Post by beautifulcoldstorm on Jan 22, 2012 15:31:58 GMT -5
It didn't take long for Scotty and Stillman to reach the house. After being bumped to voicemail for the upteenth time, Scotty was starting to fear the worst. He decided to call Annalise instead. "Hello?" she said.
"Annalise," he said with relief. "Where are you?"
"I'm downstairs."
"Where's Lilly?"
"Upstairs in the attic," Annalise replied. "Why? Is something wrong?"
"She's not answering her phone."
"What?" Annalise exclaimed, and Scotty could hear the fear in her voice. "Come inside quickly," she said lowering her voice. "I'll meet you at the door."
"Where's Lil?" John asked.
"In the attic. Annalise is downstairs," he said as he got out of the car. Stillman grabbed a shotgun. Before they reached the door, Annalise was already opening it slowly.
"Hurry," she said quietly. She quietly closed the door after them; it was like it was never opened. "I told her to watch her back," Annalise said in despair. "Why didn't she listen to me?"
"She probably didn't realize what you were talking about," Scotty said, hoping that would calm down the sixteen year old.
They hurried up the staircase, hearing Lilly's voice. "Why have you brought me here?"
"To kill you," George replied.
"Why now?"
"Oh, hunting has become a tedious game since I met you Lilly. Even Adalanta, lost her charm."
"The one who survived. What did you do to her?" The fear in her voice was clear.
Annalise looked at them fearfully, her side ponytails bouncing around on her shoulders. That was when John and Scotty raced up there. "Drop it!" they said. There was a gunshot that made Annalise jump and race up there with them. Lilly was standing only a yard or so from George, unarmed and unharmed. "That was just a warning shot," George said menacingly. "I won't miss again."
"Please," Annalise pleaded. "No one has to die. Just let her go."
"Little Lisa begging for her mother's life," George said mockingly "How sweet."
"Don't use my nickname," Annalise said angrily. "You have no right."
"Ah," George said as if he knew more about her than she did. "But it's not just a nickname is it? It's your real name; isn't that right, Lilly?" Scotty turned to her, wondering what George was talking about; John didn't look at all surprised. Scotty was starting to wonder why when George continued with his torture. "You were eighteen, and your fiancee had just cheated on you; he wanted you back, but you refused him. He got drunk and followed you home, and just like the incident fourteen years ago, he attacked you. It was a good thing you knew a cop at the time who could help make this all go away-" he indicated Stillman with a nod of his head- "And with his help, you hid it from all of your friends and family. When the child was born, you signed a death certificate to make it seem like a stillborn, and that was the end of Lisa Rush; then came the birth certificate for Annalise Meyers."
Lilly was starting to tremble by now, and Annalise couldn't keep watching her suffer. "Shut up!" she cried. "If you knew anything about genetics, you'd know that Blonde hair is a dominant trait. I'm a brunette; how do you explain my hazel eyes? You think you know everything, but you don't!"
George just laughed. "You just don't want me to shoot your mommy," he said mockingly.
"My mother was a drunk drug-addict," Annalise said harshly. "My parents took me in, and raised me as their own. If I were related to Lilly in any way, don't you think I would look a little bit like her? I have darker skin than her."
"That's because you grew up in the south, where you get a lot more sun," George countered.
"Look," Stillman interrupted, "Just let Lilly go." George cocked his gun.
"I want all of you out of here," he said pointing the gun at Lilly. "Except Lilly; she and I have some unfinished business to discuss."
Annalise, seeing that there was no choice, left immediately; John slowly followed afterward; Scotty just lowered his gun, but didn't move. He stayed where he was, his eyes warily on George. He and Lilly had finally reached good terms with one another since their fight about Christina; he wasn't about to leave Lilly alone with a psycho serial killer whose goal was to kill her. "I'm going to count to three, Detective Valens," George said threateningly, "and then I'm going to pull the trigger... one..."
"Scotty, please," Lilly pleaded. "Go."
"I'm not leaving without you, Lil," Scotty said.
"...two..."
"Scotty, go!"
