Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Scrubbing my hands down my face, I stared at her. I had to call the police.
“Mallory, I need to call the police and a doctor to take a look at you.”
She jumped off the stool. “No! Please, don’t! He’ll find me if you call the police! He told me the police wouldn’t help me! He told me he had friends everywhere and if I got out, he’d find me. Please. No police. No doctor either.”
I stood and gently grabbed her arm. “Hey, hey, calm down.”
Mallory melted into my body when I slowly drew her toward me.
“I just need to figure out who I am. Once I can remember, then I can go home. I’m sure I must have family looking for me. Please, please don’t call the police! I don’t know where else to go.”
When she started to cry once again, I ran my hand gently up and down her back. “Shhh. It’s okay. I won’t call the police. I’ll help you figure out who you are, I promise.”
Mallory drew back and looked at me with hopeful eyes. “Thank you so much for helping me.”
Taking a step back, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the locket. “I’m helping you because you asked me to, but I need to know where you got this locket, and why you were wearing it when I found you.”
“The locket,” she said softly as she ran her thumb gently over the name engraved on the outside.
Emily.
“I found it in the basement. When I crawled over and sat in the corner that first time, I felt it. It was buried in the dirt. With the little bit of light that came into the room, I saw the name, and I just knew it must have been one of the women who’d been in that room before me.”
My knees nearly gave out at her words. I turned abruptly and said, “Excuse me.”
I ran as fast as I could to my bathroom and threw up.
After running cold water over my face, I walked slowly back into the kitchen. Mallory had finished eating all her food, and it broke my heart to know she’d been so hungry.
With a deep sigh, I said, “I’m sorry.”
She gave me a small smile, then it faded, and sadness filled her eyes. “Did you know her? Emily?”
I nodded. “She was my fiancée. She vanished almost six years ago.”
Mallory’s hand covered her mouth and she turned away from me. I could tell she was crying.
“Mallory?” I touched her gently on the arm. “Were you alone in the room or with others?”
Slowly turning, she wiped her tears away. Her expression was conflicted, and I could see the battle in her eyes. She didn’t want to tell me. “I was alone, but there had definitely been others down there before me.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat as I asked her the next question. “How do you know?”
She closed her eyes and sighed. Then she softly said, “He told me there were others. He liked to toy with them, tell them what he planned on doing before he did it. He wanted to terrify me…and he did. Knowing what he planned to do, and what he’d done to others, made everything so much worse. Not knowing when it might happen, just knowing it would.”
My stomach clenched, and I thought I was going to throw up again.
Lifting her gaze to meet mine, she blinked, and another tear slipped free. “There was also…blood…on the mattress. At least, it looked like blood and smelled like it. It most likely was mine, but it looked like it was stained…older stains.
I slowly sat down on a stool.
She gently touched my arm. “There might be a chance she’s still alive.”
All I could do was nod. Mallory had escaped, and maybe Emily had too. What if she also couldn’t remember who she was?
“Do you think he would have let you live?” I asked.
Her eyes slowly met mine. “I want to tell you yes, but I can’t.” She started to cry again. “His laugh…it was so evil. I feel like it’s burned into my brain, and I’ll never be able to forget it. I don’t know, Liam. I just…I don’t know!”
She broke down crying, and I quickly stood and drew her into my arms again. “Shhh, it’s okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you upset.”
Mallory pressed her face against my chest. “I’m so sorry!”
I gently rocked her as I held her. She was apologizing because, deep down inside, she knew Emily wasn’t alive…and I knew it as well, somewhere inside of me. This whole time, I never truly felt in my heart that she was still with us.
Walking Mallory over to the sofa, we both sat down. It wasn’t long before she’d cried herself to sleep. I carefully lay her on the couch and covered her with a blanket. Piper laid down on the floor in front of the sofa.