I had no idea what Seth and Autumn – er Fallynn – had in store for us. They’d leave the room for what seemed like long periods of time, but there was no clock in the room, so to me every minute felt like an eternity. Every so often, I could hear Seth or Autumn walk down the hallway toward the room we were in. I could see the shadow or his or her feet under the door as he or she would stand listening. Apparently, trying to see what Taylor and I were saying, but Taylor and I sat silently – neither of us knowing what was in store nor what to say to one another.

“How are you doing, Ede?” Seth asked as he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.

I looked down at the floor and didn’t reply.

“Oh, come on, Eden,” Seth said as he walked over to me and stooped down in front of me. “Don’t be like that.”

“Leave her alone,” Taylor spat as he glared at Seth.

“Is someone jealous?” Seth asked as he glanced at Taylor as I looked up to see them staring each other down.

“No, I have no reason to be jealous,” Taylor said through gritted teeth.

“Oh, really? So you’re okay with your wife fucking other guys?” Seth replied.

“She doesn’t have to fuck other guys,” Taylor glared. “And even if she did, I’d rather it be at her own will than some sick bastard forcing himself on her.”

“Oh, is that the story you’re going with, Eden?” Seth asked, turning back to me. “No matter what she says now, she wanted it. Bad.”

“You’re a liar,” I said just above a whisper as I looked back down to the floor.

I couldn’t stand to look at Seth. The idea that the baby growing inside of me could belong to someone as disgusting as him made me feel sick to my stomach. I could still feel his eyes on me, but I kept my head down. Every time Seth looked at me, it felt like he was raping me all over again.

Then out of nowhere we heard a police siren. All morning and afternoon, we had heard cars driving past the building we were in, but when I heard the police siren, I hoped that they were coming to our rescue. I knew that our friends and family had to be wondering where we were by now, but in the back of my mind, I knew that the chances of the police coming to rescue us were slim. How could they possibly know where we were?

But that thought didn’t stop Taylor. He started yelling as soon as he heard it. I couldn’t even comprehend what he was yelling because as soon as he opened his mouth, Seth started yelling at him to shut up, but he didn’t.

“Shut the fuck up!” Seth yelled as Autumn rushed into the room.

“Shut him up!” she screamed as Seth looked around the room. I knew he was looking for something to shut Taylor up with.

“Taylor,” I cried. “Stop … stop … you’re making them mad!”

But he kept on yelling for help, and before either of us knew it, Seth hit Taylor across the head with the same baseball bat Autumn had killed Lila with. After the first swing, Taylor fell over on the floor, and Seth went to raise the bat to hit him again, and I sobbed as Autumn quickly stopped him.

“Come on, Fal, he could have got us caught,” Seth said.

“Killing him right now isn’t part of the plan,” Autumn replied as she glanced at Taylor’s motionless body. “Besides, he’s out cold. He isn’t going to be a problem for a while.”

“If he tries anything like that again, he’s dead,” Seth muttered as Autumn ushered him out of the room. I looked around the room and began to sob loudly. I couldn’t believe this. Taylor had nearly gotten himself killed. I didn’t know what he was thinking. I knew he wanted out of here just as badly as I did, but Autumn and Seth were dangerous. We had just watched them murder Lila. I was so angry with Taylor. How could he have done something so stupid? I was angry, but I wasn’t mad at him. I knew that he was only trying to get us out of here, but I knew that if anything happened to him, I would never be able to live. I was nothing without Taylor.

I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes. I didn’t know what to do. I longed to reach out and touch Taylor – to see if he would be okay, but I couldn’t because of the damn handcuffs Seth had put around my wrists.

Suddenly my ears perked up when I heard a third voice out in the hallway.

“No, Zac, I haven’t heard from either of them,” she said. I could tell that it was girl. Her voice sounded faintly familiar, but I had a sudden headache and it was making everything seem like it was miles away.

“Yes, I’ll be sure to call you if I hear anything,” she said. Apparently she was talking on a phone. Even though I couldn’t tell who the girl was, I knew that the others were looking for us. I let out a soft sigh of relief. There was still some hope that they would be able to find us. I silently prayed to God that he would help us.

