Chapter 10

What Did I Do Wrong?

It had been two weeks now since AJ joined Bray's family. And so far, things were pretty good.

During her work, she had time to meet some other residents from the compound and already made a couple of friends, most of them were young women, just like her. Also, she managed to get along with Luke and Erick. She never thought she would actually get along with Erick. But the person who she was really close with, had to be Bray.

Even when she was at work, Bray often made her company, allowing her to stop her work for a little while for a chit-chat. It was always very pleasant to talk with the cult leader. Most of the talks were about AJ's feelings; how was she holding up, did she enjoy doing this work, what did she learn about the speeches? Bray was very nice to her, it helped her getting through the day. AJ saw a great man in him, a mentor, a family member who is she was close with. It didn't last long until Bray got a spot in AJ's heart. She had forgotten all about the warnings about cults her mother had given her when she was a child. She was happy here.

It was late in the afternoon and AJ was once again in the kitchen, peeling potatoes for dinner. Life in the compound was good, but there was only one thing that was bothering her.

That room.

On the day she arrived here, Bray clearly told her not to enter the room on the far right of the second floor. At first she didn't care about it, but at one certain moment, she remembered it and it had been bothering her since then.

What was in that room? Was Bray hiding something in there? But what?

These questions resided in AJ's mind, and she knew they would go away if she checked the room. If Bray was hiding nothing in that room, then there was nothing wrong. Everything would be fine and she would move on, leaving the questions behind. But what if Bray did indeed hide something in there? Then her questions would be answered as well. AJ controlled it for quite a time, but finally her intense inquisitiveness got the better of her.

She had to find out about the mystery of the room.

AJ decided to make it quick. Just a peek inside and she would be gone. Nobody would notice, nobody would know. Getting out of the kitchen, she looked around her. She knew that Bray was taking a nap in the living room for a little while, he told her himself when the time for the daily preaching was over. This would be a perfect opportunity. She tiptoed upstairs, hoping the stairs wouldn't creak. Soft creaks emerged, but not loud enough to alert Bray.

AJ reached the second floor and walked to the far right. The mysterious room wasn't far away from her own room, so if something would be in there, she would've heard it by now. What was in that room? AJ faced the door; nothing unusual, it just looked like all the other doors here. Made of wood, painted white. The curious woman looked around, making sure nobody had followed her. It was safe. Holding her breath, she twisted the knob...

Locked.

Damn it!

Bray really didn't want people to see this room. AJ started to think. 'If I were a key to a locked room...' she mumbled to herself. 'Where would I be?'

Bray's room was a good option.

She didn't exactly know where his room was, but she decided to look for it anyway. AJ found it, though; it was on the far left of the second floor, opposing the mysterious room. It was like if Bray had chosen this room on purpose, so that he could keep an eye on the locked door. Bray's room was slightly bigger than her room; an old king bed with smudgy dark red sheets, a waist-high dresser with scratches on it and a mirror. So there wasn't much to search in, but AJ went for it. She looked under the bed and searched through the dresser, but no key. But then, she came up with something. It was so ridiculously simple, but clever at the same time. She lifted a pillow from Bray's bed.

Bingo!

The key was lying there, right under the pillow. It was rusty, but it was still in good shape. Smiling with glee, AJ grabbed the key, put the pillow back in place and left the room.

Looking around her, AJ sighed in relief; even now, there was nobody here. She quickly walked back to the locked room. With her hands slightly shaking and biting her lower lip in excitement, she put the key into the keyhole and twisted it.

The door opened...

There were two things AJ noticed immediately.

The first thing was that the room was much cleaner than all the other rooms in the house, like it was cleaned weekly. The second thing was that it was decorated in a whole different way.

The bed looked really nice. It was a king bed, just like Bray's, but the sheets had a white, pink and blue flower pattern with white fringes on the edges. The wall paper was also printed with the same dowdy flower pattern. Every piece of furniture in this room was painted white.

It looked like this room belonged to an old lady.

So there was nothing special about this room after all.

Just when AJ wanted to shrug and get out to forget all about the excitement, something caught her eye.

A big white closet.

Maybe there was something in there? The chance was big.

It was now or never.

Closing the door behind her, AJ walked towards the closet and opened it. Nothing special. Only a dress.

That dress was the prettiest dress AJ had ever seen! It was light blue with white dots. It looked like it was her size...

