Chapter Twenty Eight

Bella

I don't know if I'd got used to the smell in this prison room or if it had faded over time, I had no idea how long it had been since he kicked the slop bucket over except he had been twice since then and seemed more agitated each time. He screamed at us as soon as he came through the door and literally threw a few plastic bottles of water at us but no food and when I begged for something to eat he would take his belt off and beat me again, going on until his arm was too tired to hit me any more and I would huddle in a corner and sob until the pain subsided. Kat said nothing, she hadn't spoke to me since the bucket incident, she just sat with her arms around her knees Elspeth clutched in one hand, her eyes closed tight. I had tried to speak to her, get her to respond but she just ignored my words moving only to take a sip of water or use the now deformed and leaky bucket.

I was scared I was losing all passage of time, there was no way to know if it was day or night or when a week had passed but then I thought I had some way to tell how long I'd been here. I started to bleed, so had I been here a month? I felt elated at knowing that much but then I realized I hadn't been taking my contraceptives since I was snatched so was this a normal bleed which meant I'd been here a month or was this because I hadn't taken the pill?

Knowing I had no way of telling depressed me so much I couldn't help my tears and cried myself to sleep. When I woke up my stomach hurt and I knew it was complaining at the lack of food, having been sick didn't help matters and the water supply was so erratic I dare not drink too much in one go to try filling my belly with that. I had tried chewing the rags but they tasted so foul I had to spot them out. I was forced to use this pile of rags that was slowly diminishing as toilet paper, sanitary wear and to try keeping warm on the cold cement floor.

What was Jazz doing while I was here? Did he sense something was wrong? Was he even now trying to find me? Had Renee's body or Phil's body been found? If not, what if they were never found, then what would happen to me? What if I were never found? Surely that couldn't be possible could it?

Then I looked at Kat, she had been here a long time according to her and Sophie the elder girl I had never seen even longer. Was that why she had become like a zombie? Because she'd been in this hell for so long she could no longer stand it? Oh Jazz please find me before I go crazy, I have to get out of here before I go mad or die of starvation. I wished I was in the Pacific with Jazz and his family, I wished I were in his arms in our bed safe and happy. I wished I were anywhere but here in this dreadful place.

The next time he came down he carried a bag and I just knew it contained food, I could almost smell it. He looked over at Kat who peered at him through her hair then sprang up standing almost to attention,

"Daddy!"

"Kat, are you pleased to see me?"

"Yes Daddy very pleased, I've been a really good girl. I sat down and I kept quiet like a mouse."

"Good, see I brought you food. Good girls get food, naughty girls get nothing."

He threw the bag to her then turned to me,

"And you Ellie? Have you been a good girl for Daddy?"

I dragged my weary starving and painful body to stand up and looked into his face trying to memorize every inch of it so if I ever had the chance I could point him out to the police then realized the chances of ever leaving this place were almost zero.

"Yes I've been good...sir."

I was so hungry I could hardly stand up straight but I was desperate for food and I knew if he saw me waver or thought I was disrespectful I would get nothing and the wait for his next visit might be too long for me to hold out.

"I'm pleased to hear it. I like to be proud of my daughters. I like people to think, there go Alonso's daughters, aren't they polite and well behaved. That's all I ever ask of my children, respect and good manners. Here."

He took a small package from his jacket pocket and threw it to me. It bounced close to my foot and I almost fell on it unwrapping it with shaking fingers to find a few stale half eaten rolls with dried cheese and slimy salad in them but I was so hungry I didn't care. I wolfed them down making my poor shrunken stomach almost heave. I couldn't afford to bring this food back up so I slowly myself with great effort as he watched me.

"Your table manners leave much to be desired Ellie. I don't want to see you gobbling food down like a starving dog again. Is that clear?"

I nodded then swallowed down some stale bread to answer him,

"I won't sir."

"Good. Now this place needs a good clean before I bring you some presents so here."

He opened the door and brought in two buckets of steaming water and two mops along with a huge mound of rags.

"Clean up, I'll be back in an hour and I want this place to shine. Do well my girls or I will be very angry after arranging the surprise for you."

Kat and I worked hard to clean the cellar up using the mops and warm soapy water and then used the remains while it was still luke warm to wash ourselves or at least as well as we could. It was too cold to strip right off and our clothes were so filthy that it wouldn't make any difference to the smell of body odor which mixed with the leaky bucket made the atmosphere so thick it burned your throat to breath. Besides he might come back at any moment and I for one did not intend for him to find me naked!

It seemed a long time before he returned, either that or my sense of time had become warped in here but eventually we heard his footsteps on the stairs. He came and went three times before he finally unlocked the door and appeared looking round with his hands clasped behind his back like a general inspecting the troops.

"Good, you did well but it stinks in here. I'm bringing your mama down to see you later and I want her to be proud of our children so here."

He threw a bundle of mismatched clothes, all different sizes on the floor,

"A change of clothes for my girls, you behave well you might even get new ones eventually but bad girls don't get pretty things do they Kat?"

She looked up from the clothes like a startled rabbit,

"No daddy they don't."

"Well choose something to wear and here."

He brought in two new buckets containing cold water and a small bar of soap.

"Clean yourselves up and Kat, you take the old bucket out first and leave it by the stairs. I bought you a new one see?"

We both nodded looking at the scuffed old tin bucket he was pointing to.

"Right, hurry then, you don't want to keep Mama waiting do you?"

Again we nodded and Kat dragged the leaky old bucket out while he picked up the two plastic buckets and mops he'd bought down for cleaning.

"I don't trust you Ellie, you look spiteful. Be sure you don't upset your mama. Now get washed and changed."

As he said this he threw the remains of the now cold water over me and went out laughing.