My eyes snapped open when I heard the open creak open. I was shocked to see Allie walk in behind Seth and Autumn. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to see her though. I had the sneaking suspicion that I knew Halley. I guess I just never thought that it’d be Allie. She was Angelina and Heaven’s best friend and roommate – but I guess that gave her the perfect opportunity to find out everything she needed to know about me.

She had seemed so sweet. I even welcomed her into my home, and all this time she had been plotting against me. Apparently, they had been planning this for at least two years.

“Eden, you have another visitor,” Autumn smirked.

I just shook my head. I couldn’t believe this. No. Wait. I could believe it. My life was like a soap opera. It’s always the person you least expect.

“Aren’t you happy to see me?” Allie asked with a pout.

“I can’t believe you,” I murmured as I shook my head. “I trusted you. My sisters trusted you.”

“Well, that was the whole idea,” Allie grinned. “But I have to admit, you and your sisters made it all a little too easy. I would have preferred a little more of a challenge. I guess your family is just far too trusting.”

Her words stung, but I knew she was right. After what happened with Audrey, I should have been far more cautious. But I had let my guard down too easily. I made a vow to myself that if and when I got out of this, I would not make the same mistake again.

“So, what’s next?” I asked. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what was coming next, and I highly doubted that they would tell me what was in store anyway, but I thought it was worth a shot.

“Well, I’m glad you asked,” Autumn grinned. “You’ve got some work to do.”

“Oh? Do I?” I replied.

“Yes,” Autumn nodded. “As you know, this is all about making things right for Audrey, and the only way to do that is for you to admit that it was all your fault, and that Audrey never should have died.”

“And how do you expect me do this?” I asked. “Everyone knows that Audrey was crazy. She was trying to kill me when that police officer burst into the room and shot her.”

“Well, look what happened to him,” Seth smirked.

I suddenly felt very numb. It wasn’t until now that I remembered that the police officer that had saved my life had been murdered. I should have made the connection sooner. It was obvious that these people meant serious business.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked.

Seth walked over to the table and picked up something and walked back over to me. He was holding a tape recorder and a sheet of paper. Autumn stooped down in front of me and held the paper up.

“To whom it may concern. My name is Eden Hanson, and I have a confession to make …” I read softly to myself. “What the hell is this?”

“It’s your confession that Audrey’s death is your fault,” Autumn answered.

“I am not reading this,” I said.

“Oh, yes, I think you will,” Seth put in.

“What if I refuse?”

“Well, then I guess I’ll have kill your precious Taylor … just like I killed your kids and sisters,” Allie spoke coldly.

Her words were like a punch in the stomach. “Wh-what?” I whispered.

“I said if you don’t do what we tell you, I will kill Taylor – like I killed your kids and your sisters,” Allie spoke slowly.

“You’re lying,” I said hoarsely. I wanted to sound confident that I knew she was bluffing, but my efforts were worthless.

“Sorry, Eden, but no, I’m not,” Allie grinned evilly. Tears stung my eyes, and I began to sob.

“No!” I cried. “How could you?”

“It was quite easy, actually,” Allie shrugged. “I just slipped a little rat poisoning into their food when they weren’t looking and a couple of hours later, they were dead.”

“I don’t believe you,” I whispered. I didn’t want to believe what Allie was saying. There was no way my children were dead. No way. She had to be lying. My heart felt like it was being stabbed over and over again. My children couldn’t really be gone. It couldn’t really be true.

“Well, would you like me to go get little Saffie’s dead body so you can see for yourself?” Allie asked.

I shook my head and choked. “No.”

The idea of it was too morbid to even fathom. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. This couldn’t really be happening. It was too terrible to be real. My children couldn’t really be dead. If this were true, then I would never get the chance to watch them grow up. I’d never hold them in my arms again. I’d never get to tell them how much I loved them. I’d never even get to hear the sound of Saffie’s voice, or watch Hannah get married, or stay up late waiting for Zeke to come home from his first party. I wouldn’t get to see any of this if my children were really dead.

I sobbed loudly as tears fell freely from my eyes and decided that if it were possible to die from a broken heart, I would be dead in a matter of minutes. My head was spinning, and I felt like I was suffocating. My heart had been ripped out. I felt like it was just laying the floor in front of me slowly beating slower and slower. In any minute now it was going to stop beating, and I would be dead. This would all be over.

