Hi lovely fantasmic sloths of readitude!

I'm so so so sorry for not updating! I was in Hermosillo, Mexico this past long weekend with Doctors Without Borders doing some pro bono work for an orphanage there and the only wifi I had was in the hotel we were staying at (and it pretty much ran like my grandma would in in a 5K: slow)

But I have some good news! I finished with this story, so I will be uploading the rest of that throughout the week. Also, the Phil-fic sequel to Love is Blind (if you haven't read it yet, do eeeet) is half-way finished and if I don't post the first chapter tonight, most definitely look for it tomorrow!

Thank you guys so much for reviewing and reading, even if I'm enabling some dark weird addictive side of you!


Chapter 7

Board Games

Eden came down again later in the day. I had fallen asleep against my shoulder to Dan's labored breathing. I had formulated a plan for how to get out of here. I hated lying. I hated it even when I was lying to a potential serial killer/kidnapper. But, I was pretty sure that Dan's wounds had gone septic and that he was barely hanging on. I had to get him out of here if I wanted to see my best friend live.

"I brought you some food." She beamed as she stuffed a banana in between my teeth. I slowly chewed on it while I watched Eden go play with one of her "toys" on the table.

I let the banana peel fall to the floor and stared at it a bit. It looked so sad laying there. I knew it was just a banana peel, but still. It was hard to find things amusing nowadays.

I sighed. On top of hating lying, I sucked at it. "Eden?"

She turned around, all wide-eyes and gap teeth. "Yes?"

"Do you perhaps want to play a game?" I shuddered. Her definition of games was not the same as my definition of games.

Her eyes brightened. "Sure! What do you want to play?"

"How about a board game?"

She bit her lip. "I think I have Parcheesi."

I nodded my head really fast. "That's perfect! We can play Parcheesi."

"Okay!" Her ponytail flopped around on her head and she started running up the stairs and stopped half-way. She turned around, her eyes narrowing. "Why do you want to play with me all of a sudden?"

I looked down at my feet. "I guess…boredom? And without Dan, I'm pretty lonely."

She bit her lip again. "Aw! I promise I won't neglect you anymore. Let me go get the game."

I heard her trod around upstairs and I waited for her to come back down. She held the old game board under her arm and set it on the table, while she zip-tied my ankles together and let my hands loose. I rubbed the cuts on my wrists as I sat down on the wood floor, my knee screaming in pain as I changed positions on it.

"You want to be red?" She asked as she set up the board.

"Sure and I was thinking, we could make this a little bit more interesting?"

Her eyes flicked up at me. "Oh?"

"I think, if I win, you should let me sleep tonight out of the ties." I said as I rubbed my hurting knee.

"And if I win?" She asked.

"I sleep in there, with Dan." I pointed to the "toy box."

She looked over her shoulder at the metal door, calculating. It was a pretty good deal, honestly. I wasn't asking for much, just a night out of the ties, it was pretty much a win-win situation for Eden.

"That seems fair." She shrugged and we started playing. I rolled a five right off and got my piece out of the nest. We continued rolling and moving. She had rolled a twelve, double sixes, three times in a row and had captured two of my pieces in the process.

"I'm winning!" She beamed as she moved her first piece into the safe spot.

"That you are." I watched her more than I watched the game. What she didn't know was that it wasn't about winning or losing for me, because either way, I won. Out of the ties, I could maneuver myself to cut the ties around my ankles. In the Toy Box, I was out of sight, ready to make my escape.

She rounded her third piece into the safe spot, whereas I only had one piece there. "I guess you get to sleep with the dead, tonight, Phil." She beamed. "It's okay, better familiarize yourself now, rather than later."

I shuddered at that thought. I was not going to die in this house, not tonight, not ever. Dan either.

She pumped her fists into the air as she rounded her last piece to home. "I win!" She shouted and looked at her watch. "It's 8:30, I think that it's time for bed." The evil gleam caught in her eyes and she smiled wickedly.

She got up and started rolling Dan's unconscious body over to the door. I watched her open it, the smell hitting me again, but this time I was expecting it, so I suppressed the urge to vomit all over myself.

She heaved Dan's body over the edge and it splashed in the filth. I turned my head away as I watched Dan fondle some poor corpse.

"Your turn." She started pushing me from behind towards the hole. My eyes widened as I fell headfirst into slime and blood and body parts. "Goodnight boys!" She laughed loudly as I watched her slammed the door shut.

I pulled Dan's head above the sewage so he could breathe and let my eyes adjust to the light. I started running my hands around the wall of the hole, feeling. If I was correct, from the way the house was built and what era it was built in, there was going to be…

Ha! Found it!

My fingers grabbed a latch and I pulled gently, a hidden door opening up.

"Alright, Dan." I said, hoisting his body over my shoulder. "We're free."