I lay there in the bathroom , William left without saying anything and for the first time I'm glad that he is not in the house. I can't move , he didn't bothered to untie me. I want to try and run away but I'm exhausted . I just want to sleep and so I do.

I wake up when William is in the process of untying me . I pretend to be asleep, he isn't gentle but it still gives me hope that he might not hurt me again. That he only did it because he was angry.

I scream when he kicks my stomach , I feel stupid and naive for having hope , for even thinking about it.

" Go and make dinner " he says and I get up ignoring the pain in my stomach. When I go downstairs , I see that Susan's room is open so I peep inside but she isn't there , the bedside table is empty , the bed is properly made , her suitcase that used to take the space on the table is now gone. She ran away. She wasn't my favourite person but I still feel sad with the absence of her. Now it's only me and William and the fear starts creeping up my spine.

I quickly start making dinner , when I'm done I start setting up the table when I see William already siting there. I serve him and then serve myself but when I sit on the chair he tells me to get up .

" Who said you can have dinner ?" He asks me

I don't utter a word , I stand there with my head down, tears threatening to fall down my cheeks.

" You're going to sleep in the basement . Go and clean everything up and you're not allowed to eat anything without asking me " he says

I nod and do as he asked . I think of running away , the door is in front of me but where can I possibly go , I don't have anyone. If it gets bad I'll run away.

I go in the basement and the stale smell hits me immediately. The basement is the dirtiest and filthiest part of out house. We wanted to clean this for a while but it always went on and on until no one bothered to go down here. I see rats and shiver. There's so much dust , so much dirt , it makes me feel filthy.

I go to the kitchen bring a cloth and broom and start cleaning. It takes me a while and when I'm done it's almost 4 am .There are no blankets so I so sleep on the cold floor. I never imagined my life would turn like this. In just a day my life changed drastically. No one ever treated me like William did.

I still think it's a nightmare , it's so hard to believe that someone who loved me so much would treat me like this. My mom and dad never treated me like this. My mother died due to cancer when I was 13 and then dad took care of me. The way he treated my mom taught me so much. I always wanted a husband who would be like my dad. Dad was never happy with William. He always thought that something was off about him. It took me a long time to convince him otherwise but he still never believed in him.

When he passed away three years ago , it took me so long to recover but William helped me through it. He was always there for me . He believed in me no matter what and yet now he choose to believe his mother. I don't blame him for believing her but what he did to me is unforgivable.

I remove him from my thoughts and think about Posie as I close my eyes and drift to sleep.

...

When I wake up it's 5:14 am. My head throbs in pain so I get up to go take some painkillers. My whole body hurts when I get up. I almost forget what happened but the basement reminds me. I quickly go downstairs and take the painkillers.

I am so hungry that my stomach starts making noises so I quietly go in the kitchen , open the fridge and chug the whole bottle of orange juice. I stuff some food in my mouth as well and start chewing quickly. I fear that William might find me , god knows what he is going to do next. I think about taking some food to hide in the basement .

I hear his footsteps so I quickly hurry up and start taking out eggs from the fridge. He stops and watches me " what were you doing ?" He asks

" I was going to prepare an omelette for you " I say. I want to wipe my mouth incase there's crumbs or juice on my lips but I know it will piss him off.

He comes towards me and raises his hand making me flinch but he doesn't hit me , instead his thumb traces my lips and that's when I see the bread crumbs on it. My heart stops. I wait for him to do something but he doesn't.

" I..I was hungry" I say

" Did I allow you to eat anything?" He asks calmly. He licks his thumb and it makes me cringe. I quickly wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and shake my head.

" Use words "

" No you didn't " I say . My hands starts shaking a bit so I entwine both my hands to stop them from shaking.

" Then why did you have it ? Don't you remember what I said yesterday? Did I allow you to eat then why would you go against me ?"

" I am sorry William , I won't do it again "

" You will call me sir" he says , he takes my hand and starts walking towards the basement. He pushes me inside and closes the door behind him. When I see him removing his belt , I start moving backwards towards the bathroom. He doesn't say anything but as soon as he steps forward , I sprint towards the bathroom and quickly lock it. I start crying when he starts banging on the door.

" Open the fucking door before I break it " he screams and I cry harder. He keeps banging on the door for a while and then suddenly stops . I press my ears to the door and hear his footsteps going away. I let out a breath of relief at that but suddenly I realise that he hasn't left me alone but he is going to bring the keys. I unlock the door and peep to see if he is out . When I don't see him, I quietly step out and tip toe towards the main entrance.

I know he will whip me if he finds me and he might do something worse the next time and eventually kill me so I make my mind . I am running away.

I don't see him anywhere so I assume that he might be upstairs finding the key. I sprint towards the main door and open it but it doesn't. I try again and that's when I notice some kind of ipad stuck on the wall. I try opening the lock through it but it shows incorrect again and again. I try Posies birthday , mine , susans and then it locks . The alarms starts blaring loudly throughout the house.

Shit

I quickly go towards the window but they are nailed shut with woods. I start running towards every window but they are all shut. When I hear William come down , I hide behind the sofa . He goes towards the ipad and closes the alarm .

" Come out Amelia " he says , when I don't he continues " If I find you , you'll be in deeper trouble . Don't make me hurt you Amelia and come out " he starts counting from 5 and when he says 1 , I quickly come out of my hiding spot.

He strides towards me , grips my hair tightly and drags me in the basement. I scream and thrash but his holds only tightens. It hurts so much. " I'm sorry , William please ! I won't do it again! Please! Please don't hurt me , I'm tired , please stop!"

He doesn't stop instead he starts walking faster. My scalp burns and I feel as if my hair would break out of my scalp at any moment. He pushes me on the floor , I quickly stand up and go towards him " you told me you would never hurt me ! You promised . Please believe me ! I didn't kill Posie , I didn't leave her alone . Susan is lying , you know she always hated me ! " I scream . His hand moves so fast that I don't see the slap coming. I clench my fists and punch him hard. I keep punching and slapping him . He grabs my throat and slams me on the wall. I scratch at his face , try to pierce my nails in his eyes but he tightens his grip so hard that it gets difficult to even keep my eyes open. I try to scream but nothing comes out. I look at his face and a stranger stares back at me. His eyes red , lips turned in a snarl. He looks like a monster . He is a monster. My eyes water , I don't fight it now . I want him to end this . I close my eyes and his hands leave my throat.

My legs give out and I collapse on the floor . I start coughing and crying. I cry because he didn't kill me . I cry because I am stuck with this monster till the day I die. When I recover , I don't look at him , I hear something and that's when the first scream leaves my mouth. My eyes are so blurred with tears that I only see his figure and a cane in his hand.

" Whores like you deserves this . You are a whore ! A fucking murderer ! " He says and brings the cane down again hitting my back, I scream again . " I'm not a whore " I whisper .

" What did you say?" He asks and I scream " you are a fucking monster!"

He keeps hitting and my screams keeps getting louder. He doesn't stop even when the gown tears , even when there's blood on my body , even when my screams die down and he doesn't stop even when I go unconscious.