After the dinner dishes were done, Rey excused herself and escaped into her room as quickly as possible. The wedding dress incident had shaken her and she wanted to be alone. As soon as she heard Papa's footsteps on the floor above, she picked up the wedding dress in its bag and shoved it as far back into her closet as it would go. She was eager to forget it and move on.

It would be easier to do that if the image of Ben's face when he saw her in the dress weren't burned into her mind. Up to that point her feelings towards him had been warm and friendly, not crossing into that dangerous territory she had tried so hard to avoid. It could ruin their friendship completely. That's why the unbidden image of marrying him bothered her. Why would she think of something as childish as that?

Rey wondered if maybe she was just lonely. After all, it had been weeks since her kidnapping, and months before that since she'd been with anyone. Ben was the only one she saw on a regular basis now, so it was only natural that she would be drawn to him.

That's not me though, she chastised herself. I'm better than this. Besides, now is not the time to get hung up over a guy.

It was true, an incident of kidnapping and being held against your will had no place for budding romance. She and Ben had to escape, they had to get out of there. Feelings like that were a distraction and would only hold them back from their goal. Still, it remained on her mind until with a frustrated growl she grabbed her diary from its hiding spot beneath the mattress.

Whenever she had a decision or problem, Rey found it helpful to write it out. Underneath, she would write possible answers or solutions to what was troubling her. Now, she wrote the most prominent thought on her mind:

Do I like Ben?

Beneath it she wrote three choices: Yes, No, and Maybe. She then chewed on the end of the pen as she considered each option. It was such a middle-school thing to do, she knew that. Perhaps it was the room around her that was making her act in such a way. After all, there were butterflies on her ceiling, hearts on the small bed frame, and dolls lining the shelves with their glass eyes staring down at her accusingly.

"Don't judge me," Rey grumbled to them. Great, now she was talking to inanimate objects. Perhaps she was beginning to enter stage two of insanity.

Going back to the insanity at hand, Rey clicked the pen and drew an X over the word No on the page. She definitely felt something for Ben, there was no denying that. That left her with two choices: Yes and Maybe.

She couldn't say for sure that she liked him. Yes, she found the possibility of them having a romantic encounter to be exciting. However, if loneliness was the primary source of that thought then it didn't mean her feelings were genuine. That was just her human side nudging her towards what was there. Rey put an X over the word Yes.

That left her with the Maybe option, and that's where Rey decided to keep it for now. She would sort out her feelings for Ben later when they were safely away from Papa and things had the potential to venture into that territory. For now, escape would have to come first. Even though she was still not satisfied with that answer, Rey snapped the diary shut and stowed it away under her mattress once again.

The next day, she tried to carry on normally with Ben but was finding that to be easier said than done. Every time he turned his dark eyes on her or smiled she would feel as though those butterflies from her bedroom ceiling had snuck into her stomach for a party. And when Rey was anxious or nervous about something she tended to withdraw or shut down from whatever it was causing her to feel that way. In this case, it was Ben she was pulling away from.

Despite her efforts to hide her discomfort, he still noticed. As they sat down on the couch for their daily drawing lesson, he did not open his sketchbook but instead looked at her expectantly. He didn't say anything at first so Rey tried to ignore him by starting to sketch her hand.

Talk to him, her traitorous mind urged. Talk to him and face the problem head on instead of bottling it up.

Rey finally put her hand and her pencil down. Taking a deep breath she turned to him and asked "What's wrong?"

Ben raised an eyebrow at her. "Funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing."

"I'm alright," she lied.

"No, you're not. Every time I say something to you, you look like you're either gonna vomit or run out of the room."

Rey swallowed but said nothing in reply. She was chickening out on this conversation, as usual. Rose had always told her she was hopeless when it came to talking about her feelings.

"It's about the wedding dress, isn't it?" Ben went on. "You want to know what was on my mind when I saw you in it."

She gripped her pencil in her hand. Well, this was it. Whether she wanted it or not, they were having this conversation. And yes, it was best to talk about it, to get it out in the open so that things wouldn't be weird. That didn't mean Rey was ready to hear what he had to say about it.

"I'll be honest," he continued "I thought you were stunning—you were beautiful."

Rey's face felt like it was on fire. She didn't blush easily but to hear such an honest and straightforward compliment had thrown her off. "Really?" was all she could manage in reply.

