BELLA didn't know she was sleeping until she woke to Mommy's face right in front of hers. She jumped and sat straight up, staring into Mommy's hate-filled eyes.

"Open up. You're good at that, aren't you?" Mommy asked, her head tilted to the side as she held a piece of bread up to Bella's lips.

Bella opened her mouth and chewed on the piece of wheat bread, before Mommy pressed a water bottle to her lips and slid the liquid down her dry throat. Bella felt an inexplicable sensation; it felt good it felt to finally fill her stomach and ease her dried throat, even if it was just a small amount. Her headache almost instantly subsided as she finished nearly the entire water bottle in one swallow.

Mommy stood and wobbled a little bit, clearly drunk again as she grabbed onto the wall. Bella looked around to find no sight of Cole or Elliot, and the door was open.

"W-where did my brothers go?" Bella asked, looking around the empty room again.

"Come with me," Mommy said, grabbing Bella's bare shoulder and threading her arm through hers. Bella's heart skipped a beat when she noticed they were heading towards the door.

For the first time, Bella saw the corridor of the basement, outside of their tiny room. The walls were strips of wood and stained with indeterminable liquids, and the room smelled of dull mold. There were two doors on both sides of the dark space, and a staircase directly in front of Bella which lead to the door for upstairs. Bella saw lights through the bottom slit of the door and heard heavy rock music thumping and vibrating the floorboards.

Mommy opened the door to the right to expose a closet-sized bathroom. It consisted of a bathtub, a toilet, and a dirt-streaked sink with a shattered mirror hanging on the wall above it.

Bella could hear the sound of bathwater running and Cole and Elliot's heavy breaths before the door was even fully open. She noticed that Cole still had his hands tied behind his back, and Elliot was against Cole's legs, shaking and staring up at them with big eyes.

Mommy shoved Bella in there with them, and Bella gasped as she almost hit into Elliot but caught her balance against the wall. She turned and looked at Mommy who leaned against the doorway, staring at the three of them individually.

"You have twenty minutes to bathe. I left a towel for each of you, I will bring clothes to you guys. You are filthy. You must wash all of your filth off or I will be too disgusted to go near you. This door," Mommy slurred, her hand slapping against the door she was leaning against, "will be locked. So don't try anything."

Mommy's eyes locked onto Bella's before they flicked towards Cole.

"Turn around, both of you," she demanded.

Bella turned around along with Cole and felt Mommy cut the ropes off her tied wrists, allowing them air. She looked at her freed wrists and smiled a bit in extreme relief.

"I don't know how much I trust your older brother," Mommy said, and Bella watched as she used the switchblade to slice through Cole's ropes. They fell to the ground and his bloody wrists were finally free as well. "Not that I trust you, slut, but I know you wouldn't stand a chance against my boyfriend."

Bella's eyebrows furrowed - she believed that she could put up a good fight, she just wasn't stupid enough to attempt escaping yet.

Mommy smiled, her wrinkled lips reaching her eyes. "I'll be back in twenty minutes."

Mommy tripped out the door before it slammed shut behind her, and the three of them were trapped in the small bathroom. They could barely move, but Bella instantly knelt down to Elliot's height.

"Come on, lets get you in the bath first, okay?" she said, and Elliot nodded, pulling his dirty clothes off.

When Elliot stepped into the tub, he started whining. "The water is too hot," he said quietly, his eyes watering.

"I know, baby, just try to deal with it for right now. We have to hurry," Bella answered softly, quickly taking control and scrubbing a bar of soap through his light blond hair.

Bella heard Cole struggling with the doorknob, so she looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Cole? She just said it's locked."

Cole didn't look at Bella. He looked around the enclosed area in attempt to find something to break the door with, and Bella took a breath in anger.

"Cole, stop it!" she whispered angrily, and Cole's light eyes finally locked on hers. "I know you want to get out. So do Elliot and I, but she is going to end up catching you and for the sake of our lives, please don't try to make her mad. We're getting out of here soon," Bella said while rinsing the soap out of Elliot's hair. "I have a plan."

