After a while, Saige and Aidan fell into a routine. The man would bring them food every day at noon, and let them out one at a time around eight to use the bathroom.
Saige knew that when he wasn't gone, the man was sitting somewhere on the other side of that mirror, just watching them. What did he want with them?
Aidan was in the habit of keeping to himself. At night sometimes she heard him crying, or whimpering painfully. Sometimes it got to her and she would have to choke back her own tears.
When she got bored, Saige screamed tirelessly at the wall. Aidan didn't seem to mind.
He ignored most of her useless rants. Including the one she was on at the moment.
"Excuse me, asshole! I smell like an old sock! How about a shower, huh!?"
Aidan rolled his eyes and pulled a pillow over his head. When was she going to realize that all that screaming was useless? Their kidnapper didn't care what she smelt like.
The door creaked open and both Aidan and Saige shot up and waited for the man to enter.
"The children want to be clean?" He chuckled at them, smirking maliciously. Saige sank back on the bed, suddenly regretting her outburst. What was he planning?
"Come with me, then." He grinned, grabbing Aidan by the back of the neck.
Aidan choked and struggled for a moment, before stumbling after the man. When he came back for Saige, she hardly put up a fight.
He unlocked her chains and grabbed her wrist tightly, without giving a thought to the cuts and bruises that covered them.
Is he finally going to kill me? Saige asked herself, studying the layout of the hut carefully. To her right, as always, she saw the mouldy door, behind which was most certainly the other side of the two-way mirror. She glared at the door, as if her look alone would pierce a hole through it and allow her inside to smash it.
She recognised where they were going after a moment, and she soon found herself in the bathroom, with Aidan.
"Make sure you smell nice when you come out." The man ordered as he pulled the door shut behind him.
"Nice going, Saige." Aidan grumbled.
"Shut up," She hissed. She looked around and grabbed a towel from its folded state on the floor. "At least I'm not going to smell like B.O. when I die."
Aidan looked at her in shock, his mouth hanging open. "How can you be so calm?" He accused, watching her fiddle with the taps.
"You realize that we could very well be in here for years!"
"Or he could kill us," Saige shrugged. "I've come to terms with it. You might as well, too."
"Saige, you were on good terms with death even before you got here!"
"And how the hell would you know?" She cried angrily, whipping around to face him.
Aidan was too stunned to respond.
"Now," Saige continued, "I am going to take a shower. And maybe if you're nice, I won't use all the hot water, if there is any. Turn around so I can get undressed!"
Aidan frowned but did as he was told and faced the door. He listened as Saige's clothes dropped to the ground and she stepped into the tub. She yanked the yellowed curtain closed and turned on the shower.
The water ran yellow for a moment before Saige smacked the showerhead with the heel of her hand.
She stepped under the cool stream and carefully began to work the blood out of her hair. There was only a little bit of shampoo, and she figured she'd better leave some for Aidan.
She heard him prop himself up on the counter and sigh deeply. Shaking her head, she tried her best to ignore it.
Normally having a guy in the bathroom while she was showering would unnerve her, but at the moment she could care less about who saw her naked.
It took her twenty minutes to wash away all the blood from her cuts. She was sure a few of them were infected, and the cut on her head was oozing puss.
She left the water running as the wrapped her towel around her body and stepped out.
"Your turn," She said merrily, studying her reflection in the mirror. She looked so tired, so incredibly ugly. She wondered how Aidan could stand to look at her.
She held up a dainty arm and scowled at how thin it was. It looked as if it would break if it were under too much pressure.
She suddenly realized that Aidan was undressing. She turned away quickly and waited until she was sure he was in the shower before she looked back.
"You can look now," Aidan said lowly. She glanced up and saw his silhouette in the shower.
"Aidan…?"
"What?" He asked, a little roughly.
"Do you think we'll ever get out of here?"
He stopped and paused for a long time before he answered. "I don't know…" He said truthfully. "But God knows I won't go down without a fight. I've got too much ahead of me to give up now."
"Hm," Saige sighed and leaned against the counter. She wondered what either of them could possibly have to look forward to. One thing was for sure; neither of them would ever be the same again.
