text: [Themes: mystery / thriller, female protagonist, psychological, horror, serious, thriller]
  
  You open your eyes to total darkness but all you can feel is excitement mixed with dread. It's your birthday! You're finally eleven! You have always known that today would be when your prison sentence ends. Daddy had promised today would be a special one, so you're already bursting with energy. After laying in your lumpy bed for a moment, you roll off the ragged blanket Daddy provided for you and stretch. The cold cement pressing up against your bare and dirty feet is just another part fo your morning routine. You lean against the bars of your room and trail your fingers along the rough surface of the homemade bars.
  
  "Daddy?" You whisper into the dark, hoping he could somehow hear you. You would yell, but he has strictly forbidden loud noises of any kind. You don't want to make Daddy mad.
  
  After what feels like decades, light breaks through the void. At the top of the basement staircase, a door opens to reveal Daddy's large silhouette and single slice of cake in his hands. Heavy, thunderous steps echo throughout the basement as he begins to whisper sing in an off-key and eerily slow tempo.
  
  "H a p p y b i r t h d a y t o y o u..." You can see his smile now in the flickering candle light as he closes in on you and uses one hand to swing open the rusty but reliable old caged door that traps you, "H a p p y b i r t h d a y, d e a r TESS." He spits out your name in a quick, sudden manner at the end of the song, "Now would you like a piece of your cake?" The ice cream is all melted. Daddy is offering you a puddle of cake.
  
  > take Slice
  When you reach out to take the ice cream soup, his wide smile reveals three of his front teeth to be missing. Daddy's dark, almost black eyes never break away from yours as you take a cautious bite, though it is more of a sip. It's smooth yet slimy texture running down your throat does nothing to make you feel more comfortable as he reaches out and cups your cheek in his hand. His tough hand caressing your skin makes you wince but thankfully he doesn't notice.
  
  "Is your cake yummy?" Daddy asks, his hot breath that almost always smells like rotting fish blasting straight into your face.
  
  "Y-yes, Daddy," You manage to squeak out. For a moment he just stands there, looking down into your eyes. His black pits of despair that are his excuse for pupils seem to fill your very soul with that pitch darkness he has corrupted you with over all these years.
  
  "I'm so... happy to hear you say that, Tess." Leaning forward, Daddy plants an all too soft and sloppy wet kiss on your forehead, "Can you believe you're already eleven?"
  
  "No," You whisper, sweat pouring down your back already.
  
  "Well, too bad. You are!" He pokes you in the chest just hard enough to send you wheeling back a step. Daddy's temper shows itself for just a moment before fading away. "You know I don't like that you're a l l grown up but... I feel like you should have a wonderful.... birthday. What do you want to do today?"
  
  > say "I... Can I please go outside today, Daddy?"
  "Of course you can, darlin'," His grin grows even wider, giving him an almost unnatural appearance, "Just don't be too long. Daddy has a present for you."
  
  You do your best to muster a smile as he steps aside and allows you to exit your cell. Without so even as a glance towards the stairway, to avoid getting smacked within an inch of your life for the thirteenth time that month, you move quickly and as quietly as you can into the only other room in the basement. Hastily painted bright green grass covers the lower half of the walls, with a lot of it being stained brown, while playground equipment covers the rest. You can see eleven years of your waste piled up along the edges and floor of this room. Daddy says that nothing of yours can leave this moist and musty basement. You look down at your dark brown stained hands and tears well in your eyes. After you used some of the waste to add some new color to the paintings on the wall, Daddy never lets you wash your hands.
  
  "Are you going to go?" He asks, leaning against the doorway.
  
  "Yes, Daddy," You say as you drop the only pair of underwear he lets you have and turn around to face him. Taking a deep breath you back into a corner, letting the waste squish between your toes, and squat down mere inches away from the substance. The smell alone used to make your eyes water but now you've more than gotten used to it. You look up at him and lock eyes as you relieve yourself. His excessive saliva, trembling lips, and lustful look in his eyes force you to keep eye contact. Both of you remain in this position for a minute before you finally finish and pull your underwear back up.
  
  "G o o d..." He mutters and waves you over to him. You make your way out of the muck and stand a foot away from him. "Don't you want your present now?"
  
  You nod, too frightful of what would happen if you refused. Same reason you ate that cake.
  
  An excited spark flashes through his face as he grabs your arm and drags you into the center of the basement floor.
  
  "Just you wait right here!" He mutters and flicks on the light revealing a self-made basement, the walls being bricked by Daddy himself. You watch him run up the stairs and grab something just out of your sight.
  
  > The Present
  Daddy comes down the stairs slowly with his hands behind his back. You resist the urge to back away and cower from him. He jumps down from the last step and lands in front of you, causing you to wince as he whips out the gift from behind him.
  
  "Isn't it great?" He asks, holding out the key to your salvation. A kit made for beginner hair stylists. "Didn't you tell me you wanted to cut hair for a living? Well, here's your chance Tess."
  
  You stare at him, not quite sure on how to react.
  
  "Aw, c'mon! Don't you appreciate me? My gift?" He screams but his anger disappears as suddenly as it came when he sees you flinch away from him. "Oh, darlin'.." Daddy bends down next to you and wipes away a tear that is sliding down your face and cleaning the grime away, "I didn't mean to scare you.. how's bout this."
  
