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"Put these on," she told me.
I reluctantly grabbed the pile from her, uncomfortable with the thought of wearing her clothes. My bra smelled lightly of vomit, and I grimaced as I slipped it on, careful to keep the towel in front of me to shield my body from Anna's prying eyes.
After I was dressed, Anna led me back down the hallway. I could hear voices tersely discussing something as we approached a room at the end of the hallway. As we walked in, I immediately took a step backwards, beginning to tremble. There in front of me, sitting stiffly on a leather backed sofa next to Reverend Darcy, were the Andersons. Mr. Anderson immediately stood up when he saw me, stepping towards me as if he couldn't contain himself.
"Sit down," ordered Reverend Darcy, his voice making it clear that it wasn't a request.
Anna gripped my arm and led me to a seat next to the Reverend. I examined Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. Both looked like they had aged dramatically somehow in the weeks that I had been gone. Mr. Anderson had a grey pallor that was drastically different from how I remembered him. What had happened to them?
"Eva. Your family has been very anxious for your return," he began. "When Patricia found you missing, she was beside herself. Your lack of respect for your mother and father is a sin. Proverbs 22:6. 'Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you."
Despite the gravity of the situation I was in, I couldn't refrain from laughing a little and speaking out.
"They are not my father and mother. They are nothing more than abusive pigs," I snarled at him.
The Reverend looked taken aback at my outburst. "What do you mean "abusive"?" he replied in a cold voice that had the Andersons sitting up straight.
"What don't you understand about that word," I replied back, lifting my chin up firmly.
"I want you to describe what they did to you," he said, barely able to form words with his rage.
The Andersons had heard enough to cause them alarm apparently because Mrs. Anderson had stood up.
"We have never harmed a hair on that child's head," she gasped out.
"I would no sooner harm Eva than I would myself," said Mr. Anderson beseechingly.
The Reverend stood up, the look on his face so chilling that I wanted to run and hide despite the fact that it wasn't directed towards me.
Notwithstanding my hatred of them and all they had put me through for four years, I suddenly had the ludicrous urge to lie about what they had done, and pretend it was nothing. I hated the Andersons with all of my heart, but I couldn't find it in myself to wish for whatever torture I was sure the Reverend had in mind for them if I told him the truth.
"I wouldn't lie if I were you," the Reverend said, seeming to read my mind.
Maybe if I told him the truth he would feel sorry for me and let me go I thought. As far-fetched as it seemed, I was desperate for anything to change the Reverend's mind about keeping me his prisoner. I took a deep breath.
"For four years those people did whatever sadistic thing they could think of to me, whether it was cutting, or burning, or unwanted touches. I ran away because they had kept me locked in an attic almost since I arrived with them, and I wanted a better life than the abuse and neglect they were offering me."
The Reverend's face went strangely blank at my statement, as if my words had no effect on him whatsoever.
"That wasn't so hard was it," he said, in an eerily calm voice. Anna came back into the room just then. I hadn't noticed that she had left, she was so quiet.
"Dinner is ready," she announced.
The Reverend walked over to me, and held out his arm. I reluctantly stood up and placed my arm in his. We walked to a dining room which had been elegantly set. Despite everyone seeming familiar with this house, I didn't get the impression this was where Anna and the Reverend usually lived. Everything was dated and the house smelled musty, like it hadn't been used for quite some time.
From my brief impression of the Reverend at the Anderson's house, and the fact that he had been driving what looked like a very nice luxury car when he stopped by the house on the day I escaped, I was pretty sure they lived in a much nicer house than this. It gave me chills to think that he must have been planning something like this for sometime, or even worse, what if he had been using it for other girls before me.
I was led to a seat at the table. The Reverend pulled out my chair, and I gingerly sat down. I was still stiff and sore from my chair falling over in the basement.
"I'll be right back," he told the Andersons and me, signaling for them to take a seat. As soon as he was out of earshot, Mrs. Anderson launched into me.
"You ungrateful little bitch," she hissed. "When he comes back you are going to take back everything you said, or so help me I'll make sure something happens to you that you won't ever recover from."
I stared at her silently in response. Nothing I said would make a difference. The Andersons were just evil to their core. I made the mistake of looking at Mr. Anderson and did a double take. The difference in his appearance was startling. His skin color was back to a more normal shade. He looked younger and fresher. Glancing at Mrs. Anderson I saw that she seemed to be looking better as well. Was this some kind of power I had?
Reverend Darcy came in at that moment and I quickly looked over at him to see if he was recovering. Much to my astonishment he was looking much, much better than when he had first come down to my basement prison. What was doing this? A shiver went down my spine. Hopefully the fact that Beckham, Mason, and Damon were supernatural creatures would prevent it from happening to them. Mason had seemed fine so far on the tour away from me.
Thinking of the three men in my life sent a rush of agony through my heart. I wondered if I would ever see them again. I didn't expect that they would be riding in on white horses to save me anytime soon. I had never mentioned the Reverend to any of them. What I wouldn't give to be wrapped up in one of Damon's hugs, or get one of Mason's passionate kisses, or hear Beckham's sweet laugh.