When Scotty didn't move, George pointed the gun at Lilly's head. "Three." In one swift movement as quick as lightning, George swung the gun on Scotty, pulled the trigger, and pointed the gun at Lilly again. Lilly screamed at the sound, causing George to laugh. "Now, Lilly, it's only a gunshot."
"Lilly!" Annalise called, her accent heavy. "Are you alright?"
It was a moment too late that Lilly realized Annalise was back in the attic with them. "Oh my gosh!" Annalise cried, rushing over to the injured detective. "Scotty!"
"Annalise, get back downstairs," Lilly ordered.
"Alright," Annalise replied, knowing this was not a time to argue. She stopped at the top of the staircase, though, and turned to glare at George. "If you hurt her in any way, shape, or form; physically or emotionally, I swear I will hunt you down and make sure you die a slow and painful death."
George cocked the gun again. "A gentle reminder for you to mind your manners like a good little girl."
Annalise rolled her eyes and hurried down the staircase. Lilly turned to Scotty, and saw that he was bleeding heavily just above the right knee. "Oh, no," she said, hurrying over to him. "Scotty."
Scotty groaned, shifting his leg painfully. "Lil..."
Lilly shushed him. "Don't talk; that looks bad."
"It feels bad," Scotty said, placing his hand on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.
"Lilly!" Annalise called again. "Can I come up?"
"No."
"Then head to the top of the staircase." There was a loud thunk as something landed on the top step.
"Nice arm," Lilly heard Stillman say, and Annalise thanked him. There was a box on the top step, and she soon realized it was a first-aid kit. She brought it over to Scotty and started to treat his wound. George was not pleased with this idea.
"Oh no you don't, Lilly."
Lilly looked up at him, raising her arms. "Let me at least stop the bleeding," she pleaded with him.
"Give me his weapon," George said, holding out his hand. Lilly did; Scotty looked at him disgustedly.
"If you hurt her, I'll murder you."
"Would you like me to kill her right now?" George asked, shoving the gun downward into her back. Scotty shook his head. "Then mind your manners."
Lilly released a breath she didn't realize she had been holding, and continued with the gauze, wrapping it tightly around Scotty's leg. When she was done, George forced her to walk away from the injured detective and sit on a box.
"Where were we, before we were rudely interrupted?" George asked, then he remembered. "Ah, yes. Adalanta. Poor Dede, how she begged, in the woods... like you will."
"Because in the woods, your God, right?" Lilly asked.
George smiled. "God's a sociopath; free from all pretense of love and loyalty." His mouth twisted in a chilling way.
"Like you," Lilly remarked.
"And you," he shot back. "Disposing of those you proport to care for like your dirty little sis; sticky fingers on Lilly's hubby-to-be; real b*tch in heat that one."
Lilly scoffed at him. "I don't even think that about her."
"You have." He bit his lip.
"Your mother was stripped; shot in the chest-"
"But in the end you would've found another reason to leave him."
"Just like Tina, Janet, all of them- you replicate her murder over and over and over. But why the running?" George just stared at her, and Lilly knew she had the upperhand for now. "Your mother didn't run."
"Your junior college degree equips you for pop psychology and a low five figure income, not much else."
"Why do you make them run?" Lilly demanded, her confidence returning. George continued to stare at her as a flashback hit him. "Why?" There was another moment of silence between them, and it clicked in Lilly's head about why he made his victims run. "You were running. Right? Why? Trying to find help? Stop him from hurting your mother?"
George snorted and gave her a sadistic smile. "Her granny panties all in a bunch, who could resist that?
"Your turn now," he said after a moment of silence. "To tell me."
"Tell you what?" Lilly asked, confused at what he was asking. She knew he had already read her 49.
"How little Lilly ran, long ago."
"Don't do it, Lil," Scotty said, knowing that this was going to hurt her. George turned to him.
"Are you going to be quiet, Detective Valens?" he asked. "Or am I going to have to kill her here and now?"
Scotty clamped his jaw shut. Then his phone rang. He answered it. "Hello?"
"Scotty," someone else said, their voice filled with relief. "It's Annalise, what's goin' on up there? Is Lilly alright?"
