I’ve been in these cells for the past two days, being fed crappy, tasteless food. I guess that it’s better than not getting anything to eat, at least they are not making me starve to death. There wasn’t a clock or calender on this floor, matter of fact, on any floor, so I never knew the time or the date.

I’m not sure that I even know how many days I’ve been missing so far, besides what my dad told me. What if he was lying just to get me to shut up? If he did, then he did a damn good job. I’m actually glad that he isn’t alive anymore, call me evil all you want.

After a while, I heard keys. I heard the gate being unlocked, the footsteps of someone coming down the stairs. The footsteps were getting closer as I heard the person step in front of my cell. I was the only person in the basement, so it got quite lonely.

Across from me was a dead body. I have no idea how long this person’s body has been dumped here, or who this person is. This place frickin smells bad. The body was covered with a plastic bag.

My cell was unlocked, and the person walked in. Looking up, it looked like a woman. She puts a tray of food down in front of me, then stands up and takes a step back. She just stands there and looks at me. I’m sick of these people not saying anything. Do they have a no talking policy or something?

“You need to eat Alice.”

I looked up with shock, so they do talk, but only when it suits them.

“Why should I eat when you guys will kill me any way?”

I pushed the food aside, refusing to put my hands on it. If they want me dead, then they might as well just do it.

“You won’t get killed, just eat.”

“Why? Isn’t that your goal?”

“Cause I won’t allow them!” She whispered yelled.

I looked up at the woman surprised. The woman then lowered her cap, exposing her face. I gasped with shock as I saw her face. It was my mother, standing before me, in the flesh.

“Mom? But how?”

“Shhh. Eat up, I’ll come and get you later. I need to go now, or I’ll blow my cover.” She whispered.

All I do is nod, and watch as my mother put the cap over her head again. She blows me a quick kiss, as she leaves and then locks the gate. She looks at me one last time then walks away. Just as I was starting to lose hope, my mother comes to my rescue. Deep down, I really thought that I was going to die.

I do as mother has told me to do. I take my tray of food, and move over to the corner, and happily finish it all. I noticed that the food tasted different, like when you eat a good home cooked meal. I’ll need to question my mom about that later. I feel like she added some magic secretly.

Later in the middle of the night, she came back as she had promised me. She quietly unlocked the cell and came in. I had tons of questions to ask her and she knew it. When she came in, she sat down with her knees crossed in front of me. I couldn’t help myself and I hugged her tight, I thought that I was never going to see her again. I let go of her, and she kissed me on the cheek, the forehead and my lips.

“How did you know where I was?”

“Questions later my dear. How are you feeling? Did they hurt you?”

“No, they didn’t. I’m okay though, at least. I thought that I was going to die.”

She sighs as she takes my hands in hers and rubs them. Feeling the love of my mother, made me feel instantly better.

“Where’s your father?”

When she asked me that question, my breathing stopped. Do I tell her? What would my mother think of me once I tell her that I’ve killed my father?

“Umm….he…”

“What? Tell me, cause I haven’t seen him around.”

“Mom, I did something.”

She looks at me confused.

“What did you do?”

I took in a deep breath, as I prepared to tell her that I’ve murdered my father.

“Alice?”

“Ikilledhim.”

“Speak slowly.”

“I killed him. I didn’t have a choice mom, he was going to take me to the ritual room.”

I burst out crying,as I was instantly pulled into my mother’s arms. She lifted my face up so that I could look into her eyes.

“Hush now, you’re going to draw everyone’s attention to us.”

She pulls out a tissue as she starts to wipe my face.

“It’s okay, everybody needs to do something to survive. I completely understand. Let’s just get out this place and we’ll talk about everything later, okay?”

“Okay.”

We left the cells, and we quietly sneaked up the stairs. My mom told me that the time was currently 21:30 p.m. obviously everyone was still up and awake, so we had to do this quickly and quietly. When we left floor 16, we couldn’t take the elevator obviously, so we opted for the stairs. It took forever but it was the safest thing to do right now.

After a whole 20 minutes of finally walking up a stairs, we got to the main door. She led me to a cloak closet, where she handed me a cloak so that I could fit in easily with the cult members. We turned a corner, and we rested there for a few minutes.