The House Of Darkness

A Light Shining in the Dark.

Even at night there is a light that shines through the darkness.

It is hope and it is also despair.

The darkness cannot survive the dawn, yet the light of day must always give way to the darkness, as is the cycle never ending.

The calls of night birds drifted hauntingly through the darkness, Lola lay wide awake on the foam mattress. Hank had attached a long chain to a set of cuffs at one end and the other was anchored to the wall.

The door to the cellar opened and a figure descended from above. The flickering of a candle reflected from the brick walls of the cellar and shadows danced from the figure who came to visit.

The visitor stopped at the bottom of the stairs, he crouched down, setting the candle by his feet and giggled as he watched her.

Lola felt there was something decidedly odd about him. He reminded her of Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

"So pretty..." he muttered. "Want to touch, but no, Beaufort isn't allowed to. Want to kiss, to fuck, but Hank wants her all to himself... much prefer when they're warm and moving under me..." he muttered before he snatched the candle and scuttled back up the stairs, closing the door to the house behind him and leaving Lola in the darkness.

She pulled the old woolen blanket tighter around herself and shivered,  thinking back over the encounter. He hadn't known she was awake, the darkness hid her face. She held her tears back, using her fear as her strength. 

She knew that as long as she endured, gained the trust of her captors, sge would eventually escape from the prison of Hank and Beaufort's making.

Hank came down in the early hours of the morning,  making her wash herself in front of him while he sat in a chair and watched her. He took her on the mattress before he handed her another of his wife's dresses.

As she pulled the dress on, she wondered about his wife, where was she? Did she leave him, or was she dead? She turned to face him, holding up her still shackled hand to be released.

As he pulled the key from a chain around his neck she looked shyly at him.

"You said these dresses belonged to your wife?" He stopped, his hand gripping her wrist so tight that she squeaked in pain, feeling the bones shift a little.

"You won't speak of her, ever." He said, his voice low and dangerous.  "Do you understand me?" He pulled her sharply, Lola lost her balance and fell against Hank's chest. He gripped her wrist tighter.

"Yes... yes i understand." She whimpered,  realising that this could be a major setback in her attempts to gain his trust.

"Get the fuck upstairs and get Penny some breakfast and get her dressed. I take it you can read and write?" He said, his voice still low, still menacing.
Lola nodded.
"Good, she needs to keep up with her schooling. Don't want her smarts to go to waste." He turned and left her to follow him up to the kitchen.

Lola fixed up some boiled eggs for Penny and then helped the little girl get dressed.
"We are going to do some schoolwork today, Penny. " she said as she took the top off the boiled egg and slid it over to the girl.

Penny nodded as she scooped the hard boiled white and yolk and devoured her breakfast.

Lola had a few sheets of paper and since pencils out and ready for Penny. She heard a noise as she turned to clear the breakfast plates.
A familiar looking man stood there and watched her.

His eyes were piggish and he had a strange shspe to his head, as if he were born with some sort of birth defect, or cerebral palsy. His hair stuck up every which way on his head as if he had stuck his finger into a power socket and let the electric current do his hairstyle.
Hank came down from the second story.
"Morning Beaufort, lets go get to work. Got a bit to do today and that order needs be delivered to Slater."
Hank said as he patted his brother on the shoulder, jostling him from watching Lola.

The two men left the house as Penny sat down with the pens and paper, waiting for Lola to start her lessons.

They worked on words, spelling and simple maths problems, Penny showing herself to be an able student.

Lola stretched and stood up.
"You want to go outside for a while? Get some vegetables for dinner maybe?" She asked Penny.

Penny's bored expression instantly changed to a bright smile. Lola found herself falling in maternal love with this sweet little girl, despite what her father was doing to her.

Lola couldn't help but wonder, if she were to escape, would Penny be okay? She had noticed that Beaufort's eyes swept constantly to Penny in a way that Lola felt was extremely unwholesome for an uncle and she felt a surge of protectiveness towards the little girl who led her out into the bright sunshine.

The girls walked through the vegetables, pulling a handful of fresh carrots, and taking a broccoli head from the ground. Lola knew there was a supply of potatoes in the pantry, and onions hung down in her cellar.

"Want to help me make some vegetable soup?" She asked Penny.  Penny nodded her agreement  and took Lola's hand, as they headed back towards the house, a high pitched scream came from the shed, where  Hank and Beaufort worked of a day.

"For fuck's sake Beaufort,  silence the bitch!" Hank's angry voice was heard as another scream sounded and was cut short.

Lola felt a chill consume her body as she hurried with Penny Back to the house.
She shut the door, letting go of Penny's hand as she ran to the window in time to see hank keave the shed with a bloodied sack in his hands.

He loaded it up onto a cart while Beaufort appeared with another  bloody sack to load on the cart.
When the cart had been loaded,  Beaufort took hold of the handles, while hank placed a shotgun on the flat bed of the cart. He spoke to Beaufort and then turned back to the house.

Lola pulled back away from the window and moved to the kitchen counter, making herself busy as she began to peel the carrots. Her curiously  burning as she wondered just what wad in that shed.

Hank came in and washed his bloodied hands and arms before he headed up to the upper floor.
He returned fifteen minutes later, washed and in a clean shirt and jeans.

"Penny,  come we'll go see your  Mama." He said, taking his daughter's hand. "You stay here." He said to Lola, who meekly nodded.
She watched as he led his child  to a small dirt path and disappeared into the woods behind the house.
Lola waited a moment before she ran to the door. Her shackles clanking a little as she moved. She looked furtively out the door in the direction that Beaufort  had gone before she looked to Hank's direction.

She had to see what secrets lay within the darkness if the shed.