"She's fine," Scotty said. George held out his hand and took the phone from him.
"Well, well, well," George said. "If it isn't Little Anna making the calls."
"Enough with the games, George," Annalise said, annoyed. "Sharpshooters are all over the place. You got five minutes to surrender."
George laughed. "You forget, I have two cops up here; if they miss, they risk killing Little Lilly and Detective Valens."
"Then I guess you better look at the text I sent Lilly. Hope you can read it."
George looked down at the phone.
ithr get down, r release thm.
"What on earth does that mean?"
"It means, flyboy, that we're going to be releasing the dogs and bullets on ya."
George grabbed Lilly, causing her to gasp in pain. "Not if I have your mother."
"She's not my mother," Annalise growled. "And game's over." She hung up. George released Lilly.
"So, where were we?" George asked, sitting down on a stool right across from Lilly, keeping the gun pointed at her.
"Game's over," Lilly said, trying to build up her mask again, but failing miserably, she just hoped her voice wasn't wavering. "It's only a matter of time now."
"You were telling me how you ran," George answered his unanswered question.
"You're going to die in here too," was all Lilly said.
"Tell me how you ran."
"No." Lilly's voice was stone cold now, but they both knew that it wasn't going to last long.
George laughed. "You've never told a anyone about what happened to Little Lilly long ago; but you want to tell. Hmm?"
Lilly shook her head, her confidence fading, and her emotions becoming overwhelming. "Not you," she said, her voice faltering.
"Well, I'm the only one left," George said, once again raising the gun. "So, tell me."
Lilly looked down. "I was ten," she began, with shaky breaths.
"Lil, don't," Scotty tried to reason, but George held up the gun, and he stopped.
"On my way to the store... it was dark out... late."
"And that's when the bad man came for you?" George said, a smile creeping along his face.
Lilly nodded slightly. "I ran..." she had to take a few more shaky breaths before continuing. "...but he caught me."
"Did he touch you?" he asked twistedly. "In your secret place?" He used the gun to indicate what he was talking about.
"That's enough!"
Lilly turned toward the window, trying to look anywhere but in his eyes. She sniffed, "He wanted my money." Then she looked at him in the eye. "That's why he followed me. I gave him what I had."
"Then he went his merry way."
Lilly's eyes became hard, her voice cold once again. "You know he didn't." The flashback hit hard as ten year old Lilly screamed and tried to cover her face from the blow. She swallowed.
"Tell me what he did."
"He hit me. I don't remember much after that," she said turning away, hoping that that would be the end of it. She was wrong.
"Fractured jaw; five broken teeth; pretty little face not so pretty when he got through with you," George taunted.
"I fought, but he wouldn't stop- he just kept hitting me and hitting me..." her voice finally cracked and the tears were starting to pool in her eyes. "...and laughing." She looked down, placing her hand on her forehead as the flashback hit again, this time she had a few cuts and abrasions on her face; she screamed and tried to block the blows. She tossed her head back as she came back to the present, looking at George in the eye again, trying to keep her voice steady. "I didn't want to die. So I fought." George just wore a smile of triumph. He finally got what he wanted to hear for so long. A smile crossed her lips. "We're alike, you and I."
George laughed. "How so?"
"You fought too," Lilly replied, a smirk briefly crossing her features. "That's why you were bleeding." The smile and look of triumph faded, and Lilly pressed on; knowing she would only have this for so long. "Jacob found you in the closet; cornered you..."
"No..." George said, trying to come up with something that would affect her just as bad as the other memory.
"And you fought, like me."
George looked terrified now as his own flashback came over him.
Jacob opened the closet doors and grabbed George by the arm. "No!" George cried. "Let go of me!" Jacob grabbed his other arm, and slammed him on the ground. "No! I won't let you-" he cried out on impact. Jacob got on top of him, and hit him, giving the boy a busted lip. George crawled out from under him, and ran for the staircase.
"You ran," Lilly continued, bringing him back to the present. "But the doors were locked; the windows were nailed shut. He hunted you down in that house like an animal." Her voice was starting to falter again; but not out of fear, out of sympathy. A brief feeling she never thought she would have for the person who wanted to kill her.