Ben nodded. "I'd be an idiot if I didn't notice it when Papa first brought you here. You're an attractive person. However, this isn't the right place for me to think or feel those things. That's why I've never said or done anything to you that could lead to more.

"We're prisoners, Rey. Two people being held captive by a volatile monster. Romance doesn't belong here in this basement with us. The only thing we need to concern ourselves with is making it out of here alive. If I had met you on the street then yeah, I would have asked for your number straight away. But here and now, all we can be is friends and allies. You understand that, right?"

His words filled her with such relief that she nearly threw her arms around him in gratitude. He felt the same way she did but was just as hesitant as she was to act on it. Ben knew what had to be done and was determined to see it through, no matter what he felt.

"I understand completely," she said eagerly. "I just—I was so nervous that what we have right now would be ruined if we took it any further."

He smiled at her. "When we get out of here—we'll see what happens. For now though, escaping is our number one priority."

Ben reached over and embraced her gently. Rey sank into the embrace, holding on to him tightly. It had been so long since anyone had hugged her that it felt nice. Ben's arms were strong and his body was warm. She felt so safe in that hug, that nothing bad could ever possibly happen to her as long as he was there.

"Seeing you in that dress made me forget," Ben murmured to her as he continued to hold her. "I forgot I was a captive and that I could die at any time. You made me forget my fears. I let my guard down and I confused you—I'm sorry."

They parted and Rey shook her head. "It was bound to happen. Let's just agree to stay friends for now and figure this out together."

The drawing lesson resumed and Rey began work on trying to draw a landscape like Ben's. She kept sneaking glances over at him to see if he was looking at her. He was twisting his pencil in his hand and looking away from her at something. Sometimes he would bite his lip or tap his foot. She got the impression that he was feeling restless.

Before she could ask, he turned to her very suddenly and quickly. "I think I have an idea about how to get into that closet," he told her, his tone excited. "Here, put the drawing on pause and follow me."

Curious, Rey followed him through the basement over to the locked wooden door. Ben made a triumphant noise as they approached.

"I was right," he said gleefully. "The hinges are on the outside of it."

She frowned, confused by what he meant. "That's a good thing?"

Ben took her by the hand and led her over to it. He pointed up at the top hinge. "My dad used to work on houses when I was a kid," he explained. "He taught me how to repair, assemble, and disassemble all sorts of things. With the proper tools, I could take these hinges off."

Rey felt her heart beat with excitement in her chest. "You can take the door off and put it back on without Papa ever knowing we got in there."

His grin widened. "Exactly. We can finally see what that bastard is trying to keep from us in here."

Still holding her hand, Ben led her over into the unfinished part of the basement. Releasing her, he instructed her to look for certain tools that he would need to remove the hinges. To do it, he needed a hammer, a flat blade screwdriver, and a pry bar. After a few minutes of poking around, they found a tool box with all three in it.

"That's lucky," Rey commented as they took the tools over to the door. "You would think he would be more careful leaving this stuff around."

"I'm guessing he didn't think we'd try anything like this," Ben replied. "Here, can you be the look out by the stairs? He doesn't usually come back this early but you never know."

Rey sat on the stairs with her sketchpad while Ben worked on the door. She was excited but also nervous to finally see what was inside the closet. It was entirely possible that there was nothing in there and all their efforts would be wasted. However, if there really was nothing to see then why had Papa hurt Ben for trying to get in there?

As soon as she heard a loud thud and Ben's noise of triumph, Rey set her sketch book aside and headed over to check on his progress. When she got there, she saw that he had successfully taken the door off its hinges and set it up against the wall. She joined him in examining what was inside.

Ben pulled out a box of what appeared to be old newspapers while Rey grabbed a photo album and began to flip through it. There were baby pictures in it, a boy and a girl, along with a very beautiful dark-haired woman and a much younger-looking Papa.

"It's them," Rey whispered as she examined the pictures. Her fingers brushed over a toddler picture of the little girl. "Nina."

She heard her friend inhale sharply. "Rey—Rey look at this." He stood and laid a yellowed newspaper down over the album page she was on. "Read the article on the front page."

