TW: This chapter contains content that might be upsetting, including mentions of abduction, death, mental instability, profanity, and abuse. Read at your own discretion.

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Valerie had had a very long exhausting day at the supermarket. All she wanted to do after her shift ended was to go home and sleep till morning.

There had been no texts from Jason either and she thought he would be busy with his work again. So that night she was looking forward to just relaxing in her own bedroom, resting fully after an exhausting day.

She checked the toilets twice before stepping in, an aftermath of the previous incident that had happened there due to Garrett. After changing out of her uniform and taking her bag from the lockers, she exited through the back door to go to her apartment.

There was a separation between the back door of the supermarket and the back entrance to the residential units so she would walk to the other door, ring the bell for the guard in there to let her in, and then climb up the stairs to the floor where her apartment was located.

The back alley was empty as she walked but before she could reach out to ring the bell, a hand clasped her mouth shut in a tight grip, pulling her away.

A thick and heavy scent hit her as a piece of cloth drenched in some chemical was held tight over her face and before she could react, those white fumes made her feel dizzy, making her realize that it was soaked in chloroform.

She didn't get any time to react and in a few seconds, she had fallen limp against the person who had approached her from behind. He lifted her up and very easily carried her away as there was no other person there to witness the act and stop him.

On the way, he dropped her bag in a dumpster, avoiding the phone that had started to ring in there. The sound of the ringtone got muffled into silence as he closed the lid and took Valerie with him.

Hours later, Valerie's senses began to reawaken as the effects of chloroform were wearing off. Her vision was hazy so she blinked a few times, trying to make sense of where she was. 

Dim yellow lights danced in front of her and she felt too exhausted to move. Slowly, the haze started to clear and she recognized that room to be the living room of the house she lived in years ago with her Uncle Harold and his son Garrett.

That realization chilled her to the bone and she sat up, finding that she wasn't tied up or strapped to the couch. An awful smell hung about the place and she couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was and where it was coming from.

All she knew was that only Garrett could have brought her there and the sooner she escaped, the better it would be for her.

She stood up shakily and tried to make her way to the door but a voice stopped her in her tracks. 

"Oh good, you're finally awake. Since you're here now, why don't you meet Dad before you leave?"

She turned slowly to see Garrett standing by the kitchen door and it seemed as if he was cooking something. She felt it was outrageous that he was still acting as if he had done nothing wrong even though he had abducted her and brought her there without her consent.

"Do you hear yourself?" She spoke up clenching her fists tightly, "you abducted me and now you're behaving as if it's not a big deal? And why do you even want me to meet Uncle?"

"I just want to have one last family dinner together," he replied, the ladle in his hand coming threateningly close to her face as he stepped toward her, "you, me, and Dad. Just like the old days."

"Garrett, this is ridiculous..."

But he didn't let her say or do anything else as he took her arm forcefully and dragged her in. She tried to break free from his grip but couldn't and he brought her to the room where the dining table was set.

The awful smell she had sensed earlier was even stronger there and she saw a lump of a man sitting on a chair. With her free hand, she held her nose, feeling that she might vomit if she stayed there any longer.

"Go say hi," the hot ladle burned her arm, startling her as he pushed her in, "Dad, look who's joining us for dinner tonight. You remember Val, don't you?"

There was something morbidly off about the entire situation, Valerie thought as the man did not respond and sat there still as a statue. Garrett had let go of her arm so she took a few shaky steps toward the table to see if the person sitting there was Harold or not.

And when she finally saw Harold clearly, her lips parted to let out a scream but the shock made her voice go silent.

It was Harold but he wasn't alive, instead, his corpse was seated on that chair, strapped with duct tape and the pungent smell that was diffused in the air was the smell of a rotting dead body.

"Sit down," Garrett pulled out the chair and forcefully made her sit down, "just one last dinner, Val, then we can all go our separate ways. Let me just bring up the food."

Her face was getting paler and slightly green as she felt sick to the core. She knew Garrett wasn't mentally stable but she hadn't expected things to be so bad.

He had brought the dishes and placed them down on the table, the smell of freshly cooked food mingling with that of the decaying corpse made her feel even more terrible.

"Where are you going? You can't leave before dinner," he spoke as she stood up from the chair, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I... I need to use the bathroom... Please," she pleaded, feeling that she might vomit any second if she stayed in that room any longer.

Garrett observed her closely but then decided she probably felt sick so he stepped aside, "alright but don't take long. Dinner will get cold."

She nodded and rushed to the toilet as she couldn't hold it in any longer. Clutching onto the sink, she wrenched her guts out. The sight she had just seen and Garrett's unbelievable calm about it was nothing short of frightening.

She splashed her face with water multiple times, trying to bring herself out of the shock and disgust so that she could think of a way out. She had to inform the police, she had to get out of there and she had to stop Garrett before he did anything to hurt her as well.

She didn't know whether he had killed her uncle or not but keeping a corpse like that in the house and abducting a citizen were both serious charges. But she didn't have her phone at the moment so she couldn't call anyone for help.

"Val, are you okay?" His voice sounded, startling her again, "you better not be doing something to escape. If you don't open up right now, I will break down the damn door. I told you not to take long or else all my efforts in preparing dinner for us would go to waste."

"I... I'm not feeling well," she called out, trying to keep herself focused to find a way out. If Garrett was acting so normally about the entire scenario, she would have to play by his rules until there was a chance of escape, "I don't think I will be able to eat anything."

She knew he would break open the door nevertheless so she edged back against the wall, bracing herself for the outburst. True enough, he forced open the door and stepped in, seeing her cowering in a corner.

"Don't be scared, Valerie, just do as I say," he took a few steps closer to her, not noticing her hand that was closing into a fist.

"I just want to go home. I don't want anything to do with you or Uncle Harold... Please let me go," she knew she was taking a risk but just as he was about to grab her, she punched him in the face as hard as she could.

Pain shot up her hand as well and she realized that she had in fact dislocated her thumb by punching him so hard.

"You bitch," he yelled, anger consuming him as he took hold of her arms and slammed her into the mirror behind her, "all I wanted was to have one fucking dinner with my family and you ruined it!" 

Cracks formed on the surface lined with blood where her body had come in contact with it and she couldn't hold in the painful scream that escaped her. Her vision was getting blurred but she knew she couldn't miss that opportunity and as she had been holding the body spray behind her back, she sprayed it into his eyes just like she would have done so with the pepper spray.

He stumbled back, yelping in pain as the spray burned his eyes, and taking her chance, Valerie ran out of the bathroom. Her instincts had switched into survival mode and she chose to flee instead of fight as it was the logical option for someone as delicate as her.

She fumbled with the lock, getting out just in time before Garrett could get to her again and take revenge for the punch as well as the spray in his eyes. She ran as fast as she could, only wanting to get as far away from Garrett as possible.

Valerie was unable to see clearly as the lights from the traffic blinded her and the pain in her head increased, a few shards still sticking into her skin. But she ran as if her life depended on it, intending to go to the only place where she felt safe.

She did not know whether Garrett was still following her or not, she did not know how long it would take to reach Jason's place and whether she would even be able to make it there as she was already injured and bleeding.

Blinding yellow light struck her from the front and she held her arms up over her eyes to block it. A blaring sound of horns and screeching tires made her freeze to the spot. But shortly after there was darkness and all she could feel was herself falling into a void with no one to whom she could reach out for help.

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