His House

Chapter 12

We entered the sleeping room in continued silence. The boys were already there, laying down on their beds. They all sat up as we walked in with our heads down, towards our own beds. The memory of the shower incident, fresh in our minds.

"There's a few things I have to get done right now," Ace said from the door, "but I'll come and get you guys in a little bit." With that, he left the room, finally letting us breathe.

"What happened to you guys?" Matteo asked with slight concern as he watched Willow and I sit down on my cot.

Willow looked over at him and wrapped her arms around herself. "Nothing."

"Cazzate," Matteo got up from his cot and sat down on the cot in front of us. "Tell me what happened."

I looked up from my shaking hands. "Did anything happen to you guys?"

He shook his head. "No. He just showed us to the bathroom and left. He came back fifteen minutes later to come get us." Matteo looked over his shoulder at the other girls who had their knees pulled up to their chests and their arms wrapped tightly around their legs before staring back at Willow and I. "Now, what happened?"

"Nothing." Willow said again.

I nodded my head and stared at the floor. Thankfully.

Matteo sighed and then leaned forward. "You can tell me. What happened?"

"He just didn't leave," I replied after taking a deep breath. "He stayed and watched us all."

"He... just watched you all shower.."

Willow and I both nodded our heads.

Matteo straightened back up, his jaw clenched. "I'm going to fucking kill him."

* * *

The door opened an hour later, Ace there again. He wore the same clothes as before, and the gun remained tucked in the front of his pants. The smile that was sure to haunt my nightmares was also still present on his face, just like his empty eyes.

"Up you get." Ace rested his dominant hand on the handle of the firearm and nodded towards the middle of the room. "You know what to do. C'mon."

Willow, Matteo, and I, and the other teens who were on their beds all stood up and created a single file line in the middle of the room, just like we had done this morning.

"Good, now let's move."

We followed Ace out of the room and down the hall to the right. After a few moments we made it to a four way intersection and made another right turn. As we made the turn, I looked down the other hallways, wondering where they led. The place was fairly large.

Ace then made a left turn through two double doors where we were met with what looked to be the cafeteria. Well... cafeteria may not have been the best word for it.

The room was about half the size of the sleeping quarters and had one long table running from one end of the room to the other, seven plates on each side of the table.

"Sit down at a spot and eat up," Ace said with a hand gesture to the table. "I will then be taking a few of you with me to do some laundry after."

We all turned away from him and tentatively walked over and sat on the table. The smell of the food made my stomach growl, even though it didn't look that appetizing at all. On the plate sat small cold pieces of meat, runny potatoes, and green mush which I assumed were peas.

I took a peek over at Ace to see he was just standing there and watching us, before picking up my fork and shovelling some of the food into my mouth.

I had told myself over and over again that it didn't matter. That it didn't matter that the creep had seen my naked body. But it was so hard to forget... those eyes-

I shook my head and swallowed back the bite of food and my tears that were wanting to make an appearance on my face.

I can't think of that right now, and most importantly: I can't cry here.

I just can't.