As she did, her throat felt dry. The article told of two teenagers—Kyle and Nina Davers—who committed suicide ten years ago. Kyle had been sixteen and Nina had been only thirteen. According to the newspaper, their shoes were found on a ledge overlooking a ravine about ten miles north of their home. Blood and hair samples found on the rocks below were confirmed to be from the siblings.

The bodies were thought to have been carried downstream by the river rapids in the ravine, but were not recovered. They did, however, find a shirt and a pair of jeans in one of the lakes the river fed into. An acquaintance of the family confirmed them as belonging to Nina.

Rey put a hand over her mouth. "They killed themselves," she said quietly.

"Seems like it," he replied. "Papa must have been destroyed by what happened. I'll bet he mistreated them enough that they just couldn't take it anymore. Maybe that's why he took us—he felt guilty."

He took the newspaper back to read through the rest of it while Rey resumed going through the photo album. Her hands shook as she did. Looking at the happy family, knowing what was to happen to them in the end—it was horribly sad. When she got to the pictures where Nina and Kyle looked like they were in middle school, the woman stopped appearing with them. Her heart clenched painfully. That must have been when she died.

The pictures were few after that, and only of Nina and Kyle. Neither child's smile was as big as it had been in their younger years. She could see the sadness in their eyes, even in the photos. Rey understood that sadness. After all, she too had to grow up without her mother.

She turned a page and suddenly some of the pictures were of them when they were much older, like in their twenties. That was strange—hadn't they died in their early teens? Something was off about the pictures too that Rey couldn't pinpoint at first. Neither Nina nor Kyle were smiling in any of them. Confused, she continued to look through them until she realized what was wrong. When she did, the album slid from her fingers and hit the floor with a thud.

Ben looked up from the newspaper at the noise. When he saw Rey's expression, he frowned. "What is it?"

Rey's legs felt weak. She sank onto the cement floor, staring at the overturned album before her. Slowly, she reached a shaky hand out towards it and flipped it over. "Look," she told him.

He reached over and picked up the album. As he flipped through the pages, his frowned deepened. "All I see are pictures of the real Nina and Kyle. We've seen those before."

She shook her head. "No, look at the pictures of them when they're older. Look at them closely."

Ben did. He was silent for a few moments. Then, suddenly, he looked up at her sharply. His face was pale. "It's not them. They're different—they're all different."

Rey nodded, that sickly and frightened feeling returning to her stomach. "We're not the first Nina and Kyle replacements he's brought down here."

Tossing the album away from him, Ben leaned back against the basement wall. "Shit," he cursed. "Goddamn—fuck."

She stumbled over and picked up the album once more, looking through the pictures of all the previous Ninas and Kyles. The first was a girl who looked no older than fifteen and a boy who looked around eighteen. She'd noticed the difference because the real Nina's nose was small, whereas the new one's was slightly larger and a different shape. Also, the real Kyle's eyes were dark and his first replacement had light-colored eyes.

How many had there been? Rey was flipping through and counting. Seven—there had been seven Kyles and seven Ninas. She looked at each face, each pair of frightened eyes. All of them had been in the same situation she and Ben were in now, maybe not even informed of how and why they were there. How had their stories ended?

"He killed the others," Ben murmured after a while. "He must have. Where else could they have gone?"

She shrugged and turned the page. When she saw what was on it, her hands gripped the photo album tightly. It was a photo of the first replacement Nina wearing the wedding gown. Turning the page, there were more photos of the other ones wearing it. All seven Ninas had been photographed wearing that dress. And where the photos ended, there was a blank page waiting for one more…

Rey put a hand over her mouth. She felt like she was going to throw up. "We have to go. Ben, we have to get out of here." She stood, ignoring the pain she still felt in her nearly healed leg. Her eyes darted around the basement, trying to find some way they could get out. No way out—there was no way out. They were going to die down there, just as all the other replacements had.

"Rey?" she heard Ben say, but she ignored him. Her mind was racing and all she could hear was a ringing in her ears. All the other Ninas had worn that gown before he killed them. She had worn that gown too. Was she going to be just another photo for yet another Nina after her to find?

Panicked by the thought, she bolted for the stairs. The door—it was the only way out. Rey practically crawled on all fours in her effort to climb up to it. When she got to the top, she clawed desperately at the smooth, metal door. There was no handle, only a lock that was impossible to do anything with unless you had the key. She tried to stick her fingers into the crack and pry the door open. When this didn't work, her panic increased and she began to pound on the door.

