The Devils Daughter

75

Carl widens his eyes along with mine as we scatter to find a room to hide in. We check all the doors as we hear footsteps approaching the stairs. In a panic I open the same pastel door I had before and pull Carl inside with me before shutting the door quietly.

I look around the place for a place to hide, only a small closet was across from the crib. I look back at Carl as he just nods and slightly pushes me towards it, I look around inside making sure there was nothing before pushes some boxes to the side and squeezing in.

Carl squeezes himself in right beside me then pushes the boxes back in front of us shielding us from everything outside the closet. I close my eyes and grab Carl's hand gripping onto it to stay calm. He used his thumb to gently rub the top of my hand to soothe me as we listen to the steps creak.

"Come on let's not play hide and seek! We're all grown here. Ain't that right bunny?" My dads voice booms through the empty hallway bouncing off the doors. "There's no need to try and pretend you're not here. I watched you and your little boyfriend prance y'all's asses right in." He laughs.

I listen closely as I hear a scraping noise move against the hardwood floor. I look at Carl to see if he could recognize what the sound was but he looked clueless. The noise continues and inches it's way towards the outside of our door, I hold my breath as the sound passes us.

"Lucille, my darling, is hungry." He says his voice crawling it's way through the walls and into our ears. I listen to the groans start up, I widen my eyes and stare at Carl as we listen to the crib begin to rock again.

"Carl please do something." I whisper as my hands begin to shake from fear. He takes off his hat and places it on my head before he slowly moves the boxes out of his way. He looks back at me and sighs before leaning down to whisper to me.

"Plug your ears, and don't watch." He says. I nod my head and does as he says. A few minutes pass and the boxes are moved again and Carls face comes into view. I sigh of relief as he squeezes back next to me and pushes the boxes back in front of us yet again.

"Is there no way we can escape? Maybe through a window." I whisper as I take his hand into mine. The footsteps appear once more as they walk past the room we were in yet again and travels down the other side of the hallways.

"It's too high up. Nothing down there to break our fall. We're stuck for now, unless I can find another way." He says as he peeks out from behind the boxes, I grip his hand tighter in my hand and shake my head.

"No. Don't it's too dangerous. We will probably just have to wait it out anyway. It's untelling how many men he has out there waiting anyway." I sigh to myself before looking at him. "I'm sorry this was such a dumb idea to come out, especially after I had just escaped." I murmur as I lay my head on his shoulder.

"Hey, don't blame yourself. I was the one who agreed to it." He says as he lays his head on top of mine. I close my eyes as I listen to doors being kicked open harshly. The slamming on the wall from the door was enough to make me jerk my body in surprise and fear.

"I'm not liking this game anymore." Dad says as he searches the room right next to us. "I know you guys are up here somewhere." He drags his bat along the other side of the wall making the worst racket. Enough to make my eardrums feel like they were going to bleed.

Carl gently leans his head off mine and grabs my face to look at me before he leans down and softly presses his lips against mine. They linger there for just a moment before he pulls away and places his forehead against mine.

"Whatever happens.. I love you." He whispers as he gently kisses the tip of my nose and closes his eyes. I close my eyes right along with his and enjoy his warmth. His hot breath in my face didn't seem to bother me right now like it used to.

"I love you too." I whisper as the footsteps finally walk back towards the door and stop. I pull away from Carl quickly as he grips my hand in his, the door slowly squeaks open and the footsteps begin again.

A small opening between the boxes let me have a small view of my dad walking past us over towards the crib. He looks down and slowly rocks the crib back and forth with his fingers while shaking his head.

"Well shit." He mumbles to himself, "Poor kid." He sighs as he stops rocking it. His back faces us as he looks around the room, his bat perched high on his shoulder before he slings it down and hits the bookcase right in front of him. 

He jumps back a little and laughs at the damage he just created, "I don't know if you guys seen or heard that but that's going to be you if you don't tell me well the hell you are!" His sentence had started off with some humor lingering in his voice and towards the end became more demanding and harsh.

I look over at Carl who was busy squinting his eye to see what was happening more clearly. As much as I wanted to watch my eyes wouldn't peel themselves away from Carl. I gently jerk on his hand making him turn his head to face me, I had tears brimming my eyes and suddenly I felt weak.

He leans back over and places his forehead against mine and stays there comforting me as my dads footsteps echo around the room, at this point I couldn't tell with direction they were heading anymore, and I really didn't want to find out.

I close my eyes and hold onto Carl's hands not daring to move my forehead from his not wanting to lose the comfort I was receiving. The footsteps had stopped and I open my eyes to look at Carl, everything was completely silent. I smile slightly at him before widening my eyes once the boxes in front of us went tumbling down.

"Found ya."