2 hours later (yeah I start my chapters with a time skip, what are you going to do about it?)

Rita slowly perused the aisles of the hardware store she had stopped at, it was some no name mom and pop store near the edge of town with overpriced items and near nothing when it came to selection. It didn't matter, the place had what she needed, zip ties, rope, hammer, rags, and surprisingly the place had a knife, it was a small little survival knife but it'll work.

She brought her odd shopping list to the front counter earning her an odd look from the old man behind it, he must be the owner, he started to slowly scan her items, "did you find everything you were looking for, missy?", Rita was half paying attention, her mind preoccupied with other things, so she just gave him an "mmm hmm" the old man shook his head and continued to bag.

When he was finished he looked at the cash register for a few seconds before turning back to Rita, "that'll be $68.73", fucking over priced bullshit, she rolled her eyes and gave him a $50 and a $20, "keep the change" she said in a nasty tone as she hastily grabbed her bags, she attempted to turn around and leave but the old man stopped her by holding onto one of her bags, "now what is it you plan on doing with this stuff?" Rita frowned at him, "none of your damn business" she said as she pulled the bag away from him and stormed out the front door. The old man sighed, "crazy bitch".

4 hours later

It took a while but she finally made it to Ohio, it wasn't as much distance as she'd like to put between her and her old life but it was a start. She gave a quick glance in the rearview to see her beautiful daughter, she hated to see her all tied up like that but it was for her own good, she had to learn that she needed to accept Rita's love or else something like this will happen, ultimately what happened to her is her own fault, she had a choice and she chose wrong, simple as that.

It was getting late and Rita knew she couldn't be on the road forever, she'd have to find somewhere to sleep for a bit. She thought about a motel maybe, it's quiet sure, and no one would really come looking for them there. She started to pay attention to her surroundings to hopefully catch a glimpse of a motel, but was disappointed to find nothing but farm land, damn hick Ohio, she saw the houses were very distant from one another, so the odds of a motel were slim to none. Then a new opportunity presented itself, she was coming up to a house that caught her attention, it didn't look like it was in great condition, a few of the side panels had rotted off, but most importantly, it looked abandoned.

She slowed down, if this place really was abandoned then it was her golden ticket for tonight, but if it wasn't… then it was a quick way to get caught and ruin any chances of her living a life with her beloved. She looked in the backseat, Lucy was still unconscious, she looked up at the house, she decided it was abandoned, so she pulled the car into the dirt path that leads to the house and slowly started driving towards it.

She pulled up near the front door and got out, there wasn't any other car around and all the lights in the house were off, if there even were lights, this house looked like it's had its fair share already and it is ready to be put out of its misery. She slowly approached the window near the door, empty except for the furniture, which was extremely put together, in fact the inside looked like a completely different house, it made Rita nervous, but she was already here and her fatigue was clouding her judgement. She got to the door and gave it three shaky knocks… a few seconds pass, nothing… a few more… she decided no one was home and breathed out a sigh of relief and turned around to get her stuff from the car.

She heard the door open behind her and her heart stopped, she gulped and turned around to see a man standing in the doorway with a robe on, he was big, definitely more than 200 pounds and he was over 6' tall too. "Can I help you ma'am?" his voice had a country draw to it, he spoke in a confused tone, not knowing why this strange woman was knocking on his door late at night. Rita started to panic, "oh I'm sorry it's just…" she tried to think of any excuse, maybe she's just a unsatisfied housewife who left her husband to start a new more exciting life and now she needs somewhere to stay, that wasn't half bad Rita thought, she could definitely write a book with that concept. The man waved his hand in front of her face, "you okay?", she snapped out of her trance and brought her attention back to the man, "oh well… you see I ran away from my husband, he was just so… boring, and I know he was cheating on me, so I just started driving and well I need somewhere to stay and I saw your house and I was hoping… well maybe I can stay here for the night?".

The man got a grin on his face, "well as it just so happens my wife is visiting her sister with the kids right now" he stepped closer and put his hand on her shoulder, "so I can't see a problem with you staying here for tonight" his breathed nauseated her but she kept her cool, "you are a lifesaver, let me just go her some of my things and-" he put his hand up, "no need ma'am, I'll go get them for you", Rita was nervous again, if he saw Lucy, well she couldn't overpower him and she couldn't have that, "no really it's fine I'll-" the man already started his way down towards her car, "oh I insist, it's what a gentleman should do for a lady".

