All right! This is a one shot that I've been working on for some time now, and since it's finally ready, I'm going to post it here! I based it off of the French folktale Bluebeard, only in a more modern setting. This is how I always imagined Eddie Gluskin was caught and sent to Mount Massive Asylum before the events of Whistleblower. I hope you guys enjoy this, and let me know what you think! :)

DISCLAIMER: Only my OCs are mine. Everything else belongs to Red Barrels.

Fort Collins, CO-Woodlands Apartments…

"I'm married."

I'll never forget the day my younger twin sister said those two words to me: May 18th, 2012, 12:50:32 PM. Yes, I even remember the number of seconds, because that was the moment all of our lives changed forever. It would be impossible to forget after everything that had transpired after that fateful moment.

All I can remember is freezing in place after dropping my cup of coffee onto my kitchen floor. My inner neat freak would've immediately dropped everything I was doing to clean up the puddle and bits of broken glass, but even that took a backseat to this startling news.

"You…what?" was all I could say, the bomb my sister had just dropped on me not quite registering yet.

To my surprise, she giggled. "I'm married, Spencer," she repeated in a slightly slower voice as she flashed her left hand in my face, "Why do you think I was out in LA for so long?"

I took the time to study the simple wedding ring on her left ring finger, the sudden reality of it hitting me like a ton of bricks. If I'd thought she was playing a joke on me, I could certainly throw that theory out the window now. Her finger was all the proof I needed that she really had gone and eloped with some…some stranger that she hadn't even bothered to introduce any of us to. To say I was deeply hurt by this revelation was the biggest understatement of the century. Growing up, I had always dreamed of celebrating my sister's wedding with her, but now, I felt like I had been robbed.

"But…why, Maya?" I spluttered, "What about me? What about Mom and Dad? You know we all would've wanted to be there. I could've been your maid of honor!"

"And risk getting disapproving looks from the rest of our family?" Maya replied, "Spencer, you know they don't like anything that I do." Her smile faded from her face, and I knew better than anyone how that felt. But that didn't mean Mom and Dad wouldn't have come around eventually, and she knew it, too.

"I know, but you should've told us anyway. I mean, we didn't even get to meet the guy first! Is he nice? Is he trustworthy? Who is he?"

Just when I thought my sister couldn't throw anymore curveballs at me, here came another one as she grinned again, skipped over to the front door of my apartment, and pulled it open. "Darling," she called out into the hallway, "You can come in now. My sister wants to meet you."

"Wait, you brought him here?" I gasped.

"Of course, silly!" Maya laughed, "I was always planning on having you two meet, but I needed you to know about us first."

I'm going to kill her, I couldn't help but think to myself as I watched her come back inside, now followed by a man who looked all too familiar. He was much taller than we were, probably six foot six. He clearly lifted weights, for his arms were very muscular, and if I had to guess, he looked like he was in his early to mid-forties, way too old for 27-year-old Maya. His jet black hair and bright blue eyes contrasted with his pale skin, and there was something else about him that left me unsettled, though at the time, I couldn't pinpoint what it was.

"Eddie, this is my twin sister, Spencer Whitaker," Maya said, "And Spence, this is my husband, and your new brother-in-law-"

"Eddie Gluskin," I cut in as I reached out to shake his hand, "I've seen you before. You own Gluskin's Bridal in Old Town."

I didn't bother to mention the fact that many people, for whatever reason, seemed to avoid that dress shop like the plague. Whether it was the outrageous prices for the dresses or Gluskin himself, I didn't know.

"Quite observant for a woman," Eddie said, his voice deep and almost teasing as he allowed himself to smile, "I guess you really are as bright as Maya says you are."

What? I thought as I replayed his words in my head, thrown off by how insulting they sounded under that light tone of voice. "Uhh, thanks, I guess," I said, not really sure how to reply to that at first, "I didn't realize women were well known for obliviousness."

"Of course they are! Even Maya took a little longer to realize just how absolutely in love I was with her! The girl wouldn't recognize she was about to walk into a telephone pole even if I placed it right in front of her!"

