AN/: Well look at that, I updated basically twice in one week! It won't happen again for a while lmao. But I've had a few days before my very last day at my temporary job and figured... y'know... why the hell not? Shoutout to a few friends who actually saw me write last chapter and this chapter live! I might make it a little thing from now on. I might also make a discord for my fanfic/writings but not sure. Would y'all want that? Idk shit on how to make a good and actively running server lmao. But anyways! I thought I'd give this as an birthday gift becaussseee... my birthday is today! January 10th, if you're reading this in the future. Consider it my birthday gift but to you! I hope you enjoy!

April 15th, 1973

10:01pm

Nancy's Basement

Song recommendation: "Unfair" by The Neighbourhood

Welcome To The Family, Ana

Ana

-.-

When I was a young girl, my mama always had Maria and I said our nightly prayers. They were simple - the one you've always heard. The whole thing lay me down to sleep one. Maria and I shared a room when we were kids - me getting the top bunk while she had the bottom one. We'd both pray on our knees - hands crossed over each other - as we both leaned against our bunk bed. Mama would scold us if we didn't say our prayers. Afterwards, papa would tuck us both in and kiss us goodnight. I remember one night, he kissed my forehead and some blood came out of his mouth. I began to freak out and mama lied to us - saying she had fed him some dessert that called for a cherry syrup and he must've forgotten to wipe it off.

A year later he was diagnosed with cancer.

I was having a nice dream. It was similar to that memory - except our papa didn't have cancer yet. He and mama had just tucked Maria and I into bed before leaving. Maria poked her head over the side of the bed, appearing upside down, her wavy brown hair falling. She was wearing a little nightgown with flowers on it - which was oddly fitting. With our last name being Flores, we of course had flower accents on our clothes - even decor around our house. Maria was ten while I was around seven years old. She giggled as she looked at me - still hanging upside down.

"Ana!" She whispered, "Ana guess what!"

I opened my eyes to look at her, "Shouldn't you be asleep?! Mama and papa will kill us if you don't!"

She giggled before climbing off the bed and sitting down beside me. Despite being older than me, she always had a rounder and chubbier face. She took after our mama with that - while I apparently looked more like our papa. However, we got our personalities from the opposite parent; Maria being more artistic and whimsical like papa, while I was more serious and straight-forward like mama.

Maria smiled at me, "I can't sleep when we have an adventure to go on!"

"Adventure?" I asked confusingly, "What adventure? Maria, it's late and we have school tomorrow. We should probably-"

But before I could plead my case, Maria had yanked my wrist - dragging me out of my bed. She refused to let go as she pulled me into the hallway and all the way downstairs. I tried to whisper to her how wrong this is and I'd rather not be beaten by mama's shoe anytime soon. However, my older sister simply didn't care. She continued to yank and pull me throughout the house where our basement was.

My blood ran cold.

I hated the basement; it's so creepy and filled with spiderwebs. The dark and eeriness always put me on edge - wanting to immediately exit before I even stepped foot down there. Maria, however, didn't mind it. She unlocked the wooden door before having it creak open - exposing the long staircase that led down to the basement. There was no light at the bottom of the stairs, making it look like we were going into the dark pits of hell. I hesitated before following after my older sister who practically skipped down the creaking wooden stairs. Once at the bottom of the stairs, I froze in my tracks. Papa was a hunter when he wasn't working or also doing photography. Hung up on the wall, at the bottom of the steps, was a taxidermized deer head that he had hunted then got stuffed. It always scared me - especially now since I could only see its eyes which made contact with mine.

"Come on, this way!" Maria's voice echoed off the walls as she ran into the darkened cement walled area. I followed behind her cautiously - my eyes adjusting to the dark. I almost knocked into a few random dusty boxes but was able to watch myself. I continued to follow my older sister who seemed eager to show me something. When another door creaked open - exposing a reddened glow inside - I froze in place. It was papa's dark room - where he would develop his photos. We weren't allowed inside the room without him.

