Sorry it's taken so long to update this. Sometimes life gets in the way. But here's what I've been working on!
Five nights. Katherine had been at his house for five nights and hadn't been left alone at any point. Even when she was in the bathroom Malakai watched over her. He had spent the last few days verbally beating her down. Calling her ungrateful for his generosity because he could always have just locked her in the basement instead of sharing his bedroom. Despite the fact that she'd chained to the bed before he falls asleep. And he allowed her to bring things from home with her instead of her having nothing and having to use whatever he decided to give her. Which Katherine was happy about when he pointed that out. She had to admit Buddy did a pretty good job with packing things she actually needed. Toothbrush, lotions, different types of clothes, rather than just grabbing a handful of crap from one drawer and calling it a day. He even grabbed a few books and some care products. But that didn't change the fact that she was still a prisoner.
He had been talking to her all week about the following he now had. He had gained a good amount of people since she left. He had a small building at the edge of the woods where he held weekly meetings to take care of business and "sermons" to preach. He apparently did confessions as well, which Katherine wanted no knowledge of what entailed. Malakai kept reminding her about how they were in the past and all the good times they had together. And how once she came around to all of this, it could be like that again. How when he trusted her enough, he'd bring her with him one week and have her "baptized" in his little church, and how they'd be wed and lead his fucked up congregation together. Katherine wanted none of that. No matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't be able to brainwash her like he had done with so many other people. She knew the real him. But eventually, she started playing along with him to an extent, just in the hope of escape.
Finally late one night, Malakai sent her downstairs to fix him something to eat. Alone. He remained in his room saying he was preparing for a meeting. It was the middle of the night, and the house was still locked, but she'd be able to wander around briefly alone. Exploring. Looking for weapons to use or even a way out. She tried her best to contain her excitement as she made her way down the hallway and down the stairs. But she stopped in her tracks when she saw the front door open and Buddy standing in the doorway. His back was facing her. He was leaning against the door frame, judging by the clouds of smoke she saw he was having a cigarette. She felt defeated knowing she wouldn't be able to snoop around if he was there. She halfway debated on just trying to bolt out the door past him before he knew she was there when a noise startled her. It was muffled but sounded a bit like some sort of wailing or whimpering. Katherine turned her attention down the dark downstairs hallway that was just in her view from her place halfway down the staircase. They were the same type of noises she had heard on other nights at the house. She leaned in a little closer, trying to make out what it could be.
"Wouldn't do that if I were you," The accented voice from the bottom of the steps spoke up.
Katherine's head snapped forward and looked at him directly in her eyes.
"Just leave it. You don't want to know what he has down there. And if you stumble upon things he doesn't want you to, God knows what he'll do," He warned as he took another drag. "What are you doing down here anyway?"
"He asked me to come down here and make him something to eat," Katherine replied as she hesitantly continued down the steps.
Buddy chuckled and looked over his shoulder at her. "Be careful. He's testing you."
"How? To see if I'll come back up with a sandwich or a knife?" She asked as she reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Nah. They're all still locked up. Along with anything else you could use to try and kill him. He wants to see how long it'll take you. What you bring up. To see if he has you scared enough yet to be trained."
Katherine crossed her arms over her chest. Of course he was testing her. How could she not have seen it?
"Better get moving. He may look like he's working up there but he's timing you."
Katherine dropped her arms in defeat and walked back to where the kitchen was, looking around for what they had.
"Did you know about this?" She asked Buddy. "Like, were you down here waiting for me?"
"Nope. Just your luck I guess."
Katherine opened the fridge. She didn't exactly feel like making Malakai a nice meal, bit Buddy made her realize it would be in her best interest to do so rather than coming back empty handed. Bringing up a cracker and telling him that he should have been more specific would show him that he hadn't broken her yet, but would make him try harder. And that's not what wanted to happen. She grabbed some lunchmeat and the jar of mayonnaise and then looked around for the bread. Everything in the kitchen was so tidy and clean. Everything had it's place. Just not how she pictured it would be for some reason.
"So how exactly am I supposed to do this without a knife? Use my finger?" Katherine asked as she held up the jar.