But it didn’t happen.

“Oh, Eden, don’t worry,” Seth commented. “We’ve still got our baby.”

I looked up suddenly and glared at Seth. “Fuck you, you bastard! If this baby belongs to you, I don’t want it!” I spat.

“Eden, don’t say that,” Seth said soothingly. “You’re just upset.”

“Go to hell!” I screamed. “You fucking raped me! And then you killed my children! Don’t tell me not to be upset!”

“Shut up!” Seth shouted as he glared at me as his face turned red with anger, but I didn’t back down. I glared right back. If I was going to die today, I sure as hell wasn’t going down without a fight. My heart was now back in my chest and beating faster than ever. If this was what it came down to, I wasn’t going easily.

“Raped?” Allie asked, looking at Seth with a look of pure confusion.

Seth looked back and forth between Allie and Autumn, who were both waiting for his reply. At first Seth didn’t answer. He just scowled at me. The tension in the room seemed to mount as each silent second passed.

“She’s just saying that,” Seth finally said none too convincingly.

“You raped her?” Autumn asked.

As I watched the three of them exchange looks, it hit me that Autumn and Allie had no idea that Seth had raped me. From the looks that Autumn and Allie were giving him, I ventured to guess that Seth had lied to them and told them that I had slept with him at my own free will. Boy were they in for a surprise.

“No, I didn’t,” Seth mumbled. “She wanted to …”

“So I was just screaming for you to stop for the hell of it?” I glared.

“You just shut up, you stupid bitch!” Seth growled.

“Or what? You’ll rape me again?”

Seth glared at me fiercely. I could tell that his blood was boiling, but after one look at his sisters, I could tell that they were none too pleased with this new news about their brother.

Autumn grabbed Seth by the arm and pulled at him. “Come on. We need to talk,” she said through gritted teeth. Seth stood slowly and followed Autumn and Allie out of the room.

In the midst of it all this mess, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of victory. Apparently, Seth, Autumn, and Allie weren’t as close as they thought. I guess it was a good thing I had exploded at Seth because I might have been able to buy Taylor and myself some time.

I felt a sudden pain in my side. It took me a moment to realize what it was, but when I did, I small smile spread across my face. The baby had kicked.

The baby had kicked for the first time, and something about this glorious event in the midst of this huge mess made me that much stronger. My heart was breaking at the idea that my children and sisters were actually dead, but at the same time, I couldn’t be sure that Allie was really telling the truth. Even if she was, I couldn’t just give up. I still had Taylor and the baby growing inside of me, and as long as I still had them, I had to keep going. I had to find a way out.

I looked around the room but saw nothing that would be of any use. It was almost next to impossible to do anything with the handcuffs behind my back. I moved my wrists to see if there was any slack in the cuffs because I thought I might possibly be able to work my hands out, but they were too tight.

“Damn,” I groaned as I moved my sore wrists around but as I moved my hand around, I felt my fingers brush across something in my back pockets. I felt around for a second before gasping when I realized what it was. It was a bobby pin! I had stuck them in my back pocket after I was finished fixing Hannah’s hair for school.

I grasped the pin that was sticking out between two fingers and pulled it out before grabbing it with the other hand. I took a deep breath as I bent the bobby pin and tried to find the keyhole for the handcuffs. One time when I was younger, my brother, Declan, and I had had gone out somewhere, and when we came back home, everyone else was gone. Neither Declan nor I had had our house keys, so he had taken a bobby pin from my hair and picked the front lock to the house and showed me how to do it. I never thought that I would ever need to pick a lock, but low and behold, something my brother had taught me had actually come in handy.

I moved the pin around but froze when I heard the door open and dropped the pin to the floor. “Shit,” I whispered. I looked up and watched as Allie walked across the room. She stooped over Taylor and inspected his head.

“Is he okay?” I asked softly.

She glanced at me and then to the door and then back to me. “I think so,” she replied softly. “He just has a huge bump.”

“Allie, why are you doing this?” I asked with my voice quivering. “You know it’s not my fault that Audrey died, and you know that I didn’t want her dead.”

