House of Dolls

The Panic Room

A location where no one could hear their screams. A hidden room for his little secrets. A panic room is typically constructed to house a person in the event of an intrusion; a secure location where they can hide if they are in danger. In his case, the room would not house Nathan in the event of a threat because he was the threat. It was a place where he could hide his victims if a situation arose in which he needed to hide them for an extended period of time.

Nathan took advantage of Anna being unconscious for a few hours to cover his tracks. He cleaned out his car, as well as wherever Anna had been in his house, wanting to leave no trace of her presence. Nathan knew that if Anna was reported missing, police would show up at his house, so everything had to be cleaned up. He then had to relocate his collections to their temporary hiding places.

During the construction of his house, Nathan had two secret rooms designed. In addition to the library on the second floor, he had a secure room in his basement. Both secret locations were concealed by a bookcase that swung out from the wall in front of a secure door that led into the room. He explained to the builders that he was a paranoid person who required multiple panic rooms to alleviate suspicion.

The basement room was soundproofed and carpeted, but it was sparsely furnished. There were four cots with pillows and blankets on top, portable toilets for waste, and a shelf with a week's worth of canned food and water. The water sat there, spiked with Valium, as he planned to temporarily incapacitate all of the girls. He wanted to make sure they had little fight in them or wouldn't try to flee if the cops decided to search his house. He intended to move his entire collection into their temporary living quarters for a week until he was certain he was safe.

The other secure room was soundproofed and was hidden on the second floor of his library. From the outside, it appeared to be a standard library, but it was set up similarly to the basement's panic room. Nathan also made sure Anna had more than the others in her room, such as a more comfortable bed than a cot, more food than canned food, but the same Valium-laced water. She was his most important doll, and he wanted her to be as comfortable as possible.

While Anna slept, he hurriedly moved each girl in the basement to the secret room. He made sure to move them one at a time to limit their chances of escaping, binding their wrists in front of them as he led them to their temporary holding area for the next week. While being escorted in, none of them attempted to fight back or defy him. Once the girls were settled, he showed them around the room, focusing on the water. He made sure to leave out the part about the water being spiked because he knew they'd refuse to drink if they knew.

After explaining everything, he locked them in and went back to each of their rooms, removing any clothing or items that would indicate someone was staying there for an extended period of time. He unlocked the door and threw their belongings into the room where they would be staying. He then stripped the beds of their bedding, cleaned all of the furniture and bathrooms, vacuumed, and threw the sheets into the basement's second washroom. He then returned to each of the rooms, removing as many restraints as he could.

As Nathan finished his tasks, he opened the service hatch to the panic room door and forced each of them to place their wrists outside so he could cut their zip ties. He then replaced the bookcase in its proper place and returned to the second floor to check on Anna. She'd been sleeping all night, and the morning was getting closer, so Nathan was worried she'd be wide awake soon. When Nathan walked into the room, Anna rolled over and stared at him as he moved toward the bed next to her.

Anna sat up, groggy from the drugs, and asked Nathan, "What happened?" "Where am I, Nathan?" she asked, sitting up with a puzzled expression on her face. She had no idea what had happened that had led her up to the bed she was in.