"Let us go!" she screamed as she banged her hands against the solid metal door. "Please, let us out!"

She felt Ben's arms go around her suddenly and it made her thrash, trying to free herself from him. He was saying something to her but she was still struggling and crying out for her freedom. Ben pulled her away from the door and back down the stairs.

When they got to the bottom, he held onto her until her struggling slowed and then stopped. She was crying now. It was out of terror, frustration, and sadness over the possibility of never seeing her family and friends again. She didn't want to die down there, not like this—not without them knowing where she was and what had happened to her. The weeks of keeping it all pent up inside her came pouring out now thanks to the sudden bout of panic.

"I want to go home," she sobbed into Ben's shoulder. She didn't care how child-like she was being. It was the truth and she was sick of keeping it inside. "I don't want to be here anymore."

Ben rubbed her back and spoke gently to her. "Me too. We'll get out of here alive—I promised you we would, didn't I?"

Half of her face was pressed into Ben, but one of her eyes stared up at the door at the top of the stairs. It was a door with no way of being opened from their side. His words were nice but it would take more than that to convince her it was possible.

"What if I distracted him while you escaped through the door?" she suggested. "I could pretend like I'm sick or faint or something. While his attention is on me, you could run upstairs and go get help."

"No," said Ben firmly. "I'm not leaving you here with him. Besides, if one of us got out then who knows what he would do to the one remaining?"

There was silence for a few moments. Then Rey suggested "What if we kill him first?"

Ben pulled away to look down at her in surprise. "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am. It's either gonna be us or him, Ben. You know that's true."

"It's risky," he admitted. "Our plan would have to be air tight, otherwise it'll be us getting killed."

"I don't know," Rey said wearily. "I just want to do something instead of waiting down here for him to kill us like the others."

Ben helped her to her feet. "I'll tell you what—let me put this door back on then we'll sit down and share ideas. Sound good to you?"

Rey nodded. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down since her heart was still racing from her episode of panic. Ben squeezed her shoulder gently before leaving her at the stairs and going back over to close up the closet once again.

With nothing else to do, Rey sat down on the bottom step. She locked her hands behind her knees and stared straight ahead. She was going crazy. That had to be it. It would explain why she wasn't acting like herself. And if she was going crazy then it was going to impair her judgement. If she wanted to make it out of this alive, she had to keep calm and think rationally. Right now though, that wasn't looking possible.

After only fifteen minutes had passed, Rey heard footsteps upstairs heading for the door. She felt her heart drop to her stomach. Papa had come back early again and there was no way Ben had finished putting the door back. Panicking once more, she ran over to check. Sure enough, he was still putting on the bottom hinge of the door.

"Ben," she whispered urgently "he's back."

"Shit," Ben cursed, looking back at her briefly before trying to speed up his work.

"I'll distract him," Rey offered, trying to be more confident than afraid. She had to be, otherwise Papa would get suspicious that something was awry.

Ben didn't reply, instead continuing his work on the door. Determined to protect him from Papa's wrath, Rey darted back to the foot of the stairs just as Papa opened the door.

"Papa, come quick!" she begged. Thankfully, the panic was making her acting more authentic. "I think I saw a mouse in my bedroom."

"A mouse?" Papa repeated in confusion. "There aren't any mice in this house."

"I saw one though," Rey insisted. She had managed to make her eyes water to add to her terror and urgency. "Please, come kill it for me."

The older man sighed heavily but followed her down the stairs to her bedroom. He didn't even glance Ben's way as he passed. When he entered the room, he immediately got down on his hands and knees and checked beneath the bed. Rey watched and a sudden thought came to her. His back was to her and he was vulnerable. What if she struck him with one of her glass dolls and ran up the stairs? She could call for Ben to come with her and they would be able to go find help.

She found herself reaching up to the shelf and selecting a particularly large doll in a red dress. Heart pounding and blood boiling, Rey slowly approached Papa on the floor. Would it take one blow or two? She had never tried to knock someone out before. Maybe just one…

Rey lowered the doll. No, that wasn't fair to Ben. They were going to figure their escape out together. If she did it this way, it could fail. And if it failed, not only could she be killed but Ben might be too. Even though it pained her, she decided to wait. Reluctantly, she set the doll down on her dresser.

