My husbands secrets and lies

Episode Seven: Escaping

Just as I was about to open the door leading to the basement, I heard someone approaching and entering the house. I quickly hid behind a large closet in one of the dark rooms. I notice that it’s the same room and bed as in the video and that there is a video camera on a tripod facing the bed. I think about the girl on the tape and about all the tapes with different names on them. How many girls were filmed here, and what happened to all of them? Did they also end up in the ocean like the girl we had found? If only she had answered me when I called the other day. I could have saved her. She was probably looking for a phone to call for help. Right now, I need to save myself from this situation. Nick might find the broken bowl with the keys missing and know someone is in the house. I already know that he is an expert at checking houses for people. And that he has a rifle.

I heard a man’s voice and recognised it to be Nick’s. He is talking to someone on the phone;

“I’m sorry, Ok. I didn’t think she would jump into the middle of the ocean!” (Pause as someone talks to him…)

“Don’t worry, I took care of that, that is no longer an issue.” (Pause as someone talks to him…)

“The other one is still secure; I will take care of her tonight.” (Pause as someone talks to him…)

“Why do I always get blamed for everything, it’s not my fault the b***h got out.” (Pause as someone talks to him…)

“I think they are leaving in the morning. Thank god, that woman, Amanda, is quite the nosy one. Not stupid, I’ll tell you that. Wait a minute…fuck!” he shouts. (Pause as someone talks to him…)

“My keys are gone, and someone has been going through my things, including the tapes. It must be her. I’ll call you back, just get your ass over here. I’m done dealing with all this s**t alone!” he says and then hangs up the phone.

“Amanda! Are you in here?” he asks loudly and the first thing he does is close the front door and he locks it.

“Come out, come out wherever you are! We should talk about this before someone gets hurt.” He says in a creepy, crazy voice. I hold my breath and then sigh with relief when he walks towards the opposite end of the house. He returns to the living room next to the study room and starts looking behind the curtain, couches and bookcases. I must get out of this room, it’s just a matter of time before he finds me in here. I sneak out while he is occupied and slip into the basement. Maybe there is a door or window leading outside from there. I close the door slowly behind me and lock it quietly with the key, still in my hand. At least he can’t get in here. The staircase leading to the basement is dark, but as I start to make my way down, it gets lighted up by motion, sensing lights that turn on by itself when I move past them. Downstairs it does the same and the scene is even worse than the house above.

On the floor there are dirty dishes lying around, with food in them that I wouldn’t even feed to an animal. The smell is unbearable and there are blood spats on the walls and dried up blood on the floor in what appears to be drag marks. In one corner is an open cage, with chains and handcuffs lying on the floor.There are faeces and urine on the floor as well. I started to walk to the other side of the basement, looking for an escape door or window. As I move in, the motion light on the other side lights up, revealing a second cage, with a girl still locked in and constrained to the bars. I rushed over to her, my hands shaking as I tried to find the keys for the cages on the bunch of keys I had found. I find one to unlock the cage and then I continue looking for the one to unlock the chains around her feet and the handcuffs around her wrists. I unlocked both and then pulled off the tape covering her mouth.

“Please help me! He is going to kill me!” She cries, tears streaming down her face. She clings to me like her life depends on it.

“Who are you, why are you here?” I asked.

“My name is Keisha. I came here with my friend. He invited her to this island, and she asked me to come with her. At first, everything was fun; the boat rides, the waterfall and the partying. But then they became violent and they started beating us, r****g us and humiliating us. I want to go home. Please help me get off this island. Please!”

“What happened to your friend? Who are they?” I continued to ask.

“Emily managed to escape a few nights ago, he found her hiding in the forest and he brought her back here. He beat her for hours and then dragged her outside in the middle of the night. He said they were going for a ride. She never came back.” She sobs.

“Who brought you to this island, how long have you been here?” I asked again, but before she could answer me, I heard someone banging on the door.

“Open up b***h! I know you’re down there!” he screams as he starts to bang the door with an object, trying to break the lock.

“Is there any way out of here?” I asked the girl, who seemed to have frozen in fear.

“No! There is a door there but it’s locked and the window has been cemented closed!” She says in a panic.

“Find something sharp or hard and go back inside the cage.” I told her.

"NO! I can’t go back in there, please help me; we need to get out!” she screams. The door breaks open, I grab an empty tin from the floor and push the girl back in the cage and get in myself. I then lock it and we both move to the corner where he cannot reach us. Everything goes dark as we have moved out of the light’s motion sensors.