Allie didn’t look at me, but she glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, so I knew that she was listening. “Audrey was my best friend. I cared about her and trusted her. And even when she was trying to kill me and I was so scared that I was going to die, I didn’t hate her! And when she busted through the bathroom door pointing that gun at me and I heard a gunshot, I thought that she had shot me! I couldn’t stop that cop from shooting Audrey, but I wish I could. I never wanted to see her dead. I would have done anything to help her.”

“Even after she tried to kill you?” Allie asked doubtfully.

“Yes! She was my best friend!” I cried.

“Eden, you’re full of it. You wouldn’t have helped her. The only help you would have given her was on the way to prison,” Allie commented.

“No, that’s not true,” I said. “Audrey needed help. She was sick – like your mother.”

“Don’t you dare bring my mother into this,” Allie glared.

“Allie, you know it’s true!” I argued. “She was sick, and Audrey was too.”

“So I supposed that I’m sick too? That I’m a basket case and need to be locked in some mental hospital?” Allie demanded.

“No, I don’t think you need to be in a mental hospital,” I said. “I think that you are just upset about Audrey’s death, but I think that you’ve let Autumn and Seth get you into something way over your head. I don’t think you really want to do this.”

“How do you know what I want, Eden?”

“Because no matter what you say, I think I got to know the real Allie … or Halley, I guess should say, while you were living with Angelina and Heaven,” I said. “You were happy! They were your friends! They loved you, and I do too! You were like one of the family!”

“But I’m not part of your family, Eden!” Allie replied.

“Maybe not by blood, but do you really consider Seth and Autumn your family?” I asked. “All they want is revenge! They’re sick! They need help, and they’re going to drag you down right along with them!”

“Why are you so concerned about me, Eden?” Allie asked as she turned to me finally making eye contact. “I killed your kids and your sisters.”

“I don't believe you," I said as I held her stare. I searched her eyes for any indication that my suspicions were correct. "And even if it's true, I still have the baby growing inside of me."

"Seth's baby? You want to have a baby with a psycho?" Allie smirked.

"I don't know that it's Seth's, but even so, Taylor and I already decided that we are going to raise this baby together," I answered.

"Even if it is Seth's?"

"Yes, he raped me, but I'm going to make an innocent child pay for it."

"Oh, so why you were planning on having an abortion then?" Allie questioned. "I mean, if you don't care who the father is?"

"I was confused," I answered. "Besides, you guys managed to stop me and by killing Tracie's baby, you made me realize how precious this child really is!"

Allie looked away toward the window for a minute. "Did Seth really rape you?" she asked, her voice no louder than a whisper.

I opened my mouth to answer, but I quickly closed it when I heard the door open and a very angry looking Autumn and Seth, who looked like he had just received quite the chewing out, reentered the room. Allie quickly stood up and looked their way.

Autumn looked Allie over before asking, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded quietly before looking down to the ground. "You two get everything worked out?"

Autumn glared in Seth's direction before turning back to Allie. "Everything's peachy fucking keen."

As I watched the interaction between Seth, Allie, and Autumn, I knew that there was a great deal of tension in the room. In fact, if it had been any thicker, I probably could have drowned in it. Seth was exceptionally quiet, and Autumn looked like she could have possibly killed him if he so much as opened his mouth – thus his sudden stroke of quietness.

And Allie - I could tell that her resolve was beginning to crumble. I could see it in her eyes when she looked at me. And I was almost completely positive that she had been bluffing about killing the kids and Angelina and Heaven. I didn’t think she had it in her. But what I didn’t know was how weak her resolve was. When it came down to it, would she help Taylor and I? Or would she let her siblings carrying on and do with us as they wished? I hoped that she knew that I had meant what I had said. She really was like a member of the family.

I had no idea what was next. I knew that I had managed to cause a crack in their strong alliance by bringing the rape issue up. I didn’t figured that Autumn really cared that her brother had raped me, so I figured that she must have been pissed that he apparently lied to her about how I had got pregnant.

