Chris

“I promised you the truth. And the truth I’m giving to you right now. 

“In the middle of 12th grade, you found a note in my jacket pocket. Unfortunately, you were right. I did cheat on you. But it was only a one-night stand. I felt horrible after it and I told her off. I vowed never to do it again. I had no idea she’d slid the note in there. Probably on purpose. I always had the guilt in the back of my mind. I promised I’d spend the rest of my life making it up to you, even though you didn’t know about it. 

“Remember the house I told you about? The one I showed you? With the field and the trees? How I’d saved up for it and when I got home, you were gone? I’d found everything smashed. All my money had been stolen. That house was my anniversary present to you too, because that very day was indeed our anniversary, April 22nd. I had no idea where you were. I was so worried. I got lost in my worry, my shame, my guilt… I couldn’t stop crying. It wasn’t until two days later I found amber’s note in your jacket pocket. How she found out where we lived, I will never know. I suspect that she may have followed me that day… or I don’t know.

“The note explained that… if I wanted you to survive, I’d come and find you both. Then I had to dump you and be with Amber. It also had the location of this house. I didn’t want to dump you. I loved you. But I had to. When I found you, you were in the basement. Naked, chained up, bleeding… raped… I wanted to kill Erick for that. I tried to free you. I thought that maybe we could get outta here.

“But they caught me. They beat me up, in front of you, until I was almost dead. Then Amber told me that either I dumped you then and there or she’d kill us both. So… I did. They took you to the woods and just left you there. I planned. I wrote that letter quickly and ran. I found you, but you were so close to death and I was scared. I felt so guilty. I wanted to die. Then they came. Erick held me and Amber put a knife to your throat.

“I thought she was going to kill you! I know she wanted to. Then she said that I’d dump you, and you’d let her live. So I had to. Again, ridiculously. She made me make out with her in front of you. It was all torture. I felt so worthless, so dirty, so stupid. She tried to take me away but I told her that I’d only be with her… if she assured your safety and that I could take you back to Jaclyn’s. She reluctantly agreed. She made Erick come with me and we brought you to Jaclyn’s. I left the letter with Jaclyn to give to you when you woke.”

Danielle just stared at me, taking in everything. After an intense moment she asked, “Then what? What happened next… to you?”

“Well for the first month, she kept me locked me in her bedroom. It was stupid. She forced me to… well love her. I don’t need to get into details. It was torment… I never felt so disgusting in my life. 

“I put up with it for as long I could, gradually losing myself. I missed you. I needed you. But I thought you’d hate me and never want to see me again, so I stayed. For your sake. Hoping you had moved on and were happy. That you found someone better than me. And the thought of you with someone else tore me up. Which made me all the more guilty for cheating.

“I tried to force myself into loving Amber, but I couldn’t. My heart beats for you and only you. It was too much to bear that prison or that slut any longer. I had to get out. But I had to kill them, assure your safety and mine. So I bought handcuffs. And the next time Amber tried to make me…

“I… handcuffed her to the bedposts. Then I smothered her with a pillow. Chopped her body in the bathtub, put the pieces in a pillowcase. Then I poisoned Erick and chopped his body up. Once everything was cleaned up, I left. With the two pillowcases, I went into the woods. Eventually a wolf found me, following the scent of the blood. 

“I poured the contents of the pillowcases out before the wolf. He had black fur and golden eyes. I thought he’d attack me and kill me, but he didn’t. Once finished eating, he ran off. So I ran too. The other direction. I had no idea where I was going. Nightfall came and I accidentally fell off that small cliff. God, it hurt like a bitch. But the thought of seeing you again… it kept me strong.

“I recovered and kept running. It took about two weeks of running in circles and eating oranges and berries before I found my way out. It took me two days to remember the way and make it to the park. That’s when I found you. You didn’t recognize me, I was broken. You know the rest.” 

My gaze shifted to the floor, as a tear fell from my eyes. Danielle placed her hand upon mine, her face damp.

“And you think that is your fault? It’s not.”

“But it was! If I’d never slept with that girl, if I hadn’t gone to the store that day, she wouldn’t be jealous of you and decide to try and kill you for me! Do you not understand I almost got you killed?”

“Chris, we all make mistakes. We all make wrong decisions. We all do things we regret and that’s ok. That doesn’t make us guilty for what others decide to do because of our actions. Do you not understand that she was the psycho one that almost killed me? Not you.” 

I looked up at her and shook my head, “But I’m the one who-“

“Shush.” She put a finger to my lips, “It’s not your fault.” She leaned in and pulled me into a tender kiss. Everything melted away and for that instant, there was only me and her and nothing else. In that moment I knew I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life, and I would never do anything to screw that up again. 

I pulled away and stood, holding out my hand for her to take. She grabbed it and I gently pulled her to her feet.

“I want to see the basement.”

I turned to her, “You sure?”

She nodded, “Confirmation. To the dreams.”

“Well alright.” I lead her to the back of the house, to the room with the stairs leading down into the cold, dark basement. 

I stepped inside first, feeling around for the chain to the overhead light. I eventually found it and light poured into the basement, revealing the chain on the floor that once held Danielle prisoner. 

Only now did Danielle step inside, over to me. She looked around, her gaze lingering on the chain. 

“Exactly how it is my dreams… except… there used to be water?”

I sighed, “Only for extra torment. It was winter so of course the water was freezing. They were cruel people, Danielle. Especially Amber. ”

She walked over to the chain on the ground, knelt down and felt it, “Its ice cold.” 

It felt so wrong being here again. I half expected Amber and Erick to barge in.

“Well, look who it is, Erick. Get him!”

I’d tried to fight back, but he had me on the floor in an instant. I got back up and punch Erick in the face, but he punched me back, kicked me in the gut, pinned me down and held me his hands tight around my neck until I started fighting for breath. 

“You think you can just save her and escape that easy? You think you can just waltz in here and be the hero and save the day?” 

She’d slapped me and I spit at her. 

“Hmmph. He needs a little more discipline, Erick.”

He kicked me in the stomach. Then the ribs. He pulled me back up to my knees by my hair and punched my face a few times, until my eyes were black and my lip was torn and swollen. 

“Chris!” Danielle had screamed, sobbing from her imprisonment.

“Let’s get out of this damned place.”

“Okay…” Danielle said, following me up the stairs after pulling the chain to the light again.

The last thing we did before leaving, is search the kitchen for food. All we found was a moldy loaf of bread, spoiled milk, a can of peaches and a ‘family size’ box of fruit loops. We took the fruit loops, filled all 5 of our water bottles up with water from the tap, turned off all the lights and left. It did my heart and mind damn good to know I would never have to deal with this place, nor Amber or Erick ever again. 

Danielle

The house was white. Car port. One big window in the living room. Vines had grown up the sides of the house and the grass was almost a foot tall. 

I stepped inside. The smell of mold, lose and death hit my nostrils. I took a look around. I knew this place. Not with everything smashed, shattered or ruined like it was now, but I knew this place and I knew it well. And there was my blanket and Rex still waiting patiently for me on the couch. 

“It’ll take time to fix it up, and get everything back to the way it used to be, but I’m optimistic about it. They might even give me my old job back at the computer repair, I mean… I always did 80% of the work.” Chris explained, trying to shed some light on this place.

I nodded, curling up on the couch. A calm feeling washed over me. 

I had a home now. I had a purpose. I had a life, a past, a meaning. The best man I could ever ask for. I turned back to Chris and patted the spot next to me on the couch. He lay down beside me, resting his head on my shoulder, arm around my waist, and was asleep within minutes.