  He stands up, towering above you. "You get to choose what to do with it. It is your birthday after all.." Kneeling down once more, handing you the scissors, he awaits your answer.
  
  > say "Would you let me cut your hair..?"
  "Of course you can," He kneels down in front of you and looks up, "Just be careful not to make it look all bad, Hon."
  
  You nod and give an uneasy smile. For a moment you debate thrusting the sharp scissors into his throat, but you realize that he would probably see that coming and it wouldn't end well for you. Focusing real hard, you manage to ignore the smears of black that you leave on his forehead and hair as you snip and brush away at it. Whenever you get near his neck or ears, Daddy tenses up and relaxes when you move away. It doesn't take long before you are satisfied with the result. Taking the mirror that came with the kit, you show Daddy just how handsome he looks.
  
  He stares at his reflection for a long minute before slowly turning to face you.
  
  "This might just be the best haircut I ever did have," He chortles and moves closer to you. "You want to do anything else for your birthday or just end your day right here?"
  
  > say "Since... Since it is my birthday, can I go upstairs?"
  Daddy stares at you with an intense and inquisitive look stretched across his dried out and cracking skin. You go to back away but he reaches out and grabs your shoulder with his bony fingers digging deep into the crevices of your muscles, a frown growing on his face. This is it. You're going to die right now. After everything you've been through, you're going to die right here and right now.
  
  "Okay," He croaks out. It doesn't register at first but then you realize what he is saying. You can go upstairs. "Let me go take a look around. To make sure them monsters aren't gonna get you." You nod and try to hide your excitement. This could mean freedom! You hear shuffling upstairs as Daddy prepares the house for you to visit for the first time. You'll be able to see colors that aren't dark and dreary for the first time in your tortured existence!
  
  Daddy's steps bring your mind back to the present. You look up at him with a genuine smile for a moment before he grabs you by your arm and forcefully drags you up the stairs, allowing your shins to bang against each concrete step. By the time you reach the top of the fifteen step staircase, your legs are covered in red but you don't care. You see whites, brighter browns, actual green, and even blue! You stand in the middle of the room absolutely stunned. The blinds are closed and Daddy seems to be watching you closely but you don't care. You're finally someplace new. This is your way out of hell, if you can manage.
  
  "Sit on the couch, you little rascal. I'm going to make lunch," He mutters and steps into the kitchen, occasionally looking up to check on you. You watch him just as closely as he watches you. The second he turns away from making you a sandwich, you dart across the room and push the glass jar of jam to the edge of the counter and sprint back to the couch seat. Upon hearing your labored breathing, Daddy turns around but you pretend you're just laughing at whatever is on the T.V. When he finally turns fully around, he knocks the jar over himself and it shatters all over the floor.
  
  "God... Damn it," Daddy cusses and throws the butter knife he was holding onto the ground too. "You stay right where you are, Tess. I've gotta clean this up." He bends down and begins rummaging through the cabinets for a dustpan and something to sweep up the glass.
  
  You take this opportunity to look around the room. The only things of note you find are the television set that you could just spend your time of freedom watching, the blinds covering the window, and a phone lying on the table in front of you.
  
  > look Out The Window
  Your best bet has to be the window. Maybe someone else can see you or you can jump through it or... something. You don't really know but it is worth the try. You peak over at Daddy and see he is still bent over and cleaning up your mess. You rush over to the blinds and pull them to the side as silent as you can manage and peer out in a manner that your entire body is visible to anyone even passing by that glances at the window.
  
  You're in luck. An average sized man with dark brown hair is walking some miniature dog down the street. Unfortunately, he seems to be looking the exact wrong direction. The walker's head is turned ever so slightly away from Daddy's house. You have to think of something that would get his attention!
  
  > knock on the window
  You softly knock on the window hoping to get his attention. You wince. The sound is louder than you meant. You go to back away from the window, but see the walker turn to face you and a quizzical expression passes over his face before shock. You cry out as Daddy drags you out of the window just as the walker pulls out their phone.
  
  "You little bitch!" Daddy slams your head into the ground hard enough that everything goes black. When you come to, you're hanging from your limbs in the basement over a bucket.
  
  "You know what you've done to me, girl? To us?" Daddy screams into my face, flailing a butcher knife around. "They're coming and it's all your fault!" Tears well in his eyes but you meet his gaze with one of your own that is as cold as steel.
  
  His face contorts and he stabs you in the arm, causing you to scream and almost black out from the pain alone. You barely manage to cling to consciousness. You can't make out what Daddy is saying to you anymore and your vision blends together for a moment but then comes back into focus. The first thing you hear when you can process information is a knock on the upstairs door.
  
  "Are you in there, Mr. Hamilton?" The voice that broke the camel's back. You scream but Daddy is faster than you expect. His blade cuts through your throat as if it is paper and blood spews out of you into the bucket set up below you. All you can do is gurgle as you hear the door above burst open and see Daddy run upstairs- only to fall back down after you hear a few pops. Two strangers appear in front of you, one of them clutching his mouth and the other staring in disbelief. You know it's too late for you. All you can do now is be...
  
  Bled Dry. (Ending Three)