Does Your Lack of Conscience Tell You Everything's Alright?

Let it be known that I am not the first victim of Jeffery's evil hold. There was a little girl before me. Marie was her name. Or the name he gave her. She was from a town about four hours away. She was his little girl for awhile but she became too difficult and too much like a woman. Jeffery let her go when she was fifteen. However, she never made it past the front lawn. He shot her when she took off running. Poor thing didn’t stand a chance against a bullet. Jeffery was nice enough to leave her body on her parents' doorstep though.

He has that bullet still, in a frame on the wall.

I'm nineteen now and I figure he'll kill me soon too.

It’s a bit reassuring.

Funny thing, Marie's parents were not a friend of Jeffery's. They didn't know who he was. So he didn't lock her in the basement.

I met Marie once. She came over one day with Jeffery. I remember her being so pale and tired. She was thin. Too thin in my opinion. But she was a nice girl. She seemed excited to play with me.

Probably because she was starved for human contact.

Jeffery tells me the story of Marie often. And I feel somewhat lucky. I'm still allowed to go to my dance lessons. I was allowed to start competing with a group. If it weren't for the competition team at Apollo's Dance Academy, I would be going crazy.

If I am not a good girl, he'll take that away from me.

The only reason Jeffery keeps me alive must be due to my tiny frame. Or that's what I believe. At only five foot three and under one hundred pounds, I still look like a child. That's how Jeffery likes it. Marie was five foot eight. That's much too tall for Jeffery, though his six foot body towers over everyone.

I'm not ashamed to say I'm afraid of him.

I am ashamed, however, that a thirteen year old could be taller than me. I'm still the same height I was when I was twelve. Lack of nourishment has caused my body to stunt my growth.

There's nothing I can do about that now.

Now that Marie is gone, I am Jeffery's little girl. He keeps me as a little girl. The sheets of my bedroom in the basement are decorated in fairytale princesses and fairies. I have a giant teddy bear. I use children's toothpaste. I'm so thin that I don't get my period anymore.

I'm still a little kid. I guess others would assume I am by looking at me.

They would know if they would just talk to me. They would know I'm almost twenty. If they saw the bones poking under my skin and read the doctor's reports, they would know.

No one cares enough to ask questions. No one will ever ask questions. No one will ever wonder.

I'll probably be dead soon anyway.

The front door opens and shuts.

Jeffery is home.

"Elizabeth," he calls.

And he has no one with him.

He only calls for me when there is no one else around.

I wonder how Marie dealt with constantly being in the open. People constantly around that she couldn't tell her problems too.

"Elizabeth," he calls again.

"I'm coming," I call back, rushing up the stairs.

I can't make him wait too long. Then I'd be a bad girl. Who knows what would happen then?

I walk into the hallway. He is putting his coat and hat on the rack. His eyes catch a glimpse of me and he smiles.

That smile scares the hell out of me.

"Come give me a kiss," he commands gently.

I force my feet to walk closer him. My brain is screaming, telling me to run.

But where can I run to?

He is too tall for me to reach, even on the balls of my feet. He leans down, captures my lips with his, pushing my shoulders. My back hits the wall. His hand slides into my pants.

This is what always happens.