Author's Note: Sorry it took me a bit to update!

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 I tried to wash most of Ava's blood off her back in the bathroom in the basement. I found her one of my hoodies in the laundry room. I helped her shimmy into it with her sore back. The sweater was much too large and ran past her fingertips. Her eyes were red from crying. She undid her braids. She tried to pull her hair up, but her face winced in pain. I took the elastic from her hands and tried my best to tie her hair up for her.

"How do you feel?" I asked.

"It hurts," she said. "Let's just go upstairs."

I took a step towards the stairs, and Ava slid her fingers through mine and grabbed my arm. She clung to me as we climbed up the stairs. I opened the door and heard voices coming from the dining room.

"Remember to go with what they say," Ava whispered in my ear. "We'll gain their trust."

In the dining room, Dad was sitting at the end of the table. Taylor was sitting on one of the chairs on the side next to Jared. There was a girl with short blonde hair sitting on Jared's lap. She had one arm around his neck, and she had a pair of large glasses on. Dad's lips lifted into a smile when he saw me.

"Have a seat." he said. I looked at the table to see there was a glass of water at two of the places. "Your Mom and Emme are cooking dinner. You two can share a chair."

I pulled out a chair and sat down. Ava sat down on my lap. I put my arm around the base of her back to avoid her wounds. Ava had a tight grip on my hand.

"This is my girl Leah," Jared said.

She gave us a wave, and then pushed her glasses up her nose. Ava said that both Mom and Carrie were kidnapped, and I wondered if she was too.

Mom walked into the dining room with a bowl of mashed potatoes, and a bowl of mixed vegetables. A woman with curly brown hair, and a nose that seemed to twitch every few seconds walked in behind Mom. It must be Emme. She had a platter of meat in her hands. They set it down on the table, and took a seat. Ava's grip tightened on my hand.

"Smells great," Taylor said. "I'm starving."

"Thanks for bringing us this treat," Dad said.

The plate of meat was being passed around, and they were all piling some on their own plate. It was passed to Ava last, and she placed it in the middle of the table.

"Ava," Dad said. "You two need to eat some."

"No thanks." Ava's voice wavered as she spoke. "We're not hungry."

"Just a bit," Dad said. "Our guests were nice enough to bring this to us."

Ava let out a shaky breath. She told me downstairs to never say no, so she is not following her own plan too well now. I reached out and grabbed the plate, and put a couple of pieces on our plate. The rest of the bowls were passed around, and I loaded our plate.

"Have a piece, Ava," Dad said. "You'll enjoy it."

"I'm not -." she started to say.

"Ava, I thought you would have learned your lesson downstairs. Do as we say. We're trying to take care of you."

Ava reached for the fork. She took in a deep breath, and cut a small piece of meat. Her hand was shaking as she brought it up to her mouth. I looked around the table to see everyone was watching her intently as they were eating. Ava opened her mouth, and then closed it right away. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.

"I know you've read Julie's book," Dad told her. "You know we're not monsters."

"I can't do it." Ava shook her head. "Can I call my aunt? She will be wondering where I am."

"We both know that she doesn't care about you," Dad said. "She probably hasn't even noticed that you're gone."

Ava gave her head a slight nod and looked down at her fork. She bit down on her lip and took in a deep breath through her nose. I put my one hand on her thigh, and she glanced down at me shaking her head.

"I can't do this," she said quietly.

I looked over to see Mom and Dad staring at each other across the table. They were raising their eyebrows and widening their eyes. It was like they were communicating without saying a single word.

"Ava, sweetheart," Mom said getting up out of her chair. "Come with me to the kitchen. I want to talk to you."

She set the fork down and got up off of my lap. Mom put her hand on Ava's shoulder, and guided her out of the dining room. She looked over her shoulder at me as Mom pulled her out of the door.

"She's really beautiful," Taylor said to me.

"You're lucky," Jared said. "You got your girl early. It must be nice."

"Yeah, but I'm worth waiting for," Leah said wryly before putting a forkful of potatoes into her mouth. Jared laughed and shook his head. I picked at the food on the plate. I left the meat on the plate since Ava was so wary about it. Dad and Taylor were talking, but I ignored them and tried to listen in on Mom and Ava.

I could see them standing in the kitchen. Ava had her hands up to her face, and I could tell she was crying. Mom had one hand on her shoulder, and was leaning in to talk to her. Ava shook her head, and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands.

Without thinking, I stood up. The chair screeched across the ground. Dad and Taylor stopped their conversation and looked up at me.

"Hunter, sit down," Dad told me.

I walked around the table into the kitchen. None of them said anything to me, but all of their eyes were locked on me.

"It's okay," Mom said softly to her. "I was scared too."

I grabbed Mom's elbow and pulled her away from Ava. I reached out, and pulled Ava to my chest. She wrapped her arms around me, and I put my hand on the back of her head.

"Mom, sit down," I told her. "I want to talk to Ava alone."

"Hunter, we're eating dinner," Mom said.

"I know, we'll be back in a minute," I said.

Mom looked out in the dining room, and Dad nodded his head.

"Stay where we can see you," Dad told me.

Mom went back into the dining room, and sat in her seat. Ava took her head off of my chest and shook her head.

"You didn't eat any of the meat, did you?" she asked.

"No," I said. "Why?"

"Hunter, how do you know nothing about your family?" she spoke softly. "I never believed it was true, but after the basement I realized your mom was lying."

"What are you talking about?"

"She told the cops that Tommy was a cannibal, and that he forced her to cook people and serve it to your Dad and grandfather. But they're all cannibals."

I felt my stomach twist and I thought about the meat sitting on the plate I was eating off of. They had murdered someone and were serving them from dinner.

"They want us to eat it," Ava said softly. "They're going to try to convince us that it's not bad. They're going to brainwash us."

"We have to get out of here."

I craned my neck to see the front door. The setting sun was peering through the small glass window and casted shadows across the floor. In the dining room, Dad was watching us, but everyone else was busy eating and talking.

"Hurry up, kids," he said. "Dinner is getting cold."

"We'll be there in a minute," I said.

I looked back over to the door and squinted my eyes so that I could get a better look. My mom always had dark handles on all of the doors to our house. I saw a bright stainless steel handle shine in the light peering through the window.

"The lock is changed," I said.

Ava followed my gaze to the lock. "They're locking us in the house."

I let go of Ava, and walked over to the counter. Mom always had a phone sitting on the charger above the microwave. It was no longer there. I looked around and I couldn't see the phone anywhere.

"You're being rude," Dad said. "Join us back for dinner."

I walked over to the doorway, and I kept Ava behind me. Mom and Emme stopped talking and looked up at me.

"We're really tired," I said. "We're going to go up to my room and get to bed."

Dad shook his head.

"Not yet. Finish dinner," he told me. "And I don't want you two to fall asleep yet."

Ava grabbed onto my arm, and we slowly walked into the dining room. I couldn't take my eyes off of the meat lying on the plate.

There was two options. We either ate the meat and gained their trust, or we put up a fight.