The Weapon's Twin

Chapter Eight: Escape!

Once we made it to the main hall, I sighed. This place was just as much a mess as the rest of the house. It used to be so beautiful...I shook the thought from my head, as we heard the phone ring. It was Zoe again, trying to help us get out of the house. We had to get the reliefs for the main door to open up. 

"Let's see...there's one here on the main level, it's hidden in the clock in the living room, there's one on the second level of the house in a book, and one down in the basement." I said.  "I can get the one here in the main level, if you want to head upstairs." I said. Ethan frowned a little.

"Will you be okay down here by yourself?" He asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll meet you back down here!" I said, quickly grabbed the pendulum from the grandfather clock in the main room, and headed back to the living room. I was able to get the dog head key with ease. I got back to the Main Hall just as Ethan came running downstairs.

"You were right! He wasn't dead!" He said, trying to catch his breath.

"Thought not. Let me guess, he called it a 'gift', right?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yeah. How'd you know?" I sighed.

"That's what my Sister calls it. When she infects people. She calls it  a gift." I muttered. "Accept it's not a gift. It's more like a curse. She worms her way into your mind, your heart, your very soul. Then she takes control and makes you do awful, horrible things to prove that you "love" her. It's...it's horrifying to watch. These people were kind and loving. They were going to adopt us. And she ruined it, ruined them." I said. He shook his head.

"This is all crazy." He said.

"How do you think I feel having lived it?" I said. He shook his head again, and we placed both dog heads in place. Then, we headed for the basement. We got there via a shadowlock.

"Who builds this shit?" Ethan asked, and I snorted. We came out into a "Mancave" of sorts. Then, we carried on down the basement. We wandered through the basement, eventually finding the key we needed, and getting into the room with the final dog head key. Evie's mold was spread variously through out the basement. I went to grab it, but Jack grabbed it first! Ethan pulled me back, quickly.

"I was gonna be her Father...but now she says HE will be her Father! No, nononononono...I will find him...and I will make him suffer! And you my friend...will help me." Then, Jack walked out. My eyes widened.

"Father?" Ethan asked. 

"Shit...Evie must have found out about you through Mia's mind. Now she wants you to be her Daddy. She must have decided that it made more sense for you be her Daddy if Mia is her Mommy." I said.

"Well, tough. I'm not gonna be her Father." He said. I turned away a little, wondering if he had changed his mind about me too, knowing now what my Sister was capable of. He noticed my slight shift in attitude, and he placed a hand on my shoulder. "Hey. I meant what I said about you earlier. You've already helped me out a shit ton while I've been here, and you've proven to me ten times over that you aren't like her. You deserve better than what you've been given, and I'll be damned if I see you suffer anymore than I have already. So, from here on out, you can consider me your Dad." He said. I felt my eyes begin to water, and I hugged Ethan tightly.

"Thank you! Oh, thank you!" I said. He returned the hug and held me tightly. "What do I call you, then?" I asked. 

"You call me whatever you're comfortable with Ella." He said. I nodded, and with that we carried on to the final part of the basement. We saw the dog head sitting on a hook, wrapped in barbed wire. 

"Well this is a trap." I said. Ethan nodded.

"Yep." He said. He pulled the dog head off the hook, and as we predicted, Jack grabbed us both and threw us onto the ground floor. "Ella stay back!" Ethan yelled, and pushed me behind him. It didn't take long for Ethan to take Jack down, and we headed back up to the main floor. With the final dog head in place, we were able to get out of the main house and into the yard!

"Ugh, finally!" I said, taking a deep breath. Ethan laughed.

"Enjoying it that much?" He asked. I smiled.

"This is the first time I've been outside in two years!" I said. Ethan's smile fell.

"You were in that cell for two years? Why?" He asked. Now my smile fell.

"I made Evie angry. I told her what I thought of her, what I thought about what she did to the Baker's. Then she tried to infect me with her mold to make me comply with what she wanted. Back when we were locked up in a laboratory, we had promised each other that we would NEVER try to infect each other, or use our mold against each other. She broke that promise. When I told her how angry and hurt I was that she broke her promise, she was so...indifferent about it. Like she didn't care how badly she hurt me as long as she got what she wanted, in the end. And that killed me. So I called her a monster. Told her how one of our caretakers was right, that she was evil. Told her how much I hated her. She didn't like hearing that. So, she had me locked away." I said. 

"Did she...let you out at all?" She asked. I nodded.

"Once. She let me out to ask me why she was so rapidly aging and I wasn't. I told her that our caretaker, Alan, had given me an injection that would slow my aging process to that of normal girl. She asked why she didn't get it, as there had been only one injection and he had to choose. I told her because she didn't deserve it. That she was a monster and could never be a normal girl. She used her mold to lock me away again, telling me I'd rot in the cell. Then, she never spoke to me again." I said. Ethan hugged me.

"I'm so sorry, Ella." He said. I returned the hug.

"It's alright. You saved me, after all! Now, let's get to the trailer and see Zoe!"