Stranded Ch. 07

"May I get myself more coffee?" Arioch holds his cup out to me and nods. I grab the mug and shuffle my way into the kitchen. I can feel his eyes on me, watching my every move, his body tense, ready to bolt after me if I tried to run again.

"Once you're pregnant though, no more caffeine. Not good for the baby." There won't be a baby. I made us both another cup and just as I turned to walk back into the dining room he stood and made his way to me instead.
"I have some work to do in the garage and you have a house to start cleaning. I would like you to start with the laundry and dishes." A laugh bursts free and I quickly cover my mouth. He only chuckles and wraps a chain he pulled out from one of the cupboards around my ankle. A giant pile of metal links falls out, and he locks the other side to the loop closest to the back door, pulling each lock a few times to make sure they were secure.

"Aren't you worried I'll escape or find a weapon?" I ask sarcastically

"Nope! Eliza and I 'wife-proofed' the place. I'd start upstairs and work my way down if I were you, you'll find most things are sorta picked up, organized anyways, the washer and dryer are in the basement. I understand that you are going to have the urge to search every inch within your grasp, but I assure you, it will only be a waste of time. We thought of everything. However, I expect a decent amount of progress before I return." Then he left, the screen door slamming shut behind him and I stood in there in silence. I slowly began opening the drawers. He was right, the urge to look was too strong, but all I found in them was plastic, even plastic spatulas and wooden mixing spoons. I could try and use a mixing spoon, but something told me it would only be turned back on me. I noticed a few of the drawers had locks on them, so I noted it and kept moving. I wasn't sure how to pick locks, but it wouldn't hurt to try when I had the extra time, if I could find something to pick it with anyways. The chain was loud and snagged occasionally on things as I made my way up the stairs. My first stop was the guest bedroom and I stood in the doorway. It looked exactly as it had when I first walked into his house, back when I thought he was just a good guy helping a stranger.

My belongings were ashes now, well most of them. I knew my journal was in one of the locked drawers' downstairs and it was going straight into the fireplace the second I got my hands on it again. I pulled myself away, closing the door and moving onto his room. It was still a mess, but at least it was more separated. They had stacked most of the dirty dishes and the clothes were all in a one pile. But the beer bottles were gone, the bat that I had used to smash Judas with was nowhere to be found. Where had he taken it all? Hidden out in his garage? What would he do if I simply refused to clean? Just the thought of it made me shiver, he would do whatever he wanted, that's what he'd do. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself as I crouched in the middle of his room. I knew it wasn't the time to break down, he said he expected progress and running myself in circles wasn't going to help me. After a few deep calming breaths, I stood and began shoving the laundry into his wicker hamper. I hated that I had to walk down two flights of stairs but after a few trips I had a decent pile and a load already started in the washer. I tossed the galaxy dress in with the first load, I was sure he wouldn't mind. If I was going to be forced to wear the stupid things, I at least wanted to wear one of the prettier ones. I could see now why Sam was always doing something that didn't quite fit into the expectations of his family.

The dishes came next and I was surprised to find that besides some gross stale ketchup and hard congealed syrup, they weren't all that dirty, at least nothing that was moldy or rotten. As the sink filled with soapy water, I double checked that Sam was still outside, far away before I dared to reopen the coffee tin. I carefully tilted it to the side and dug two of my fingers towards the bottom, sweeping through the grounds, searching for the plastic baggie Emily had given me. I was finally alone, and I didn't want to waste time looking for a teaspoon; so, I took a pinch of what I thought a teaspoon would be instead and quickly tossed it into my mouth. It had a spicy carroty taste, but I quickly ate it, the texture is what bothered me the most. I folded all the air out, sealing it and tucked it back into the bottom of the coffee container, wiping away all traces I had ever been digging in it.

