Hi.
I’m still having a hard time comprehending what happened to me. I’ve just stolen a guy’s laptop (as you do), guessed the password and am typing this.
So, for context, my name is Eliza and I’m homeless. I ran away from home at age 10 because my father had started becoming… attracted to me. Let’s leave it at that. I don’t want to get into details.
I’ve been kind of wandering from town to town since for the past 2 years. Until I got to this little town named Blackthorne.
My first night there, I was looking for a place to sleep when I met a woman named Carolyn Adeena. Bumped into her on the street.
She was pretty. I remember that. Almost too pretty. Perfect red hair in waves, perfect teeth and skin and everything… almost fake. Like an exaggerated Madelaine Petsch, now I look back on it. At the time, though, her beauty seemed comforting and inviting.
She saw me sitting on the side of the road and threw me some money. “Hi!” she exclaimed happily. “What’s your name?”
“Eliza.” I answered.
“Eliza!” she exclaimed back. “Such a beautiful name! But I see you don’t have a place to stay, is that correct?”
I nodded.
“Well, come back to my house then!” she said. “You can stay there for a while!”
“No.” I said. I knew better than to trust those kinds of offers.
She frowned. “I know what you’re thinking.” she said. “I’m not one of those types. I swear. It honestly kind of stings you think of me like that. We just met and already you assume I’m going to kidnap you? No wonder no one gave you money before me if you treat them all like that. Not everyone’s a bad guy.”
I sighed. “Fine.” I said. “But you gotta show me around your house. I’m still…” I shut up, already ashamed of what I had said to her.
“Fine.” she said, taking my hand and pulling me along with her. “My name’s Carolyn, by the way. And I promise I’ll give you a better life.”
…….
I met Carolyn’s mother, Polly.
A homebound woman in her late 70s who was in a wheelchair and could barely talk. Her teeth were black and she couldn’t even go to the bathroom by herself. It was a bit sad being in her proximity.
But Carolyn was always so cheerful. And true to her word, she never once tried any funny business on me. She gave me a trundle bed in her room, we had movie nights, I had enough to eat for once…
For about a week, things were good.
…….
Until the day I woke up locked in my room, the door locked from the outside. There was no window, so I was trapped.
I could hear voices outside. A sense of dread filled me. I pressed my ear to the door, but only heard little snippets of conversation.
“-suitable friend-“
“-Thelma deserves the best-“
“-no one will notice-“
“-homeless kid-“
I started mildly panicking, wondering what they were going to do to me. And then the door opened and a woman walked in.
She was plump and grey-haired, with a double chin. She wore a purple headband and a red robe with a gold braided belt. She looked at me and said,
“I’m going to get you out of here. This can’t continue.”
“What?” I said. “What can’t continue?”
“Carolyn didn’t want to help you.” she said. “She only wants another friend for… her.”
“Who’s her?”
“Something that used to be my best friend.”
“Stop talking in riddles!” I whisper-yelled.
“Get that girl in here already!” yelled Carolyn’s voice from the next room. “Are you getting slower as you get fatter?” And then a laugh.
“Just let me play with her first!” came another woman’s voice.
At that point, I think I fainted.
When I came to, I was tied to a chair with what looked like an altar in front of me. A ring of red candles, on a red table cloth, and in the center, a picture of a freckled little girl with orange pigtails and glasses. The little girl was smiling, but even though it was a picture, something seemed… off about the smile. It didn’t feel genuine at all.
Carolyn, now dressed in a dark bluish-black robe with pictures of stars and moons all over it, stood and smiled at me. A smile not too dissimilar from the girl in the picture.
She held a dagger, with intricate pictures of stars and moons all over it. She gently poked my throat with it, but even that was enough to draw blood. We appeared to be in a basement of some kind, with six other people standing in a circle around us, including the woman from earlier.
“I said I would give you a better life, Eliza.” said Carolyn, wiping the blood off my throat with her finger and licking it off her finger. “And now, I will.”
“Can I play with her?” asked another woman in the circle, a brunette with pigtails.
“When she’s dead, Eve.” promised Carolyn.
She was about to fully drive the dagger through my throat when…
The grey haired woman from earlier knocked three candles off the table. The tablecloth quickly caught on fire, and spread to the carpet, and everyone started panicking.
I tried to wriggle out of my bonds, and the grey haired woman untied me when everyone else was panicking. She nodded to me and I flew up the stairs, breaking a window and running out, leaving the others to their fates. But I know they aren’t dead. Or at least I know the grey haired one isn’t dead. Because I saw her yesterday. In the woods, just when I was about to leave that horrible town.
We stared at each other in silent acknowledgement. But just before I left, I asked her a question.
“Hey, uh…” I said. “I never got your name.”
“It’s Violet.” she said.