As I sat there, I tried to grab the fallen bobby pin off of the ground, but I couldn’t seem to reach it, and I didn’t want to squirm too much because I knew that they would end up catching me otherwise, but I knew I had to get a hold of another bobby pin and rid myself of the handcuffs. I glanced at Taylor and saw that he was still passed out. I felt so terrible for him. He had spent most of his day knocked out, and I knew that he was going to have a serious headache when he finally came to again, but I guess in a way he gotten off easier than me. At least while he was knocked out he didn’t have to sit in suspense and wonder what these people were planning to do with us.

“Well,” Autumn said, clapping her hands together. “I guess it’s time to get down to business.”

I looked up at her with a blank stare. I had never liked Autumn too much as Zac’s girlfriend. I had always figured that it was just because I thought Zac and Angelina belonged together, but now I felt like my dislike had been justified. It was just too bad that I hadn’t seen it sooner that she was up to no good.

Autumn walked over to the desk and grabbed the tape recorder and her stupid letter before walking back over to me. She handed the tape recorder to Seth and held up the letter. “When I say ‘go,’ you start reading,” she said.

“No,” I replied, shaking my head.

“Don’t argue, Eden,” Seth sighed. “Just do it.”

“No, I’m not reading your stupid letter,” I replied.

I had no idea what they thought my reading a letter declaring my guilt for Audrey’s death was going to do. It wasn’t going to bring her back or make her look less guilty.

Autumn reached out and grabbed my face with her hand and held it in place as she stared straight at me. “Read the fucking letter!” she said through gritted teeth.

“No,” I replied. “I’m not going to read a letter saying that I’m responsible for something when I’m not.”

“But you are responsible, Eden,” Autumn said.

“No, I’m not,” I said. “It is NOT my fault that Audrey is dead. If anyone’s responsible, it’s Audrey. She’s the one that tried to kill me and Zac. She’s the one that knocked me out and tied me to a chair. She’s the one that tried to make me write some ridiculous suicide letter. And she’s the one that shot through a bathroom door and pointed a gun at my head! And what for? Because she thought that Taylor belong to her! What a crock! Like I stole him from her? Taylor didn’t belong to anybody! I didn’t want to marry him in the first place, but he was the one that convinced me to do it for the baby, so I did! And I can’t help it that we wound up falling in love! Just like I can’t fucking help that Audrey was crazy – just like you and your mother!” I exclaimed, my voice rising with each sentence. I couldn’t control the words pouring from my mouth. I just let it all spill out - everything that I had been holding in. For a long time, I had actually felt responsible for Audrey’s death, but I knew that it wasn’t my fault.

“Shut up!” Seth shouted, causing his face turned red with anger as Autumn glared at me. Allie just stood back with a shocked expression.

“Fuck this shit,” Autumn exclaimed. “I’m tired of messing with you, you stupid bitch!”

“Seth, get the gas and matches,” she commanded. “We’re finishing these two off once and for all!”

Seth silently disappeared from the room only to return seconds later holding two large cans of gasoline and a box of matches. I suddenly felt very scared. I knew that I would make them mad by mouthing off to them, but I guess I had pushed them too far. As I watched Seth begin to pour the gasoline around the room, I bit my quivering bottom lip and maneuvered my hands to reach into my back pocket for a bobby pin.

“You guys, what are you doing?” Allie asked. “What about the letter?”

“Fuck the letter, Halley,” Autumn said as she took the other gas can and began to pour it over the other side of the room.

“We can’t just kill them!” Allie exclaimed, looking around the room with confusion.

“Then what do you suggest we do then, Hal?” Seth asked.

“It’s not too late to turn back!” Allie exclaimed. “We could just leave them here and go. Leave town!”

“Yeah, and take the risk of them being found?” Autumn said over her shoulder. “Then they could tell everyone who we are?”

“Besides, it’s too late anyway,” Seth commented. “We’re all in too deep. We can’t just walk away.”

“But what about the baby?” Allie asked looking at Seth. “I thought you wanted it.”

Seth smirked. “Why would I want to waste anymore time on that worthless bitch! She wasn’t even worth the effort.”

Allie looked around the room with exasperation. “But it’s not too late guys!” Allie insisted. “We can just leave them and go!”

“Halley, we can’t just leave them here alive!” Autumn said sternly. “We killed that police officer, and caused the wreck with Tracie, and, not to mention, you killed her sisters and kids! Do you really think that she’s going to let us get away if she lives?”

