Thanks so much for all of your reviews. Just a quick warning: This chapter contains some rather graphic, violent images.

Chapter 2

Once Ryan was let out, he didn't say anything to his father. He just looked downwards at his feet. He'd thought his dad had forgotten about him. He'd begun to think that he'd be trapped in there forever, till one day his decaying body would be found by some person disturbed by the smell.

He heard his dad snort at him and he waited with a bated breath for the pain that was sure to come any second.

His muscles ached from being cramped in the same position for so long and he put his hand against his neck, his eyes still cast down at the floor.

He felt his dad's hand land on his shoulder and couldn't help but to flinch away. Again, his dad snorted but the promised pain still didn't come.

"Go to your room." The order came in a short 'not to be messed with' voice. Ryan needed no further encouragement and limped along the corridor, not looking at his father.

He heard his dad walking in the opposite direction to the kitchen. He frowned slightly. The worst thing about his dad's beatings was the unpredictability of them. He had been so sure that he was going to get a beating but when the cupboard door had been opened; his dad had just stood back as he'd scrambled out of the darkness. Now he was being let off?

He entered his bedroom slowly and sat stiffly on the bed.

He wasn't sure what to do and didn't want to risk leaving the room. He sat quietly for a while, listening to the sounds his dad was making around the house.

He wasn't sure exactly when the smell first reached his nose. He didn't really notice it at first, but the smell was quickly mounting on him and it made his stomach turn.

He couldn't place where the smell was coming from. He remembered it from somewhere else but couldn't place where exactly.

Maybe his dad had blocked the toilet or something.

He moved to close his door, hoping that maybe it would stifle the smell somewhat.

He heard the front door slamming shut, and the sound of the key turning in the lock.

The feeling of exhaustion weighed down on his shoulders and he returned to his bed. His body ached so badly and he lay himself out. He hoped that a little sleep would help the headache that was had begun pounding from the inside of his skull.

He closed his eyes and played his usual game when he went to sleep. He wrapped himself in the blanket and pretended that someone was holding him, hugging him. He imagined that they were watching over him, keeping anything bad from happening.

A smile tugged at the corners of his cracked lips and he snuggled down deeper into the blankets, allowing sleep to wash over him.

xxx

When he awoke, the first thing that came to his mind was that he was painfully thirsty. He stretched slightly and grimaced as his body complained bitterly at the movement.

Slowly, he sat up and twisted his legs around to the edge of the bed.

A wave of dizziness hit him as he stood up and he put a shaking hand to his head.

He hobbled on wobbly legs to the door.

He remembered the smell, the minute he opened the door. He leant down trying to quell the nausea and trying to stop himself from gagging. He raised a hand to his nose, his eyes watering.

He began wondering down the hall with the smell growing even more terrible the further he moved down the corridor.

He entered the kitchen, wondering if something had gone off. He opened the fridge and sniffed. The milk looked a little off but was definitely not the source of the smell.

He turned around and looked around the room. He wondered how long he'd been asleep. There was no sign of his dad and he knew it had to be late in the day as the sun looked like it was about to set. Maybe he was at work.

He got a glass from the cupboard and wiped it vainly before pouring himself some water from the tap.

He sipped on it slowly, relishing the cool feeling it made as it trickled down his throat.

Once replenished, he put his glass in the sink and began looking for the source of the smell again. He didn't think he could take it for much longer without his stomach beginning to rebel against it.

A sudden memory engulfed him and he could suddenly remember where he'd smelt the terrible smell before. When they had lived in Fresno, they'd had a slight rat problem. The little rodents had lived under the floor boards. One day, the family had woken to that smell and his dad had checked under the floor boards only to find a rat that had obviously died down there, rotting away.

Ryan had been in the room at the time and he'd been so distraught by the sight, that his parents hadn't known what to do. They'd ended up taking him away for the day with Trey. Back then he'd really thought that his parents had cared for him. Those were the days before his dad lost his job and the family had been forced to move to Chino. Those were the days when he'd look forward to coming home after school.

He began wondering around the house. He found that the smell was the most terrible in the living room, or more importantly the cupboard in the living room. The same cupboard that he'd found to be locked the day before. The same cupboard, that when his dad had found him standing so close to it, he'd been locked in the different cupboard.

He began to feel a weight settle inside his stomach.

His fingers began to shake as his mind flashed to his mother. He hadn't seen her since that night when she'd been screaming, crying out for him to help her.

He stood by the door. He wanted to try and turn the handle, but he couldn't. He didn't want to know what was inside.

No, his dad wasn't a murderer. He may have rage issues but he wouldn't kill anyone, especially not his mom.

The two of them may argue mercilessly with each other but Ryan knew they loved each other. Or, at least he liked to believe they loved each other.

He took a deep breath, trying not to bring too much of the smell into his nose.

There was probably just a dead dog or something inside that his dad had killed with his car by accident. Yeah, that was probably it. His dad had probably run down one of the neighbour's dogs and locked it in the cupboard so that the neighbour wouldn't find out.

It couldn't be his mom.

He put a shaking hand on the door handle and tried to keep his breathing slower.

The door had been locked when he'd tried before anyway, so it wasn't like he'd be able to get in this time.

He pushed down the handle and shuddered when he felt the door open a crack.

The smell smothered him as the door opened.

His dad must have been in there earlier, and forgotten to lock it again afterwards.

He tried to hold on to his strength and pulled the door towards him.

The sight before him was so horrendous that it left Ryan just standing there, transfixed by the grotesqueness of it all.

His eyes grew glossy as he took in the scene.

She lay in a heap on the floor. Her eyes bore into his, the blue hardly visible anymore. Her skin was a sickly grey and her arms were full of lacerations.

He must have used a knife.

Ryan took a step back, shaking his head. As much as he wanted to turn away, he couldn't.

Her hair was matted with blood and her mouth was parted slightly. Her lips were swollen, and he could see her teeth glinting up at him from underneath.

And then he was screaming.

He fell to the floor, screaming and sobbing.

He couldn't stop, it was like someone had taken over his body.

He noticed blood stains on the carpet, they were coming towards him. His screams grew louder. He tried to struggle away but they were catching up with him, engulfing him in red.

He thrashed about on the floor, trying to get away.

He didn't hear the knocking on the door.

Or the voices from the other side of the door.

He didn't hear the door being kicked down.

All he cared about was getting the redness off of him.

He didn't hear the converse above his head, only the sound of his mother's endless sobs.

He didn't feel the man holding him down, or the other man pulling down his pants a little to prick his thigh with a needle.

All he noticed was the sudden darkness. But even in his induced sleep, he could still see his mom's eyes- piercing him. Her screams calling him to help her. God, why hadn't he helped her?

tbc…