It was nearly two days after the first time, or was it three? Either way it was lot longer than what Emily had first recommended to me. She had said no longer than 12 hours and I knew at least the last time was within that time range. Well, it was worth trying, anything was worth trying. Just hearing him mention pregnancy, terrified me; I did not want to be responsible for bringing a life into my situation let alone into the world. How would I escape with a baby? What if they took it away from me the way they had taken Sam from Skye? My heart would never be able to bear it. And if it was a girl? Would he marry her off to one of his cousins? Or worse, fuck her along with the rest of his family? I leaned my head against the counter, arms stretched before me, the water still running, and I closed my eyes as I try to calm the racing thoughts. Inhale. Exhale. Take it one day at time. I just couldn't think about those things. After a few more deep breaths and I returned to washing the dishes; it didn't take long to learn where everything went. I simply opened every drawer and cupboard in the kitchen, searching them while I was at it. When I put the last dish away, I trudged back upstairs, pausing at the top as my eyes slid over to Eliza's door. I couldn't tell just by looking at it if it was still locked and I debated if it was worth trying. My hand began to shake as I slid across the floor and gripped the door handle. Slowly I turn the crystal knob and when I hear the mechanical click, I realize the door popped open. It was unlocked.

Now the real dilemma was, did I dare walk in? Arioch had said that they'd wife proofed the house, and the room was part of the house.
"Go on." I yelped, nearly jumping out of my skin and I felt my heart drop. How did he always manage to sneak up so quietly?

"I-I uh...I thought maybe there would be laundry...now that the secret is out that she's not actually dead..."

"I said go ahead. We're married now darlin, I got nothing to hide from you anymore." We stood there for several minutes before he walked ahead of me, shoving the door open wide and allowing me to stare inside. The bedding was wadded up in a ball, the closet wide open, utterly empty and the blinds were drawn so that sunlight poured into the room, particles of dust dancing in its bright beam.

"C'mon now." I took a few steps forward but remained close to the door.

"We are going to make this the nursery, I measured the difference and this door is closer for nighttime feedings. When he gets older, we'll turn the guest room into his room and hopefully by then we should already have number 2 or he'll at least be on the way." I felt a wave of nausea wash over me, he was already talking about a second one and we hadn't even had the first. He spoke with pure confidence, as if his words were fact; like he already peeked into the future and knew this to be true. In that moment I understood why Emily had been so serious when she told me to hide the seeds. I refused to imagine just how angry he'd be if he were to find out. Maybe I should have moved them somewhere else, but there was nowhere that I wasn't sure he wouldn't search. I had time to find a place, if I moved them before the coffee got too low.

"I figured we'd clear all this out, paint the walls, set up new furniture and before you ask, Eliza already knows what we are doing, it was her idea actually." And that's when I notice it, in the corner of the ceiling there's a small camera, or what I am pretty sure is a camera. It's a tiny little dome, the plastic dark and reflective. I squint a little and take a step forward, frowning. Arioch follows my gaze and holds up his hand before I can even ask him the next question.

"I am not going to lie to you, but you are not going to like the answer if you ask me," he warned.

"If I don't know, it will eat away at me." He sighed as if he had already concluded that.
"It was Eliza's idea and we needed the money..." I felt dizzy and I groaned as I shook my head and took a step back. I needed some distance between us. Just how many more Skellington's were in this man's closet? What disgusting secret was I going to find out next?
"Oh god, what did you do?" He was the one having trouble meeting my gaze now, was it possible even Arioch had standards? Lines he did not want to cross?

"She was over 18, I made damn sure of that at least," he mumbled.

"So, you made a video...and what? Sold it online?"

"There's a few niche markets for incest porn. We made enough to survive and build that cabin back there, plus a nice comfortable nest egg in case the conclave ever pulls that crap on us again. Which considering what our future holds, it may come in handy." What our future holds?

"What do you mean?"

"Sammy was right about one thing, Dale is going to find out, eventually. Or he's going to at least suspect it enough that he'll call the conclave in. We'll have a small trial and while they decide our fate, they may not allow me to work on any of the family's cars. They did it when Eliza killed Megan, that way they could decide the consequences while still protecting the family."

"But you're their only mechanic."

"True, back then they still had Uncle Hank. Now, I'm not so sure they can afford it. Nest egg is there regardless, and if we don't need it, we'll buy something nice for the nursery. Besides, with that installed we can see the babies no matter where on the property we are." He was a lot more familiar with electronics then he led me to believe, perhaps even better than me.