Elliot smiled widely, looking up at Bella and squinting his eyes.

"We're getting out of here?" he asked excitedly.

"Yes, I have a plan. I am hoping it works."

Cole leaned against the door and stared at Bella. "What's your plan?" he asked.

Bella stood up and wiped her wet hands off on her bare legs, reaching for Elliot's towel. "I will earn her trust," she answered, a small smile on her lips at the thought of her plan working out.

Cole looked at her in disbelief, shaking his head. "That woman hates you."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "That's why I said earn," Bella shook her head, grabbing one of the towels Mommy left and wrapping it around Elliot's body as he stood in the draining tub.

"How will you manage that?" Cole tested, his eyes lightening in amusement at Bella's obvious irritation.

Bella sighed as she decided to ignore his question. She looked expectantly at Cole, her fingers gripping the ends of her small undershirt.

"Don't look," she demanded grimly, and she heard him sigh heavily as he turned around and faced the wall.

"I don't understand how earning her trust will get us out of here," Cole said, his forehead against the drywall as Bella finished taking her clothes off. "It seems like it will only make things worse."

"You'll see," Bella answered, lowering herself into the scorching water of the tub. "It's not for you to worry about. I have it under control."

When she was done scrubbing the soap through her damp strands of hair and over her body, she stood up and took a towel, wrapping it around herself as the water drained.

"I feel like shit," Cole said, leaning his flushed cheek against the wall and closing his eyes.

Bella drained her sopping strands of hair out in the tub, before stepping out. "We all do. We don't have much time and she's going to be mad if you don't take a bath."

"I don't care what she thinks," Cole said, his tone angry. "She's so fucked up right now, she'll probably forget about us and leave us alone to die in here."

Elliot almost instantly started whining after Cole said that, before he gradually began sobbing into his little hands.

Bella faced Cole with anger in her eyes. "Really?" she asked, walking over to Elliot.

She knelt down and pulled the towel over his shoulders more, staring into his watery eyes.

"It's okay, we're not going to die in here. Cole doesn't know what he's talking about, as usual," Bella said, glaring at Cole as she expected him to smirk but he didn't. Bella rolled her eyes and looked at Elliot again, nodding reassuringly. "Okay? You're not going to die, I won't allow it."

Elliot stopped crying and Bella wiped the tears off his flushed cheeks with her thumb.

Cole slipped his torn-up shirt off and groaned under his breath. That's when Bella noticed that all across his torso and abdomen were scratches, long scratches from Mommy and her boyfriend, but something was different about them. The red wounds were dark inside, leaking and oozing with dark and pale, fizzing liquid.

Bella had to put her hand to her mouth, as she felt bile rising in her throat the second she saw them.

"Your cuts are really infected," Bella said, her words muffled by her fingers covering her lips.

Cole's eyes widened a little before he looked down at his chest and ran his fingers along the base of his wounds, sucking air through his teeth in agony. "Fuck," he swore, his voice gravelly.

"Uh, okay, don't worry," Bella said in panic, looking around frantically.

She stood on the tips of her toes to place the back of her hand against his forehead, which was hot to the touch, and she knew instantly that he was in a lot of trouble. The area around his eyes were swollen and his face was clammy, flushed, and feverish.

As Cole sat on the edge of the bathtub, she took the corner of her towel and wet it with water from the tub, gently touching it to his infected wounds. She knew it would do absolutely nothing, but her mind was swimming.

"Bella," Cole groaned her name in pain as she dabbed the wet towel against his cuts, "Take it easy."

Before she could continue, Bella heard the door creek open, and she instantly froze.

There were footsteps stepping towards her, and she knew it was coming. Cole's eyes were huge, and Elliot was shaking in fear beside her.

Bella could barely understand what was happening before somebody grabbed a fistful of her hair from behind. She yelped in shock and her eyes squeezed shut in pain.

"Leave your brother alone, filthy whore!" Mommy cried out, and the last moment Bella remembered was her face hitting the corner of the tub before she blacked out.

_

long chapter lol but sorry if this was all over the place and messy, i wrote this in like twenty minutes to bang it out for you guys before i go away!