Disclaimer: see chapter 1
It was only natural that David Mathias Cullen, named for his father and father's father, would be interested in Amanda Loretta Delgado. He was fifteen and she was fourteen when they met and two months later she was pregnant. It was only natural that they'd be upset and even more natural that he'd make a run for it. It was only natural for his father to follow him to Missouri and drag him back. It was only natural for her catholic parents to demand that she keep the child and marry him. So in 1975 at the tender ages of fifteen and sixteen they were married.
It was only natural for them to move into David's attic with their newborn Belladonna Marie Cullen. It was also only natural for Amanda to drop out as soon as possible; she didn't like school much anyway. So it went like that, she waitressed and he worked for his father after school and weekends.
It was only natural for their little family to grow. After Only one year of marriage their son David Mathias Cullen, named for his father, father's father, and father's father's father was born. He looked like his father and cried like his mother. It was only natural that his sister would be jealous. It took years for that jealousy to leave her.
It was only natural that in 1978, after three years of marriage they'd move into their own place. It was also only natural that their place would be very poor, above a bowling alley facing a brick wall, but it was theirs. It was also only natural that both of their parents would work long hours in the bowling alley to support their home.
It was only natural that their little family would grow again. In late 1980, after the announcement of Amanda's third pregnancy that they would move back into David's parents' house, it was only natural that they couldn't support all of those people in such a tiny space. It was only natural that she would be resentful of everything and everybody. It was only natural that she would get sloppy.
It was only natural for small children to get jealous, they were six and five after all. It was also only natural for them to want attention even if their mother, now bigger than normal and very moody, wouldn't give it to them. It was only natural, therefore, for them to act out. Mommy did nothing but get upset, grammy and grampy didn't seemed to like them very much, and father was always very tired.
It was only natural for Amanda to want to get out of the house on the fateful summer's day in 1981. It was only natural that she would be a bit distracted, having two new babies to take care of after all, so her children played unsupervised in the park.
It was only natural for Elmira Elsie Robeson to want children. All of the one's her husband produced were evil and had to be either fixed or killed. The last one she kidnapped had to have his eyes AND tongue cut out. She walked through the park looking for a good little boy and girl. She found the two little dears playing unsupervised in the park. It was only natural to try and save them.
It was only natural for Belladonna, now known as Donna, to be weary of this strange woman who came offering candy. It was only natural for the six year old to run off and get her mother. And, being six after all, it was only natural to forget her little brother. She was only six years old.
It was only natural for David to want candy; his family often couldn't afford it. It was also natural to go with the woman promising lots of candy and toys, he was five after all. It was only natural that he would follow the pied piper into the gates of hell.
It was only natural for him to want to go home. He hated this new family, these weren't his parents. It was only natural for Eldon and Elmira Robeson to discipline him just as they had the others. After none of it worked they showed him exactly what would happen if he wasn't good. He barely misbehaved for years. The girl they took was a year younger than him and much better.
It was only natural for the two of them to grow up, as children tended to do. David got older, bigger, stronger. He hated the life he was he led and vowed to get back to the faint memory of the people he used to call his family. It was also only natural for him to want the girl, Alice.
It was only natural, normal even, for thirteen year old David to want Alice. He also knew that to the Robeson's it was wrong these feeling were wrong. He kept them to himself, often thinking of her. It was just vague impressions at first, often centering around the feel of him on top of her and the way her chest was now beginning to push against her dress.
It was only natural for David, fourteen and becoming a man, to decide that he wasn't going to take it. He called for help one day and was given the penultimate punishment; his tongue was cut out and he was put in the cellar. It was only natural for this to make him hate the Robeson's even more. It was also only natural for him to make friends; Messenger, Headbanger, and the leader Bites, and enemies; everyone else.
It was natural for Bites to take him as his own, he was over thirty and very weak. He needed somebody strong to protect him from the others that vied for his power; mostly Stairmaster and Witch. He made friends with David, never made love to him as he did to others, and soon taught him all that he knew.
It was only natural for David to learn what making love was, the People Under the Stairs did often for pleasure and dominance. It was also only natural for him to learn that Daddy was going to do that to Alice and she would be sent to the cellar. Girls didn't live very long in the cellar, they died after the first baby usually. He would never let that happen to Alice, from him or anybody else.