I shook my head, "Maria, we really shouldn't-"

"Come on, Ana! I wanna see what photos he recently took." My sister cut me off before starting to drag me again, "He went somewhere after dropping us off at school! I wanna know where. Maybe he went out into the country again! Maybe he took pictures of animals! Maybe-"

"Maybe we should just leave his stuff alone." I protested. Maria rolled her eyes at me before dragging me into the fully reddened room. She's so stubborn - just like papa. By now, we were inside and looking around. The red tinted light strained my eyes but Maria seemed used to it. There were a bunch of photographs hung up by clothespins to dry on a string, little plastic containers full of liquid, and some bottles of the said liquid. Maria put on a pair of papa's gloves - which were way too big for her - before grabbing a photo that was laying in one of the trays.

I spoke up, "Hey! You shouldn't touch that."

"Papa trusts me more with his photographs than he trusts himself." Maria told me before gently standing on her tip-toes and hanging the photo up to dry. That's where her attention went to the other photographs. She tugged one off the thin line before examining it. She smiled before turning the photo around so I could see it. Maria beamed happily, "Papa went to the church!"

"Okay?" I shrugged, not fully understanding the significance to her excitement.

"Okay?!" Maria mocked me before handing me the photo, "Look at these cool shots he took!"

I grabbed the photo from her and strained my eyes - trying to make out everything despite the reddened light still making it hard for me to see. He took photos of the rounded stained glass windows - having the sun rays shine through them. I handed it back to her with a simple shrug.

"It's cool I guess."

"Cool?! Papa's work is amazing! I want to be a photographer like him when I grow up." Maria scoffed out. She examined the other photos that were strung up before pulling down another photo to examine. Maria smiled softly before starting to explain the next one; "Papa always has a unique eye. It's cool how he can capture such beautiful things - like nature and animals. But also dark things… like death."

With that, she passed me the new photograph she was examining. I gently grabbed it out of her hands and viewed it over. In the photo was a man near a grave who was hard at work. He had a shovel in one hand, the rain pouring down on him. Despite it raining, he was wearing a white muscle-shirt which caused him to be shinier due to the water. His hair and beard was drenched as he was digging into a grave. Maybe he was getting it ready? The angle Papa took it from seemed almost like he was hiding from the man. There was something more ominous about this photograph. I couldn't quite tell what, but as if I wasn't supposed to see it at all.

"I don't like how that man looks." I told Maria.

"You don't like how he looks, you don't like the basement, you don't like seeing Papa's photos." Maria listed off with an annoyed sigh. She folded her arms over her nightgown, "Is there anything you do like, Ana?"

I shrugged, "Not getting into trouble."

Maybe I'm a goodie-two-shoes but I don't care. I just don't see the appeal of sneaking off and doing something you're not supposed to. I've never gotten in trouble at school - at least not yet. Maria wasn't super rebellious but she definitely had a more curious side compared to me. After all, some of her favorite stories are Alice in Wonderland and Little Red Riding Hood - both about girls who are curious and ignore obvious warning signs; one chasing a rabbit and one being oblivious to a wolf. It's within her nature and I wouldn't be surprised if she went missing one day over it.

Or dead.

Maria rolled her eyes at me, "You act like we're going to ruin his photos! I know what I'm doing down here and-"

Famous last words. Maria swayed her arm - causing a random plastic bottle that papa had to spill onto the photograph of the man in the graveyard. Maria and I gasped as the liquid began to stain the photo - immediately ruining the shot he took from a day or two ago. Maria covered her mouth with both hands in shock - immediately realizing what she had done. Her cockiness got the best of her along with accidentally jinxing herself, resulting in her spotless record in Papa's dark room to be tarnished. She quickly grabbed the photograph before using her nightgown to wipe off the liquid the best she could. Maria's breathing increased as she began to panic more and more.

"What did you say about ruining his photos?" I asked with a slight smirk. If only she listened to me about not coming down here unsupervised.

Maria glared at me, "Shut up!"

"HEY!" A loud voice yelled. I jumped in fear along with Maria - causing us to be glued to our spots in fear. We recognized that voice anywhere. It's Papa's and he was not happy that we had woken him up. His feet pounded against the wooden steps - almost like a big scary monster was coming down here to eat us alive. He came emerging from the darkened basement - his tanned face starting to turn a shade of red from the anger and darkroom's red light. He held something and… it was a baseball bat? What was he going to do with that?! He spoke up once again, "GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE BEFORE-... oh!"

