There was one rule, one door and she opened it. She had promised herself she wouldn't go back, not after the warehouse, not after what she saw. The man hanging like meat, the screams behind metal doors, the woman who walked through it all like her heels were slicing history into the floor. She had promised but obsession doesn't care about promises, so Ellie returned. Not through the front, not where Amy would see, she came early this time, hours before the black car arrived. The outer doors weren't locked, Amy trusted fear more than locks. Ellie moved through shadows like a secret, she wanted to understand, She wanted the truth, she wanted... HER.
The warehouse felt colder today, less alive like the walls were holding their breath. Ellie kept her head down past the room where she'd first seen the boy bleeding. Past the cages, past the men who didn't speak anymore. And then she saw the door, the one Amy told her never to open. You don't go past this door, Amy had said. "Ever". Ellie stared at it now thick, steel double locked before but tonight, one lock hung open. An accident? Or a test? Don't! Don't be stupid, but her hand moved anyway. She pushed the door open and hell opened with it. Inside the room, It wasn't blood that hit her first. It was the silence, heavy, pressed like something alive was holding its breath. The lights were low just a single bulb above the center of the room, swinging faintly. Chains hung from the ceiling, black leather straps were bolted to the wall, there was a table. No; not a table, an altar and on it, a girl no older than Ellie. Still, barely breathing, strapped down, silent tears running sideways across her face. Ellie took a step in and the girl eyes swollen, lip split looked right at her. Help, she whispered. Please...
Ellie stepped back, her whole body shook, her mind screamed to run but then
"I told you not to open that door."
Amy stood in the doorway quiet, unblinking, she didn't yell she didn't grab, she didn't raise her voice but her presence filled the room like fire filling a closed space. There was one rule, she said, Ellie couldn't speak, One! Amy repeated, walking in slowly and you broke it. I didn't, I just… Curiosity? Amy asked , you want to know what I keep hidden? Now you know. Ellie's hands were shaking, why is she here? she whispered, because she tried to kill me. She's a girl! So was I, once. Amy walked to the table, she touched the girl's hair with one gloved hand gently, too gently. She poisoned a drink meant for me, It didn't work but it hurt someone I loved. So now... she's here. For how long? Amy looked back at Ellie; Until I'm satisfied. Her stomach twisted, not at the scene, not at the straps or the blood or the girl but at Amy. At how calm she was, at how right it seemed coming from her lips. This is wrong, Ellie whispered, Amy tilted her head, then leave. Ellie opened her mouth, closed it again, she didn't leave. You scare me, she said. You should be terrified. But I'm not,
Amy's eyes flared. Why not? Ellie stepped forward, because even in all this... you still haven't hurt me.
That broke something because it was true, she hadn't hurt Ellie, she hadn't even tried.
She'd let her watch, let her question, let her close and now this girl had looked into her deepest, darkest room... and still hadn't run.
Amy looked at her, really looked. You're too brave for your own good, she said o r too stupid, Ellie whispered. Amy didn't smile, they're the same thing in my world. The Most Dangerous kind of Intimacy, they stood inches apart, no touch, no kiss, just breath between them, tension so thick it could choke. Amy looked at her like a threat, Ellie looked back like a promise. What happens now? Ellie asked. Amy reached into her coat, pulled out a key, and placed it gently in Ellie's palm. Now you know the door, she said. Let's see if you can handle the rest. Ellie didn't blink,
Amy turned and walked away. And the girl on the table? She wept quietly.