"He has packets in the drawer in the fridge."
Katherine rolled her eyes. "Of course he dos."
She put the drawer back into the fridge and found where he had condiment packets. Malakai wouldn't even trust her with a harmless butter knife yet. She was going to have a lot to prove to him.
"How does he expect me to cook for you guys if he won't even let me butter a piece of bread? This is kind of ridiculous."
"He thinks he'll have you trained in no time. But between you and me, we both know how that'll go," He said with a small chuckle as he watched her. "Should be interesting since he plans on getting rid of the current maid this weekend."
Buddy might be Malakai's lacky, but he wasn't stupid. He knew Malakai had no chance of Katherine submitting to him. He might be able to scare her into obeying him, but she wasn't going to willingly be with him again. She wasn't going to make this easy on him.
Thought she was making her food and doing what she was told, that didn't mean she couldn't glance around and see what all was around. She noticed a few drawers with locks on them. Most likely that was where everything sharp was. The window appeared to have a regular lock on it that she could easily open, but probably had an alarm on it. That was also probably part of her test. He'd know right away if she tried to open it. But with Buddy here she wasn't able to check around the living room for anything there, or head to the rooms down the hallway she had yet to see.
"He should probably not fire the maid. I'd hate to be the reason someone lost their job. Especially if I don't want it to begin with."
He chuckled again. "Don't worry about it."
The way he said that sent a shiver down Katherine's spine. She recalled how Buddy worded it earlier. Getting rid of the current maid. She knew what he was hinting to, as much as she wished she didn't.
"Buddy, you know this isn't right. Why are you even here? You got fed him with him and left before I did. Why did you come back?" Katherine pleaded, finally fed up.
"I left to get away from that fucked up town. Tried to make a better life for myself. And along the way I ended up making it worse. They found me half conscious on the Vegas strip. I was wearing the only clothes I had left, and they were a mess. I had spent the night before searching for jackpot winners begging for any spare money they felt like giving away to some junkie trying to get his fix. He and Brody brought me here with them, cleaned me up, and took me back in. I owe him my life Kate."
"And how many did you have to take to prove your worth to him?"
"Already told ya Kate, don't ask questions you don't want the answers to."
"Katherine, what's taking so long?"
Malakai's voice rumbled throughout the house. She froze almost too afraid to breathe. It was worse than the thunder that shook the house the previous day.
"She's with me boss. She was just having some trouble finding a few things. She's fine." Buddy called up.
There was no reply, but judging by Buddy's relaxed posture Katherine took that as a good sign. She guessed he was satisfied with Buddy watching over her.
"You better hurry up, you don't have much time left," He said to her in barely above a whisper.
"Buddy, you're better than this."
He shook his head while he took out another cigarette. "No Kate, I'm not. You deserve better than this. But I'm where I belong."
He turned back towards the front door, looking out as he lit his cigarette. He stepped out, embracing the chill of the night air. Also possibly being nice by not blowing it near Katherine and getting the smell on her. Maybe Malakai didn't like it. He blew out a puff of smoke while looking up at the sky. Katherine watched him, wondering what he could have been looking at. From what she remembered the tree tops were too thick to see anything beyond them. But she had to stop worrying about what Buddy was doing. If she didn't get upstairs with this sandwich soon, Malakai would get angry and wouldn't let her to go down again. At least not alone. As she grabbed the paper plate, she noticed something hanging on the wall. The glasses were all locked away because of the danger they could cause, but the frying pans and pots were still out. Maybe she didn't need to run up and earn his trust for next time. Maybe now was all she needed. Katherine quietly walked over to them and watched Buddy as she wrapped her fingers around the handle of a large frying pan. He was still outside, ignoring the world around him, enjoying the one habit he had yet to break. She took a heavy breath, part of her regretting what she was about to do to an old friend of hers, but she had no choice. As light on her feet as she could, she jogged to the front door, and the an connected with Buddy before he had a chance to even see it coming. Katherine stood still briefly, wanting to check on him, but adrenaline kicked in knowing she didn't have that kind of time. She whispered "sorry" before throwing the pan down onto the ground next to him and taking off into the forest.