Then the first light begins to flicker as it is warming up. Nick appears in the light carrying an axe that he had used to break open the door and then the second light turns on when he moves forward, exposing us in the corner. Nick has a crazy look in his eyes while he smirks as he says:

“You really think you are safe in there”, he says, laughing, and then continues.

“Keisha, Keisha, what have I told you about pissing me off!!” he says as the smile disappears from his face and is replaced by a sudden outburst of anger. Keisha is clawing into my arms with fear and hiding her face in my lap like a frightened child would.

“And you! You nosy f*****g b***h! Who do you think you are, coming into my house and snooping around my personal belongings? I knew you were going to be trouble,” he says.

“What do you want? Just let us go, you cannot keep me here, they will come and look for me!” I tried to negotiate. He suddenly looks even more angry and pulls out a gun.

“That’s not my fault. IT’S NOT MY FAULT!” he shouts while connecting a silencer to the gun. Keisha is now almost curled up in a fetal position as she tries to hide behind me with her head hidden away behind my back.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Keisha, come to me!” he orders her. She is so afraid of him that she starts to move forward and towards him in obedience and fear.

“No, Keisha, stay behind me!”, I told her and tried to stop her by extending my arm as she tried to pass. But she pushes my hand away, falls to her knees and starts begging for her life as she surrenders to him.

“Please, I’m sorry, please, I’m sorry”, she keeps repeating, her head is down on the floor and she doesn’t make eye contact with him, just like he probably trained her to. He points the gun to her head through the bars and pulls the trigger. She falls to the floor, face fist and the pool of blood forms around her head, where the bullet has entered. Her blood and brain-matter splashed all over my face and clothes because I was standing so close behind her.

I get to the corner again, but I know that I am f****d, and I have no where to run to. I sank into the corner and felt the tin I had collected before entering the cage.

“You won’t get away with this! Phillip will look for me!” I said in a final attempt to make him think about the ramifications. He stops, suddenly looking nervous and says,

“It’s not my fault! Why did you have to come in here and ruin everything? This is not my fault! This is all your fault,” he says. He taps the gun’s point against his head and starts pacing up and down nervously, as though he is trying to decide what to do, trying to decide whether he should kill me or not? Why is he hesitating? While he is mumbling to himself and still pacing up and down, I remove the lid from the tin that had been opened almost all the way. It only took two turns for the lid to come off. I slipped it in my back pocket and slowly got up. He doesn’t even notice me moving towards the door and slowly unlocking it. The next moment, he was in front of me blocking my exit, but I still took my chance. I pushed the gate towards him using all my strength, swiftly and fast. I managed to hit him with the bars of the door on his head, slightly knocking him off balance and giving me enough space to get out. Pumped with adrenaline, I retrieved the tin lid from my pocket and, using the sharp-cut edge, I swung it against his throat. He grabs his throat, dropping the gun to the floor as blood starts to stream down his neck. His eyes are wide as he falls to the floor still clutching his throat and gasping for air. I ran past him, up the stairs and down the hallway. But the front door is still locked. I’m still trapped inside the boarded-up house. The keys must be on him. I returned to the basement door and looked down the dark stairway with light coming from the basement, indicating that he was still down there. I slowly and cautiously made my way down the stairs. I saw him lying face down on the floor. Gurgling sounds are coming from his mouth and throat and his body is shaking as he is bleeding out. I must have cut an artery. I picked up the gun next to him and walked towards him. I bent down and felt his left-side pocket. Nothing. As I go for the right side, he suddenly grabs my leg. Startled, I shoot him in his head and his whole body goes limp. I got the keys and went back upstairs. I opened the door and walked into the fresh ocean air and started running towards the house.

“Help! “I shouted as I walked through the door. But the house is quiet.

“Phillip! Alice! Megan!” I started calling my family, but no answer. I ran outside and spotted Phillip, coming around the corner from the driveway. He saw me and I ran to him.

“Where is everyone!?" I yelled. He started running towards me.

“Where have you been all morning? The staff and children left for the airport; we will meet them there after the police arrive. There is a storm coming and if we don’t leave today, we will be stranded here for another two days.” He explains and then looks at me and says:

“Why are you bleeding? What happened?”

I looked down and saw my hand was bleeding profusely.

“It must have been the lid. I need help! He killed her! He killed both of them! He is dead. I killed him. I killed Nick.” I said. The adrenaline has worn out and I feel completely drained and weak. I fall to the ground as everything starts to blur and then goes dark.