AJ had always loved attention from men. And right now, she really enjoyed the attention Bray gave her. He had been so kind to her, like a mentor would treat his student. The smiles he always gave her during the speeches gave her a pleasant warm feeling in her stomach. He noticed her, he was there for her, he would protect her. AJ was convinced Bray would never harm her.

She was pretty sure she would look great in this dress. If Bray would see her wearing this... would he be amazed? Will he see how beautiful she actually is and give her even more attention? AJ decided to give it a shot. She took off her working clothes, took the dress out of the closet and put it on. It was precisely her size. She made a little twirl; with this dress on, she felt like a princess from one of those Disney movies.

AJ rushed down the stairs. She just couldn't wait to see Bray's reaction! She ran through the hallway, opened the door to the living room and got in. She saw that Bray was just waking up from his little nap.

'Hey Bray! What do you think?' she asked, her face beaming in joy.

'Take that damn dress off, right now!'

Those loud words made all of AJ's blood rush right towards her head.

What was this? What's going on? This was not the reaction she wanted! She could feel the happy feeling shatter to pieces, like a window being struck by a brick.

Bray Wyatt got up from his rocking chair in an instant. There was no trace of kindness to find anymore on his face. The blue eyes AJ adored were now flaming with anger.

'Have you gone out of your mind?!' Bray furiously yelled, now standing right in front of her. His unexpected anger made AJ cringe. Icy blue and chocolate brown met once more... but it was now completely different.

'Take it off! Take the dress off!'

AJ was completely in shock. Her legs were paralyzed in fear. Even though she knew what she had to do, she couldn't move. She was just standing there, trembling in fear.

This only angered Bray even more.

He reached out and with full force, he hit AJ in the face with his hand. The impact made the world around AJ look like it was shaking. She fell on the ground, whimpering in pain. Her cheek felt like it was burning and she could feel her heart pounding in her head.

'You fucking bitch!'

It felt like someone was smashing a sledge hammer into AJ's stomach. She let out a pained scream; it felt like her stomach was ripping. Bray was kicking her over and over, blinded by his own rage, deaf for her pained cries.

'I trusted you!' he yelled. 'I told you not to go into that room and you did it anyway!'

Tears of pain and humiliation streamed down AJ's cheeks. There was so much pain... she was sure he kicked her on every part of her body.

'Deceiver! Deceiver!'

She had to run.

Run, before he would kill her!

Driven by pain and adrenaline, AJ managed to stand up and run out of the living room. She almost tripped in the hallway, but got up and ran towards the door as if her life depended on it. Violently opening it, she ran outside.

Blind and deaf, AJ ran away from the house.

Get out of here! Run away from this place as far as possible!

Tears trickled down her face as she hysterically cried. Her heart felt like exploding, it pounded so hard. She had no idea if Bray was following her, but there was one thing for sure; she had to leave this place.

Thick black spots danced in front of her eyes as she ran into the forest. Her body was hurting all over, Bray got her pretty good. All this pain for a damn dress...

AJ was too afraid to look behind her. She just kept running in a straight line. She didn't care where she would end up, as long as she was out of here, far away from Bray and this damn compound. With no clue where she would end up, AJ ran deeper and deeper into the forest.

Suddenly, she heard a metallic sound and a sharp pain traveled through her leg. With a yelp and a loud thud, she fell on the ground.

Sobbing loudly, she managed to look behind her. Her foot was caught in a bear trap. The sharp serrated edges dug deep into her ankle, causing it to bleed and cause unimaginable pain. Screaming in pain, AJ sat up and tried to open the bear trap by pulling it open... but no success.

Falling on her back, AJ looked at the sky and cried deeply.

Why?

What did she do wrong?

What did she do to deserve this?

'Deceiver! Deceiver!'

The words of the infuriated Bray still haunted her mind. She was so scared, that during her beating she was afraid she was going to die. The sweet image of Bray she once had was gone; it was now replaced by the pain and his angry voice. Just then, AJ realized her mistake.

She broke Bray's trust.

He trusted her, and she betrayed him by sneaking into that room and putting on the dress.

But if he trusted her, that would mean...

He cared about her.

Bray did so much for her, he gave her shelter in this compound and took care of her. And she betrayed him all for the sake of attention.

This was her fault. This was all her fault.

All alone in the forest, with bruises emerging over her entire body and her foot stuck in a bear trap, AJ cried in agony.