The family secret

15 - Kelsey's sister

KELSEY

‘Everybody stays away from there.’ Justin said. ‘I need the room to examine her. Kelsey come with me. JJ bring me some water.’

Kelsey didn't want to come down there. She glanced over her shoulder to see Jaden held Ava in his arms. She was too young for this. She didn't know what was wrong with Shelly. None of her cousins did, not really. They didn't hear her scream at night while she had nightmares. She was crazy, she always were. Kelsey followed Justin, carefully stepping on the stairs. She held her breath when she saw Shelly laying on the dirty matrass. Justin had placed another light on her. She almost gave light herself; her skin was very pale. ‘Is she alive?’

‘Yes, she is breathing, but her heartbeat is slow. She needs to get out of here.’ Justin placed his hand on her forehead. ‘She is very cold.’

JJ walked downstairs with a bottle of water. Justin took it from him and placed the bottle on her blue lips. She didn't drink, she didn't respond, she just laid there.

‘Kelsey, how long has she been here?’ Justin asked.

‘How would I know?’ she spoke.

‘You live in the same house.’ JJ said harshly.

‘That doesn't mean I know what she is doing all day.’ Kelsey pushed him away, when he stepped closer. How would she know, she had her own problems to deal with.

‘Hey, stop fighting you two.’ Justin said. ‘Kelsey, take her back and JJ, hold her legs. We have to move her upstairs.’

Kelsey slowly walked over to the matrass. Now she was getting closer she saw how dirty the matrass was. Why was Shelly even down here?

‘Eh, Justin. I can't’ JJ pulled the bottom of her pajama pants a little up. ‘She is chained to the wall.’

‘Oh, God.’ Kelsey stroked Shelly's cheek with her fingers. ‘Please, wake up. You can't die in here, Shelly.’

‘Do that again. I think I saw her eyes move a bit.’ JJ said softly.

Kelsey stroked Shelly's cheek again and again. Shelly moved a little, made a few sounds, but didn't wake up. Was she too weak or didn't she want to?

SHELLY

She couldn't hear, see or feel anything for a while now. Nothing made sense. Where was I, she kept thinking. Darkness. Suddenly Shelly felt something. First it was just a feeling or a tingle, but the feeling kept on going, growing. Then she could hear something too. It was far, but definitely a voice. Jack. He was going to hurt her again. As she starts to whimper, the voice came back. It was not Jack; it was a woman. Slowly the pain came back. It made her stir and squeal.

‘Ssst. Easy, Shelly.’ another voice said.

Shelly almost drifted away again, but the feeling of someone touching her made her wake up. She couldn't open her eyes just yet, but she tried to talk. She could feel water flowing into her mouth. Someone was giving her water. Shelly managed to take a few sips, before she whimpered again.

‘Shelly.’ someone said.

‘Please, don't hurt me.’ Shelly told him. She crawled back against the wall. ‘Don't hurt me.’ Her hand was being held. She pulled her hand away. ‘Don't touch me.’

‘Sst, Shelly. We won't hurt you. Please tell us what happened.’ Shelly knew that voice. She opened her eyes slowly.

‘K-kelsey?’ Shelly asked. ‘W-what are you doing here? You can't be here.’ Then her eyes met JJ's and Justin's and she crawled even further back. ‘You have to leave. He will be very angry if he sees you here with me.’ Her eyes were scanning the walls of the small room to find the one tiny red dot above the door. She swallowed with some difficulty. Justin was still looking at her and gave her the bottle of water. ‘Why are you being nice to me?’ she asked. He never stood up for her. He had seen what his father did to her. They all did.

‘How long have you been down here?’ Justin simply asked.

Shelly shrugged her shoulders. She had slept most of the days. She only got some yoghurt every night and her medicine. It made her sleepy. ‘What day is it?’

‘Sunday.’ JJ answered.

‘Almost a week then. I was locked up in here on Monday.’ She rested her head against the wall. ‘Can you all please go now? It's not too late to leave. I don't think he knows yet.’

‘What do you mean?’ Kelsey asked with confusion on her face.

‘The camera.’ Shelly softly answered. Thought they really she wasn't being watched?

‘Is my dad watching you, while you are in here?’ JJ asked with disgust.

Shelly nods. ‘I have three in my bedroom as well.’ She closes her eyes. Why did she even bother explaining it to them? It was not like they were going to help her anyway.

‘Shelly, stay awake. Please, Shelly. Stay awake.’ Justin was kneeling really close to her. He placed his hands carefully on her shoulders, softly shaking her.

‘I'm just tired.’ Shelly said, before the dark greeted her with a warm embrace.

JUSTIN

‘Shit.’ he said. Shelly was unconscious again. Justin helped her lay down on the matrass. She probably didn't eat or drink much the last few days. She had said she was here since Monday. What kind of monster locks up a girl in a cold basement? He always knew his father was hard on her. He had hurt her too. Justin had seen him hit her and he had to stich her up a few times, but he never knew she was treated this badly. Kelsey and JJ were both disgusted by the idea of laying here all day. Shelly really needed to get out of here.

