girl in school, and to top it all off you're an athlete. Everyone around you classifies you as normal just from what they see on the outside, and fuck, maybe you've even fooled yourself into believing that too, but we both know the truth."

He looked me dead in the eye. "It's always the pretty ones with the most issues." Something told me that wasn't just a generalization.

Suddenly, loud stomping upstairs ripped me from my reverie. Low whimpers soon turned into a noise so frighteningly disturbing, my face drained of all its color. The basement door swung open so fast, it almost flew off the hinges. I watched with wide eyes as Marcus struggled with his next victim. She thrashed around wildly, her nails scratching against the wooden floors as he pulled her down the stairs.

A feeling of dread crept up from the pit of my stomach, a cold wave embalmed me as the hairs rose on the back of my neck. I wanted to help her, but I couldn't. It felt like I was paralyzed to the spot, Marcus's menacing aura holding me in a tightening grip.

She must of bit him or something, because he completely released her. Her body tumbled down the rest of the way, until she finally ended up at the bottom. And just like that, he was gone. "Help me! Someone please help me!'' she shouted at the very top of her lungs, as she scrambled to her feet.

I watched her from the shadows for several long minutes, until I couldn't bare it any longer. "I tried screaming, no one can hear you." I whispered so quietly, I wasn't even sure she had heard me but apparently she did.

When she turned to face me, I noticed that her left eye was swollen shut and her bottom lip was busted. She had definitely put up a better fight than me. I could tell by the expression on her face, that she was startled by my voice. She looked way too young to be here. Her golden brown eyes glistened with heavy tears, as she staggered back in a state of panic. Her chest rose and fell rather quickly, as if she thought I would hurt her. Her long, copper hair was a tangled mess curling protectively around an oval face. She was covered in dried up mud from head to head, it was almost like he had drug her here the whole entire way.

"What?'' she asked, after a long period of silence. I stared at her for a short moment, trying to determine if it was my heart that was beating so impossibly loud, or hers.

It was hers, I determined.

''No one can hear you,'' I repeated, testing the words out for myself. "The walls....they're um, made up of prefabricated acoustical. It's soundproof, no one can hear you."

Her face visually paled, ''How do you know that? Where are we? How long have you been here?''

I was caught off guard by her questions, as they proceeded to pour out of her mouth; I only answered what I could accurately enough. "I don't know..."

She frantically shook her head, a familiar look of panic on her face.''N-no, no! I don't belong here, I want to go home. I need to get out of here! This has got to be some kind of mistake!"

I felt uncomfortable. I wanted to comfort her, but I didn't know how to. With utter uncertainty, I pushed my body off of the ground, forcing myself to stand up. I've never felt so weak before. My knees wobbled while I walked, and my head spun with dizziness. Grasping her face with both of my hands, I wiped her tears away just like I had done for Kate.

''Hey hey, look at me.'' I cooed, softly. ''Look at me.'' Her eyes connected with mine, and she let out another croaked sob. "What is your name?'' I questioned my voice not as confident, as I would have liked it to be.

She body relaxed, barely. ''Blair....my name is Blair.''

I mustered up a comforting smile that wasn't really at all comforting. "That's a beautiful name, Blair. I'm Victoria, but you can call me Tori, if you'd like.'' She gave me a forced smile.

''How old are you?'' I wanted to lighten up the mood, make her forget about the situations we were currently in -- even if it was impossible.

''I'm fifteen.''

''I'm not going to lie to you, and tell you that everything's going to be okay. But, what I can tell you is I'd die before I let him ever lay another finger on you, believe me when I tell you that." My body fidgeted, reacting as if to doubt my ability to protect anyone when I couldn't even protect myself. "I'll get you out of here."

I held Blair, as she cried. I understood why she was breaking down, and it took everything inside me not to weep as well. Minutes turned into hours, and eventually her crying started to come to a halt.

"My mother and I had got into a pretty bad fight.'' She sniffled, lowly. ''I never understood why my father decided to divorce my mom. I mean, they did have their fair share of arguments and fights; but they were happy together, nonetheless. I know they were." She seemed to be convincing herself.

"You don't have to tell me this if you're not...."

"I never understood why he wanted to leave us, until I saw him one day....with her. It had been two months since my parents divorced, and he had already moved on with another woman. And, that wasn't even the worst part.'' She laughed, humorlessly. ''The worst part was finding out that the new woman he was fooling around with was seven months pregnant, and that only meant one thing. He had been seeing another woman, while he was still married to my mom. He left her, because he wanted to start a new family. He didn't want me, anymore.''

''When I found out what a disgusting man my father really was, I started going out to parties with boys twice my age, staying out 'til three in the morning. One day, I guess my mother had enough and she just snapped. I got pissed and told her that I hated her.....that was the last thing I said to my mom." She started sobbing again, but this time I let her. No more patting her back or wiping her tears.

"We're going to get out of here, Blair.'' I hated making promises I couldn't keep, but she needed reassurance. She needed hope.

"I promise.''