He stopped dead in his tracks once he saw Maria and I. His grip loosened on the bat as he looked between us. He probably assumed it was probably an intruder and not his two nosey daughters. My eyes widened slightly at his aggressive behavior before relaxing once he did - understanding he probably thought it was anyone else in the world besides the two of us. Maria nervously smiled as she approached him.

"Hi papa." She spoke quietly.

Papa sighed loudly as he fully dropped the bat to his side, "What are you two still doing awake?!"

I decided to speak up next, "Maria wanted to show me some of your photos. It was her idea - not mine! She also ruined one of your photos."

Yes, I tattled on her. But I didn't care. I wasn't going to get punished for something she literally dragged me into. Maria gasped loudly before glaring over at me - not liking that I just ratted her out to our Papa. Papa wasn't super scary or mean - not unless he had to. Mama was more of the scary and intimidating one as she would normally be the one to punish us. It's like our parents switched their stereotypical roles; Papa being more "motherly" by being loving and comforting while Mama was more strict and "fatherly". Papa looked down at the photo I was referring to and his eyes widened - gently taking it out of Maria's grasp. Maria looked very nervous as she knew she'd get punished one way or another.

Papa sighed as he held the photograph, "I told you both not to come in here without me."

"I'm sorry." Maria apologized to him, "I just wanted to see the new photos you took the other day."

"Maybe in a few years I should get you your own camera, huh?" Papa chuckled lightly as he looked down at my older sister with a gentle smile, "Thankfully, I didn't really like that photo to begin with. Some… weird guy babbling to himself about bones or something. I don't know. It doesn't matter anymore - what's done is done."

Papa gently tossed the now damaged photo on a metal table nearby with a sigh. I could tell he was still upset at us - especially Maria messing up his photograph of the weird man at the graveyard - no matter how much he tried not to show it.

"Are we in trouble?" I asked him.

Papa shook his head, "No. Not entirely, at least. I just… I wish you guys would wake up. Just wake up, Ana. Wake the hell up."

My brows furrowed together as I listened to him. The red darkroom light began to flicker violently - causing the entire room to flash pitch black and then light up with a red hue again. I didn't understand what was going on until I noticed how the photograph began to distort more - changing into a picture of the older man at the gas station instead. He was still digging into the grave - but this time covering a body. I squinted to examine it closer, noticing it was Leland. My blood ran cold as I looked back at my Papa - who was no longer there. Instead, in his place, was the man with the scar across his face that knocked me out. Maria was no longer her curious ten-year-old self, but rather much older and in the outfit I last saw her in. She had duct tape over her mouth, crying, and screaming for help as the light began to flicker violently even more.

"Wake up." The scarred man demanded.

Slap!

I gasped out in pain as my eyes widened. A large stinging sensation spread all over the side of my face. I blinked several times - due to seeing stars - before finally coming back to my senses. Looking around, I was in some little cement prison cell. My wrists began to ache as I realized they were tied above my head and I was dangling from them. In front of me was the man I just had a brief nightmare about; the one with the scar running down half his face. I glared up at him as his cold expression started to form into a slight smirk.

"Nice to see you're awake." He beamed before crossing his arms over his chest, "Sorry about the rude awakening. I just couldn't sit around and wait for you to wake up."

"Rude awakening?" I scoffed at him, "That's what you're most sorry about?!"

He shrugged, "Listen to me, this ain't nothin' personal. Alright?! You guys stumbled onto our property and were looking for your sister. We couldn't just let y'all get away - especially you."

I paused before leaning backwards, "Me? What about me?"

He smiled wide, "Well… you're gonna be family now! With me gonna marry Maria eventually, that would make you my sister-in-law, right? Can't leave family behind, y'know?" Marriage? What the fuck is he going on about?! I struggled against my restraints while whimpering - the rope starting to rub and scratch across my skin. He noticed and shook his head before placing his hand on my arm, "Stop struggling - you're gonna hurt yourself."

"Don't touch me!" I snapped at him and lunged forward - resulting in him taking a step back, "You're fucking sick! All of you! You and your entire damn family are monsters if you truly think Maria and I want any part of you… freaks!"

