Paige POV
There's something different about this one. I haven't even actually met her yet, but I can already tell. She's sitting in the corner of the room, but she's facing the door, as if she knows that I'm standing outside. I open the door, and she doesn't move, she makes no attempt to escape, and she doesn't speak. Usually, they start pleading as soon as I come in. I set the tray down, and take a seat on the floor near her. She makes no movement to eat, or even grab the plate.
There's a little bit of light coming in from the door, and I get my first good look at her. She looks to be about my age, and she has long brown hair, and pale skin. She's has a defiant look on her face, like she wants to say something to me, but decides against it.
"You're gonna want to eat that. They don't let me feed you for too long usually. You may not be starving right now, but in about a week or so, you're going to wish you had eaten. The ones that don't always do. If you want any chance of surviving a little longer, eat whenever I come in with food. I wouldn't trust the others. They choose to do this, and they quite enjoy watching girls slowly die from whatever means they feel like. Don't provoke them, or the torture will be longer and more painful. You'll really want to stay away from Lynden. He's the one that generally gets angry the fastest. But Nick is the worst when he gets angry. Believe me, I know from experience."
Why did I add that onto there? I'm not supposed to get attached. I should've learned that by now. But this girl is different. She has a spark in her eyes, something the others never have had. She's calculating, I can just tell.
Finally she reaches for the plate, and then looks toward me. "Why are you telling me all this? Aren't you one of them?"
"I tell all the girls this. Most of them don't pay attention. And I'm not a member of this by choice. I've never had a choice in any of this really. Eat up. Someone will probably come for you soon. Don't tell them anything I say, it won't do either of us any favors, believe me."
I don't give her a chance to say anything else, before I exit and close the door behind me, being sure to lock it as I go, in case she decides to be stupid on her first night and try to take advantage of the girl that's trying to help her.
I've tried to help all the girls I've come into contact with, but they've all died. None of them have had the spark that I think this one has though, and I'm smiling whenever I come around the corner. Lynden is standing there talking to my father.
"C'mon Nick! Just let me have my fun with her! I'll let you and Wilden do the rest. I just want her to keep me company tonight, if she's awake." The way he says "company" makes my skin crawl.
It's obvious what he means, and I hope that my father draws the line. Luckily for me, he does, and Lynden stomps off in the opposite direct, up the stairs and into his room. My father turns towards me, and smiles, beckoning me over to him. Once I'm within reach, he pulls me into a hug, one that is unwanted on my end, but I still return it, I'm too scared not to.
"This one's going to be fun Paigey. She has so much spark in her. It'll be fun watching her break."
His comments worry me. He's noticed her spark too. That's not good at all. That means I'll have to try to gain her trust faster if I want her to get out alive. Usually they play with each captive for three to five weeks before they decide to go for another one. Sometimes there's more than one, and the old one is killed so the new one can have everyone's full attention. But they try to break the ones full of life in about three weeks, and then they are done with them. They really just try to break her as fast as possible, and they've gotten really good at it.
He pulls away from me, and I just smile at him, a smile I hope is reassuring that I am looking forward to it like he is.
"She wasn't super easy to get. I mean she was alone, obviously, but she put up quite a fight whenever Wilden grabbed her. It was so refreshing, watching her struggle instead of just going limp like all the others do. She also wasn't interested when we tried to lure her out to either Lynden or Wilden's place. We actually had to wait for her to go out to her own car. She's really brought back my excitement for this. I was worried I was losing my zest ya know? But this girl, she's somethin' special. You fed her right?"
"Of course. I waited until she woke up. I wouldn't want her to spill anything. She didn't even make a run for it whenever I opened the door." I throw in the last part because he's usually a little easier on them at first if they don't try to escape right away. He always says something about how that means they are aware of who is in power. It makes him happy.
"Good girl. I think I'll start on her tomorrow. Just the thought of the fight has me ready to go, but I want her to be well rested and alert for what I'm going to do. Do you plan on staying up all night?"
"Yeah. I usually do, but now I'm even more interested about her. You three sleep. I'll make sure nothing happens to her." He kisses my forehead, and makes his way upstairs. I can hear Wilden in his room, watching something loudly. Lynden is playing music, and I think I know what else he's doing, but I prefer not to think about it. Dad's door slams shut, and I instantly relax.
I go back to the girl, and I see she's done with her food, but doesn't seem to have moved. I open the door, and turn the light on in the room. She's even more beautiful than I first thought, a big reason they chose her. I grab her plate and take it out of her room, and set it in the kitchen, which is attached.