"I'm not an animal!" George snapped.
Scotty smiled at the way she got George to snap. Maybe things would work out in their favor after all.
"That's why you pick fighters," Lilly continued, the sympathy gone. George moved his mouth around, trying to come with something to retaliate with and stop her attack. "How did he know you were in that closet, George?" she asked pointing to the closet.
George finally picked out something to attack with. "You want to know what I'm wondering? I'm wondering who would send a ten year old girl to the store late at night all alone? That's what I'm wondering."
Scotty's smile faded, and he knew things were about to get much worse for Lilly.
"Who sent you to the store, Lilly," George asked, raising the gun to add fear.
"I go there all the time," Lilly replied, her voice once again faltering as George probed at her weak spot. "The owner knew me."
"Answer the question, Lilly."
Lilly was forced to look away again. "My mother," she sobbed.
"Why?"
Lilly sniffed and took a shaky breath. "She needed a drink."
The triumphant look returned to his face. "Sold out," he smirked. "By the person who loved you most." He shook his head. "Mm-hmm-hmm," he said, rising, as Lilly tried to regain composure. She placed her chin on the back of her hand, but then lifted them back up again at the taunts. "No wonder Little Lilly likes to play with the dead." He raised the pistol and leveled it at her head. He didn't know that Lilly had one more tactic in play.
Lilly looked up at him. "Who sold you out, George?" she asked. George was caught completely off guard by the question. She stood up, her face just inches from his. "Because what I'm wondering is how did Jacob know you were hiding in that closet?"
George's lip began to tremble. "You stop talking."
"'Forgive me'," Lilly said in a slight mocking voice, or it could've been from trying to keep herself from crying. "Your mother said. For what?"
"Shut up!"
"She told Jacob where to find you, didn't she?"
"You shut up!"
Despite herself, a smile came over Lilly's face. "Your mother wasn't raped in this attic."
"You shut up! You shut up! You shut up! Shut up!
She gave him an icy cold glare, and her voice became cold once again. "You were."
George looked petrified.
"Not in the woods," Simone pleaded. "Not in the woods. Not in the woods." Jacob stroked Simone's hair, trying to have her calm down. "In the closet. In the closet. The boy. Do it to him, not me; do it to him."
Jacob looked up, licking his lips, and headed for the closet. George backed up; little good that did.
"He brought you up here," Lilly continued. "And raped you. And she just watched."
George pointed the gun at her head. "I am God in these woods."
"No, George!" Lilly cried. "You're a little boy; whose mother didn't love him. Who sold him out."
"Like you," he whispered.
She was breathing heavily now, the emotions were so overwhelming, it was all she could do not to break down. She reached out to try and take the gun from him, but he pulled it back slightly, causing her to flinch. "It's time you learned," he said. Lilly looked down curiously as he brought her weapon out from behind his back, and threw it down.
Lilly looked at him warily- he was returning the same look- and when he turned his back on the gun, she went for it. "Down on the ground, George!" She commanded, aiming for his back.
He turned on her, his weapon lowered. "What about freedom?'
"On the ground!" She repeated. Her hands were trembling from the adrenaline rush.
"When you kill me," George said, "the only thing that separates you and I is who pulls the trigger."
"Do it, Lil!" Scotty called. "Don't listen to him, just do it!"
It was now that Lilly realized what he was planning on doing. He wasn't going to let her leave alive. One of them wasn't going to survive, and she hoped to the heavens that she was the survivor of this round. "Don't make me do that," she said shakily. "I don't want to kill you."
"Yes you do, that's why you came!" he said. "We are alike you and I."
"I'm nothing like you," Lilly said coldly.
"You sleep with the dead; you're already half way there." Lilly's hand began to tremble even more; she didn't want to do this. "And when you kill me," George continued. "Even those photos you cling to will fade away. Like everyone fades away for you. And you will be alone."
"You're wrong," Lilly said. "I'll never be like you!"
"Wanna bet?" George said, raising the gun.
