The Carrow Chapter 6

I was starting to go into labor. My breathing is growing heavy. Blood is oozing out of the multiple cuts on my body. I begin to cough. When I look at my hand, there’s dark red blood splattered all over it. Brian was gone for the moment, and this was my chance. Now I know I have two choices. Suicide with the baby, or give birth. My maternal extinct hated the thought of killing it at all, even if it would save it from future torture, but something in me told me that it would be the best thing to do.

                An idea forms in my head. The pain from my stomach will not cease until I give birth, and I know that it will keep coming back, but right now, it was gone. I walk as quickly as I can toward the wine cellar. But before I do, I stop by the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and pour out a few random, but strong pills. Without checking to see what they were, I make for my next destination.

                The wine cellar. This was the quickest way to die, and the least painful. I already endured so much pain thanks to Brian, I don’t think I’ll be able to handle anymore, so using a knife was out of the question. Finally I arrive at the cellar and grab a random bottle of beer. I knock the cap against the wall until it falls off and drop all the pills into it. I can hear it sizzle and pop inside. This was it. After this, I’ll be dead, and my baby will be saved.

I raise the bottle to my lips…and stop.

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill my own baby. And maybe it’s because I’m also afraid of dying.

I am such a coward. I gingerly place the bottle on the floor and sit down. Then I feel the pain shoot through my stomach again and I crouch into my body, staying as still as possible in order to lessen the pain. My breathing is ragged. I wipe the saliva dripping out of my mouth.

Now that I know I’m too scared to die, I had to do something. Anything. I want to at least save the baby. But that would mean that I have to give birth first. I wince as a bug brushes onto my clothes. I look down and notice that I’m still bleeding heavily. If I didn’t stop this now, I wouldn’t be able to make it. Then another thought comes up. I know that if I gave birth tonight, I would die doing it. I could save the baby, and die from the loss of blood. To me it was a win-win situation. But what kind of mother would I be? To let my child live, if only to be tortured by its own father for the rest of its life... But the thought of dying like that was too tempting, I would be out of Brian’s evil clutches…

My mind was raging. Die and escape, but let my child live? In other circumstances, I would do it, but this…what would my family and friends think of me? But they wouldn’t know. I’m sure Brian wouldn’t tell anybody about his intentions. If I died…no one would know about my cowardliness. No one would know that…

The pain increases, pulling me out of my selfish thoughts... Enough with the thinking, I tell myself. Take action.

I wait for the pain to subside, then I slowly stand up. For now, I had to do something to at least help my kid somehow, when I’m gone. I had to leave some sort of message… I sneak out of the cellar and quietly shut the door. Then I go to the library. There, I pull out some paper and a pen. There’s an escape route in Brian’s lab. He keeps an emergency exit by his desk just in case there’s a mishap with one of his experiments. I quickly sketch out a quick map of it, and write instructions about where it is. Then I fold it neatly into a tiny square. Now where to put it… I glance around the room, searching for a good place to hide it. Maybe one day my child will find it…

My eyes fall on a cloak resting on top of a desk. I was making it for Brian, and it was incomplete. Quickly, I rush to it and slip the map into an incomplete section of it, and quickly close it off with some spare thread. Now I need to hide it… I leave the library, taking some paper with me and go up to stairs and into the attic. The last time I was in there, there was a hole in the wall, and that might be an ideal place to hide the map… When I get there, I quickly head toward a corner in the room and squeeze it in place.

My phone begins to ring, in all this chaos, I forgot I still had it on me. I pull it out and look at the caller ID. It’s my brother, Liam. “Liam!” I whisper. “Listen to me, Brian’s a maniac, he’s going to kill me. Well not kill me, but torture me. I don’t know but please, save me! I’m about to give birth. I-”

“Wait wait, hold on a second Ashley. What’s going on? Why are you talking to fast? Brian’s going to kill you? Have you been drinking again?”

I shut my eyes in frustration, there was no time to explain, “Believe me Liam. I’m serious. You’ll probably never hear from me again. After I give birth, I’m probably going to die. I don’t know if Brian will let the baby live, but if he does, please watch over him for me. Help him escape...I left instructions about an escape route from Brian’s lab. You know the one you helped him build?”