"There weren't any internet signals when I checked on my laptop, how did you manage that?"

"You can buy anything online these days, they call it a jammer, interferes with the signals, call transmissions and I even got one for the Wi-Fi. Turned them on before you even walked in the front door." Is that why he had rushed inside so quickly?

"What does your family think about your use of technology?"

"Most of them are a bit more outdated than the others, but I have learned to adapt and soon enough, they will too." A devilish smile lit up his face as he looked up into the corner and back down at me.

"It's still hooked up to a recorder you know...we could make our own dirty movie, it is technically still our honeymoon after all." I was grateful to have the canopy banister to lean on, keeping me on my feet. I felt lightheaded, heart beating wildly in my chest. I was still formulating how to respond when there was a loud pounding at the front door, it rattled the locks and I felt a real wave of terror wash over me. Arioch's smile disappeared, and I knew whoever it was, it wasn't a good sign they were over.

"Well, that was a little sooner than I anticipated, but I think we're ready for this. Remember, you will speak when spoken to, you will not make eye contact and let me handle the rest." As he spoke, he was untucking his T-shirt and already messing up his hair. He looked more like Sam now.

"I'm not a good liar..." I warned.

"I would have never guessed. Just follow my instructions and you will be fine. Keep calm and breathe." He grabbed my wrist, pulling me down stairs. I clasped my hands in front of me when he opened the door. Dale burst into the house without waiting for invitation. He pushed his way past Arioch/Sam and I instantly notice several things; he had big dark rings around his eyes like he hadn't slept since the wedding; and maybe he hadn't. His face was unshaven revealing most of his scruff was salt and peppered, his eyes were bloodshot, and his clothes were wrinkled and dirty.

"Where are they?! I know they're here somewhere! Boys!" He shouted, his eyes searched the kitchen before he stalked his way into the living room then glanced at the staircase.

"Where is who exactly, Uncle Dale?"

"You know damn well who I am referring to. Ezekiel saw them heading this direction the night of your wedding." He paused and glanced at me, I could feel his gaze piercing into me, but I kept my eyes focused low.

"What happened to her?" Dale waved his hand in my direction.

"Tried to deny me on our wedding night." Arioch/Sam replied calmly.

"And the noose marks?? Were my boys here, Sammy?" he demanded, taking a threatening step forward. If the noose marks made him think of his boys, then I probably wasn't the first they'd done it to.

"Against the conclave's decision? Do you think Marcus would be that foolish?" Arioch even managed to sound like Sam, his voice held more inflection, more feeling then Arioch's.

"We both know he can be a dumbass when he's been drinking. Were they here or not?" His voice cracked a little and I realized that he was authentically worried. Beneath all that anger was real concern for his boy's wellbeing. I dug my nails into the skin above my elbow, my arms crossed across my chest to prevent the tears from falling. This man was not going to get my sympathy, and neither were his nasty boys. Empathy could be a real bitch sometimes.

"No, Uncle Dale, they were not. Just me and the wife." I could feel his gaze sweep back to me, but I kept my gaze on his shoes as I'd been instructed to. It eased the anxiety but only by a small fraction. Dale took a few steps closer until he was almost face to face with Arioch/Sam.

"If I find out that you, or that twisted fucking psychopath living inside of you, hurt my boys, I will make you beg me for death. And I will only grant it after I've made you watch me skin your family alive first, the conclave be damned. I'll steal myself another bride, one who's a mechanic, I'm told those exist." He couldn't help but look a little amused at the idea of it, even in the middle of all his worry. What I wanted to know is how they managed to merge with the real world enough to survive and still be so outdated. Was it by choice?

"If you're that worried about them, we can take the hounds searching. But keep in mind Uncle, this isn't the first time they've disappeared. What was it they said...they were sowing their wild oats?" Dale looked skeptical; he wanted to believe Arioch/Sam, because all he saw was Sam's concerned honest face, but his gut was warning him against it. Could he sense Arioch? His presence always seemed to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up, as if warning me evil was afoot.