Lilly got off three shots, catching George in the chest. Annalise and John hurried up the step, to find Lilly kneeling down by Scotty in shock, but otherwise fine. Scotty just needed to get out of the house altogether.
"Annalise," he said with relief. "Where are you?"
"I'm downstairs."
"Where's Lilly?"
"Upstairs in the attic," Annalise replied. "Why? Is something wrong?"
"She's not answering her phone."
"What?" Annalise exclaimed, and Scotty could hear the fear in her voice. "Come inside quickly," she said lowering her voice. "I'll meet you at the door."
"Where's Lil?" John asked.
"In the attic. Annalise is downstairs," he said as he got out of the car. Stillman grabbed a shotgun. Before they reached the door, Annalise was already opening it slowly.
"Hurry," she said quietly. She quietly closed the door after them; it was like it was never opened. "I told her to watch her back," Annalise said in despair. "Why didn't she listen to me?"
"She probably didn't realize what you were talking about," Scotty said, hoping that would calm down the sixteen year old.
They hurried up the staircase, hearing Lilly's voice. "Why have you brought me here?"
"To kill you," George replied.
"Why now?"
"Oh, hunting has become a tedious game since I met you Lilly. Even Adalanta, lost her charm."
"The one who survived. What did you do to her?" The fear in her voice was clear.
Annalise looked at them fearfully, her side ponytails bouncing around on her shoulders. That was when John and Scotty raced up there. "Drop it!" they said. There was a gunshot that made Annalise jump and race up there with them. Lilly was standing only a yard or so from George, unarmed and unharmed. "That was just a warning shot," George said menacingly. "I won't miss again."
"Please," Annalise pleaded. "No one has to die. Just let her go."
"Little Lisa begging for her mother's life," George said mockingly "How sweet."
"Don't use my nickname," Annalise said angrily. "You have no right."
"Ah," George said as if he knew more about her than she did. "But it's not just a nickname is it? It's your real name; isn't that right, Lilly?" Scotty turned to her, wondering what George was talking about; John didn't look at all surprised. Scotty was starting to wonder why when George continued with his torture. "You were eighteen, and your fiancee had just cheated on you; he wanted you back, but you refused him. He got drunk and followed you home, and just like the incident fourteen years ago, he attacked you. It was a good thing you knew a cop at the time who could help make this all go away-" he indicated Stillman with a nod of his head- "And with his help, you hid it from all of your friends and family. When the child was born, you signed a death certificate to make it seem like a stillborn, and that was the end of Lisa Rush; then came the birth certificate for Annalise Meyers."
Lilly was starting to tremble by now, and Annalise couldn't keep watching her suffer. "Shut up!" she cried. "If you knew anything about genetics, you'd know that Blonde hair is a dominant trait. I'm a brunette; how do you explain my hazel eyes? You think you know everything, but you don't!"
George just laughed. "You just don't want me to shoot your mommy," he said mockingly.
"My mother was a drunk drug-addict," Annalise said harshly. "My parents took me in, and raised me as their own. If I were related to Lilly in any way, don't you think I would look a little bit like her? I have darker skin than her."
"That's because you grew up in the south, where you get a lot more sun," George countered.
"Look," Stillman interrupted, "Just let Lilly go." George cocked his gun.
"I want all of you out of here," he said pointing the gun at Lilly. "Except Lilly; she and I have some unfinished business to discuss."
Annalise, seeing that there was no choice, left immediately; John slowly followed afterward; Scotty just lowered his gun, but didn't move. He stayed where he was, his eyes warily on George. He and Lilly had finally reached good terms with one another since their fight about Christina; he wasn't about to leave Lilly alone with a psycho serial killer whose goal was to kill her. "I'm going to count to three, Detective Valens," George said threateningly, "and then I'm going to pull the trigger... one..."
"Scotty, please," Lilly pleaded. "Go."
"I'm not leaving without you, Lil," Scotty said.
"...two..."
"Scotty, go!"
When Scotty didn't move, George pointed the gun at Lilly's head. "Three." In one swift movement as quick as lightning, George swung the gun on Scotty, pulled the trigger, and pointed the gun at Lilly again. Lilly screamed at the sound, causing George to laugh. "Now, Lilly, it's only a gunshot."