To my surprise and horror, my sister began to laugh, and not out of embarrassment or nervousness, either. It was a genuine, hearty laugh, as if she really thought that what her…ugh, what her husband had just said about her was really and truly hilarious.

"Isn't he the funniest man you've ever met, Spence?" she asked as she wrapped her arm around Eddie and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Not really," I said, glaring at Eddie, "I'm not a fan of insult humor, especially when it comes to my family."

It wasn't hard to miss; Eddie's smile fell as his eyes hardened, his lips tightly pursed in a frown as he glared at me in return. "Spencer…" Maya hissed as well, now looking embarrassed. She turned to Eddie, rubbing her hand against his arm in a soothing manner.

"Don't mind her, darling," she said, "She still hasn't gotten over the news that we're married."

How could my sister be so blind? How could she possibly think that this man was a good match for her? No, she had never been the most responsible person-eloping without telling the rest of us was testament to that-but she could do so much better than the man that she was now sharing a passionate kiss with.

I didn't have to know Eddie Gluskin for very long to know that I did not like him at all.

In the next week, Eddie must've realized that after the debacle of meeting me, he would have to somehow convince my very traditional parents that in spite of getting married to Maya in secret, he was a good husband for her and would do everything he could to provide for her.

And convince them he did, in the guise of throwing lavish dinner parties every night at his estate on Hinkley Drive, which was about half an hour away from my apartment. It was during these parties that he and Maya told the rest of us how they had met; how they'd run into each other at the supermarket where Maya works, and how it had been love at first sight for both of them. He even invited my whole family to stay there for the entire week, proudly showing off his 11 acre property, complete with a mountain view, barns that hadn't been used in ages, and a toolshed that was almost as big as a miniature house. Funny. I hadn't imagined that he would be able to afford a piece of property like this just from owning a tiny bridal shop.

"This land belonged to my father," he explained to all of us as he gave us a tour around the premises three days into our stay, "I inherited it from him after he died, and I just couldn't bear to part with it."

"That's so sweet," Maya replied with a wide smile, "The nice, wide open space would be perfect for our children to run around and play."

"Oh, you minx," Eddie teased, wrapping his arms around her waist and tickling her as she laughed.

Further behind them, even our parents couldn't help but look around with wide eyes, almost as if they couldn't believe their daughter had managed to marry such a wealthy man. "This was certainly unexpected," I overheard Mom whispering to Dad as I slowed down to listen to their conversation, "Who knew he owned so much land?"

"And he certainly seems very gentlemanly," Dad added, "I had my doubts at first, but he seems like he really loves her."

It was when I heard my father say that last part that I could no longer remain silent about how I'd been feeling ever since that fateful day in my apartment. "After he conveniently stopped insulting her with a bunch of sexist comments," I said, "The only reason you guys are okay with all this is because he's some big business owner with a lot of money. If he was anybody else, you would've disowned her within seconds. So much for being traditional parents."

"Oh, Spencer," Mom sighed, shaking her head, "Are you feeling a little envious of your sister? Since she got married before you did?"

"Not at all," I insisted, which was the damn truth, "I'm just saying that you two are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites right now."

And they were. Both of them looked at me as if I had two heads after I said that, but I didn't give a shit. Eddie might've spellbound them all with his gentlemanly ways, fancy dinners, and estate, but not me. His comments about Maya still bothered me, warning bells going off in my mind every time I thought about him and the idea of him being married to my sister.

I didn't care what anybody said; something was off about Eddie Gluskin, and if he could put on a friendly face to hide whatever ugly personality lurked underneath, then so could I.

After all, two can play that game.

Three months passed since those first few weeks we had spent getting to know our newest family member, and the longer he stayed in our lives, the less customers he seemed to receive in his shop. I discovered this when I decided to waltz in there one day after work.

"Slow business day?" I asked after pushing the door open. As soon as he heard me come in, Eddie glanced up from the register, and I saw a frown briefly cross his face before it melted away into a smile.

