Split

Who Are You?

I sat upright on the sofa, I'd been feeling numb since Dennis left, and hoped that maybe they'd just forget all about me. It seemed like I was fretting about everything and anything, and I felt sick.
There was a knock on my door and Patricia called through the wood to let me know that they were going to be choosing more girls that day and I burst into silent tears. She didn't stick around to hear what I had to say about it, so I curled up in a ball and shivered as I cried. I wanted Dennis here to comfort me, but if the plans were going forward, that meant that he was helping too. The though made my stomach turn and I hid my face in the pillows.

Patricia brought me some food later that day and, when I asked about the other girls, she was vague and unenthusiastic. She told me that they'd chosen them now and they'd be brought here in the next few days.

"Will Dennis be getting them?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Of course, you don't expect me to be able to kidnap anyone, do you?"
I dropped my gaze to the floor and she chuckled, "Are you concerned about him with the new girls?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I can tell you are. If it's any consolation, he seems quite taken with you."

"Do you think he would try anything with someone else?" I asked, fear getting the better of me.

"Casey," she perched next to me on the sofa, "I'm not sure you need to worry about Dennis finding someone else. I know him well-he's always been the same... but recently it seems like you're the only thing on his mind. He doesn't really speak much about you to me, but you can see his eyes light up when you're mentioned. I haven't seen that before..."

"Do you think it's wrong? To like him?"

"I know I say bad things about him a lot, and he has done wrong in the past, but haven't we all? I know we don't get along, but I'm not the monster you think I am. Dennis and I may be different, maybe we do things in an unconventional way, but we aren't evil. He knows what he's done is wrong and-"

"What about you?"

"Pardon?"

"I said; what about you?"

"I'm not sure I understand."

"You said that Dennis knows that he's done wrong... but what about you? Don't you understand that you're doing wrong?"
She smiled and went to make a sarcastic comment but I interrupted, "in your honest opinion, not trying to sound smart or overpowering... do you see anything wrong with this?"

She seemed uneasy and her smile faltered, "the beast is going to help us, Casey."

"That's not what I asked."

Her smile dropped even more and she looked me dead in the eyes, "I suppose if this could be done in a way where people didn't have to get hurt then I would choose that way. Is that what you wished to hear?"

"I just wanted to know what you really thought."

She stood again and cleared her throat, "the beast is going to help us. That's all we must focus on. If you'd like to talk, you know where I am... about Dennis or anything, I mean. I can be civil if you offer the same in return."

"Thank you."

She smiled, softer than usual, and nodded once before walking towards the door. She was about to say something when she suddenly doubled over and gripped the doorframe. I stood up quickly, wondering what was going on, when she turned slowly to look at me. I took a step closer and saw an expression on her face that I hadn't seen before, it was one of confusion and fear.
"Are you okay?" I asked, stopping in my tracks.

"What's going on here?" An unfamiliar voice erupted from her lips and I realised that it was no longer Patricia, "Who are you? What's happening?"

"My name is Casey... who are you?"

"I'm Barry. What are you doing down here? I don't ever let anyone down here."

"I'm being kept here," I said, my mouth seemingly on autopilot, "Dennis brought me here... and Patricia is keeping me in this room."

"What? How is this possible? I have control over who stands in the light, I'm the one who leads the group... aren't I?" He looked around uneasily before looking back at me, "are you okay, honey?"

I was struggling not to become hysterical, this could be my only chance to escape, "I'm scared..." tears started to blur my vision and he came closer and put his hands out to show he meant no harm. "Dennis told me about you."

"Well I hope it was all good!"

"Please help me get out of here, my friends are dead."

"Dead?" He looked alarmed, "why? Who killed them? Don't tell me the Horde had something to do with this..."

"The Horde?"

"Yeah, Dennis, Patricia and Hedwig... that's what everyone calls them, they're the ones that are supposed to be banned from the light... Hedwig is a touchy subject... he's easily influenced and that's just too dangerous, and you can't have a fully grown man thinking it's funny to be running up to normal people on the street, ya know what I mean?"

"Hedwig is the one who can give them the light... Dennis said he was the key to this whole plan... they kidnap girls to feed to the beast..."

"Impure young..." he seemed to be disturbed by that, "they can't have been telling the truth... tell me... Casey?" I nodded, "why are you still alive?"

"I guess I'm not Impure..."

He took my hand, "come on, you gotta get out of here. I can call doctor Fletcher and-"

"The beast killed her too."

His head flew round to look at my in shock, the look of pain on his face was almost unbearable, "doctor Fletcher? Dead? Oh god... she's the only one that ever believed in us, what are we going to do now?" He suddenly looked pale and sick, "come on, we gotta go."