Paranoia

{ seven }

The eeriness that wrapped around the house gave Wendy an uneasy feeling as Felix lead her upstairs and out of the basement.

Her footsteps creaked beneath the floorboards, a silence seemed to be looming over like a shadow, following her timidly while she tried to steady her composer and calmness.

Felix's footsteps were synchronized with hers and he lead her all the way down the long and never-ending hallway, further and further away from the basement, where she had grown so accustomed to over the past years that even being awake seemed unreal. She'd always sleep when she'd feel scared, worried, or depressed. Sleeping was the thing she'd turn to for comfort, and she was becoming more heedless and uninterested in everything as days pass.

Wendy has become immune to the pain she has endured, and she was so use to it that nothing came close to fazing her anymore.

Spending all of your time in a dark basement, with nothing but the ominous walls threatening to close in on you, you'd think fear and worry would be emotions you're use to.

Felix continued to lead Wendy through his house, she would occasionally hear him humming a soft tune that was unbeknownst to her. It almost sounded like a lullaby, the melody was very sinister but held an enthralling tone.

Wind howled from outside, leaving behind the distant sounds of hollow trees brushing against each other. There always seemed to be some kind of wind or rain storm going on everyday, so it didn't exactly come as a surprised to Wendy.

She didn't know where Felix was taking her, the house resembled to a labyrinth, each corridor they passed through seemed to be a new place of the house she was discovering.

The last time she had been through these halls, she was running so fast that she wasn't even able to fully take in what anything looked like, or how the house was structured and set up.

She didn't want to remember what had happened a few weeks ago when she was running through these hallways, desperately trying to escape from Felix's clutches. The door she found at the end of the hallway held a dead man inside, with rotting skin and a carving in his forehead that read 'Traitor' and that gave Wendy the chills just thinking back to it. What if he was still in there?

Wendy also thought back to when Felix had drugged that poor girl, Juli Santoni, and murdered her, only using her as his real life sculpture. That memory almost caused bile to rise in her throat, and she was disgusted to say that she was conversing with the man who was responsible for it. The man who held her captive for two whole years. The man who took her entire life from her so effortlessly.

Everything about Felix angered Wendy, she wanted nothing more but to see him suffer behind bars for the rest of his putrid life. But she had already come so far with manipulating him, and she had to keep her confidence high enough for everything to work out as planned. If she wanted to escape, than she had to do whatever it took to make Felix believe she truly is who he says she is. Sally.

—

| Three Years Before |

"We shouldn't be doing this, Bruno."

He pulled the petite girl closer to him, ignoring her restraints against him as she tried to pry him off of her. Bruno leaned away from her slightly, but still kept his strong arms wrapped around her securely.