???:
The first thing I notice when I wake up is that my watch is gone.
“Was he in here?” I ask. The other girls around me moan.
“Go back to sleep.” Sasha murmurs from the corner. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“It is?”
“Yeah, Luna’s not here so it’s night.” Sasha shivers. “He always takes Luna at night.”
“None of this made sense to me, but I was tired….so tired….


Three Days:
My watch is back the next morning but I don’t ask questions. Maybe it was better not to know.
“Morning Ladies.” The Lord’s voice cackles as he switches the vents open. All the girls moan except for Luna who doesn’t stir.
“Luna!” The Lord screams and Luna’s eyes open and she jumps up as quickly as humanly possible.
“S-s-sorry.” Luna stammers.
“Sorry, what?”
“My Lord.”
“Better.” The Lord laughs and shuts the vents.
“Don’t we get breakfast?” I ask without thinking. The girls gasp.”
“Don’t worry…Grace.” The Lord laughs. “You will have something special tonight.
Luna waits until she hears all the sixteen steps climbed and door slammed before she falls to the floor of our “home”. “So tired….” She murmurs.
“It won’t be long.” Audrey says quietly. Sasha and Claire gasp.
“No Audrey….” Claire whimpers.
“What are you talking about?” I ask. “Long until what?”
Audrey gives me a weak smile.
“Until I die.”
I am missing something here. Legit. “Huh?”
“He’s never kept more than four girls at a time. I’ve been here the longest besides Luna and Luna….is his favorite so he will keep her.”
“No.” I shake my head in disbelief. I know the Lord is a monster but….but…he wouldn’t really….
“Lucky you.” Claire murmurs. “The nightmare will end.”
“You can’t be serious!” I stare at the girls in complete shock. “Death?”
“No one gets out of here alive.” Sasha states calmly, grabbing the newspaper from out….um….’bathroom’. “It’s just a fact. Everyone dies eventually in here. And it hurts…..a lot…”
“There’s no hope?” I ask. “What about escaping?” The rest of the girls laugh horribly cynical sounding laughs.
“Right.” Claire says. “Escape? Do you know what he does with girls who try to escape?”
“Solitude….” Sasha starts.
“….torture….” Claire adds.
“…the death.” Audrey finishes.
“So there is no hope? None at all?”
Luna sits up when I ask that. Apparently she had been listening.
“Someday….” Luna says quietly. “…the police will finally realize what is going on and save us…but probably not for a long time. But someday we will be free. And our friends and family…” Luna’s eye sparkles a little bit and I know she is fighting back tears. “We will someday be able to find peace. Justice will be served.”

Rita Fox
The first stop on our list is obviously the victim’s home.
“Be gentle.” Julia warns us. “They still have hope and we want them to keep that…..as long as possible.”
We all know what she means by that and it practically rips my heart in two. Abductions send out ransom notes within twenty four hours. Runaways leave notes, show previous signs of running away, or take things from the house. Sadistic serial killers…..kill. They say you get used to these horrible murders. Bullsh*t. How could anyone ever get used to telling parents that they basically have no hope?
David rings the door and, before he even takes his finger off the doorbell, the door is slowly cracked ajar.
“Yes?”
“Hello Mrs. Bacon.” David says, a cheerful yet professional voice. “I’m David Samuels, FBI Profiler. We were wondering if me and my team could ask a few questions.
Mrs. Bacon quickly unhooks the chain on the door and pulls it open. Her eyes are read and puffy with bags under them. Her hair is long and blonde, like her daughter, but appears ratty and knotted. She looks as though she had tried to dress up but her nice clothing barley stands out with her tired, tearful face.
“Please come in.” She smiles at us. “Anything I can do to help.”
David nods to me. I understand immediately. I am the teams official Comforter. David is the one who interrogates people to the point of making them cry and confess, while it is my job to do the exact opposite.
“Mrs. Bacon, I know that you must be going through a very hard time right now….I can’t even imagine the pain you must be feeling…” David winks at me so I keep going, confidently. “….all we want to do is help get your daughter back to you. And I promise you we will do everything in our control to make sure your daughter comes home safe and sound soon. We’ve done it before, and we will do it again.”
“Thank you.” Mrs. Bacon wipes her eyes.
“Now, in order to find her, we will need to ask you a few questions just so we can find out all we can about the day your daughter….” I rack my brain for the right word. Kidnap is a definite no. Abducted? No. Taken? No. “The day your daughter was….lost.” I glance at David and he gives me a thumbs up sign.
“Of course.” Mrs. Bacon nods. “I just want my little girl back.”
“Is your husband home?” Julia asks and Mrs. Bacon nods.
“He’ll be down in a few minutes, he’s in the shower.”
“Do you want to wait?” I ask gently.
“I’m fine.” She insists. “Start please.”
“Do you have any other children?”
“No, Grace is an only child.”
“Grace?” I ask, confused. On the sheet it said her name was Alison.
“Her middle name.” Mrs. Bacon explains. “We call her by her middle name.”
“Oh.” I write this down. “What school does your daughter go to?”
“Mason High School.”
“And she is a junior?”
“Yes.” Mrs. Bacon nods. “Top of her class.”
“Oh, so a very good student? Does she get in trouble at school or is she generally good.”
“No, she’s a very good girl. I have never grounded her in her whole life although I have had to take her cell phone away a few times. Mostly just for talking back or expanding the phone bill though. She’s never been in any serious trouble.”
“So….do you consider yourself close with Grace?”
“Yes, fairly close I suppose.” Mrs. Bacon was starting to look a little uncomfortable. I decide to be a little more gentle.”
“Was….I mean is she seeing anyone?” I almost make a huge mistake by saying “was”. Big rule; never act like the child is dead. Gets the parents uptight.
“You mean like dating?” Mrs. Bacon doesn’t seem to notice and my teams makes motions towards me saying “Keep going!”.
“Yes.”
“Yes, she was.” Mrs. Bacon smiles, obviously thinking about her daughter in a happy way. Good; the poor woman needs some happy memories now. “She has been seeing a boy named John Grayson since she was a sophomore. He’s such a nice boy.”
“So, you’ve met him?”
“Yes. John insisted on having dinner with us.”
A boyfriend. Worth looking into. “Do you think he would mind talking to us?”
“No, not at all. I know he’s been taking this hard.”
“Hey Linda have you seen-‘’ James Bacon steps into the living room wearing a rumpled work shirt and black pants. “Oh. I didn’t know the cops were here. Again.”
“James….” Linda says.
“Hello sir.” David gives James a winning smile. David has always been good at charming over the men by acting like their pal or something. James gave us a dirty look in response.
“What are you doing here?”
“We are trying to find your daughter.” I say gently.
“Then why aren’t you out there doing that?” Mr. Bacon suddenly becomes defensive. “Why aren’t you doing every friggin’ thing you can to find my daughter? Sitting on your a**es asking godd*mn questions isn’t going to do anything!”
“James!” Mrs. Bacon speaks up again. Mr. Bacon ignores her.
“Almost three godd*mn days! Aren’t you supposed to be the best? Aren’t you supposed to be finding her? Do it already! Do your jobs! Get my daughter back. Before…..” Mr. Bacon suddenly beaks down and buries his hands into his face. “Please find her…..please….”
“We’ll come back later.” David says quietly and we leave the Bacons to grieve. We have work to do. Lots of work.


