Pretty Birdie

Chapter 27 - What is this?

** Wes POV**

I see the turn in for the house coming up and I steer my bike into it, riding up the drive way. There isn't another house around here for miles. It would be the perfect place to bring Birdie if he didn't want to get caught. I pull the breaks as I approach the front of the house. I jump off the bike and run to the front door. I pull the handle and it opens with a screech. It doesn't look like anyone has been here in years. Dust and cobwebs are everywhere and all the furniture is covered in a white sheeting. I move forward, with the floorboards creaking underneath my weight. I peer around any door frame or corner I come across, but see no sign of life. I see a door near the end of the hall. I try the handle but It's locked. I lean into it attempting to force it with little success so I put more of my weight behind me, desperate the get inside. I try again and again and on the 3rdattempt part of the door frame splinters away from the wall, allowing the door to swing open. I stumble into the room, struggling to steady myself. Whilst I regain my balance I take a look around the dimly lit space. It's not like the rest of the house. There's far less dust in this room and no white sheets draped over the furniture. There's a bed in the far corner with a small TV set up to the side of it. As I walk into the room I turn to observe the rest of my new surroundings. On the wall opposite the bed are multiple pictures cascading from one side of the room to the other. 

'What is this?' I  mumble to myself in complete shock and disbelief.

I walk over to get a closer look. They're photos of girls. Photos that look as if they've been taken through a window. I glance along the wall looking at each girl in the photos. These girls have no idea these photos have been taken. What is he doing with these? Has he taken them himself? Then I see smaller square photos. One that look like they come from a polaroid. These photos are different to the others. These girls defiantly know these photos are being taken. They're close ups. The fear in the faces of these girls. It feels me with dread. He's done this before to other girls. What happened to them?

Pinned underneath the first cluster of photos is a necklace, hanging there like a trophy. The second group of photos has a bracelet and the third has another necklace. I get to the fourth gathering of photos. A lock of hair under a picture of a girl I've seen before. This girl has been on missing persons posters across town and she's been in the news. She's been missing for months with no sign of where she went or what happened to her. Did Xander take her? What did he do? Was he going to do the same thing to my Birdie? The next photo on the wall is Birdie. I run my fingers over the photo. He's taken a photo of her through her bedroom window.  I pull the photo from the wall and screw it up in my hand before pushing it deep into my pocket. He's not having her. I won't allow it. Then my eyes flicker to the smaller ones that surrounded it. Pictures of B tied to a bed. She looks terrified. Am I too late? I swing my arms at the wall, swiping all the photos to the floor, then I turn back to the door and leave the room feeling a sense of dread. She has to be OK. I don't know what I'd do without her.

I walk through the archway at the end of the hall, entering the kitchen, seeing a closed door on the wall next to me. I open it, seeing stairs plunging down into the dark below. I step closer and see a faint light coming through another door at the bottom. I begin to climb down the stairs and then I can hear something.

'Ah, You stupid cunt' I hear a man shouts, then I hear a loud thud.

I sprint down the stairs and jump the last few, running towards the door, I swing it open. I see Birdie on the floor with Xander on top of her. There's blood.

'Xander, please' Birdie cries out, struggling to fight him off.

'You stabbed me you stupid bitch. You'll pay for that' he yells in her face, ripping the top of her shirt with his hand.

I run forward tackling Xander to the floor. We roll over and land in a heap on the hard concrete.

I look over to Birdie, who's frozen to the  spot.

 'Run B, Get out of here'