"I'll bring something with their scents on it in the morning, I'll bring some of the boys too, Adam turned 18 today. Besides, I want to question your mother, see if they paid her a visit." Arioch's face darkened, revealing more of the real him and before he could respond, Dale turned and marched back to his minivan. Nothing quite takes the oomph out of a man like a minivan. With the size of his brood, I was surprised he wasn't driving a small bus. Arioch/Sam and I stood in the doorway, watching Dale speed out.

"Why did you offer your dogs? They'll follow their scents and lead him straight back to it." And by it, I meant his cousin's homemade grave. I couldn't think of the bodies buried within it.

"That's just it, they're hunting dogs, not cadaver dogs. Dale is a fucking idiot. They'll follow the scent trails but they're not trained to seek out corpses, it's not an innate skill." I turned red with embarrassment, I hated it when he spoke down to me as though I was an utter moron

"As long as you keep your trap shut, we'll be fine. The boys have disappeared often enough it buys us a little time; they sure do cause a lot of mischief." he said that last part with a wistful sigh. It felt delusional to pretend they were alive when I could still picture their blue tinged faces anytime, I closed my eyes.

I could still hear the ringing of the gunshot, the sight of John's head exploding like he'd swallowed an M80. In my nightmares, his tongue usually turned into a giant pink snake and consumed me or tried to strike me. Sometimes, it simply continued to swell until it slowly suffocated me. I heard a snap that brought my attention back to Arioch.

"What's got you so distracted lately?" Was it possible he was that oblivious?

"What has me distracted?! I see it every time I close my eyes, it happened yesterday for God's sake. I can't be like you and pretend it never happened with the flip of a switch. I can't stop thinking about it, I even dream about it!"

"Well you don't have much of a choice KitKat; if they discover the truth...well, there are worse fates than death and no matter how infuriating I find you, it would be upsetting to watch you be tortured by anyone other than me." And I thought my family was dysfunctional,

"The key to be convincing is to use a little bit of the truth. When asked if you know where they are, you can say no because technically speaking, you don't know where they are, do you?"

"I know they are buried out there," I replied, pointing towards his back yard and out into the forest.

"Do you know where, though? Could you find it on your own?" I grimaced, maybe?

"Probably not," I confessed.

"Then you don't know where they are, and your words will ring true."

"So, if reality doesn't fit, rewrite it?"

"More like looking at it from a different perspective."

"Sounds like a lie." He chuckled in amusement.

"You do not get to lecture me on lying, my silver-tongued hellion, and do not think I have forgotten about our earlier conversation before we were rudely interrupted."

"What about it?" He had only stated his desire, he had not asked me anything or instructed me to do anything.

"Do you want to?" he asked, sheepishly and I had to remind myself I was speaking to Arioch, not Sam. The emotions were all an act, his way of trying to manipulate me into letting my guard down.

"When has what I wanted ever mattered?" He looked up, the sheepish look gone and nodded.

"You are quite right, it doesn't." He grabbed my wrist and started pulling me back up the stairs. My first reaction was to resist, to rip my arm from his grasp and keep a healthy distance between us. His grip tightened when I hesitated, and he shot me a warning glance, making it clear he could care less if I wanted to, it was going to happen either way. Poisonous butterflies fluttered around in my stomach and I fell silent as we ascended to the second floor. Eliza's door was still open, and I felt sick all over again. Had this been the bed it happened in? He pointed to the window, indicating where he expected me to stand before disappearing down the hall. My eyes were drawn to the camera, would a little red light turn on when it started to record? Where was it recording from? Or was it digital? What was he going to do with it afterwards? When he returned, he stood in the doorway staring at me with lustful eyes but whatever he saw reflected in my face made him hesitate. I watched him, arms wrapped tightly around myself as I waited for the inevitable.

"On second thought, Dale wasted a little more daylight than I anticipated," he announced. Changing his mind? It wasn't because I was crying, tears never got me anywhere with Arioch. I let out a breath I hadn't known I had been holding.

"Don't think you're off the hook, I'm merely postponing it for the moment."

"I understand." I replied delicately. I was grateful nonetheless and I resisted the sudden urge to hug him. His reason didn't matter, only that I wasn't going to have to do it. He crossed the room and I remained still as he wrapped his arms around me, holding me for what felt like forever until I started to reluctantly relax against him.