Rita could tell he was heading right towards the door Lucy was behind, so she made a hasty decision and ran towards the trunk. The man opened the door to see a little girl, tied up, gagged and a bloody bandage on her head, "WHAT THE HEL-" he didn't even real from the shock of what he saw before a hammer slammed over his head and sent him to the ground, he heard ringing in his ear and the vision on his right side was fuzzy. Rita took a second to realize what she just did as she watched the man twitch and flail on the ground, she looked at the hammer, it was dripping with blood and what she only could imagine was his brain. She snapped out of it and brought her attention back to the man, she proceeded to get overtop of him and bring the hammer into his skull several more times before he stopped moving.

She got up and leaned against the car as she caught her breath, she stared at the man for several minutes taking the time to process what it is she really just did, then panic set in, if she wasn't fucked before she certainly is now, she just murdered someone, beat them to death with a hammer, she was going to go to jail for this, she was never going to see Lucy again. She took a look at Lucy, no she couldn't let that happen, she looked around, no one else saw she could still hide this, so she grabbed the body and started to pull it into the unkempt grass behind the house, but that big bastard was heavy. It took her everything in her power to move him, but she did it and left a nice little blood trail right to him so now she had to deal with that, she decided she wasted enough energy on him and just kicked up the dirt to cover up as much of the blood as she could, next she had to clean her hammer it couldn't exactly be left covered in evidence.

She took one of the rags she bought and started to clean it, she wanted to be close to Lucy while she did it so she took a seat in the car next to her. Once she finished cleaning the weapon she let her head fall back in relief before sitting back up and looking at Lucy, "I will do anything for our love, whatever it takes I will do it" she leaned in to feel the embrace of her lover and to smell her intoxicating smell, only for Lucy to pop up quickly and drive the knife Rita had got into her mother's leg. Rita screamed in shock and pain as Lucy, having already undone her zip ties, tried to escape through the door her mom wasn't blocking. She managed to get it open but was tripped up by her mother grabbing her by the foot, she turned around only to see her mother's eyes, it can never truly be explained what she saw except for pure evil. She kicked her mother in the shoulder causing her to loosen her grasp, Lucy tried to crawl out again but Rita tightened her grip, this time causing Lucy to fall out of the can and bang her head on the bottom of the door. Dazed, confused, and scared she started flailing her free foot until she got a solid kick right into Rita's face, this actually freed Lucy and she struggled to her feet. Rita took a moment to recover from the kick right to the face, she knew she should've taken Lucy's shoes off, she looked up and saw Lucy stumbling away, Rita grabbed the hammer before climbing out of the car and giving chase to her, and although Lucy wasn't running all that fast Rita had a knife in her leg and she couldn't catch up. Lucy was starting to get faster as her daze from banging her head started to wear off and Rita could tell, she realized she only had one option and without thinking threw the hammer at Lucy with all her strength. The hammer crashed into the middle of Lucy's left leg as it made a sickening crunch, Lucy fell to the ground howling in pain as tears flooded her eyes, she knew this was the only chance she'd have of getting away though, she had to keep running, she tried everything in her power to get back up, but her left leg was not moving, she looked down only to see everything from her knee down facing the wrong way, she almost threw up, from the mixture of disgust and pain before she started to hear limping footsteps approach her.

Rita came into Lucy's view, still having that look of pure evil, but this time it was mixed with anger, Lucy tried to crawl away but was quickly spun over and received a blow right to the face. Rita proceeded to grab Lucy by the collar and drag her towards the car, Lucy started kicking punching anything she could do to get away, but she wasn't strong enough, she tried pleading with her mom through tears "please! Don't do this!" which earned her a swift kick from her mother right in the back, "noo! Stop it please mom!" Rita picked up Lucy and threw her into the trunk of her car, Lucy tried to get out but that only earned her a fist across the face, Rita turned Lucy over and used the rope to bound her hands and legs together behind her, preventing any chance of escape.

Rita pulled Lucy out of the trunk, and let her fall to the ground with a thud, Lucy started crying louder, as Rita rested her hands on top of the car before slamming her good leg into Lucy's body while screaming "DAMNIT!", She got down and pulled Lucy's face right up to her's, "why do you make me do this!? Huh?! Why won't you just try to love me?!" she threw Lucy back towards the ground and started to pace around. She paced for a few minutes, before approaching Lucy and getting back in her face, only this time instead of saying anything she slammed her lips against Lucy's, Lucy tried fighting it, but Rita was relentless. After what felt like forever, she finally unlocked her lips from Lucy's and started to pant, after a few seconds she looked down at Lucy causing the young girl to cower, she brought her mouth up to Lucy's ear and whispered, "tonight you are going to repay me for what you did, and you are going to enjoy it, whether you want to or not" with that Rita pulled the knife out of her leg and picked Lucy up, the young girl tried to struggle but to no avail as Rita carried her into the dead man's house.

