Mistakes - ON HOLD

Months Later

3 months later...

I was 12 weeks pregnant, and actually kind of excited to be a mother.

If only it was with someone I cared about...

I was having a really hard time with the pregnancy, because every time I ate I vomited up at least two thirds of the meal.

Sleeping was a challenge, because my bump got in the way of everything.

I remembered feeling the same way when we moved to a smaller house when I was 6...

I had gone to bed feeling scared of the new house. We had used to live in the city, but my mom and I had moved to the suburbs when my parents had gotten divorced. No matter how many times I tossed and turned in my bed, I couldn't get comfortable enough to fall asleep. I had crawled out of my bed and timidly walked down the corridor that separated my room from my mom's bedroom.

I had tapped her and whispered "Mommy?" It took two more tries to get her fully awake. She hugged me tightly to her body and kissed me, telling me that it was alright. In that moment, everything was right in the world. I had my mom, and I knew that she loved me. In my mom's arms, I slept peacefully.

How different that was from now. Every night I would try a new position, hoping to be comfortable, and every night I was disappointed. It was impossible to feel safe on that worn out mattress.

I never knew what to do during the day. Occasionally, my captor would take me into the main house and let me bathe in a large tub or eat a meal prepared by his servants. That was only if I was good and did what he wanted, which was too horrible to speak about.

Whenever I was sure that he had left the house for one errand or another, I would sneak upstairs and grab the mop or broom and attempt to make the basement more presentable. Boy was I surprised at the way he reacted when he caught me!

I had just ran upstairs when suddenly I heard the front door unlock. I hurried to run back down the stairs, but my bump made running nearly impossible. He walked in to find me with a broom in my hand, standing in front of the closet. "What are you doing Elle?" He yelled. His voiced softened when he saw me flinch. "The servants clean my house, not you." I told him that I was trying to clean up the basement. He smirked, and said, "If you give me what I want, I'll give you money to order things online for the basement." I was scared, but I did it anyways.

He took me to the filming room and I sat down on a stool in front of a white background. He pressed a button on the tripod, and a red button turned on on the camera. "Hi mom, how are you?" I spoke into the camera, looking behind it and reading the words on the screen. Taking deep breaths, I spoke the next words. "I- I am still here, safe and sound." I looked down at the ground and sighed. The next words, that I had repeated in every video, were still hard for me to say. "To get me back, you'll have to pay a fine of- 700,000 dollars." I knew that she didn't have enough money. My eyes started watering and tears streamed down my dirty face.

He turned off my camera and dragged me into his office. After making sure that I couldn't visit any websites that could help me escape, he told me that my budget was 100 dollars and let me order some things. On Ebay I found a cheap bed frame for $56 and a comforter for $12. With $32 left, I ordered 3 cans of white paint and brushes for the concrete basement walls.

That night I went to bed in a better mood than usual.