"It would seem so, Spence," Eddie replied, though I had never given him permission to use my nickname, "Though in this case, I'm not too bothered by it because I'm actually going to be closing the shop for a little while. I'm going to Los Angeles next week to present some of my designs at the Staples Center. Many high caliber designers will be there for a huge bridal event. High caliber means excellent, by the way."

I couldn't help but chuckle. "Thank you, Merriam-Webster," I teased, "But the definition wasn't needed."

There was that frown again, gone just as quickly as it had come. I'd noticed it whenever Maya would say anything that contradicted Eddie as well. One instance I remember the most is when the three of us had met up for lunch one afternoon, and Maya had wanted to order a slice of key lime cheesecake.

"But darling, haven't you been saying lately that you were trying to lose weight? Why would you order a dessert that rich?"

"It's just one slice of cheesecake, Eddie. One isn't going to hurt anybody."

Eddie had frowned as soon as Maya had rebuked his efforts to dissuade her from ordering what she wanted, and although she didn't notice the less than pleased look on his face, I had.

Did he do that just to us, or all women he encountered?

"Yes, well, either way, I'm sure you can appreciate why I need to close up for a while," Eddie continued as if I hadn't said a word.

"What about Maya?" I asked as I leaned against the counter, "As she's always said, 'Fashion is her passion'. I'm sure she'd love to go with you, maybe even show off some designs of her own."

"She's already graciously agreed to look after the house and chores while I'm gone."

"Really? Just like that?"

"Just like that," Eddie echoed with a snap of his fingers, "Now, if you don't mind, I need to get back to work." And with that, he disappeared into the back room, leaving me alone at the counter as I drummed my fingers on the surface. Part of me found it hard to believe that Maya would want to pass up an opportunity like this; ever since we were kids, she'd always talked about going into fashion design. She'd even gotten her Bachelor's degree in it from the Art Institute of Colorado; it was high time she began trying to do something meaningful with it, like she'd always wanted to do.

I just hoped that she hadn't thrown away that part of herself, too.

Soon, the next week arrived; the week that Eddie would be leaving for LA. The night before his scheduled flight, I wound up getting an unexpected call from Maya. Since Eddie was going to be away, she didn't feel comfortable staying on such a big piece of property all by herself, so she asked if I would mind staying with her for that time period. Of course, I immediately agreed to it, as I felt the same way she did.

Besides, it was her house, too, now. They had cosigned the paperwork dictating so. She could invite whoever the hell she wanted.

At the time, I wasn't sure what it was, but pulling up to that large front gate left me with a strange sense of foreboding. Maybe it was because Maya and I were going to be by ourselves, or the fact that I was arriving alone instead of with my parents, but something was suddenly making my stomach turn when it hadn't before.

"Spencer!" Maya called out to me from the house after she had let me in, and I smiled as I did my best to calm down.

"Thanks for coming to stay with me," she said a few minutes later after I'd parked my car and grabbed my bags, "I really appreciate it."

"Maya, of course!" I told her, "You know that when it comes to you, I would do anything." My sister just smiled as she took my toiletries bag off of my shoulder and carried it into the house.

"So, Mrs. Gluskin," I continued in a teasing voice, "Is there anything I can help you with around here? Or any set of rules you have for your guests?"

Maya frowned in thought as we headed upstairs towards one of the guest rooms. "Not really. But Eddie did give me one. Before he left for the airport, he gave me all the keys to all the different places on the property and said I could go anywhere I wanted. Except that big toolshed near the abandoned barn. You know what I'm talking about, right? That one that looks like a miniature house?"

Yes. I remembered exactly which one she meant. So I hadn't been the only one to notice how large it was for a toolshed. "Yeah," I said, "But why can't you go in there? What if you need to get certain tools out of there to fix something?"

Maya shrugged. "No idea. I asked him about it, but he just insisted that I listen to him and not go in there. Come on, I'll help you unpack and then we can make dinner."