It was only natural for him to pull the trigger when he heard Alice's screams. He shot Daddy twice in the back; Bites had taught him all the secrets of the walls. He shot Daddy and scared him so bad he never tried to hurt Alice again. It was only natural for Alice to be happy that he was alive and had saved her from things she wasn't sure of. Therefore she, completely naked, hugged him. It was only natural for him to have a physical, instinctual reacting to this. He held her, thrush into her, and left as quickly as he had come. He spent almost two days in his sticky clothes hating himself. That was why he took the name Roach. He was an insect, vermin. He hated himself almost as much as he hated Mommy and Daddy.
It was only natural for him to be a target for Stairmaster, otherwise known as Andrew Robeson having forgotten his middle name but being pretty sure it began with an A. He knew this new boy was a virgin, he liked that. One day while this new boy was sleeping he crawled next to him and kissed him. He so wanted to jam his tongue down the other boy's throat but both of them were tongueless. It was only natural that Roach would fight and it was only natural that he would lose to the older, stronger boy. Roach cried as he was kissed, touched, thrusted into. His tears dried in the morning with Stairmaster's seed.
It was only natural that Bites would die. He was thirty two, the same age as Roach's father, when he died. Roach was surprised to see that their first names were so close; Daniel and David. David and Goliath. It was only natural that those who wanted the position would fight for it. What wasn't natural, whoever, was that Frederick then called Twig for his lack of girth, won. He only one because Stairmaster's trick, Rateyes tried to help him. Boss was completely blind, completely inept to rule, and for some odd reason completely in love with the eunuch Scribe.
It was only natural that Boss, blind as he was, would be paranoid. He knew that he inherited Roach and he knew that roach was taller and more muscular then him. It was only natural that he would in list the help of his love, Scribe, for advice. It was only natural that Timothy Thomas, now known as Scribe, would advise Boss to make Roach the thing between the walls.
It was only natural that Headbanger would get pregnant, he had seen her be with many people after all. He knew either she or the baby would die but it didn't sadden him. He had seen enough death in his fifteen years not to care anymore. He sometimes thought of her, or Alice, at the strangest of times. He found that whenever Stairmaster or Boss visited him in the room he had made between the walls, it was almost enjoyable when he thought of them. He felt filthy afterwards and was grateful that Alice didn't know. Messenger said that Roach was lucky, having spent his entire life in the cellar he knew how terrible it could have been.
It was only natural that they'd get out eventually. It was only natural that someone like Fool came into their lives and it was only natural that he left after neither he or Alice would leave out of fear. It was only natural that they would think he was gone forever and they'd be killed. It was only natural that Roach would try and hide Alice in the walls. Witch agreed to hide them if roach would do something with him. It was only natural that Alice didn't know what was happening behind her, only having gasps, grunts, and the creaking of bedsprings to go by. Alice assumed that Witch, who was oddly enough a boy, and Roach had been fighting. Roach must have lost, she decided judging by the red marks on his neck and the tears in his eyes, and she was afraid that they couldn't hide there. Witch said that it was fine and the Roach was a very good friend. It was only natural that she would be confused as Witch buttoned his pants and kissed Roach on the forehead. Roach held Alice and cried as Daddy tore through the hose. He was so loud that nobody heard the police at the door.
It was only natural that the police would come after a boy ran to the station, shot, and screaming about the Robeson family. They were going to take him to the hospital and then to lock up until they heard them mention a name every police officer new well, David Mathias Cullen. Amanda and David Sr. had been pestering the police for years. It was only natural that in ten years they would think that he had died and closed the case. It only natural that they would open the case and send officers, especially after the reports of gunshots and yelling.
It was only natural that the Robeson's would get sloppy after all those years. Not only had they forgotten the window that Witch used to get in and out but they had forgotten to lock the door. Witch left out the back door, the pool of water was being drained, and he had run into the police. It was only natural that when asked who we was he would use his given name, Witch, before his outsider name, Maxwell forgotten middle name Howards. He had run away into the walls on accident when he was a little boy and he was thought by the Robeson's to be dead.
It was only natural that, after getting word of two missing people, the police would pull out all the stops. They surrounded the perimeter after Witch told them about Mommy and Daddy. It was only natural for Mommy, the sane one, to come out with her hands up. It was only natural for Daddy, the more unhinged of the two, to come out in full leather, guns blazing. He was shot in the leg and went down.
It was only natural that they would escape and that's where out story begins.