His cautious expression turned cold as he glared at me. The scarred man reached behind his back before grabbing my face with his opposite hand. It wasn't until I felt the cold blade that I realized he had his knife pressed against my cheek. He snarled at me before pressing it deeper into my skin - but not enough to draw blood.

"Now you fuckin' listen here, alright?!" His voice was low and covered in a layer of venom, "If you to live along with your sister - you're gonna do as I fuckin' say. Got it?! One fuckin' wrong move and I'll slit your goddamn throat so fast you won't have enough time to scream her name. You got that?!"

He pressed the tip of the knife into my cheek - causing my body to tense up. Is this what Maria has had to face?! What have they done to her? Where is she? She could be dead and he could be pulling my leg for all I know. I closed my eyes and slightly turned my head - but his strong hand around my chin forced it back to where he had it. A light whimper escaped my throat - showing how scared I was. He smiled sinisterly before his hand gripped tighter around me.

I nodded at his question, "Yes."

"Good." He chuckled before finally letting me go. I let out a loud sigh of relief when I didn't feel his hands anywhere on me anymore. He went back against the wall, leaning against it, while fiddling with the large knife in his hand. The scarred man spoke up once again, "In case you didn't catch it last night - my name is Johnny."

"Nice to meet you, jackass."

He glared at me, "I said it's Johnny."

"Jackass sounds more accurate to me." I shrugged back with a slight smirk of my own. Johnny glared at me before shaking his head with a chuckle.

"You know, I didn't even have to be told y'all are sisters." Johnny stated before standing back up and walking over to me. Despite the fear coursing through me, I stood my ground by glaring at him in his brown eyes. Johnny's little smile dimmed as he made eye-contact with me, "You both have smart mouths and sure do love to bite back."

"Runs in our family."

Johnny chuckled, "What family? You're both stuck here, your mama is probably having a heart attack worrying about you two, and your papa is already dead." My blood ran cold. How much information does he know? What did Maria tell him?! If he already knew my name and stuff about our family - I can only imagine what else he might know. I glared at him for mentioning our papa in such a blunt and rude way without ever knowing him.

"You're a monster." I spat out at him.

Johnny shrugged, "Every monster has their maker, right?"

"Yeah - yours is in hell which is where you'll go once you're caught." I threatened him before beginning to pull at my restraints again. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to grab that knife and make him eat his words. I wanted to cut his mouth off to stop that cocky smirk that kept appearing. I wanted to chop his hands and dick off too. I just wanted to slaughter and butcher him like a wild animal hunting its prey.

"I'll never get caught." Johnny shook his head as he took another step towards me, "I've been doing this since I was a kid. People have tried and come close - I'll give them that. But nobody, and I mean nobody, will be able to stop me."

"You think you're tough shit." I laughed out at him while shaking my head, "OOoooOOoOh, look at me! My name's Johnny and I like to kidnap women and stroke my ego about it! I probably secretly jerk off to men who are less stronger than me too! Now I'm gonna force this girl to marry me and keep her sister too! Give me a fucking break. You're pathetic. All you are is big talk but don't show shit. You're nothing and-"

I was cut off with a sudden sharp stinging sensation on my arm. I hissed out in pain as blood began to roll down from my bicep, down to my arm-pit, and onto my blue shirt. It hurt like hell and the warm blood trickling down made me squirm from the sensation and slight tickling feeling it gave me. Johnny chuckled as he held up his knife - which had some of my blood on it.

"Are you sure about all that?" He asked me before pressing the tip of the blade against his bottom lip. I furrowed my brows at him as he gently licked the blood of the knife. The blood stained his tongue and teeth as he exposed them to me in a large toothy grin. How fucking weird and disgusting. Johnny looked towards my right with a slight shake of his head, "I would really reconsider opening your mouth. You never know if it's gonna hurt you… or someone else."

That's when I turned to face his direction. On the floor beside me was Julie. My eyes widened as I noticed she had a large bruise on the side of her face - probably from waking up and being forced to go unconscious again. My eyes widened in slight shock as I saw how knocked out cold she was. Johnny smirked at my expression before looking back at me.

He finished, "I'll leave you two alone. Maybe you guys can have some final words 'cause all your friends aren't gonna live. Just you and that pretty sister of yours."