And so, we began putting all my clothes in the dresser and my toiletries in the bathroom, talking about everything and nothing at all. But the whole time, my thoughts were elsewhere, on the mysterious toolshed that Maya was not allowed to open. That rule still didn't make any sense to me. Why was she practically forbidden from going there, when she could go anywhere else she liked? Why give her the key to the toolshed at all if she wasn't allowed to open it? Like I said earlier, this was her property now, too. He had no right to dictate where she could or couldn't go.

But I kept quiet about my suspicions for now, wanting to wait until we had gotten settled in for good. Normally, I wasn't afraid to speak my mind, like I already had with Eddie and my parents, but I didn't want to risk getting kicked out on just the first day. I was here to keep my sister company, after all.

So that was what I would do.

Four days went by without incident, and Maya and I both busied ourselves with running errands around the house. Between the two of us, the refrigerator was completely full again, the bathrooms were spotless, and we'd even tidied up the unused barns, just in case Maya and Eddie changed their minds and wanted to start taking care of some horses. How Eddie had expected Maya to do all of this by herself while he was gone was a mystery. I still felt like she should've been with him at the Staples Center and not here, taking care of all the chores, but Maya surprisingly didn't seem too upset about not being invited.

None of this stopped her from constantly wondering about that damn toolshed, though, and I'd had to dissuade her from taking the key and opening it up, even if I was pretty curious about it myself.

On the fourth day, the kitchen faucet, which I had noticed seemed like it was on its way out, finally died for good as we tried to wash our hands before making lunch. "Oh, no!" Maya cried as she watched it begin to leak, "I told Eddie that this faucet was no good, but he wouldn't listen to me!"

Of course he wouldn't, I thought as I sighed and shook my head, How have you not realized by now that he doesn't respect anything you have to say?

"Don't worry, I can take care of this," I assured her in a gentle tone, "We'll just have to go to Home Depot and get a new one."

"But that's probably going to be expensive!" Maya replied, "I can't ask you to spend all that money, Spence!"

"Then we'll split the cost," I told her, "That's all I'll ask of you. I can take care of the rest. You know I've fixed my own kitchen sink several times."

Maya seemed to warm up to that idea, and after a few more minutes, she helped me take the measurements for the sink before we left for the store. It didn't take us long to find the perfect faucet, and our little shopping spree was over as quickly as it had started. When we returned to the house, I set everything down on the kitchen counter and began opening the packaging while Maya ducked underneath the sink to reach for a small toolbox Eddie always kept there. When she opened it, though, she frowned.

"Sorry, Spence," she apologized as she showed me the contents, "But this only has very basic tools in it. No channel-locking pliers, plumber's putty, basin wrench, or flexible supply lines. The only one I see in here is the adjustable wrench."

Then suddenly, as if we were both thinking the same thing, we traded a glance before turning our gazes to the door leading to the rest of the property. A small grin crossed Maya's face, and I could practically see the wheels turning in her head. "Maya, no-"

"It might be our only option," Maya interrupted me, her eyes growing wider every second, "We need to get this faucet replaced, and you can't do that with just these basic tools."

"But Eddie specifically said not to open the toolshed, remember?" I tried to reason with her, but she was having none of it.

"Come on, Spence," she said, "It's not like he has to know about it, right? It'll only take you, what, a couple of hours at most? And we've still got three more days until he's back. I'll go grab the tools, you can fix the faucet, and then I'll put them back and lock it up when you're finished. He'll never know we were in there."

I begrudgingly had to admit that she had a point. If we were going to get this kitchen sink repaired, I supposed we would need to break the rules just this once. I could bet that she was right about the better tools being locked up in the one place we weren't allowed to go, but what Eddie didn't know wouldn't hurt him, would it? And would he rather have a broken rule or a brand new faucet?

If I were him, I would pick the brand new faucet.

And so I nodded in order to let Maya know that she could go to the toolshed while I continued to read the instruction manual on the faucet. It wasn't too difficult, not much different from my own kitchen sink, and I took a deep breath as I knelt down to examine the pipes below. Without the tools, I would not be able to do much, so I had no choice but to wait for her to get back.

