Chapter Thirty-Six

He acts like last night never happened. The right side of my head feels sore and I'm sure my cheek is bruised, but I don't have a mirror to check. I'm sitting at the dinner table, some stale bread, molding cheese, and old grey meat is sitting before me, but I'm unable to look at it. Instead I watch him eat the spoiled food like he genuinely thinks it tastes good. He's talking to me about the vanity he's building for me, and how he'll go to town when it's finished to buy me some makeup.

I nod to him, to show him that I'm listening, all while trying to hide my disgust for his existence.

"Here, eat some of this." He hands me some more meat, which looks even more spoiled than the meat that I have. I force out a quiet "Thank you" and take the food.

"Your hair is looking a bit softer today." I can feel him staring at me, but I can't bring myself to look him in the eyes, so instead I focus on the rotting meat that he had given me. I wonder just how much longer it has before maggots begin to eat at it, and then I can't help but wonder how much time I have until maggots begin to eat at me.

"Do you enjoy your dresses?" He questions me, and I nod. "They look lovely on you."

"Thank you." I'm repeating myself. I can't stop thinking about his hand reaching up my leg. I can't stop thinking about how much I wanted him to shoot me at that moment.

If I were to get out of this situation, where would I even go? My plan was to go my Uncle Riley's house, but was there a point now? I could return home, with Ellie gone there is no evidence that I had anything to do with the crime of Levi's family.

I could go home, but I would be alone.

I dwell on that thought. We should never have left. I was so eager to help Ellie, to take him to Riley's to see if he could help him. Now, I don't know why I did. I was comfortable back at home. I was comfortable when it was just me and Ellie. I could have hidden him, nobody would know he even killed anyone.

Marley suddenly swung his arm at his glass of wine, making the cup fly across the room, hitting the wall in a loud crash. I jump in my seat and look up at him. He is staring at me with an intense look, "Answer me when I fucking talk to you."

Did he ask me something? I was so lost in thought I hadn't heard. "I'm sorry." I say, ducking my head, "What did you say?"

He seemed to calm at my steady voice, I notice when I keep my voice light and sweet, it soothes his anger. It does nothing to soothe me.

"Your food," He points to it, "You're not eating it, why?"

"I'm sorry," I say again, "I'm not hungry this evening." I want to ask him why he never has any fresh food, why he only eats things that seem to be months old. I want to ask him why he hasn't died of liver failure yet, and why his body won't just fucking drop dead.

But I don't.

"Are you feeling well?" And as if a switch has flipped within him, he's acting like he cares about me, like it wasn't him that nearly killed me last night.

"I'm just a little tired." It wasn't a lie, I couldn't sleep last night, and there was no way I was going to be able to tonight, either.

He nods and tells me that I can go to bed early, and so we are both walking back to the bedroom, and I've never been so happy to be locked in a room alone. I don't feel safe in the room, because I know he could do the same thing as he did last night, he could come in any time he wants. But, still, in the solace of the four walls, I feel like I can breathe.

Hours tick by, and I'm laying on the bed, listening to the wind outside grow stronger, and stronger, until rain begins to thrash on the roof, and thunder screams against the house.

The storm comforts me, because it distracts my thoughts. I hadn't realized how overbearing the silence was, until the rain saves me.

I lay in the bed scared to fall asleep, but also scared to be awake. I'm so focused on the sound of the storm, that I hear a faint buzz, and the light underneath the door goes out.

The power went out.

I sit up, the room was already dark before, but without the faint light underneath the door, I was in pitch darkness. I felt a lot more vulnerable without it.

I hear Marley cussing, and his footsteps getting closer and closer to the door. I crawl all the way to the back of the bed, pressing myself against the bedpost. The door unlocks and swings open. Marley walks in. I smell it again, the alcohol. I don't know why he's in here, I don't know why my room is where he feels he needs to go when the rest of the house is blanketed in shadows.

I don't know why he doesn't just kill me.

"The power is out." He tells me like I don't already know. I can barely make out his features, it's so dark I only see his black figure among the darkness. He climbs on the bed and reaches out to touch my chin. His hand is wet, as he speaks, "Went outside, generator stalled, won't be back on until the wind stops." I want the light back on now. I only see his figure, but it's shaped like a monster and I want to scream.

"Please don't." I'm begging, I don't know how to get out of this again. I don't know how to fight him off again, there's no point, eventually he will kill me, and it could possibly be tonight.

He is laying all the way on top of me now, his body is heavy, and I feel like I'm suffocating. My head is turned away from him, I'm staring blankly at the open bedroom door, imagining myself running through it. He's kissing my neck, and I'm lost in a daze. The only light visible is the lighting that sporadically bleeds through the cracks of the boarded-up windows that are down the hall. I count each time the light blinks into the house. I try to ignore Marley's hands reaching to unbutton my dress. I try to ignore the horrendous smell of alcohol on his breath. I try to ignore the tears that fall down my face.

He's about to pull my dress off when a tall shadow moves and stands in the door. I study the shadow that is shaped like a tall figure, for a moment I wonder if I'm seeing things, and I wouldn't be surprised if I was. I blink a few times, and the more I look at the figure, the more I'm sure I'm not imagining it.

I blink again, and like that, the figure is gone, and Marley is ripped off of me. I sit up, quickly pulling my dress back on, when I hear Marley scream out a blood-curdling scream. A wet crack erupts in the room, like a bone breaking in half, along with more screams from Marley. I can't see what is happening, but I can make out Marley slumped on the floor, and someone hovering over him. There is a final pop, like his neck has just been broken, before the room falls silent, and I know that he's dead.