"DID they kill him?" Bella thought out loud, waiting after about two hours of Cole being punished for him to return. She brought her knees to her chest and rested her chin against them, as she examined every detail of the closed, chipped, wooden door.

"I'm scared," Elliot said quietly, his words muffled into Bella's sweat-soaked shirt. "I don't want her to kill me."

Bella pouted down at Elliot, before exhaling and leaning her head back against the wall. "Whatever happens," she mumbled, "I'm not going to let them touch us."

Elliot stared down at his fingers as he played with them nervously.

"Do you see why you can't make her angry now? You don't want the big man to hurt you, right?" Bella asked him, her voice stern as she attempted to hide how terrified she was.

Elliot didn't answer, he just continued to gnaw on his nails.

"Cole wasn't nice to her," Bella continued, "and look what happened to him. Well, we don't even know what happened to him..."

The more she overthought, the more she imagined Cole laying dead on the ground, and the more she worried that she would be next to him soon enough.

Elliot's small shoulders heaved as he took a deep breath. "She must hate when people speak other languages to her."

Bella licked her bottom lip, her tired eyes not leaving the door as she continued to rub Elliot's shoulder comfortingly.

The room was silent besides their heavy pants of breath as they struggled to inhale the thick heat of the air. Bella's hair was drenched and sticking to her face and neck in the most uncomfortable and irritating way, and the skin beneath the chain around her arm was so irritated from sweat and the metal grating against it. Her throat was also intensely dry, aching in desperation for any sort of liquid.

The door flew open, and both Bella and Elliot jumped, a small gasp escaping Bella's lips.

Cole was shoved into the room, and Bella couldn't breathe at the sight of him. Dark red was dripping down his forehead, all the way into his lip. There were intense, vibrant bruises surrounding his eyelids, his cheekbones and lip. His t-shirt had a numerous amount of thin slices scattered around his torso, and blood drenched the outer areas of the fabric as well as his visible skin beneath the clothing. The upper areas of his arms were sliced up as well, thin dark lines of red ran across the base of his triceps and Bella noticed a few similar marks on the sides of his neck as well.

The contrast between his paled flesh and the dark purple contusions covering his angular face terrified Bella - he looked close to death.

Elliot started crying, but Bella wrapped her free hand around his tear-soaked mouth to silence him.

Mommy entered the room behind him, wearing a large trench-coat that drowned her slim frame, and rubber gloves up to her forearms. She grabbed Cole's arm from the ground and dragged him over to the area against the wall, slumping him against it.

"I probably don't need to chain you up now, do I?" Mommy knelt down, sweeping her finger against a long slash along his neck and collecting his blood. "I get it, I really do. You are a growing boy, and with all those tough-guy hormones, you forget how defenseless you actually are."

He sucked air through his teeth in pain as he glared at her with nothing but hatred in his dulled, ashen eyes.

"Now you'll speak English for Mommy, won't you?" she whispered, an evil grin playing on her cracked, lip-gloss smothered lips. "Yeah, that's right."

Cole's eyes drooped shut as he continued to ignore the long stream of blood running down his face, neck and arms.

"Allow me to clean you up," Mommy offered, reaching into her large pocket and grabbing a half-filled bottle of clear liqueur, holding it up to the flickering light.

Bella shook her head, her breath completely disappearing from her lungs as she tried to look away from the scene in front of her but found that she couldn't. She moved Elliot's head so his face was in her shirt, praying he wouldn't have to watch Cole's torture as Elliot cried his muffled whines against her.

She felt awful for Cole, but hoped that if he lived after this, he would continue realizing the severity of the situation.

Mommy dumped the bottle over his head.

Something in his light eyes shifted - the areas around the almost clear irises were reddening as the alcohol slid down his face and into them. He closed his eyes tight and groaned under his breath as the liqueur hit every one of his wounds, washing the red liquid off into a puddle of mucky crimson on his lap.

Bella was impressed with how he handled the pain - she enjoyed that he wouldn't give Mommy the satisfaction of writhing in agony as she very clearly expected. He instead ground his teeth together, closed his eyes tight and let out very heavy yet quiet groans.

Mommy stopped, pulling the bottle upright and chugging the little amount left that swooshed around at the bottom of the glass. She chuckled and stared as Cole's body twitched and heaved in silent pain.

Mommy looked over at Elliot, who was peering up at her with watery eyes.

"I want a hug from my littlest, nice boy. But first, I will get changed so I don't get blood on him," Mommy spoke, her words gradually slurring by the second.

Her tiny eyes met Bella's wide and terrified eyes, and Bella faltered beneath her ugly gaze.

"See you soon, you little whore," Mommy said, before turning and slamming the door behind her.

Bella licked her dry lips again, before she stared at Cole who was still shaking in pain. His eyes were closed, and his bruised lips were parted and desperate for air.

"What'd they do?" Bella asked him quietly, her words lost in the heavy and silent air.

Cole swallowed and finally opened his bright red eyes. He rubbed them against the small amount of his sleeve that he had left on his shoulder, still helpless with his hands tied behind his back.

"She took my switchblade and went to town," he spoke, trying to catch his breath.

Bella's eyes scoured his wounded body.

"We're... we're in a basement. I saw it. There's this room in the basement, and another room with nothing in it. That's where they took me," he tried to get his words out but his pain was cutting each sentence short. His accent was thick and more noticeable with his intense anger and frustration. "Upstairs is chained up. Christ, I saw it. We're screwed, Bella. There's no way to even try and get out."

Bella stared at the ground, trying to fight the way hot tears welled up in her eyes but she couldn't. Especially not with Cole's tight groans and gasps for air, and Elliot's compact sobs.

She felt the first tear slide down the slope of her flushed cheek.

Elliot continued crying into Bella's shirt. "I miss my mommy and daddy," he cried out. "I want to go home!"

"Okay, baby, shhh," Bella cooed, trying to stop her own voice from breaking. "We can get out, we just need to earn her trust."

"Fuck that," Cole mumbled under his rapid breath, his head leaning back against the wall and his eyes closing. "There's no use. She doesn't have emotion, she's nothing but a crazy drunk. Her boyfriend's even worse, I could barely see his face."

Bella couldn't help but feel angry with him. "So, what, you just want to die in here? You're giving up so soon?"

Cole's bloodshot eyes stared at her, and through all the blood and bruises and pain he had been put through, he still had a light grin on his lips.

Bella scoffed and shook her head, looking down at Elliot. He had tears covering his hot cheeks, his dark eyes were watering and the scleras were a dull red colour as he continued to sob. Her hand stroked the side of his sticky cheek, before she finally noticed that Cole's eyes had drifted shut and his heavy breaths had gradually evened out.

Elliot's cries had turned into gentle whimpers against her chest. Bella continued to comfort him, and under her breath, she sang softly to him.

Elliot had fallen into a deep sleep in seconds, and she followed soon after.