“But they’re not!” Allie exclaimed. “They’re not dead!”

Both Autumn and Seth stopped dead in their tracks. “What?” Seth exclaimed. “What do you mean they’re not dead? You were supposed to put the rat poison in their food.”

Allie looked from Autumn to Seth nervously. “I was going to … but I couldn’t … so I crushed up some sleeping pills and put them in their food instead and it knocked them out. So, see! It’s okay! We can just leave them here and get out of town!”

“I can’t believe you, Halley!” Autumn glared. “Whose side are you on? She’s responsible for Audrey’s death. And you just want to let her get away with it? Don’t you care about our sister?”

“Of course I do!” Allie replied, looking as though she were on the brink of tears. At first I was so enthralled in the whole scene playing out before me that I just sat and watched, but then I realized that now was the perfect opportunity for me to get the handcuffs off, so I quickly went back to work at getting the bobby pin in the keyhole.

“Well, then shut up and get ready to run!” Autumn glared as she took a match out of the box. I cried out as I watched her strike the match against the side just as the door to the room swung open. I gasped when I saw a very badly beaten Lila standing there with the same gun that Seth had shown me earlier in her hands. She pointed it at Autumn who stood frozen from shock – which I assumed was from seeing the woman who she thought she had killed standing before her with a gun. Allie and Seth both just stared with surprise.

“Bitch,” Lila glared as she pulled the trigger. Everything happened so fast. The second that the bullet hit Autumn the match fell to the floor and the room was suddenly filled with flames. I screamed and worked harder to get the handcuffs off as Seth stormed towards Lila, who was surprised to see the flames filling the room, as Allie cried out in fear.

I don’t know how I managed it, but I somehow got one of the handcuffs to click open and fall from my wrist. I immediately stood up. I saw Seth going for Lila who still had the gun lifted, but when she pulled the trigger nothing happened.

“There was only one bullet,” he growled as he took the gun from Lila’s hand and threw it before grabbing her around the neck. “Guess you’re out of luck!”

I looked around the room and quickly grabbed the baseball bat from the floor and rushed over behind Seth and lifted it up and swung it hitting Seth square in the back. The impact caused him to release Lila from his grasp and bend over in pain, but I didn’t stop then. I suddenly had a rush of strength and lifted the bat again and swung it as I screamed. “You stupid ass, bastard! I hope you fucking burn in hell!” I don’t know how many times I swung, but I didn’t stop until Seth was lying motionless on the floor. When I looked up, I realized that the room was quickly going up in flames. Lila was leaning up against the wall and Allie was hunched over in the corner.

“Lila,” I said, grabbing her shoulder. “We’ve gotta get Taylor and get out!”

She nodded breathlessly. I knew that she didn’t have much strength left, but I knew that there was no way that I’d be able to get Taylor out by myself.

We hurried over to Taylor, and I tried to shake him awake, but it was useless, so I pulled his arm around my shoulder as Lila did the same on the other side, but she was too weak and couldn’t lift him up. I saw Allie coming our way out of the corner of my eye. “Go,” she said to Lila and gave her a light shove in the direction of the door. She glanced at me before she pulled Taylor’s other arm around her shoulder. “Ready?” she asked.

I nodded as we both gathered all of our strength and lifted him up and hurried out of the smoke filled room. I coughed as we made our way out into the hall where Lila was hunched over coughing. “How do we get out?” I asked Allie.

She motioned in the direction we needed to go. The halls were filled with smoke, and I wondered how stable the building actually was. I prayed that the walls wouldn’t crumble before us as we made our way through the maze of the old apartment complex. It felt like an eternity before we finally reached the double glass doors at the front of the building. As soon as we were out on the blacktop parking lot, Lila fell to the ground coughing, and Allie and I laid Taylor on the ground. I coughed, trying to clear my lungs of the awful smoke as Allie stood up and looked at the burning building before us.

She started back toward the door. “Where are you going?” I asked as I fumbled around and managed to get back to my feet.

“Seth and Fallynn are still in there,” she said as I grabbed her arm. “I’ve gotta help them!” she cried, trying to pull away from my grasp.

“It’s too late, Allie!” I said as I pulled her close.

“No!” she cried as she buried her head into my shoulder. “No!”