Four Days
Grace:
I wake up in the middle of the night to Luna talking to the Lord.
“You can’t do that!” Luna shrieks. I look to the other girls. They’re all asleep.
“I can’t?” The Lord laughs and my blood chills. I am not so much as afraid of him angry as I am when he is happy. “B****, I don’t think you realize how little control you have. In fact, you have none whatsoever. I’M IN CHARGE! GOT IT?”
“No you aren’t.” Luna’s voice shakes. “You know what I could do to you. And I will.” Do to him? What the h*ll Luna? Don’t anger him! Please. Please don’t hurt Luna.
“Like h*ll you will.” The Lord tells her. “You’re never going back. You are here permanently.” Wait, what?
“You….you can’t do that.” Luna stammers, but her voice falls short. “You….you’re a monster.”
“And what does that make you?” The Lord asks, quietly. Luna sobs. “That’s right, don’t forget, you little b****. Don’t forget.”
The door opens and I quickly shut my eyes. Luna walks in sobbing. The door slams.
“Luna.” I whisper. “What was he talking about?” Luna shakes her head and buries her head in her knees. “Please.” I beg. “What was he talking about?”
“Nothing.” Luna tells me. “It’s nothing. It’s nothing now.”
“Luna.” I hold out my hand and Luna grabs it. “It’s okay.”
“No it’s not.” Luna answers. “It will never be okay. Not anymore.”

Rita:
“Well team.” David tells us. “I got good news, and I got bad news.”
“What’s the bad news?” Julia asks first. David tosses a piece of paper on the desk. I groan, it says “Autopsy Report”.
“They found a girl?” Simon asks slowly. David nods as I pick up the paper.
“What’s her name?” Lacy asks David.
“Audrey Marie Chip.” I answer her. Such a pretty name, Audrey. Her poor mother….
“Where’s the good news here?” Lacy continues.
“Well, in a kind of sadistic way, it is kind of good we have found a body. Now we can get a better profile based on how he leaves his victims. Any special markings on in?”
“We can’t know much based on one.” David says. But based on the autopsy we can see he likes to torture his victims while he keeps them.”
“How long was she missing?”
“According to this she was missing…..” David flips through his papers. “….about three months.”
“He keeps them a pretty long time.” Lacy comments and everyone else nods. “What does he do with them?”
“Starves them, looks like he cuts them up, there are some indications of sexual assault.”
“Any semen or something that we can run for DNA?”
“Negative. This guy didn’t leave anything.”
“Smart little b****rd.” Simon comments.
“This guy positions them weirdly after they die too, look.” David holds up a picture of the crime scene. “He positions them very nicely, almost as though he’s trying to make it look like they are sleeping. Why does he care so much about the bodies, but while they are alive he treats them like cr*p?”
“Is it possible it’s two people working together?” Lacy asks and David shrugs.
“I guess it’s possible.”
“What do you think he is doing with the rest of the bodies? And why the sudden change?” Julia asks and David throws up his hands in frustration.
“I have no idea. All I know is we need to find this guy fast because it won’t be long until he kills again.”