Saige listlessly began to gather her clothes and put them back on before beginning to comb through her hair with her fingers.
Aidan finished and she turned away again as he picked up his jeans and put them on.
Aidan dressed and watched her for a moment. She was so thin, even the loose shirt and jeans couldn't hide it. She knew it too, he guessed. She was looking disgustedly at her tiny wrist.
Aidan glanced at the purple bruises on her wrists, left by the shackles.
He didn't say anything as he stepped up and gently took hold of one of her wrists. "Goddamn it," He cursed, looking at it, "Why the hell doesn't he chain me too?"
"You're asking me?" Saige snorted, pulling her hand away. She rubbed it carefully, massaging it, trying to get her mind off the pain.
"Does it hurt?" Aidan asked. He would be shocked if it didn't. She was covered head to toe with cuts and scrapes.
"Constantly," She sighed. She settled against the counter and stared down at her feet. This was the only time they would have to talk without being watched, and neither of them could come up with anything to say.
She didn't have long to worry about conversation though. The man returned, looking abnormally happy as he opened the door.
"What a beautiful sight… " He sighed, studying the pair. "Are you ready to fall in love?"
Saige and Aidan shared a confused look. What was he babbling about? The man grabbed Saige's arm and she sucked in her breath as he brought her back to the room. In a few minutes he brought Aidan back and threw him on the bed next to her.
Aidan sat back and watched in a daze as the man hovered over Saige and locked her hands back in the shackles. He heard her hiss in pain as her hands were clamped in the cold iron chains. He saw it every day, and today he couldn't take it any more. Why should she be the only one to suffer?
"Hey, get off her!" Aidan growled. He flung himself at the man, trying to pull him away. "She can't do anything! Why do you have to chain her like that?"
The man glowered at him and knocked him away. But Aidan returned and lunged at him, grabbing his arm and trying to pull it away.
The man was furious. He punched Aidan in the jaw and sent him tumbling backwards. He finished locking up Saige and then went after him.
"No!" Saige gasped. She shut her eyes tightly, not wanting to witness Aidan being tortured.
"Do you want to be chained too, boy?" He hissed.
"Yes! Lock me up too! She shouldn't be the only one!"
The man started to laugh. "Don't be stupid! How are you supposed to love her if you're all tied up?"
"What are you talking about?" Aidan wheezed. Unlike Saige, he wasn't very intimidated by the overweight bastard who had kidnapped him. But then again, unlike Saige, the man hadn't really done anything to him. "Mama was only half right." The man continued, "People may never be able to love poor Edgar, but they can love. You'll show her, won't you? You'll show her she was wrong!"
Aidan just stared at the man called Edgar, completely dumbfounded.
"Come on then," Edgar continued, grabbing Aidan's arm and pulled him back over to the bed. "Why don't you show her," He was grinning from ear to ear in some sort of perverse excitement.
He waddled over to Saige and grabbed her shirt.
"What are you doing!" Aidan cried.
Saige started screaming, "Stop it! Please don't do this again!" She begged, tears streaming down her face.
Aidan was horrified.
Edgar ripped the shirt off Saige, revealing her naked chest. Aidan looked away.
"Love her!" Edgar bellowed. "Do it now!"
He couldn't mean…
"Please…" Saige choked, "Please don't…" She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself, but she soon found herself gasping for air. This couldn't be happening again.
"No!" Aidan shouted. "You leave her alone!"
Edgar glared at him, "Be quiet! Mama was wrong! She has to be! Don't you know how?" He got off Saige and grabbed Aidan's wrist. "Why won't you do it?"
"I can't…" Aidan sobbed. Saige was looking at him, her eyes wide and terrified.
Edgar's face went red. "Fine!" He shouted. He forced Aidan out of the room and threw him past the mouldy door to his right. "Useless brat!" Aidan fell to the floor when he was shoved inside. The door slammed; he sprung to his feet and tried to reach it before it was locked, but he was not fast enough.