Ten minutes later was when I heard it, the sound coming from my sister that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

A bloodcurdling scream.

"Maya?" I cried after jumping at the unexpected sound, "Maya!"

I couldn't just stay here and do nothing while my sister was screaming at the top of her lungs, so loud that it carried over all the way from the toolshed. My heart raced as I quickly grabbed the largest knife I could find and my cell phone, sprinting out of the house and in the direction of the screams. The whole way there, all different kinds of awful scenarios played in my mind: was someone attacking her? Had she fallen and hurt herself? What could've happened to warrant that kind of reaction?

"Maya!" I yelled again after finally spotting the toolshed, along with my sister, who was still screaming. Thankfully, nobody was attacking her, and she didn't look hurt, but she hadn't stepped inside the toolshed, even though the doors were wide open.

"What is it?" I asked as I went to stand next to her, "What's wrong?"

Maya didn't respond, instead quieting down as she hyperventilated instead. Her gaze was merely fixed on something inside the toolshed that was stopping her from going in to get the tools we needed. I eventually followed her line of sight, and I gasped as I took in the gruesome sight in front of us. I felt my whole body begin to shake as my breathing became more shallow, and I had to blink a few times to make sure I wasn't really seeing what was in front of me.

About twenty dead bodies hung all around the toolshed, mutilated and butchered beyond recognition. All of them were women close to our age or younger, some of their eyes still open as they stared into nothing. Dried blood covered the floors, though there wasn't any noticeable smell coming from either that or the bodies. How long had they been in here like this? Did Eddie kill them and then completely sanitize the place after to mask the undeniable smell of blood and rotting flesh? Sure, he was strange, and I didn't like him at all, but he wouldn't do something like this!

Would he?

"We have to go," I said to Maya, tugging her arm before the sudden panic I was feeling could settle in and take over, "We have to call the police!"

Again, Maya ignored me, unable to take her eyes off all the women either strung up by their arms and legs or stuffed into barrels. "Maya!" I yelled at her, making her flinch as she finally began to cry.

"I…I thought I knew him," she whispered, letting the tears fall down her face and not even bothering to wipe them away, "Did he really…really kill all these women? Why would he do something like this?"

I put my arm around her, doing my best to comfort her as she continued to cry, and I felt bad for yelling at her a few seconds ago. At the same time, I raised my phone and snapped a couple of pictures of the toolshed, figuring we needed evidence to show to the police once we got in touch with them. I couldn't even begin to imagine how my sister was feeling right now, discovering this dark side to her husband that she hadn't seen before.

"Come on," I whispered to her, "We have to go. Now."

Maya still couldn't move, rooted in shock, so I had no choice but to pull her along behind me as we backed away from the toolshed. My right hand started shaking as I dialed 9-1-1 on my cell phone, and to my relief, it started ringing. It didn't take long before I finally got through to a dispatcher, his voice loud and clear even though he wasn't on speaker phone.

"9-1-1, what is the nature of your emergency?" he asked, but before I could tell him exactly what our emergency was, I glanced up and gasped at the sight in front of us.

"Eddie!" Maya cried as the two of us locked eyes with Maya's husband, who was simply standing silently in front of us as he fixed us both with a death glare. His carry on bag was draped over his shoulder while he pulled his suitcase with his right hand, but this couldn't be right. It was only day four; he wasn't supposed to fly home until the end of the week!

So why was he back so early?

"Hello?" the dispatcher asked, "Is anyone there?"

I didn't dare look down at my phone, but I was relieved that it wasn't loud enough for Eddie to hear. The dispatcher could probably make out whatever I could say without me making it obvious that I had already called 911, though. It was our only shot, and I needed to take it.

"Eddie," I said calmly, for Maya's sake, "We weren't expecting you this early. What are you doing back here in Fort Collins?" I prayed that he wouldn't catch the slight inflection in my voice, but judging by the way he continued to glare at us with no reaction, it seemed like he hadn't.