Papa looked up at her from his spot on the floor. "Are you sure it went under the bed, sweetie? I don't see anything moving down here."

"Maybe it moved to a different spot," she suggested weakly. "I don't know, all I saw is a little brown thing run across the floor and go underneath there."

"Well, I'll check the closet and everything. If you're still scared then you can sleep on the couch tonight."

She waited anxiously while he checked, hoping to stall long enough for Ben to finish his project. She wondered what Papa might do to him if he found him over there with the tools. Ben said he had beat him last time for trying to get in—would this time be worse?

"No mouse in here," Papa said after looking beneath her dresser. Turning to her with a smile, he put his hands on her shoulders. "Looks like you're imagining things. I'm always telling everyone how you have such an overactive imagination. You'd make a great author one day."

"You think so?" Rey ventured. She wanted to keep the conversation going as long as possible.

"Sure, you can do anything you set your mind to." He turned to go but Rey grabbed his arm.

"So…you're sure the mouse is gone then?" she asked.

He frowned at her. "You've never been this scared of mice before. What's going on, Nina?" he demanded, his tone turning into the one she was always frightened to hear. "What are you trying to keep me from seeing?"

"Nothing," Rey lied, although her act was beginning to falter.

Papa glared at her. He put his hand around her, grabbing her by the back of the neck. Then he steered her towards the door.

"Don't lie to me, girl," he hissed as they left the room and headed straight for where Ben had been working diligently on the door. "I know you and your brother are up to something."

Rey's heart was pounding hard in her chest. She winced in pain from Papa's hold on her but did not struggle. It would only make it worse if she did. As much as she wanted to fight him, Rey let him hurt her and steer her towards the place where she dreaded Ben would still be.

Fortunately, when they reached the closet door it was untouched and Ben was nowhere in sight. Rey felt relief fill her when she realized they would not be caught finding out Papa's secrets. Still, that didn't mean they were out of the woods yet.

"Kyle!" Papa bellowed into the unfinished part of the basement.

The bedroom door opened and Ben came out of his room. There was a pair of headphones around his neck. He looked from Rey to Papa in surprise. "What's going on?" he asked. Luckily his acting was far better than Rey's had been in her shaken state.

"Nina said there was a mouse in her bedroom," the older man explained in a low voice. "Why didn't you help get rid of it?"

Ben shrugged, feigning indifference. "She didn't ask me."

"I did too!" Rey argued, going along with the act. "I knocked on your door but you didn't answer. Probably had your music up way too high again."

"Whatever," said Ben, rolling his eyes at her. "Papa's way better at getting rid of mice than I am anyway."

Rey felt Papa's grip on her loosen. He seemed satisfied that she wasn't hiding anything. "Alright, break it up you two," he muttered. "Sorry for suspecting you, sweetie. Here, I wanted to give you this."

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a photograph and placed it into her hand. It was of her in the wedding dress from the previous night. The sight of it made her feel sick and almost sent her into another panic attack.

"I had it printed this morning before work," he explained, his tone kind once more. "I'm on my lunch break now so I decided to come home and give it to you. And check on you kiddos, of course."

Rey gave him a weak smile. "Thank you. I'll see if I can find a frame in the closet."

Papa checked his watch then quickly kissed Rey's forehead. "Okay, I gotta head back in to work now. Kyle, make sure there's no mouse in your sister's room, will you? Be good both of you and I'll see you tonight."

He left them there, with Ben's glare following him up the stairs. When the door had shut and the footsteps were gone, Ben pulled Rey to him in a tight hug. He rubbed her back as he had before. It was comforting to her and she wished she could just remain there forever in his protective embrace.

"Are you okay?" he asked after releasing her.

"Not really," mumbled Rey. "He makes me feel so helpless—like I'm too much of a coward to fight back against him."

"No you're not," Ben assured her. "There's nothing wrong with staying silent to save yourself. We're surviving down here and that takes a lot of courage to do."

She allowed him to check the back of her neck, which ached but was the least of her problems at the moment. He swore as he examined it.

"Every time he hurts you, I wish I could just punch him in the face," Ben grumbled. "You're way smaller than him—it's not fair."

"Then let's do it," said Rey, turning around to give him a determined look. "Let's figure out a way to put an end to his horror. Let's make sure he never hurts anyone ever again. Come on, let's plan a way to kill Papa."