The Ex

Chapter 43

The steps creaked as I walked down. I could feel my whole body tense up. Why was it so urgent that I went down here? Why was this feeling so strong? Because my gut knew that something was down here. I made it to the cement floor. It was so cold I could feel it through my shoes. There was some workout equipment, tools, a punching bag, and another door. With a padlock on it. What was in there? I looked around, seeing no cobwebs or anything. He must come down here regularly. I went to the door, shaking the lock. Looking at the dial. Numbers, 1-50. What was the 3 digit password? I looked around for the slightest clue.
"Grace!" I yelled.
"What? Are you done?"
"I need you to do something..."
"More?! What?" She yelled back.
"Go into the kitchen, look through the garbage."
"Are you kidding me? I'm not doing that!"
"It's probably somewhere on the bottom. Just dump it out or something. I need you to find a plastic box for a padlock."
"A padlock? What the hell is down there that needs a lock?"
"That's what I'm going to find out!"
"I hate you so much Amber!" She yelled.
"Hurry!" I waited a few minutes, just looking at everything. A body mirror on the wall, punching gloves in a small box...
"AHHHHH! AMBER!!" Grace screamed. I felt panicky.
"What? What happened?"
"I JUST GRABBED ROTTEN CHICKEN I NEED TO WASH MY HANDS!" I rolled my eyes.
"I think I found it though!" She yelled back.
"YES! Hurry and throw it down!" I waited for her to turn the water off and she threw the plastic box down. It landed loudly on the cement. I picked it up,
"You have like 10 minutes Amber! Please, just hurry!" I looked at the back of the box. The padlock code was 16-8-49. I put it in the padlock and it fell off. Hitting the floor. I picked it up setting it aside and opened the door. There weren't any switches, just a lightbulb with a string on the ceiling. I closed my eyes almost squeezing tears out from how nervous I was. I pulled it down and seen. I seen everything. Everything I didn't want to see. How come a part of me guessed it? How come that small part of me, seen this coming. My mouth gaped and I covered it with my hand. I was balling my eyes out. I wanted to scream but there was no noise.
"Oh my god. Please help me..." I whispered through shaky breaths. I'm going to puke. I reached for the handle. But the door was further than I thought. I fell onto the cement. Hitting my head so hard. Just before my eyes closed, I seen shoes standing before me.
*
"Amber, Amber...wake up..."
"Get...get away from me..." I said sitting up and almost falling down again. It was grace. I cried. I fell into her.
"I heard you scream and I ran down...you've only been out a few minutes...what is all of this?"
"I-I don't know...grace, I'm going to pass out again if I sit up. She sat on the floor with me, gazing up at the horrific terrifying sight that sit before us. I really was going to get sick. It actually came up too, but I was forced to swallow it.
"Amber, Amber we need to leave.."
"No, I-i want to burn it. I want it gone..."
"Listen, i know, i know how you feel ok? I get it but if we don't leave, we are going to be in even more trouble." I just wanted to sit here and melt.
"I can't believe this. Grace I--" I took another look at it. There was a wall full of pictures of me. Ones he took from that night. I was in his bed. So graphic and horrific. Pictures of me, everywhere. At red lobster with grace, at work, at home, in my room, in my car, everything. Everywhere I've been in the past few months. On the desk was the roses, the wilted ones. My name written on papers over and over again. He had a drawing of me completely nude. Along with over 100 pictures of me the same way. My clothes from when I was here. Why didn't I grab them? The lingerie he bought me was laid out neatly on the desk. He got that from my hamper. He went through my room yesterday. Along with my perfume. He would spray and sniff it.
"Come on, let's turn the light off and lock it up. We are going file a report..." I nodded my head and she helped me up. I felt better. Well, not really, but I felt better than what I did. We turned the light off and locked the door back up. Taking the box and putting it back in the garbage. We were just about out the door, when a black charger pulled up.