"Lilly!" Annalise called, her accent heavy. "Are you alright?"
It was a moment too late that Lilly realized Annalise was back in the attic with them. "Oh my gosh!" Annalise cried, rushing over to the injured detective. "Scotty!"
"Annalise, get back downstairs," Lilly ordered.
"Alright," Annalise replied, knowing this was not a time to argue. She stopped at the top of the staircase, though, and turned to glare at George. "If you hurt her in any way, shape, or form; physically or emotionally, I swear I will hunt you down and make sure you die a slow and painful death."
George cocked the gun again. "A gentle reminder for you to mind your manners like a good little girl."
Annalise rolled her eyes and hurried down the staircase. Lilly turned to Scotty, and saw that he was bleeding heavily just above the right knee. "Oh, no," she said, hurrying over to him. "Scotty."
Scotty groaned, shifting his leg painfully. "Lil..."
Lilly shushed him. "Don't talk; that looks bad."
"It feels bad," Scotty said, placing his hand on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.
"Lilly!" Annalise called again. "Can I come up?"
"No."
"Then head to the top of the staircase." There was a loud thunk as something landed on the top step.
"Nice arm," Lilly heard Stillman say, and Annalise thanked him. There was a box on the top step, and she soon realized it was a first-aid kit. She brought it over to Scotty and started to treat his wound. George was not pleased with this idea.
"Oh no you don't, Lilly."
Lilly looked up at him, raising her arms. "Let me at least stop the bleeding," she pleaded with him.
"Give me his weapon," George said, holding out his hand. Lilly did; Scotty looked at him disgustedly.
"If you hurt her, I'll murder you."
"Would you like me to kill her right now?" George asked, shoving the gun downward into her back. Scotty shook his head. "Then mind your manners."
Lilly released a breath she didn't realize she had been holding, and continued with the gauze, wrapping it tightly around Scotty's leg. When she was done, George forced her to walk away from the injured detective and sit on a box.
"Where were we, before we were rudely interrupted?" George asked, then he remembered. "Ah, yes. Adalanta. Poor Dede, how she begged, in the woods... like you will."
"Because in the woods, your God, right?" Lilly asked.
George smiled. "God's a sociopath; free from all pretense of love and loyalty." His mouth twisted in a chilling way.
"Like you," Lilly remarked.
"And you," he shot back. "Disposing of those you proport to care for like your dirty little sis; sticky fingers on Lilly's hubby-to-be; real b*tch in heat that one."
Lilly scoffed at him. "I don't even think that about her."
"You have." He bit his lip.
"Your mother was stripped; shot in the chest-"
"But in the end you would've found another reason to leave him."
"Just like Tina, Janet, all of them- you replicate her murder over and over and over. But why the running?" George just stared at her, and Lilly knew she had the upperhand for now. "Your mother didn't run."
"Your junior college degree equips you for pop psychology and a low five figure income, not much else."
"Why do you make them run?" Lilly demanded, her confidence returning. George continued to stare at her as a flashback hit him. "Why?" There was another moment of silence between them, and it clicked in Lilly's head about why he made his victims run. "You were running. Right? Why? Trying to find help? Stop him from hurting your mother?"
George snorted and gave her a sadistic smile. "Her granny panties all in a bunch, who could resist that?
"Your turn now," he said after a moment of silence. "To tell me."
"Tell you what?" Lilly asked, confused at what he was asking. She knew he had already read her 49.
"How little Lilly ran, long ago."
"Don't do it, Lil," Scotty said, knowing that this was going to hurt her. George turned to him.
"Are you going to be quiet, Detective Valens?" he asked. "Or am I going to have to kill her here and now?"
Scotty clamped his jaw shut. Then his phone rang. He answered it. "Hello?"
"Scotty," someone else said, their voice filled with relief. "It's Annalise, what's goin' on up there? Is Lilly alright?"
"She's fine," Scotty said. George held out his hand and took the phone from him.
"Well, well, well," George said. "If it isn't Little Anna making the calls."