He instead turned and studied his surroundings. There was a single, messy bed, a cluttered dresser and a mirror at the foot of the bed, embedded in the wall.
Aidan stood there, stunned, for several moments as the reality soaked in. He saw Saige on the bed through the mirror, and then Edgar as he re-entered the room.
He was on the other side of the mirror.
He couldn't stand to watch what happened next. When he saw Edgar pull of Saige's jeans he knew what he was going to do. He tried to shut his eyes, but he was frozen there, like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. And in the same way, he was completely helpless.
Saige went into a panic when Edgar took Aidan out of the room. What was he going to do to him? Was he going to kill him? For once in her life, Saige found herself truly concerned for another human being. She couldn't bear the thought of Aidan being killed. He wasn't like her. He didn't wish for death the way she did; he didn't deserve it.
A fresh set of tears swelled in her eyes, and she blinked them away, waiting for Edgar to return to finish what he'd started.
It didn't take him long.
Edgar squeezed his disgusting, fat body through the doorjamb and padded over to her, his weight shifting from one foot to the other in a painfully slow manner. His podgy hands fumbled with the button of her jeans before finally managing to pull them down past her ankles and throwing them on the floor.
Her underwear were already gone from the last time he did this to her, so now she lay completely naked before his eyes.
"I don't care what it takes," He whispered, more to himself than to her, "But he is going to love you…forever and ever…"
"Y-you're insane," Saige sobbed as she felt him push his member between her legs. "You're fucking insane!"
Edgar ignored her and pumped madly inside her, in and out, in and out, until she was sore and bleeding. Saige felt as if he was killing her, so slowly…she shut her eyes and tried to endure it.
It will all be over soon… But how many more times would she have to go through with this? What would she have to do to make him let them go, or at least kill her. She couldn't take the pain much longer.
Edgar finally finished and rolled off of her. "Maybe next time he will do this for you. You'd like that wouldn't you?"
Saige shuddered and pulled her legs up to her chest, turning so he couldn't see her tears. He was sick, fucking crazy and just plain sick. Why the hell was he like this? He had a pretty fucked up perspective on love, even more screwed up than hers.
Edgar zipped up his pants and then slowly made his way back out of the room. She wished she were weak, so that she would have passed out when he came to her. But she wasn't, so she had to sit back and feel all the pain she was going through; all the torments of reality that plagued her every minute of the day.
"Saige!" She heard a familiar voice behind her.
She looked up and gasped in relief. It was Aidan! He was okay.
"Y-you're okay…" She stuttered, looking over her shoulder at him.
Aidan said nothing as he pulled the sheets over her body.
"Thanks," She choked, dropping her head back down. Aidan cursed under his breath and lay down next to her. "I'm so sorry Saige…I…"
"There's nothing you could have done." She interrupted.
"I should have done something, but I just sat there and watched…"
"Watched?" She shot up again.
Aidan nodded shamefully. "He took me to his room, to…to the other side of the mirror."
"So it really is a two-way?"
He nodded again.
"That sick bastard," She muttered. "If I get my hands on him, I'll…" Aidan stopped her with a gentle touch of his hand to her shoulder. "Are you alright?"
She opened her mouth, but he didn't give her time to answer. He saw sarcastic glint in her eye. "Right, stupid question."
Saige took a deep breath and turned to face the far wall again. The barred window offered only a broken view of the full moon as it rose up behind the lake. She would have normally regarded the sight as beautiful, but now it was only taunting. She shuddered and forced her eyes closed, forced herself to think of a time when she was happy. And then suddenly, terrifyingly, she realized that there was no happy childhood for her to dwell upon and lift her spirits. She had never been happy, so why was she still waiting around? Every day she asked herself the same thing. Why don't I die?
She suddenly felt a hand come around her waist, and she stiffened, her body almost immediately broke out into a cold sweat.
"Aidan?" She squeaked, unsure is he was still there or not.
"Hm?" He replied, she felt the wind from his breath on her back and she realized that it was his arm around her. She relaxed her rigid body again, "Nothing,"
Finally, she allowed herself to settle into his arms and fall asleep.