"Okay, Fort Collins, got it," the dispatcher announced, fortunately having caught on to my plan, "Do you need police, fire, or ambulance?"

"Imagine it, Spencer," Eddie answered before I could reply to the man on the other end, "You're in the middle of the best event of your life in the Staples Center, getting your designs picked up by some of the best in the industry. Imagine being so happy about getting a much needed breakthrough that you decide to surprise the love of your life by coming home early and sharing the wonderful news with her!"

"Ma'am?" I heard the dispatcher address me after not getting a response from me, "Police, fire, or ambulance?"

"And what do I find instead?" Eddie continued, his voice suddenly taking on a much more menacing tone as he stepped a little closer to us, "The whore and her sister breaking the rules I set for the house! What were you two doing in the toolshed after I specifically asked you not to go in there? As a matter of fact, Spencer, why are you even here?"

"I-I invited her!" Maya cried, tears rolling down her cheeks again, "Eddie, how could you-"

"I came up here to help her," I interrupted, still speaking calmly and coolly and even tightening my grip on Maya's arm to calm her down, "That's not a crime worthy of the police, is it?"

"Got it, police," the dispatcher said, and I heard him quickly typing something on his computer, "If you can, can you give me your address?"

"No, I suppose not," Eddie conceded, suddenly bearing his teeth as he glared at only me this time and pointed a finger in my direction, "But you encouraged her, Spencer! I know you did, because my wife would have never disobeyed me like this! I knew you were a bad influence from the moment I met you, talking back to me like you think you know more than I do! Just like all the others!"

"Don't blame her!" Maya snapped, "It was my idea! All of it! We needed to get some tools out of there-"

"Shut up!" Eddie yelled, interrupting her as he violently slammed his bags down on the ground and pulled a gun out of his jacket, "Just shut the fuck up!"

Maya screamed at the sight of the gun, and I backed up as well as I found myself staring right into the barrel of a Glock 22 pistol. "Maya, run!" I cried, pushing her ahead as we made a run for it, gunshots echoing from behind us as Eddie fired bullet after bullet. Where had that come from? Had he gone inside the house to get it first before confronting us? I didn't know, and I didn't want to find out, either. Even though I still had the knife I had grabbed from the kitchen, I knew it would be no match against a gun.

"Ma'am?" the dispatcher repeated from before, "Ma'am, are you still on the line?"

"555 Hinkley Drive!" I shouted into the phone as I held it up to my ear now, "We found dead bodies in the toolshed, we're trapped with the possible culprit, and he's got a gun! Please, hurry!"

"We need to go the other way!" Maya yelled, "Away from the house and onto the road!"

She was right, of course. We were running completely in the wrong direction, only giving Eddie the chance to trap us even further. His unhinged reaction to the fact that we had broken his rule was proof that he was behind the deaths of all those girls in the toolshed. We could figure out the why and how long later, though.

As we continued to run, I glanced around Eddie's property, realizing that no matter how big it was, it had to loop around itself and eventually take us back near the house, and therefore, the exit. That was why I dragged us to the right, ducking and hiding in one of the barn stalls as I shut the door behind us and crouched in the darkest part of it. As we rested on the hay, I closed my eyes and drew a mental map of the land. If we could avoid Eddie long enough to get out of this stall, we could pass through the trees on the outside of the barn, make our way behind the toolshed, and back to the house. Then we could take my car and flee.

The only sound currently reaching my ears was that of Maya crying uncontrollably as she leaned her head against my shoulder. Seeing her in such pain and distress was upsetting me as well, but I couldn't afford to cry now, so all I did was wrap my around her and pat her shoulder as I comforted her as best as I could. I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around what we had seen in the toolshed earlier, all those women mutilated in various ways. How much pain had they gone through before they died?

That was when footsteps suddenly echoed outside of the barn, and Maya immediately quieted down as we both strained to listen. Based on the volume of the sound, he was making his way inside, and I felt my pulse skyrocket as he began opening the stalls around us, getting closer and closer to ours each minute. It wasn't hard to figure out what he was doing, and I readied my knife, just in case. My hand was shaking as I pointed it away from me, waiting for that inevitable moment, even though I hoped it wouldn't come.