"Enough with the games, George," Annalise said, annoyed. "Sharpshooters are all over the place. You got five minutes to surrender."
George laughed. "You forget, I have two cops up here; if they miss, they risk killing Little Lilly and Detective Valens."
"Then I guess you better look at the text I sent Lilly. Hope you can read it."
George looked down at the phone.
ithr get down, r release thm.
"What on earth does that mean?"
"It means, flyboy, that we're going to be releasing the dogs and bullets on ya."
George grabbed Lilly, causing her to gasp in pain. "Not if I have your mother."
"She's not my mother," Annalise growled. "And game's over." She hung up. George released Lilly.
"So, where were we?" George asked, sitting down on a stool right across from Lilly, keeping the gun pointed at her.
"Game's over," Lilly said, trying to build up her mask again, but failing miserably, she just hoped her voice wasn't wavering. "It's only a matter of time now."
"You were telling me how you ran," George answered his unanswered question.
"You're going to die in here too," was all Lilly said.
"Tell me how you ran."
"No." Lilly's voice was stone cold now, but they both knew that it wasn't going to last long.
George laughed. "You've never told a anyone about what happened to Little Lilly long ago; but you want to tell. Hmm?"
Lilly shook her head, her confidence fading, and her emotions becoming overwhelming. "Not you," she said, her voice faltering.
"Well, I'm the only one left," George said, once again raising the gun. "So, tell me."
Lilly looked down. "I was ten," she began, with shaky breaths.
"Lil, don't," Scotty tried to reason, but George held up the gun, and he stopped.
"On my way to the store... it was dark out... late."
"And that's when the bad man came for you?" George said, a smile creeping along his face.
Lilly nodded slightly. "I ran..." she had to take a few more shaky breaths before continuing. "...but he caught me."
"Did he touch you?" he asked twistedly. "In your secret place?" He used the gun to indicate what he was talking about.
"That's enough!"
Lilly turned toward the window, trying to look anywhere but in his eyes. She sniffed, "He wanted my money." Then she looked at him in the eye. "That's why he followed me. I gave him what I had."
"Then he went his merry way."
Lilly's eyes became hard, her voice cold once again. "You know he didn't." The flashback hit hard as ten year old Lilly screamed and tried to cover her face from the blow. She swallowed.
"Tell me what he did."
"He hit me. I don't remember much after that," she said turning away, hoping that that would be the end of it. She was wrong.
"Fractured jaw; five broken teeth; pretty little face not so pretty when he got through with you," George taunted.
"I fought, but he wouldn't stop- he just kept hitting me and hitting me..." her voice finally cracked and the tears were starting to pool in her eyes. "...and laughing." She looked down, placing her hand on her forehead as the flashback hit again, this time she had a few cuts and abrasions on her face; she screamed and tried to block the blows. She tossed her head back as she came back to the present, looking at George in the eye again, trying to keep her voice steady. "I didn't want to die. So I fought." George just wore a smile of triumph. He finally got what he wanted to hear for so long. A smile crossed her lips. "We're alike, you and I."
George laughed. "How so?"
"You fought too," Lilly replied, a smirk briefly crossing her features. "That's why you were bleeding." The smile and look of triumph faded, and Lilly pressed on; knowing she would only have this for so long. "Jacob found you in the closet; cornered you..."
"No..." George said, trying to come up with something that would affect her just as bad as the other memory.
"And you fought, like me."
George looked terrified now as his own flashback came over him.
Jacob opened the closet doors and grabbed George by the arm. "No!" George cried. "Let go of me!" Jacob grabbed his other arm, and slammed him on the ground. "No! I won't let you-" he cried out on impact. Jacob got on top of him, and hit him, giving the boy a busted lip. George crawled out from under him, and ran for the staircase.
"You ran," Lilly continued, bringing him back to the present. "But the doors were locked; the windows were nailed shut. He hunted you down in that house like an animal." Her voice was starting to falter again; but not out of fear, out of sympathy. A brief feeling she never thought she would have for the person who wanted to kill her.
"I'm not an animal!" George snapped.