‘Why didn't I know she was down here?’ Kelsey asked with tears in her eyes. It was the first time Justin saw her like this towards her sister. They were never close. Kelsey hated her little sister more than anything. But they couldn't unsee how broken Shelly was. This was bad.

Justin had seen a bruise on her face, but it was faded. Her neck was also red. Maybe dad had squeezed it. He traced his finger softly of her collarbone, pushing away a little of her pajama shirt. He didn't like to see all the bruises left on her, but he had to know how badly hurt she was. He pulled away her shirt to look at her stomach. The three of them held they breath. She had a big bruise from her rib cage to her side, another bruise next to her navel and lots of scars.

‘Now I know why she always wears long sleeve clothes.’ Kelsey cried. ‘It was not because she tries to hide how thin she is. She tries to hide her scars and bruises. She hides she is being abused.’

‘She really needs to get out of here.’ Justin told them again. He hid her stomach once again. He took a tweezer and tried to unlock the chain on her ankle.

‘Let me do it.’ JJ said. Justin had no idea how to open something like that. He had only seen it in movies, but JJ seemed to know what he was doing and opened the chain within a few minutes. He even picked up Shelly. Kelsey and Justin walked behind him out of the basement. JJ was carrying her to the living room and placed her on of the huge couches. Jaden walked in with shock on his face. ‘Jade get us some blankets.’ JJ commanded.

Justin was confused of JJ's reaction. JJ had taken over control and was giving orders now. ‘What are we going to do?’ Justin asked. ‘She can't stay here.’

‘She can't go to the hospital either. She has no ID and no passport. She doesn't exist remember?’ Kelsey asked.

AVA

Looking from a distant she saw Justin examine Shelly. Ava hadn't seen Shelly in almost two years. She never came on the family holidays, never came to church or family dinners for that matter. Ava nearly forgot she existed, until today.

‘These bruises seem to be a few days old.’ Justin said. ‘She's been hit several times, maybe kicked too. Father must have been very angry for some reason.’

Fear struck Ava in the gut. She had seen dad angry this week. He was angry with Jaden and her. ‘He-he was..’ Ava started. Heads spun around to look at her. They hadn't seen her standing in the doorway.

‘Ava, why are you not in the kitchen anymore?’ Justin asked, draping the unconscious girl with blankets Jaden brought. ‘I don't want you to see her like this.’

‘Dad was very angry with me on Wednesday. He walked outside for a bit and said he had to hit something. This is my fault.’ She said. Tears were forming in her eyes. Dad had hurt Shelly because of her.

‘No, this is not your fault. Dad is been abusing Shelly for years now. We all knew. We all looked away and did nothing. She doesn't even deserve it. She is innocent.’ JJ said. Ava could see he was hurt by it. ‘I even decided to move to Denver because of it.’ Well, now it all made sense.

‘Wait, you all knew?’ Ava asked. Her voice was trembling with fear and anger. ‘You all knew dad was abusing Shelly? What is wrong with all of you? Why didn't you stop this?’ She walked closer to the couch her cousin was laying on. Her hair wasn't shiny; it was knotted and dirty. There was even blood in her hair. ‘Did you see this?’ she asked pointing toward Shelly hair. The red in her hair wasn’t hard to miss. It looked like it has been bleeding for a while.

‘Damnit.’ Justin said. ‘The lighting was bad down there. We only saw her bruises on her stomach.’ He held his hand on her head. ‘She is still too cold. Maybe she needs a bath?’

‘Why not bring her to the hospital?’ Ava asked. Everyone looked at her, but also didn't, like they were hiding something from her. ‘What?’

‘Ava, ehm...’ JJ started.

Kelsey shook her head. ‘She can't, Ava.’

‘Why?’ She felt totally left out. Why didn't she know any of this?

‘After Shelly was born, my mother told anyone who knew she was pregnant, the baby had died during labor. Shelly doesn't exist, no one knows who she is, except our family and a few of the staff members.’

A door was suddenly slammed open with a loud bang. Five men in black barked into the living room. In front of the men was Conner. They all loved Conner. But he was also father's right man.

‘Bring her to my car.’ father spoke with a strict voice. Shelly was taken by Conner. She was laying in his arms now. Father slowly walked into the living room and scanned all of them standing there. ‘Well, what do we have here? You broke her out of her chambers. Isn't it cute.’ Father grew a grin on his face. Ava couldn't believe her eyes. She didn't even recognize her own father anymore. ‘I hope you will take a good glance at her one more time, because she is going away and she is not coming back this time.’

This time? Ava's eyes looked to see all her brothers and Kelsey looking pale and scared at her father. What did he mean by this time? Has she disappeared before? What was father going to do with her?