Jesse stood up, �Well, I guess I better get these dogs back.� Katherine stood up with him, �Do you volunteer?� Jesse nodded getting a better grip on the leashes, �Yep. I volunteer at the local animal shelter.� Katherine smiled in awe and asked, �I best be on my way too. I�ll see ya around.� Katherine waved to him as the 5 huge dogs nearly pulled him away. �On her way to where?� he thought trying to keep up with the powerful dogs. Katherine turned away from the direction Jesse was headed and paced back towards her sadistic house. The least she could do with was a change of clothes. Where was she to go then? Even though her friends would be awake at this time, she still didn�t want to bother them. She walked through the door of her house carefully and walked upstairs to her bedroom to quickly change. Where was her uncle? The bathroom toilet flushed and Katherine stood up straighter. She stepped into the closet and closed the door, covering her mouth. Her uncle walked in and picked something up then left. Katherine waited a few minutes then exited her closet. She walked downstairs in fear her uncle would see her. She still had no place to go. The sound of a glass bottle smashed, making Katherine jump and look around for her uncle. She looked in the kitchen and saw him bent over picking up the glass she snuck past him, but wasn�t fast enough. He stood up and started to turn towards her. She opened the cellar door and walked into it closing the door.

She ran down the steps and hid behind a box. The door opened suddenly and her uncle�s figure filled the walk way down to the cellar. Katherine caught a glimpse of the room and noticed it was a wine/beer cellar. She saw the figure bend over and pick up a couple bottles, �I know you�re down here.� He threw one. Katherine jumped, but covered her mouth to hold back the screaming, even though she was sure that her body was screaming loud enough for him to hear. He threw another, �Come on out. I want to talk to you.� He tossed another, �I promise I won�t hurt you.� Her hands started shaking as she hoped to God that he wouldn�t find her. No one was there to help her this time. He walked backed up the stairs yelling, �Fine! You don�t come out, you can go ahead and starve!� He slammed the door, making the champagne bottles rattle with fear. She pulled her cell phone out and realized she had forgotten to charge it last night. �Damn.� She whispered silently noticing her phone was completely dead. She sat down on one of the boxes hoping to death that the box wouldn�t cave in and kill her from cuts.


~An Hour Later~

She sat there, alone in the safety of her uncle�s basement. For how long, she didn�t know. She kept silent completely afraid her uncle would come down and find her. So she sat there in the stale misty darkness. The door handle to the basement wiggled loud enough for her to hear. She felt her way along the boxes for an opening and slid between them to hide behind the boxes. A light shone into the room once more as her Uncle�s figure banged down the steps, calling out for her. He grabbed a few beers and it was obvious that he was drunk completely. She covered her mouth so he couldn�t hear her heavy nervous breathing. As he turned to leave, Katherine let out a deep sigh. He turned back around and threw a beer bottle at the box she was sitting behind. Beer flew everywhere as glass shattered to pieces. �Don�t scream! He�s just messing with your head. Whatever you do, don�t scream!� she thought to herself, holding back the oncoming screams inside. Her Uncle turned around again and pounded up the stairs. After slamming the door, Katherine heard it being locked.

She snatched up her cell phone, forgetting for a moment that it was dead and decided to call some one. Who would she call? Tic? No, she was on a date with Frankie. Kelly? Nah, she was at a family reunion. Who then? A safe, secure name flashed into her head. She started to dial the number, and then as she put the phone to her ear, she realized the phone was still dead. But what good would it do if her phone weren�t dead? She knew that she would be locked in this basement until her Uncle came back down for more beer. Well, she had two choices. One, stay in the basement until she starved, or two, reveal that she was down here and get hurt. This was a fat chance she had to make. She grabbed a full bottle of beer and tossed it blindly at the door. She grabbed another and tossed it at the door too. After a fifth throw, the door opened and her uncle came storming down the steps. He grabbed her shirt and literally dragged her up the steps. He threw her down on the kitchen floor and closed the basement door. She started to get up, but her Uncle kicked her down. She winced pain stricken and rolled away from her uncle trying to think of a way to get out. He followed her, tripping over his feet. She quickly stood up and started running for safety. Her uncle grabbed her ankle, making her fall. He stood up grabbing a glass bottle. Hovering over her, he waited for Katherine to stand up. As she stood up, he hit her head with the glass bottle. She stared for a second, and then fell to the floor.


~Later that Afternoon~

Katherine woke up and tried to roll over, but couldn�t. She tried to review what had happened, but it was all a big blur. Her head hurt like hell and it wasn�t until she breathed in that she knew why. She had small pieces of glass prickling inside the back of her head, and her face was streaked with blood from small cuts after she got hit. She felt lightheaded and decided not to get up. Where was her Uncle? She moved her arms around, making sure she wasn�t mentally paralyzed. She slowly lifted her legs at the knees and then dropped them feeling weighed down. How had this happened? Before she could search for an answer, the phone rang shrilling at length. Splitting her head, the phone rang again, and each time, it blew at her as though a thousand knifes were cutting into her. The answering machine picked up, �Hi, Katherine�It�s Greg. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out this afternoon�call me when you get this message. Love ya.� Katherine wished she could get to her feet, but she just lied there, helplessly. She looked towards the front door and saw that it was open. How long had she been lying there? Two shadows came in through the front door, but it they weren�t her uncle�s shadow. �Who is in the house?� she thought silently, still in pain.