"FUCK YOU!" I screamed into his face. I didn't want anyone to die! Not even Julie and Leland despite what they did to me. Tears of anger filled me as I began to flare around violently - trying to cause tension on the rope that bound me to the ceiling. Where the hell are the others? Is Danny here too?! I hated not knowing anything at all - it was starting to make me go insane. For the longest time, I didn't know where Maria was. Then Danny went missing too and I haven't seen him since he got upset at all of us. Are those going to be my last memories? Seeing my sister before her wildflower trip - me being heartbroken over Leland? Hearing Danny basically call all of us cowards for not going after Maria?

"Don't worry," Johnny beamed as he held the wooden door open, "your sister already has."

I let out an angered yell as he winked at me before closing and locking the wooden door behind him. I hate this stupid asshole! He's the reason Maria went missing, isn't it?! Of course it fucking is! He's an actual idiot if he thinks Maria will be his submissive little wife. She loves Danny - she'd never do anything to hurt him. So the fact that he's living in some delusional fantasy is almost comical to witness.

"¡Estúpida idiota, espero que te corten las bolas!" I cursed underneath my breath as I let out a throaty yell. If somehow I had enough strength to snap these ropes, that stupid excuse of a man would be dead within seconds. As I continued to flare around, I heard someone start to groan beside me. I turned my head in the direction - noticing it was Julie slowly waking up.

"Leland?" She asked.

"Nope." I answered with a sigh, "Wrong person."

"Ana?!" Julie called out before reaching her hands up to her head. She hissed in pain as she held the area that they probably punched her last. She groaned before slowly opening her eyes and looking around, "Where are we? Where's the others?!"

"I don't know." I answered her truthfully, "That old man and I assume his family kidnapped us all last night. There's a guy with a scar on his face - named Johnny - who says he's going to marry Maria. Something about killing everyone and only going to keep her and I alive."

Julie froze up at my words before tears began to form in her eyes. She choked out a sob before burying her head into the cement floor. My heart sank at her cries. I turned my head away and swallowed hard - trying to hold back tears of my own too. I didn't want any of them to die. I still hate what Julie and Leland did to me, but that doesn't mean we all deserved to die down here to these freaks. Julie shook her head as she began to cry harder.

"I don't want to die!" She cried out loudly, "I'm only twenty-one! I want to be a model… I have so many goals in life already! Ana, what do we do?! Did I deserve this?!"

I shook my head, "Nobody deserved this and stop thinking that way!"

Julie didn't listen as she continued to cry, "I'm so sorry, Ana! I knew it was wrong what Leland and I did to you! I told him he should've broken up with you first before anything. But… he didn't listen to me and lied - saying he did and the relationship was over."

"Julie, please st-"

"No!" Julie protested and shook her head, "I never wanted to hurt you, Ana. Neither did Leland which is why he never told you either. We both knew what you were already going through with your mom and dad. He didn't want to cause more pain and-"

"Well he fucking did!" I finally snapped at her - causing her to flinch at my sudden aggressiveness, "He hurt me anyways! I did trust and love him - even if I had a hard time expressing it to him. That gave him no right to do that to me. Maria and him were best friends for so long and… I thought he truly cared about me."

"He does! He always has - but he just… I don't know. He's a very affectionate person. He loves to give and receive love and Leland said you never gave it to him back the way he wanted." Julie explained to me. I hung my head in shame. Part of this was my fault - our huge falling out. After papa passed away, I tried to distract myself by getting into a relationship with Leland. But I wasn't ready. I was still grieving and just wanted the pain to go away. He smothered me in so much love and affection but I hardly gave it back.

We both were in the wrong for how we treated each other.

"I just want things to go back to normal." I sighed out as tears of my own began to roll down my face. Julie frowned before raising up slightly on her elbow.

"Babe, listen to me." She called out. Julie calls almost everyone babe - so it was no surprise to me. I turned my head slightly in her direction as she tried to give me a small reassuring smile, "For what this is all worth, Leland still feels guilty and would love to have a friendship with you. He cried to me over it. It seems like you miss him too - at least in some sort of way. When we get out of this mess, go talk to him."

