Prologue
“Nothing can save you from the monsters.
Not love, not the power of the stars, not even fairy dust.”
Neil
It was the twenty-fifth of November.
Rain pattered on the windows.
Mom still hadn’t come back from work, and she’d called to let Kimberly know she’d be late.
My babysitter had then decided to take a shower and left me alone for a few moments. As soon as she left, I thought,It’s all up to me.I had to save myself and stop the woman who had been hurting me for a year at that point. So, naked and covered in sweat, I got up off the couch. The irritation around my genitals made me grimace in pain. But I tried not to dwell on it because I had a concrete goal: Get to the phone. The sound of running water from the bathroom meant I still had some time left in which to act. I screwed up all my courage and grabbed the phone to call 911.
Trembling in fear, I felt tears building up in the corners of my eyes. I swiped them rapidly with the backs of my hands and waited for the operator to pick up.
“Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?”
I sucked in a breath at the sound of the man’s stern voice and spoke, despite my fear.
“I’m at home alone. My parents aren’t here. There’s a woman here with me. She’s hurting me… She does things to me that she’s not supposed to do. I-I… Please help me…” It all came out in one terrified breath, and then I heard Kimberly calling for me. My eyes bulged, and I immediately hung up, running back to the couch so she wouldn’t get suspicious.
She wanted to play with me again. This time, though, would be the last time.
“Neil.” Kim strode toward me wrapped in a white bathrobe. “Go wait for me down in the basement with Megan,” she ordered, and I hesitated. For a moment, I’d forgotten entirely about the little girl downstairs. “What are you waiting for? Get a move on!” I flinched when she yelled at me but got up from the couch and crouched down to pick up my underwear. She came closer to me, though, and I froze. “No, don’t get your clothes back on.” She gave me an impish grin and stepped aside, gesturing for me to go past her. I just nodded and, shaking, went down to the basement.
It was cold down there, and the cold seemed to sink inside my skin. The light was dim, and there wasn’t a lot of furniture down there. Immediately, my attention was caught by Megan’s sobs. She was naked as well, standing in front of a camera.
I was just a boy, but I had known for a while what Kim had in mind.
“Neil…” Megan moved cautiously toward me, one arm clasped over her chest, though I wasn’t looking at her naked body. “What is she going to make us do?” She wiped away a tear with the back of her hand and stroked her long black hair compulsively.
“I don’t know.” I lied so as not to scare her. “But I called the police. All we have to do is pretend for a little while,” I whispered to her as I cast a furtive glance back up the stairs to see if Kim was coming down.
“The police?” Megan managed. “Do you think they’ll…come here?” She blinked in bewilderment.
“Of course.” But I wasn’t sure, actually. I hadn’t even had time to tell them my address. I prayed, though, that somehow the man on the phone would be able to get here and rescue us.
“I think they’re ready, but I’ll try it and see.” I heard Kimberly’s voice and then the sound of the door shutting. She was on the phone. Megan hidbehind me, and I tried to be strong for her. “I understand that the buyers are getting impatient, Ryan, but Neil is still too unruly…”
Kim began to walk down the stairs. Her shadow crept ominously along the dimly lit wall. As she advanced on us, her shadowy silhouette looked more and more like some skulking monster. “Yeah, okay. I’ll remember. I have to go now. I’ll call you back later,” she said testily before hanging up the phone.
When she got down to the last steps, I could see she’d gotten dressed in a basic pair of jeans and a sweater. She tucked her phone into her back pocket and approached us before sitting down in a wooden chair. Never once did she take her eyes off our bodies.
“Christ, look how pathetic you are. Why are you shaking?” Kim crossed one leg over the other and sighed in irritation. “Megan, stand over there next to Neil and stop blubbering. Ryan’s coming to pick you up in an hour, and he’ll be very angry if he finds out you weren’t minding me,” she snapped.
The little girl came over by my side, her eyes downcast and her legs clenched tightly together. Kimberly was silent for a few moments before bursting into laughter, flinging her blond hair over one shoulder. I could never predict her mood swings, and I suspected that she was crazy as well as evil.
“I don’t know what to do with you two. Each of you is worse than the other one.” She shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Ryan and I taught you all of this for one specific purpose,” she continued. “And today is the day you’re going to put it all into practice. So quit wasting my time,” she barked irritably before stretching out an arm to turn on the camcorder. The bright light blinded me immediately. I covered my eye with one hand, the other still between my legs. Megan hid herself behind me and started crying again, which annoyed Kimberly. She got up with a huff.
“All we’re doing is making a movie,” she explained, putting her hands on her hips. “And you two are going to be the main characters. You’ll play Peter and Wendy. It’s nothing to be afraid of.” She waved a lazy hand through the air before sitting back down.
“Now, Neil,” she called out again, her voice so hard that it made me flinch. “Show Megan how you love a woman,” she ordered.
I turned to look at the little girl then, and she shied away from me, afraid.
I knew what my babysitter wanted me to do to Megan, but I couldn’t bring myself to act like Kimberly.