"You're smarter than the others ya know? You've already proven that. That could be a blessing or a curse; it depends on how you play it." I say
"Is this a game to you?" She hisses
I shake my head. "This is my life. For me, this couldn't be farther from a game. But some of the others found it easier if they thought of it that way. I'm Paige by the way. What your name?"
She seems like she isn't going to tell me, and I wouldn't have been surprised. Many of them don't. "Spencer. Spencer Hastings." She answers after a moment.
"Well Spencer Hastings, it's nice to meet you. I'm the girl that is going to try to get you out of here in a week, week and a half at the most. If you do what I say, I think I can get you out of here."
"What are my other options?" I don't know if it is meant as a question, or a sarcastic remark, but I answer her anyways.
"They'll probably kill you in some sort of really awful way in about three weeks. They'll torture you first. Beatings, the works I guess. Then when they see you break, you will no longer be fun, and then they'll kill you and dispose of your body in a place where no one will ever find you."
"Then I guess I'll take you up on your offer."
We stayed up most of the night, just talking. I explained to her what would most likely happen, and I asked her about herself. Sometimes it helps me come up with a plan, but mostly it helps the girls calm down, and I'm really interested in what her life is like.
Spencer tells me about her mom and sister, and her friends. She tells me about how she and her friends are being stalked by someone named A, and how she thought at first maybe we were in on it. It's then that I realize that her life is just as fucked up as mine. But she has friends and an actual family to turn to. I have no one. Father would kill me if he found out I've been trying to get his captives out alive.
She asks about me, but luckily it is just about the time whenever the boys will be coming down, demanding breakfast, so I have an excuse to escape, but not before I tell her to stay strong, and end up giving her a kiss on the cheek. I them turn and basically run out like I'm the one escaping, my cheeks burning. I lock the door, and refuse to look at her.
The rest of my day is spent forming a plan and sleeping, and attempting to drown out the sounds from whatever it is they are doing to her. I never hear her scream, which makes me happy, yet scared at the same time.
Then night comes, and I'm permitted to feed Spencer. I also decide, after one look at her that I'm also going to clean her up. They never seem to mind whenever I do, and I can see blood all over her as soon as I look into her currently dark room. While I wait for her mac and cheese water to boil, I grab a washcloth and wet it, then slowly enter the room, making sure she can hear me.
"Spencer, its Paige. I'm going to clean you up a little okay? I'm not gonna try to hurt you, but you let me know if you want me to stop okay?" I whisper as I gently wipe her face first.
She looks up and nods. We make eye contact as I wash her as best I can right now, and don't break it until the timer I set for the water to boil goes off, and I go to put the macaroni in. I come back, and she seems to have positioned herself closer to the door, meaning she could see me while I was "cooking". I hand her the bowl and a fork, then sit beside her just like last night.
"I think I know how to get you out. And it might even be less than a week and a half. I think I can pull it off on Monday. They should go to the bar, and then I think you might be able to walk right out the door. They'll take the car, so I won't be able to give you that, but I'll let you out at night, and you'll have at least a decent head start by the time they realize you're gone in the morning. I'll stall them around here for as long as possible, and if I can get ahold of one of their phones, I'll call the police so they know about where you are."
"You're not coming with me?" She asks
"No, I can't. They'll never let me." I respond
"Well you just said they were going to be out. So couldn't you just come with me? You said you don't want to be here. We could..."
I cut her off before she can continue. "I can't come with you. You don't understand. They'll be pissed at me for letting you escape, and yeah, I'll probably be punished, but they won't go after you. They won't think you'll be able to lead the police back to them. We'll move, and you can sleep knowing you scared us away from your neck of the woods. If I come with you, people will die. They'll kill whoever is in their way to get me back. My father has already proven that he has no problem killing to get me back." The last part wasn't really meant to be heard, but I know she heard it anyways. I see my mother, the way she looked the last time a saw her alive and then how she looked after my father was done with her.
Spencer scoots closer to me, and I feel her arms wrap around me. "Tell me about yourself. I spent all of last night talking. You spent all day coming up with an escape plan for me, and figure out exactly which day would be most conducive to me getting out, yet I know nothing about you. Why are you doing this? Why don't you think we could protect you?"
I smile sadly at her. "If you really want to know, I guess I'll tell you."
So end of chapter one. Please let me know if you want me to continue. This already has an ending, but it's all the stuff in the middle that I have to come up with, so if you have any ideas, please let me know. It will get darker in later chapters, so be warned.