When we get out of this mess. My stomach turned slightly at the thought that we might not get out of here. I nodded slowly at her. I'm torn apart with my feelings still. I want to hate Julie and Leland - but I know that's not going to get me anywhere. Especially now, being locked in a room with her in a place I don't know where I am. I wanted to punch Leland and scream at Julie. But now realizing, I wasn't a good girlfriend to Leland either. He wanted love. I couldn't give him that - so he searched for it elsewhere. I knew he had a crush on Julie before getting with me. He used me to try and get over her. I used him to try and get over my papa's death.

We all weren't perfect people in this situation.

"I hope so." I told Julie before sniffling back my tears, "I just hope everyone else is okay too. I just wanted to find my sister."

Julie nodded, "Well… we're close. Obviously! All we need to do is escape this room, find her, find the others, dodge the weird people who brought us here, and escape!"

I chuckled at her, "Is that all?"

Julie shrugged with a little shrug of her own, "Yeah! Seems easy, right?" A damn cake walk even. I smirked at her sudden optimism despite her always being so skittish. It was nice to have a little bit of positivity in this hell hole. Julie brought her restraints up to her mouth and began to tug at them - trying to set herself free. She hissed in pain as I assume she accidentally cut her tongue on the rough rope. She sighed, "Stupid thing! He must've triple knotted this shit!"

"Look around and see if you can find something to maybe cut it." I told her. Julie did exactly what I suggested, her eyes roaming all over the room. She noticed a tiny pile of bones - causing her nose to scrunch up in horror and disgust.

"Are those… human?!" She gagged out before turning her head away from the pile. My eyes widened slightly as I saw the pile she referred to. It didn't look like an animal bone pile. Plus, if they kidnap people, I can only imagine what else they do. Julie crawled on her hands and knees over to the pile before rummaging through it. She gagged a few times before letting out a scream of horror - one of the bones breaking in her hands. She squirmed and quickly moved away.

"Julie!" I called out to her, "Just see if they're sharp! Use it… almost like a knife! Cut yourself free and then come set me free."

"It's so fucking gross!" Julie groaned out, "Who are these people?!"

"Let's not stick around and find out, okay?" I told her before gesturing back to the pile with my chin, "Just grab a sharp one and start sawing away." Julie hesitated before taking a deep breath and nodding. Slowly letting the air out, she reached her hand back into the pile and began to rummage around for another bone. She whimpered as she held back her disgust and discomfort. After a few seconds, she grabbed a large piece of a bone and began to gently cut into the rope around her ankles. Once they were set free, Julie stood up and walked over to me - beginning to cut away at the rope that bound me to the ceiling still.

"This is so gross!" Julie repeated again.

"Try not to think about it too hard, alright?" I reassured her, "We need to just focus on cutting the restraints and opening that door. After that, we can go find- WOAH!" I let out a yell as my body suddenly fell to the floor. I let out a groan as my body hit the cement flooring - not expecting the rope to be cut that quickly.

Julie gasped as she looked down at me, "Ana! Ana, are you okay?!"

"Never better." I groaned out before slowly standing up. The rope slid off of my wrists as I slowly pushed myself up and stood in front of Julie. I grabbed the bone-shard from her before starting to cut away at her own restraints. It took a few minutes but once they were off, Julie quickly wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. I stumbled backwards a bit as my eyes widened - not expecting the sudden hug. I slowly wrapped my arms back around her, returning the hug, before gently pulling away.

"I'm so glad we're a step closer getting out of here! Help me open the door." Julie beamed before walking over to the wooden structure that still locked us inside. Julie pushed and pulled on the door before noticing something. Her manicured nails roamed over the wooden panels before turning towards me, "This shit is so fragile we can probably pull the boards off."

I pressed on the wood and sure enough - she was right. It was flimsy and rotted through. It was barely a door as it seemed poorly built in the first place. Julie and I began to pull at the wooden boards before finally managing to get a little hole in the middle of it. We slipped through it before looking around - noticing we were in some storage room with a bunch of garden tools. To our left was a locked metal door that seemingly went outside - which seemed like a safe way out if we can somehow pry it open.

I turned to Julie with a large and hopeful smile, "Let's go find the others!"

"Let's go get them, babe!" Julie gave an equally happy smile before linking her arm with mine - both of us starting to carefully navigate through this house of horrors.