A few minutes later, it did, the stall door flying open as Eddie towered over us, the gun in his hand as he raised it until it was pointed directly at us. That was when I made my move, lunging forward with the knife and stabbing him in his stomach. "AHH!" he screamed as he backed away, clutching himself as he began to bleed profusely. At the same time, I yanked the knife out of the stab wound, nearly throwing up at the blood that now coated my hands. I couldn't believe I had just done that! How had shoving a knife into his body been far easier than I thought it would be? Maya began screaming next to me, glancing from me to her husband in shock as she watched the whole thing unfold in front of her.

"Come on, let's go!" I cried to Maya, and I grabbed her hand again as we darted around Eddie and exited the barn. We looped around the property, dashing through the trees until we spotted the toolshed and the house.

"Get to my car and wait there!" I ordered, "I have to go in and get my keys. Take my phone and update the dispatcher on what's been happening! Go!"

I shoved my cell phone into my sister's hands, and she immediately raised it to her ear as she spoke to the man on the other end, running towards the driveway at the same time. Meanwhile, I sprinted into the house, quickly spotting my purse in the kitchen as I hurried and grabbed the whole thing. There was no time to search through it right then and there.

"Get in!" I shouted, unlocking the car as we both climbed in, not even bothering with our seatbelts as I locked the doors and turned the engine on.

"Yes, we're in the car now!" Maya reported, "We haven't seen him since we fled the barn, but he's bleeding a lot!"

But just as we started pulling out of the driveway, a loud bang, followed by the sound of shattering glass, made us both jump, a sharp, burning sensation traveling through my right arm as I let out a cry of pain.

"Oh my God!" Maya screamed, "He just shot the back window of my sister's car, and the bullet hit her! Her arm is bleeding really badly! Please help us!"

At the same time, I glanced in the rearview mirror, where sure enough, Eddie was slowly limping towards us, holding his gun in the air as he fired another bullet. This time, it passed through the car and managed to crack the windshield, sending glass flying all over us as it landed on the dashboard and in our laps.

"He just cracked our windshield!" Maya yelled, "Oh God, he's going to kill us! Please, hurry!"

Although my heart was racing like no tomorrow, I made myself glance in the rearview mirror again, where Eddie was reloading his gun. How much more could my car take until I was no longer able to drive it? I would never be able to see with the cracked windshield, and I didn't want to risk hurting anyone else during our frantic escape. Plus, I was already hurt; I wasn't going to let Maya get injured or possibly killed as well because of her asshole of a husband.

That was when I made another split second decision: reaching for my transmission and shifting the gear from drive to reverse.

"What are you doing?" Maya asked, but I took my foot off the brake as I hit the gas pedal instead.

"Spencer!" My sister cried frantically, "What are you doing?"

Just as the car started to pick up speed, we felt a bump as Eddie disappeared under it with a scream, which was the point when I stopped and put the car into park. "What happened?" the dispatcher asked, "What was that noise?"

"My sister just ran him over with the car!" Maya explained, "Oh my God, she just backed into him!"

Oh, God. Oh God, oh God, oh God! What did I just do?

"Okay, can you get out of the car to see if he's breathing?"

With shaking hands, I unlocked the doors and opened them, trudging over to where Eddie now lay sprawl-eagled on the ground. I gestured for Maya to hand me my phone back as we went to examine the unconscious man under the car. The blood everywhere made me sick, but I forced myself to ignore it as I watched his chest rise up and down.

"Y-yes," I stammered into the phone, "He's breathing, but unconscious."

"And you backed into him with the car?"

"Yes," I admitted, "He was shooting at us and had already hurt me."

In that moment, we both heard the wailing of sirens, and we picked ourselves up again in time to see swarms of police cars entering the premises, along with a couple of ambulances. Several police dogs jumped out of some of the cars, immediately getting to work sniffing around the property as a few coroner's trucks pulled up to the toolshed. Yellow crime scene tape suddenly went up all over the place, including the barn where I had stabbed Eddie.

