Mommy's House

6

BELLA didn't know she was sleeping until she woke to Mommy's face right in front of hers. She jumped and sat straight up, staring into Mommy's hate-filled eyes.

"Open up. You're good at that, aren't you?" Mommy asked, her head tilted to the side as she held a piece of bread up to Bella's lips.

Bella opened her mouth and chewed on the piece of wheat bread, before Mommy pressed a water bottle to her lips and slid the liquid down her dry throat. Bella felt an inexplicable sensation; it felt good it felt to finally fill her stomach and ease her dried throat, even if it was just a small amount. Her headache almost instantly subsided as she finished nearly the entire water bottle in one swallow.

Mommy stood and wobbled a little bit, clearly drunk again as she grabbed onto the wall. Bella looked around to find no sight of Cole or Elliot, and the door was open.

"W-where did my brothers go?" Bella asked, looking around the empty room again.

"Come with me," Mommy said, grabbing Bella's bare shoulder and threading her arm through hers. Bella's heart skipped a beat when she noticed they were heading towards the door.

For the first time, Bella saw the corridor of the basement, outside of their tiny room. The walls were strips of wood and stained with indeterminable liquids, and the room smelled of dull mold. There were two doors on both sides of the dark space, and a staircase directly in front of Bella which lead to the door for upstairs. Bella saw lights through the bottom slit of the door and heard heavy rock music thumping and vibrating the floorboards.

Mommy opened the door to the right to expose a closet-sized bathroom. It consisted of a bathtub, a toilet, and a dirt-streaked sink with a shattered mirror hanging on the wall above it.

Bella could hear the sound of bathwater running and Cole and Elliot's heavy breaths before the door was even fully open. She noticed that Cole still had his hands tied behind his back, and Elliot was against Cole's legs, shaking and staring up at them with big eyes.

Mommy shoved Bella in there with them, and Bella gasped as she almost hit into Elliot but caught her balance against the wall. She turned and looked at Mommy who leaned against the doorway, staring at the three of them individually.

"You have twenty minutes to bathe. I left a towel for each of you, I will bring clothes to you guys. You are filthy. You must wash all of your filth off or I will be too disgusted to go near you. This door," Mommy slurred, her hand slapping against the door she was leaning against, "will be locked. So don't try anything."

Mommy's eyes locked onto Bella's before they flicked towards Cole.

"Turn around, both of you," she demanded.

Bella turned around along with Cole and felt Mommy cut the ropes off her tied wrists, allowing them air. She looked at her freed wrists and smiled a bit in extreme relief.

"I don't know how much I trust your older brother," Mommy said, and Bella watched as she used the switchblade to slice through Cole's ropes. They fell to the ground and his bloody wrists were finally free as well. "Not that I trust you, slut, but I know you wouldn't stand a chance against my boyfriend."

Bella's eyebrows furrowed - she believed that she could put up a good fight, she just wasn't stupid enough to attempt escaping yet.

Mommy smiled, her wrinkled lips reaching her eyes. "I'll be back in twenty minutes."

Mommy tripped out the door before it slammed shut behind her, and the three of them were trapped in the small bathroom. They could barely move, but Bella instantly knelt down to Elliot's height.