Page 56 of His to Keep

By day three,I’m starving. Whimpering, I shiver into the bedsheets even though it’s getting warmer outside now. Callum’s on the floor like last time, and Maisie lies beside me with her back turned. It’s silent, all of us suffering from our empty bellies in our own way.

There’s a shuffling beside me, and with a groan, Maisie turns around. “Ihatehim,” she whimpers, tears tracking down her face. “How can he get away with this—starving people like this? It…it’s not right.”

I decide not to tell her that I thought the same thing the first time Father Aaron starved me. No point in telling her hating him holds no resolve—it just makes you angrier by how weak you are against the perils of men like him.

“Shouldn’t have provoked him,” Callum argues weakly, eyes closed and head leaning back on the wall.

Ignoring him, Maisie nudges my arm. “I don’t want to think. Tell me something.”

“Like what?”

“Your f-family.” She tenses when her stomach grumbles. “Do you miss them?”

“Yes,” I lie because I don’t feel like explaining my family to her. “I lived with my Gran. My parents are in the city working.”

“Oh,” she murmurs. “How did Matthew get to you?” Sensing my confusion, she adds. “He got inside my dad’s head. You see, he’s not been right since my mom died. Even moving to Gravestone didn’t help.” Gravestone is the next town from Little Willow. “He randomly joined this support group for grieving families the church was running. Then he was suddenly into God when he’s never been bothered before. Started going to church and everything. I thought he’d lost his mind when he ordered bibles to put in all the drawers in the house. But I’ve thought and thought about it. This is how Matthew chooses his victims. By being able to manipulate their family members in some way. I’d even go as far to say that he got to your Gran.”

Unlike I did, Maisie seems to have delved into the dark territories inside her mind. The ones I keep pushing away, not wanting to think about all the lies and schemes. I even feel stupid for not thinking of it that way and admire her bravery when I’ve been nothing but a coward to confront them. Her theory could be correct. Granwasfond of Father Aaron. Always thanking him after mass and quoting his preaching’s word for word whenever the opportunity arose. Not only that, but Father Aaron used her as a commodity to rule me. She’s partly the reason why I had to fall in line. Was she easy to manipulate after losing Grandpa?

“I think that’s exactly what happened,” Maisie says resolutely. “My dadeven invited Matthew to our house for dinner.” She sounds disgusted by this, and I don’t blame her. I would’ve been too. “I knew he was a creep the moment I first saw him. He kept staring at me. He didn’t care about my dad—he was only there to perve on me.”

I sigh deeply from the troubled frown between her perfect eyebrows. “You blame your dad?”

“Doesn’t matter if I do or not.” She sniffles. “I’m not relying on him. My boyfriend will find me. And who knows? Maybe your parents are searching for you right now.”

At this, Callum’s shoulders bunch up, tensing as he listens to every word that Maisie says. Is he affected by that idea? That someone out there could be searching for me to take me away?

“Maybe…”

She grabs my arm. “Theyare—we both have to believe.” She lowers her voice to a whisper. “You and I can fight. We can get out of here. We just have to be smart.” I’m about to shake my head when she squeezes my arm even tighter. “Heis one of them.”

I know she means Callum, and a spark of annoyance shoots through me.

“He isn’t,” I whisper back, not wanting Callum to know that we’re talking about him. He’d feel betrayed, and weirdly, I do feel like I am betraying him.

She groans with exasperation. “Ava—”

“No,” I say, more forcibly this time. “He’s trying to keep us alive. Try and listen to what he says, or we’ll all die.”

Her eyes darken, as they do when she disagrees. “Wewill die. He’ll live, and they’ll take more girls for him tobreak.”

There’s a shuffle, and Callum gets up. I know he heard everything when he staggers to the bathroom and closes the door so hard the room shakes.

“You really trust him?” Maisie pushes.

“He’s never hurt me.”Not physically.I bite my lip.

“You didn’t answer my question.” She’s right, I didn’t, and I’m not going to. She’d never understand. Because I’m not even sure I do.

* * *

On day five,the bedroom might as well be a mortuary. I cling onto a life that I feel slowly slipping away from me. We’ve never surpassed five days without food, and as the minutes tick by, I think Father Aaron might’ve forgotten all about us. Changed his mind and just wants to get rid of the teenagers he keeps prisoner in his house.

But food is brought to the room by Penny in a hamper in the afternoon. Once again, she’s supervised by John, who seems to enjoy the sight of us weak and immobile, paying particular interest to Maisie and me lying in bed next to each other. Glad that I can’t read his mind, Penny puts the hamper on the desk and leaves. Taking his time, John eventually follows and closes the door.

Maisie groans in her sleep as I nudge her to wake up. Eyes flickering open, she swallows, her lips dry and flaky. “What?”

“Food.”

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