Lucy wasn't sure what this thing was that replaced her mother, but it was evil.

Much earlier

Lynn Sr paced back and forth as he waited for his wife to return home, Lynn and Lincoln were currently not allowed to leave the couch, "dad, please we weren't lying, it was really mom who wrote it!" Lincoln tried to reason with his dad, "son, I don't know what possessed you to pull a prank like that, but when your mother comes home, you are going to be grounded for life", Lincoln gave up there was no reasoning with him, just then a knock came on the door, "ah see, I bet that's your mother", Lynn leaned in towards Lincoln and whispered, "why would mom knock to get into her own house?".

Lynn Sr opened the door only to come face to face with a officer, "excuse me sir, we have a few questions regarding a vehicle registered under your name", Lynn Sr was a little shocked, "oh um, of course please come in" the officer put one of his hands up, "that won't be necessary sir, it won't take long, now the vehicle…". Lincoln and Lynn were trying to listen in to the conversation, but it wasn't easy, "ugh, I can't hear a thing" Lincoln said, "tell me about it, I wonder what a police officer is doing here?" Lincoln turned to Lynn ,"you don't think it has to do with mom and Lucy do you?" Lynn got a little more pale when she realized what Lincoln meant. "...and you know the adult woman pictured here driving your car?" Lynn Sr looked at the photo, "yeah, that's my wife, what's this all about?" The officer spoke again, "sir this woman has been reported to have committed suspicious activity, including buying a strange assortment of items, and multiple reports of people saying they saw a tied up little girl in the backseat and I'm just trying to get to the bottom of it, now if you have anything that can help us it would be greatly appreciated" Lynn Sr tried to wrap his head around what the officer said, that and everything his kids showed him, is it really possible the woman he loved his entire is attracted to one of their children? The officer waited a moment in silence, "well I can tell you are busy right now, but if you do ever think of information we can use just call us, I'm sure you know our number" he started to walk away but Lincoln ran past his dad to catch him, "wait sir! How far do these reports go?" The officer turned around, "well we've gotten them all the way down to the Ohio border" Lincoln looked confused, "Ohio? Oh, uh okay thanks", and the officer finally left.

Lincoln went back to his dad who was just standing there flabbergasted, "dad? Are you okay?" Lynn Sr was barely able to say, "I don't know" but Lynn Jr was having none of it, she grabbed her dad by the collar, "now you listen here, Lucy is in trouble dad, and we are the only people that can stop mom, now you can drive us to her, you heard what the officer said it goes all the way down to Ohio, now that's a start but we need to go now!" their dad got out of his shocked state, "n-no NO we will call the police and they will handle this, we are not going out there to chase down your mother!" Lynn Jr once again pulled him down by the collar to her level, "DAMNIT DAD THE POLICE WILL TAKE TOO LONG, MOM OBVIOUSLY KIDNAPPED LUCY WE HAVE TO GO SAVE!" Lynn Sr didn't know what to say, "but… but what about your mother?" Lincoln spoke up, "maybe we can convince her not to do what she's doing, I mean dad you've been married to her for years, you had 11 kids together, she has to listen to you!" Lynn Sr realized his kids were right, "alright, let's go" Lynn and Lincoln both got a smile, "yes! There we go dad!" They all started rushing outside only to realize Rita had the van, "oh yeah… well we'll call up Lori and borrow her car" Lincoln also added, "and she can watch the house since we forgot to figure out that part", "yeah true… we should've thought this through a bit more". Eventually Lori showed up and Lincoln, Lynn, and Lynn Sr all headed off to save Lucy.

(Author's notes)

That ending was HORRIBLE, I mean I'm almost embarrassed to release this (almost) I just got so tired of writing this chapter, like it was super fun to write at first then that second half came in and I just went snore mi mi mi. But it's done and it still does a decent job of setting up the next AND FINAL chapter which at my pace will release in at least 4 years so that's cool. No proofreading, that is for nerds and I'm no nerd. Anyways all criticism is welcome always, peace