Scotty smiled at the way she got George to snap. Maybe things would work out in their favor after all.
"That's why you pick fighters," Lilly continued, the sympathy gone. George moved his mouth around, trying to come with something to retaliate with and stop her attack. "How did he know you were in that closet, George?" she asked pointing to the closet.
George finally picked out something to attack with. "You want to know what I'm wondering? I'm wondering who would send a ten year old girl to the store late at night all alone? That's what I'm wondering."
Scotty's smile faded, and he knew things were about to get much worse for Lilly.
"Who sent you to the store, Lilly," George asked, raising the gun to add fear.
"I go there all the time," Lilly replied, her voice once again faltering as George probed at her weak spot. "The owner knew me."
"Answer the question, Lilly."
Lilly was forced to look away again. "My mother," she sobbed.
"Why?"
Lilly sniffed and took a shaky breath. "She needed a drink."
The triumphant look returned to his face. "Sold out," he smirked. "By the person who loved you most." He shook his head. "Mm-hmm-hmm," he said, rising, as Lilly tried to regain composure. She placed her chin on the back of her hand, but then lifted them back up again at the taunts. "No wonder Little Lilly likes to play with the dead." He raised the pistol and leveled it at her head. He didn't know that Lilly had one more tactic in play.
Lilly looked up at him. "Who sold you out, George?" she asked. George was caught completely off guard by the question. She stood up, her face just inches from his. "Because what I'm wondering is how did Jacob know you were hiding in that closet?"
George's lip began to tremble. "You stop talking."
"'Forgive me'," Lilly said in a slight mocking voice, or it could've been from trying to keep herself from crying. "Your mother said. For what?"
"Shut up!"
"She told Jacob where to find you, didn't she?"
"You shut up!"
Despite herself, a smile came over Lilly's face. "Your mother wasn't raped in this attic."
"You shut up! You shut up! You shut up! Shut up!
She gave him an icy cold glare, and her voice became cold once again. "You were."
George looked petrified.
"Not in the woods," Simone pleaded. "Not in the woods. Not in the woods." Jacob stroked Simone's hair, trying to have her calm down. "In the closet. In the closet. The boy. Do it to him, not me; do it to him."
Jacob looked up, licking his lips, and headed for the closet. George backed up; little good that did.
"He brought you up here," Lilly continued. "And raped you. And she just watched."
George pointed the gun at her head. "I am God in these woods."
"No, George!" Lilly cried. "You're a little boy; whose mother didn't love him. Who sold him out."
"Like you," he whispered.
She was breathing heavily now, the emotions were so overwhelming, it was all she could do not to break down. She reached out to try and take the gun from him, but he pulled it back slightly, causing her to flinch. "It's time you learned," he said. Lilly looked down curiously as he brought her weapon out from behind his back, and threw it down.
Lilly looked at him warily- he was returning the same look- and when he turned his back on the gun, she went for it. "Down on the ground, George!" She commanded, aiming for his back.
He turned on her, his weapon lowered. "What about freedom?'
"On the ground!" She repeated. Her hands were trembling from the adrenaline rush.
"When you kill me," George said, "the only thing that separates you and I is who pulls the trigger."
"Do it, Lil!" Scotty called. "Don't listen to him, just do it!"
It was now that Lilly realized what he was planning on doing. He wasn't going to let her leave alive. One of them wasn't going to survive, and she hoped to the heavens that she was the survivor of this round. "Don't make me do that," she said shakily. "I don't want to kill you."
"Yes you do, that's why you came!" he said. "We are alike you and I."
"I'm nothing like you," Lilly said coldly.
"You sleep with the dead; you're already half way there." Lilly's hand began to tremble even more; she didn't want to do this. "And when you kill me," George continued. "Even those photos you cling to will fade away. Like everyone fades away for you. And you will be alone."
"You're wrong," Lilly said. "I'll never be like you!"
"Wanna bet?" George said, raising the gun.
Lilly got off three shots, catching George in the chest. Annalise and John hurried up the step, to find Lilly kneeling down by Scotty in shock, but otherwise fine. Scotty just needed to get out of the house altogether.
