"This is the first time we've had a one-sided conversation," says Claude as we start to walk down to the basement.
I say, "Right now, I don't know what to think about anyone."
"I know you're not the killer Doll you've been made out to be... How do you say... You are too weak and scared to be able to do something like that. You are helpless and fragile.
"You never know who will snap," I say. "It's always the good ones."
We go down to the basement, and when he closes the door, he does it a little too slowly.
When he walks up behind me, I grab the sheets. I'm freaking out because I don't know if he did it or not. Why does he act so strange?
When his hand goes to my waist, I start to breathe faster. I turn around, throw the stack of sheets I have at him, and run out the door.
He was already behind me before I could even open the door.
"Please don't hurt me," I'm on the ground and he has his hand around my neck. My back hurts from being hit with so much force.
"I locked the door so no one could sneak in and jump us. If you are the killer, I could easily stop you, so I'm fine being alone with you, but try anything and I won't hesitate to stop you right now," he says.
"I'm keeping you safe, but I'm also watching your every move to see if you did that to Dagger, so if you keep running like that, I'll think you did it.
"I moved you out of the way so I could get the rest of the sheets."
He takes his hand off my neck and stands up.
"If you are the killer, just admit it," he says. "I'm not, and how do I know you're not just trying to act like a hero when you're really the killer?" I ask.
"If I had been, I would have killed you right now," he says.
"Where are all these police?" I say. "I didn't ring them," he says as I stand up. "What, and why?" I ask. "Because of the storm, Doll, they can't get out here. They can't even get a helicopter out here, so why try?"
"How do you know they can't get out here with a car or something?"
He says, "I'm not going to call them, Doll."
When he comes up to me, I move away. "Why did you do that if you were just going to tell me anyway?" I ask.
He keeps coming closer and closer to me, so I quickly turn around and run to the storage room.
I shut and lock the door as hard as I can.
I'm yelling for help. "The cellar is soundproof for a reason, Doll," he says, and I hear a low laugh. "Don't worry, Doll. I know you're scared, but I won't ever kill you."
"Open the door. If I wanted to kill you, I would have already done it. Dagger is lucky that I only killed him and didn't torture him for touching what's mine.
"You think that throwing a bunch of blades at him wasn't torture?" I ask.
"I threw one first at his throat, then at his heart, and he died right away. Then I threw one at his head, then at all of his limbs."
I try to hide a sob by covering my mouth.
"Open the door, please," he asks.
"No," I respond. "I'm giving you one last chance before I unlock it," he says, and I hear keys jingling.
"Doll, Dagger is still alive. You know us, we like to scare people," he says. "Open up the door."
When she said, "I'm right here, Doll," it sounded like Dagger.
"I don't believe you, Claude," I tell him. "Come on, doll, open the door now before I get mad," he says, and I can hear his teeth grinding.
I can hear the key get stuck in the lock. Before he does, I open the door.
He laughs as he puts his phone in his pocket. He says, "Come on, we need to take this stuff back upstairs."
He picks up every sheet.
Since Dagger isn't here, I think it was probably a recording from his phone. "I'll tell them that you are the killer," I say.
"You wouldn't do that, so I'll just kill them all one by one until you are the only one left with the mental pain of losing another family," he says as he throws the sheets on the ground.
He comes over to me.
He moves his hands to my waist. "I can do a hundred times worse than what Dagger did to you. He took what I wanted, so I took something from him: his life."
"Now, Doll, why are you so obsessed with Dagger? "Remember when he tried to rape you?," he asks.
"Or the time he purposely stabbed you in the leg with one of his blades. You couldn't perform for two weeks. Another time, he stood outside your tent and said he was going to fuck you whether you wanted it or not. Fernando stopped him, which is why he was taken to the police station. He said he wouldn't actually do it, but the stupid sheriff believed him.
"Dagger didn't do anything to me," I tell him.
"You stupid little girl, he only wanted a quick fuck with you. He wanted to be the first to try out the pretty little doll. I bet he made you feel really bad with some sloppy story," he teases.
He says, "I only hurt you in ways I know you like. I'd never hurt you badly."
"I'm going to trust that you won't tell anyone, and I'm not going to kill again unless one of them hurts you like Dagger did, so stay away from those boys," he says.
I cough. He makes me look at him by tilting my head up. "I want you just like much as you wanted me."
I don't breathe. "I still want you, but I wish I didn't have to think this way about you. Why did you have to be the killer?"