Escape or not

..

He could hear tiny cries coming from the room. Muttering curses to himself, he charged inside the room. As soon as Lana saw him enter her room, she sat up straight and picked up her teddy bear, which was covered in blood. She also reached for a pillow and gave it a firm embrace while frowning at her uncle.

"So you won't shut your little mouth, right?"

"I want my parents uncle Gavin, you're bad!" With a squeal, she covered her face with the pillow.

"Nancy, excuse us!" She smiled slightly before heading out of the room after he said this to her. She screamed in agony as he turned to face her and seized her hair.

"Shut your mouth right now!" He held her chin with his other hand and grinned. Lana looked up at the guy she believed to be her best uncle, and she shuddered in terror

"I'll be sure to chop off your tongue and give it to you if I hear you weeping. Recognize?" Lana nodded in response to what he said, which made her even more terrified.

"Words!"

"Understood, uncle Gavin!" She sobbed in a whisper. He glanced back at her, his gaze straying to the teddy bear she was clutching. She flinched as he seized it from her.

"Please give it to me, Uncle Gavin! It brings back memories of my parents." She sobbed, he grinned, tossed the plush animal into the metal garbage bin, and lit it on fire.

"No!" She let out a cry. Not his taking her family away for her, but that toy—that was her favorite toy. She gave him a fierce glare and punched him a few times while yelling, "I hate you!"

He removed her hands and gave her a hard slap on the face. "Fuck you!" He shouted. Abruptly, the door opened, revealing Laura's face.

"I'll take it from here, Gavin!" She let out a groan. He mumbled something as he stormed out of his room, first looking at Lana and then at his wife. Laura waited until he was totally gone before running to sit next to the sobbing Lana.

"Gosh, honey, I'm so sorry! I had no idea that this would occur." Softly caressing Lana, she whispered and pulled her close to her.

"He took my teddy and slapped me." She talked in tears, holding firmly to Laura's blouse.

"I apologize for not being able to shield you. I'm sorry if your uncle has caused you further harm, but please don't worry. I'll make sure you leave before he does anything." Before Laura put Lana to sleep, she hugged her close and whispered sweetly, but Lana was still afraid. She felt so calm as she gazed at her sleeping.

Laura watched Lana sleep and then left her room. With a sigh, she went to her room. She discovered her husband using a phone while seated on the bed. When he spotted Laura, his expression brightened, and he seemed a little upset.

She attempted to sound as though she loathed Lana by saying, "I've put that girl to sleep."

"Are you serious? Honey, how did you do that? Considering that it appears she won't stop talking. Tiny, prickly one!" Beneath his breath, he swore.

"I threatened her, if she doesn't sleep, I'll make her life miserable!" The man approached her and drew her into an embrace while she pretended to smile.

"That's why I love you so much. You know, I was planning to kill her, but I just let her be for a while because you wanted her useful." He grinned.

"But you should not have killed the child; instead, you should have killed the parents—not in front of them, as they were innocent." She gazed at her fingers, attempting to erase the memory of Lana's visage.

"Do I really need to tell you this repeatedly? Laura, stop letting your feelings rule you. Aside from Lana, who is still alive, whom I will shortly shoot in the skull, I don't want to leave the other kids as orphans and force them to die as well." Laura became slightly alarmed as he spoke in a cool, but menacing manner.

Months, weeks, and years have passed. Even though Lana remained in Gavin's family's company, her life was far from ideal. Even though her anger for Gavin developed as a result of the stress and pain from her family's loss, she is still afraid of him.

He didn't beat her up too much if she rebelled against him; instead, he abused her verbally, which caused his kids to despise and mistreat her as well.

Lana occasionally found her aunt's actions puzzling. She used to be nice, but a few moments or minutes later, she turned mean. Despite her best efforts to contain Laura, she was unable to resist falling in love with her.

At thirteen years old, Lana had always planned to leave Gavin's house. However, he beats her up and locks her in her room when he finds her.

Occasionally, he forced her to assist the house staff with cooking and cleaning, and Laura would tell her to stop when he wasn't present.

"Lana, how are you doing?" Laura kept asking her, day after day.

"Aunt Laura, I'm fine," she said, showing signs of nervousness by twitching with her fingers.

"If I may ask, Aunt Laura, I don't understand how you treat me. You can be kind and pleasant one minute, then cruel and unpleasant the next. Why is it the case?" She wondered if it was worth it to try not to enrage the one person who could truly love her.

"Lana, I'm shocked at myself too. To be honest with you, though, I don't want my husband to get rid of you if I show you love or sympathy in front of him. I will thus purposefully treat you badly when he is there and lovingly and caringly when he is not." With a sorrowful smile, she said.

Lana looked into her eyes and saw sadness and sincerity.

"Thank you so much, Aunt Laura. I'm sorry, but I have to leave. Please, even if you have to run away, aunt, help me." Holding Laura's hands, she begged.

"My husband would find out and punish me even if I could. But alright, I'll see what I can manage. She remarked quietly, and Lana, buoyed by those few words, nodded with a smile.

"See you later, darling," she said, giving Lana a hug before turning to leave. Lana smiled and thought to herself, "Very soon I will leave him, he is a bad man."

.....

A few hours later, Lana learned that Laura wasn't around, so she decided to go to the kitchen. She has been avoiding her cousins because she doesn't want extra problems.

At 4 p.m., Lana softly slipped out of her room and glanced around to see if anyone was around. With a nervous sigh, she made her way to the stairs that would lead to the bottom floor. In the living room, she paused, wondering who was watching her or whether anyone was there at all. Since no one was around, she gave a trembling smile. Neither her aunt nor her uncle were present.

Silently, she moved her legs to the large door and opened it. There were two males standing there, she noted. Clearly, these were the bodyguards.

She went into the house, turned around, and went out the back door. Thankfully, she succeeded and grinned to herself.

She noticed a tiny gate as she entered the little bushes with lovely flowers. She attempted to scale the fence, but it was locked and rather high.

She gave climbing another go.

"What are you doing?"