Being Beauty

The Saga Continues

I lie in bed thinking about what Emily said. I'm not really sure I believe all this business about curses and such. Maybe they really are crazy. Or trying to confuse me. Or I'm crazy! Oh, I don't know. My head hurts just thinking about it. This whole situation is crazy. I get kidnapped and held prisoner but I'm treated like a guest. I have my own room, they buy me anything I request as long as it's reasonable. I get three meals a day and snacks if I'm still hungry. I have few rules: One, I can't leave. Two, I have to try to be friends with Adam (although Emily says I'm really supposed to get him to fall in love with me which makes no sense whatsoever!). Three, I'm not allowed to have any books (I'm not sure why but that's why I have that book under my pillow). And that's it. Oh. And I can't make any phone calls but that falls under the not allowed to leave rule.

Ugh.

These people are crazy. Absolutely . . . crazy. So crazy that . . . . Emily said that every girl has died within a week of finding out about the curse. What if this is all some sick, twisted game to these people. They play with me like a doll for a few weeks, treat me nice but keep me on edge. Then, when it's time for the plan to move on, they bring in the top dog, Mary, to stir me up and make me crazy. Then Emily tells the story, I'm on edge for a week, constantly aware of my surroundings. And then they kill me and move on to the next girl.

Oh my gosh! I'm in a house with serial killers!!

My heart sinks into my stomach as fear grabs hold of me. I'd lock the door, but I can't. It only locks from the outside. Should I try to escape? Nothing has worked so far and Emily said that the girls would have lived if they hadn't tried to escape. Was she maybe telling me that I can either try to escape and hope I live or stay put and live a little while longer? Was she warning me?

I pull the covers up over my head and stare into the blackness that shrouds me. Hot tears sting my eyes and spill down my cheeks. Please, God. Let me live to see my family again.

It's hard to close my eyes and drift off to sleep. But I finally do.

•§•§•

I sit and wait for Emily to return and draw my bath the way she has every morning since I came. They don't trust that I won't drown myself so there is a special key she brings that unlocks a plug inside the piping so water can come out. Then she stays and watches me to make sure I don't opt for suicide while bathing. It's annoying and entirely uncomfortable especially today as I fear the worst of Emily.

With a clear head on my shoulders, I reason that the only logical explanation for my being here and for the ridiculous things they tell me is because they are all insane. A bunch of whack jobs! And my days are very numbered. I've spent all my time this morning trying to think my way around the escape-proof house. One way or another, I'll be leaving here alive. I won't be another headline on some paper: "Missing Girl Found Dead After Weeks of Searching", "Parents Devastated at the Loss of Their Child". I won't be that girl.

"Are you up yet, Avery?" Emily calls from the doorway. I hear the door creak on its hinges as she pushes it open. "Hun?"

I sit up straight in bed and force myself to smile at her. I can't act like anything is up. I need all the time I have to figure out how to escape. And showing any signs of fear or defiance or hatred will surely end in my being cooped up in my room under supervision. And I don't want that.

"I'm up!" I reply chipperly. I scooch across the bed and bounce off the side, standing next to it in my night clothes.

"How are you this morning?" she asks suspiciously, furrowing her brows at me.