[RainbowSky]

Four
Holly’s POV

The lid slammed shut. I stood up and banged on the lid, trying to lift it, but it wouldn’t budge. It just wouldn’t move. I banged on the lid again, pushing with all my might, hoping it was just an accident. I screamed and yelled for help but there was no response. I walked to the far corner, and sat on the cold metal floor, pulling my knees up towards my naked chest. I shivered slightly. I could hear the muffled voices of Luke and Jake. I bowed my head and let the tears flow out. ‘What have I done to deserve this?’ I thought, my mind flitting back to the auction, trying to remember what I had obviously done wrong. I used the side of my hand to try and scrape some of the slime and food and water off my legs and body. The smell was disgusting, not just from the bin bag in the middle of the bin but it was radiating off my own skin. I swallowed hard, trying to keep the contents of my stomach down as I settled in for a long wait.

Luke’s POV
I eyed the stairs cautiously. They looked dangerous and precarious. I placed a foot on the wooden step and began to climb, super aware of the view that Jake would be getting as I climbed ahead of him. My head popped up into a dark room. I pulled myself onto the floor and waited patiently. Jake followed and went over to a wall to pull the curtains. My jaw dropped.

The sight was horrific. It looked like… like… I can’t even begin to describe it. The room was quite long but very narrow. It was rectangular with an approximate width of 10ft and length of 14ft. There were four walls, and two slanted ceilings that formed a point in the middle. It was sort of like standing in a misshapen pentagon (a miniature traditional pointed roof house shape). At the two ends there were small round windows, and there was a skylight in both ceiling slants. Even at the lowest point where the ceiling met the wall there was about 4ft of space so I could sit crouched down in it. It wasn’t so much the shape that was the problem, it was the room itself. The floor was plain wooden floorboards. From the trapdoor there was about 2ft of space until you met a smell metal bed frame – just large enough for a child to sleep on. Currently there was no mattress on it. The bed was pushed against the far wall directly underneath one of the round windows. At the other end of the room, under the other round room was a large chest of drawers but all the drawers were padlocked shut. There was just enough space between the trapdoor and the chest of drawers for someone to stand and fully open a drawer. On the left-hand side of the bed were two carboard boxes, filled to the brim with what looked like dirty, used clothing. On the right-hand side, there was a small wooden bucket, the sort you see pirates use on ships. But the most alarming thing of all was about 2ft in width, 5ft in length and 4ft high. It was placed against the right-hand side wall, short side against the wall. It was sort of in the gap between the bed and trapdoor – if the trapdoor and bed weren’t in the middle of the room. The opening was arched, and I peered inside to find a blanket lying on the inside. It was a doghouse.

Holly’s POV
It was getting warm in the trash can, the sun was obviously heating the metal sides. The smell of the rubbish was getting stronger and stronger and it was taking all my efforts not to heave. I heard metal clicking and quickly jumped to my feet, careful of hitting my head on the roof. The lid opened and I was blinded by the sun. But standing in the gap between the lid and the bin was a familiar face. “Saskia!” I cried out in relief. Her eyes darted down my filthy naked body until they settled on my eyes. “Help me out,” I asked. She shook her head sadly, opening the lid more and throwing in two black sacks full of rubbish in to join me.

“I can’t Hols,” she said quietly. “He’d find out and hurt us all,” she said softly. She held out a hand. In it was some chocolate biscuits that were individually wrapped. “I brought food though,” she added. I gratefully took the biscuits before Saskia closed the lid on me and locked it again. I slumped back in the corner of the trash can and began to carefully peel the packet open, determined not to touch the biscuit with my filth covered sticky hands. I bit into and it felt like my tongue exploded with the flavours. I swirled it around my mouth, determined to get the most out of the two biscuits I had.

Luke’s POV
“Well, do you like it?” Jake asked, a hint of something creeping into his voice.
“Holly and I both have to live here?” I asked in dismay.
He nodded. “Unless you prefer the barn of course,” he said calmly.
I swallowed hard. And nodded. I smiled up at him. “It’s lovely, thank you,” I said swallowing my pride down.
Jake smiled. “Excellent, well you stay here and get used to your new home. I’m going to pick up your little dirty cunt of a girlfriend and bring her back. Then I’ll explain the rules of the room to you and then maybe you might get some lunch. I know you haven’t eaten in over twenty four hours so you both must be starving. He began to climb back down the ladder. I knelt and peered over the trapdoor, watching him go. He got to the bottom, looked up at me and then pressed the button to retract the stairs. The trapdoor swung shut. I began feeling the walls and floor to see if there was a way to manual release the stairs from up here. But I came away with nothing.