“Ashley, slow down. I can barely understand what you’re saying…”

“No! There’s no time. I-” My stomach convulses again. “I have to go. Please do as I say. I’m counting on you.” I whisper quietly. Then I hang up because I think I hear footsteps outside. But they slowly fade in the distance as Brian turns down another hallway. I snap my phone in half so that he can’t track Liam down.

Then I remember the front door. If I could break it, I still had a chance of escaping. But as soon as I step out of the attic, I feel the pain come back. I steel myself against it and slowly inch toward a nearby broom cabinet. I find a hammer in there and fetch it out. Where was Brian now? Hopefully far away from here. Leaning against the wall, I work my way to the front door. But before I get any farther, I write one last note to my child, telling it where to find the cloak. Then I head toward the door. As soon as I arrive there, I throw the hammer back, and then I ram it forward. It makes a loud thump, but there’s no sign of it ever breaking. I freeze as I hear Brian’s voice float down the stairs.

“What’s going on here?” he shouts. I quickly slip the piece of paper into a crack in the door frame and make sure it’s well hidden. Then I drop the hammer and make a run for it. I run back to the wine cellar, because I know it’s the only room that can lock from the inside. I click the lock in place and finally, my tired body gives out. I fall onto the floor and gasp. There’s more blood than before. It has stained my clothes and is now beginning to drip through it. I sit down. This is it. The moment where I’m going to die, and the moment where my baby will be born. All the stress and tears erupted out of my eyes. And I sat there, leaning against a shelf, crying like a pathetic fool. There was nothing else I could do. I was too scared to kill myself just yet. It wasn’t too late. The bottle with the pills in it was still here from before. I could do it right now. But I couldn’t get my hands to move toward it. Instead, I wait for the final moment, and for the challenge of giving birth for the first time, by myself. There was still sometime left though…I pull out the tiny diary I always keep with me. This can be my last good bye, and it would help kill the time too…literally. I take out a pen and begin to write about the truth about what happened tonight, knowing that Brian would probably string up a few thousand lies to cover it up. Someone had to know…and hopefully this diary would fall into the right hands.

 

It’s not until I get to the last sentence that I’ve realized that my hands have stopped working, and that there are tears in my eyes. I’m not sure if it’s from the rage at my father for doing this to my mother, or from reading about the moment where my mom was too cowardly to kill me with her, or from how everything turned out the way it did. I just…But before I let myself finish my thought, I kick the journal under a shelf. I would find a safe place for it later. It was about time for me to actually get some work done around here. I start to pack up the fallen boxes until I hear a cough on the intercom.

“It’s finished. My biggest project is ready for you.” says the Carrow. 

Author's Note

Please read the next chapter!

Reviews

[Myrmidon]

hm. glad i finally found time to catch up on your writing... marvelously written and a great hanger at the end. ill be sure to continue reading since i can see that you have 7 and 8 out now too.

[Coyote Poetry]

A powerful chapter. The real story is coming to life. What is the thoughts of Syren now. No weakness in this chapter. Just building up for a interesting situation. A excellent chapter.
Coyote

[RainQueen]

Fantastic teaser for the next chapter! The Carrow's biggest project will be truly monstrous...

Excellent pace, nice use of emotion in the midst of suspense. Well done!

[Hachamecha]

omg i wanna kill the guy so hard like hit him scream bite water board him o my god kill him painfully.

[bethany cullen]

That's really good can't wait to see his newest project

[_]

WHERE'S CHAPTER 7!!!!!!! must read more!!!!!!!!

[Elaenor Aisling]

I'm intrigued, would love to read more!

[kathrina]

What the...that was really great. :)
Carrow is such a horrible man. It just makes me want to kill him! Ashley must have regretted being with him.
This chapter made me really sad. All the chapters made me sad. That just proves, you're good at writing. :)
Send me a request when you make a new chapter!
Great job!! :)

[Lizzy]

so sad :'(

[Ice Girl]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOh! can't wait for MORE!