𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐓

[4]: Hound

The door slammed shut. "You let him go.." Marilyn chuckled in disbelief. Cassie shrunk back, shuffling back into the corner of the basement.

"Yet you didn't leave, why?" He growled, slowly walking towards the cowering girl. He already knew the answer.

"Because I didn't want to end up like him," She mumbled, not looking up at him once. Marilyn walked over to the table, grabbing a cloth and wiping his bloody face.

A small smirk played on his lips. It was the first bit of emotion, besides anger, that she'd seen from him. "You saw what I did to him?" She nodded, "Well, Dear, as I was tearing him apart, I was imagining that it was you. For letting him go,"

Cassie shivered. By this point, he was stood tall, directly in front of her crouched form. "He let me go, I swear,"

She gasped as he grabbed hold of her wrist. Now she was forced to look at him. "Stop lying," Marilyn snapped. "You do as I say, Bitch!"

He pulled her to her feet and began dragging her over to the door. Cassie struggled to keep up with his large footsteps. She stumbled up on the stairs, Marilyn's grip on her wrist not loosening in the slightest.

"Please, Marilyn.." She pleaded, but her attempts to be let go were shut down.

"Shut up!" He snarled, throwing the girl through the door, into the main living space. Cassie hadn't been here before.

He let go of her wrist and raised his hand. But before he brought it down, something appeared in the corner of his eye. Cassie must've saw it too, because her head whipped around.

It was a dog - it didn't look very happy. Marilyn must've left the door open when he returned from shredding the cop apart. He looked to the shiny chain that hung around the dog's neck. On it, was a glossy photo of the deceased police officer, smiling wide.

Cassie's heart dropped. It'd come to find his owner.

The dog growled, before lunging straight towards Cassie and knocking the frail girl off her feet. It's jaw slammed open and closed, it's teeth millimetres away from her face. Cassie screamed, pushing her hands against the dog's chest, but to no use.

It's saliva dribbled off of it's chin, right onto Cassie's face. She was about to again, before the heavy weight of the dog disappeared. She gasped for air, wiping the saliva off her jaw.

Marilyn had thrown it across the room, and was now stood over it, a knife gripped in his blood covered hands. The dog seemed to smell it's owner's blood, as his growls turned into sad whines. Marilyn raised the knife over his head.

"No!" Cassie cried out, springing to her feet and over to the dog, shielding it with her kneeling body. "Please don't!" She raised to her feet, standing on the tips of her toes and extending her arm. She slowly wrapped her fingers around the handle of the knife and slowly pulled the knife from his grasp.

His face was painted with utter confusion as she threw the knife across the room, "Please... it's just a dog,"

Marilyn's lips curled into a snarl, "When it goes home without it's owner, they'll come back,"

"Then let's keep it... Marilyn please," Cassie begged, but Marilyn shook his head.

"You don't get to decide who lives and dies, Cassie. And if you don't shut your mouth, I'll make sure you suffer when I drain every single drop of your blood. And you'll have absolutely no control over that." He barked, pushing Cassie to the floor once more.

She sagged in pain. It was as if the floor had gotten even harder since she last fell. Her screams and pleas were ignored as Marilyn tugged at the dog's collar. Cassie cringed at the sound of the dog's sharp claws scratching against the cold floor as it tried to resist his pull. But Marilyn didn't let go, he threw the dog out and it barked and whimpered.

Marilyn struck the dog over the head again and again. Cassie cried out, dragging her aching body over to the door. She was in pain, but couldn't let him carry on hurting the dog.

"Stop!" She yelled, but Marilyn didn't listen. Cassie tripped multiple times on the way to the door. Eventually she reached it and stumbled outside.

She grabbed his broad shoulders in attempt to peel him away from the bloodied hound. He brought his arm back, sending Cassie tumbling to the forest floor. She resisted the pain and got back up again, throwing her body at his back.

Marilyn stumbled to the side, giving the dog enough time to spring to it's feet and limp deep into the forest. She did it - it got away.

Her smile was soon wiped off of her face as Marilyn's hand came crashing down onto her cheek. The sound echoed all around the forest.

She cried out as he grabbed her by her hair and dragged her inside. "Marilyn, please!"

"Twice you've disobeyed me! Fucking twice! You're so fucking lucky you're not dead yet!" His booming voice could probably be heard throughout the entire woods.

He began pulling her down the basement steps,  ignoring her desperate pleas. "You're going to fucking wish you were dead," He growled, tossing her into the basement by by her hair and slamming the door behind her.

"Marilyn!" She whined, crawling over to the door and slamming her palms against the cold metal. Cassie pounded her fists on the door until her arms and shoulders ached. So when Marilyn didn't return, she slumped back.

Tears streamed down her pale cheeks as she curled up into a ball on the cold, basement floor and cried herself into a deep slumber.

Marilyn didn't return for three days.