Speaking of Eddie, the paramedics loaded him into one of the ambulances in critical condition while my sister and I were taken to the other one. Maya insisted that she wasn't hurt, but the medical personnel still wanted to check her over due to the shattered windshield glass that fell on us.

The longer I witnessed the police activity, the more my adrenaline wore off, and I reached out to hug Maya as I finally burst into tears, releasing all the pent up emotions I had been feeling ever since we opened that toolshed. She collapsed against me as she sobbed harder than she ever had before, and we were both relieved that this nightmare was finally over. We were safe. We were alive.

We were going home.

The next six months were the worst of our lives.

Maya and I thought that escaping from Eddie's house of horrors would be the end of our nightmare, but it turned out that was only the beginning.

As if experiencing it all the first time wasn't bad enough, we'd been forced to relive it over and over again due to relentless questioning by the police and the FBI. As it turned out, those twenty dead women in the toolshed had been missing for quite some time, and more would have wound up dead if it hadn't been for us. That was when my sister and I found ourselves being showered with praise for helping the FBI catch a serial killer whose identity had virtually been unknown up to that point, only being given the codename "Bluebeard". The families of the deceased would finally get closure on what had happened to them, and after the investigation was over, they would receive a proper burial and finally rest in peace.

But neither of us felt like heroes. Not long after, I was arrested and charged with vehicular assault, my car impounded as evidence, though that was eventually dropped once all of the evidence came to light and pointed it towards self-defense. Even so, I couldn't get behind the wheel of a car anymore without remembering the sound Eddie had made when I struck him. Maya still blamed herself for even getting involved with him in the first place, and for the longest time, all I heard from her and my parents were repeated apologies for dismissing everything I had said when she first married Eddie. I didn't have the heart to say I told you so, merely forgiving them since they were hurting just like I was.

Speaking of marriage, Maya had managed to get hers annulled, and she didn't hesitate to take the name Whitaker again. She swore off of relationships and sex, and though she insisted that she would eventually try to find love again, I doubted that she would want to fall in love ever again. Discovering Eddie's dark secret had left scars deeper than any of us could've imagined, and a permanent coldness had taken over.

As for Eddie himself, he had somehow managed to survive his injuries, though he had to stay in intensive care for the longest time before he could be put on trial. Guards stayed with him around the clock, but that didn't make us feel any safer. Even worse were the claims he was making once he was stable and awake; he refused to admit that he had murdered those women and that he had tried to add me and Maya to the collection. When the detectives had shown him the pictures I took on my phone, he still denied that they were dead, which made us believe that he was delusional on top of everything else. How could he not see that he had killed them all? What kind of sick fantasy was he living in?

Naturally, that was what led to his not guilty by reason of insanity plea six months later, which meant that he was not mentally fit to stand trial yet. To say my family, the other victims' families, and I were angry about this was an understatement; we all knew better. Instead of going to court, he was instead ordered to seek help at Mount Massive Asylum in Lake County, an institution that had only reopened back in 2009. Since the justice system was going that route, he'd better get some top notch assistance so that there's no way he can get out of his trial. So that there's no way he can deny any of the murders he committed.

Nevertheless, Maya and I get by. Every day has been a struggle for us to reclaim our lives, but there's no denying that Eddie had killed some part of us that day at his house. We go to therapy every month, but in my case, it doesn't do any good. All I can think about is wishing I had actually killed Eddie with my car: back into him, move forward, and then back into him again until he's nothing but a bloody, unrecognizable pulp in the ground. The only reason he hadn't died was because he hadn't been caught under any of the wheels.

Well, I wish that had happened instead.

And I'm ninety nine percent sure that no amount of time at Mount Massive is going to fix someone like him. The trial we all so desperately want will never happen, because he'll never get out of there.

And if he doesn't get out of there, I hope he suffers in the same way we all had to.

I hope he burns in hell.