chapter 26

The next week passes by quickly, and I never leave the house. Andrei is keeping me prisoner, and besides the library, where I spend quite some time daily, I rarely leave the room unless called upon. Andrei leaves daily, and for the most part, when he thinks I am asleep, he sneaks into the basement. Every time he goes in there, I hear agonized screams and pretend not to notice the whimpers that come from the other side of the door. Rarely, Andrei goes down there during the day, but never if I am on the floor. He’s so careful when he returns from his little torture sessions. He never leaves the door unlocked, successfully keeping me out of there. And he never returns covered in blood. That’s quite surprising, given that those screams often sound like Andrei is ripping off their limbs and leaving them hanging by a thin piece of muscles, just to wait until they heal and repeat the process. Unsurprisingly, Sierra also is becoming nervous. It took her a while to understand that Andrei and hi