The Disappearance of Ella Bloom · Part 5

The Disappearance of Ella Bloom · Part 5 (5/6)
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“We’ll try again in a week,” he tells her with a dejected sigh.

“Wait!” Ella calls out after him. But she’s ignored.

A few minutes later the light clicks off and the droning voice starts its routine.

10 – The strange couple After 5 more weeks of getting brainwashed in the basement she finally gives up and signs his contract to become his ‘willing’ wife.

When she signed the contract with trembling hands Mike had insisted that the document is her bond to him, her commitment. And when he thinks she’s ready they’ll get married for real.

She had passively nodded and at the time didn't care for anything he said as long as she would be out of that fucking basement.

For a time she mistook her sense of duty towards Mike as her liking him. Her mind got so warped because of the programming she received that she knows something isn’t right, but she can’t quite put her finger on what that is.

She often curses herself for not being able to trust her own thoughts.

It’s been several years now and they're still not married. Apparently Ella isn't ready. He sometimes probes at her love for him, but it always falls on deaf ears.

Her hair has grown long again and at least 4 winters have passed. But without the internet, TV or any connection to the world… Who knows how long it has really been.

Winters are the worst. Without any clothes it’s too cold to go outside so her tiny world becomes even smaller for several months. During winter she spends a lot of time in front of the fireplace reading Mike's books. She has read all of them several times by now.

More recently Ella likes to break some of the simple rules imposed on her. Sometimes when she knows he'll be gone for a while she watches a movie on her own, breaking his rule to not touch the TV. Or she sits in the shower for hours with the door locked while masturbating thinking he's not paying attention. She sometimes purposely forgets things or screws up his dinner, never her own though.

Mike knows she does this and concludes that Ella isn’t smart enough to realize that the TV gets warm when you use it, or that the input channel doesn't change on its own. One time he even found the Blu-ray Disc still in the player.

Ella is bad at covering her tracks.

He also knows she lies to him about little things thinking he won't notice. They're obvious but insignificant violations of his rules and he doesn't really care.

As long as she is loyal and attentive he's a lenient man. At his core he is not a mean person.

Mike, as it turned out, is very much a loner. He's very intelligent but also very introverted and has trouble communicating with people less clever than him. Which is most people, including Ella from time to time. As a result he often feels excluded, or misunderstood. He has no real friends and always works from home.

She can, on some level, understand why he would feel the need to kidnap and fabricate a lover.

A few times per week he goes somewhere, he never tells her where he is going but most of the time he returns hours later with groceries, a newspaper, new movies and other necessities of life. Unknown to her, Mike often visits his accountant or goes to the bank to talk business. He has 2 businesses to run after-all. He sometimes has a beer with the one or two people he is friendly with in the local pub. Sometimes he just goes out for a walk in the forest they live in.

Ella knows little of what Mike does when he's not home. He doesn’t tell her much.

For the first year he had locked her into the basement whenever he left the house. Sometimes he’d chain her to the patio with a chain around her ankle. But more recently he got more lax and left her free in the house.

As far as she knows Mike never lied to her. So when he told her there is an electrified fence around his land she believed it. She never saw the fence though.

There is no fence, and if Ella wasn’t so scared of Mike she could have easily left during those times.

But she’s right to be scared. The few times she had wandered to the edge of the grassy garden Mike had caught her and slapped her so hard and so many times for even thinking about going anywhere that her face had been bruised for weeks. This had happened 3 times, one time she was just chasing a squirrel and wasn't even trying to leave.

His violent outbursts had made a huge impression on her though. She never really left the patio or the grassy area in front of it since, unless he joins her.

Likewise, he had caught her in his office once. Ella was trying to access the internet on his laptop. He had thrown her through the room and into the hallway so savagely that her head had slammed into the wall opposite the door causing a nosebleed and sprained wrist.

She had spent 2 days in the basement chained to the floor anchor by her wrists and ankles. He didn't treat her bleeding nose at first and she was a right mess when she came out.

To add insult to injury she had to scrub her own blood off the wall and floor when she was let out of the basement.

While Mike never apologized for what he did to her, he did nourish her back to health with great care when he calmed down. He likes a pretty girl after all.

Having learned her lesson she now dutifully plays house.

She makes his food, does his laundry, cleans the place. She makes sure she’s available when Mike needs her. She does everything her programming demands of her.

Overall her life isn’t that bad. His bed is really comfortable and his embrace is strong and comforting. The life he gives her also means she has zero responsibilities to the world. Her only concern is to take care of Mike. Which is generally not that hard.

The biggest decisions she makes usually involve what to make for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And depending on the weather, if she’ll be indoors for the day or not. For everything else Mike usually tells her what to do.

It’s peaceful and quiet, albeit lonely and isolated.

On many days Ella is very lonely and bored as there is simply not much to do. The highlights in her simple life are when they have sex. Even though the sex is almost always the same it’s an exciting few minutes. And after learning to enjoy it she often goes all out with her pleasures.

Where he is a gentle and kind lover, she is very energetic and proactive. Sex is her only real outlet and excitement in life. And every time she has an orgasm she feels super alive and at peace, it's the best feeling.

Mike often has to tell her to tone it down and sometimes even punish her for being too wild to his liking. These punishments usually consist of him locking her in the basement while dangling from the winch.

Also 2 days ago where she felt so incredibly horny that she had exhausted herself while riding his dick with so much energy that he had to order her to slow down. He doesn't enjoy that kind of wild sex at all. Not enough body contact. But when she didn’t listen to him and just kept bouncing up and down on his penis while moaning loudly he had thrown her off of him and held her down with her hands in the small of her back while thrusting calmly into her from behind.

Ella gasped had struggled with the boring position and had begged for more but him being much stronger he had ignored her plea and gently and slowly fucked her until he came inside of her. He had held her from behind for a moment while whispering sweet nothings in her ear and went to sleep.

Not having had her orgasm, she had fumed at the injustice of it and craving her release she had crawled under the blanket, massaging his penis and balls until he got hard again. His soft moans had encouraged Ella and she gently fucked him in his sleep. Slowly riding him while trying to keep quiet. Just when she was about to orgasm again he had woken up and told her to stop screwing around and get to sleep.

Ella had finally backed off and laid on her side slowly rubbing her nipples and vagina for hours until she fell asleep unfulfilled. She never got over her embarrassment to masturbate while Mike is home.

The next morning after making breakfast for Mike she had tried again to seduce him but instead he had unkindly shoved her into the basement and hung her from her wrists from the winch. Her legs flailing under her she can't touch the floor and she begs to be let down.

“Think about what you did and why you’re here,” he had told her when he left the basement, turning off the light.

As usual Ella doesn’t know what she did to deserve this and learns nothing from it. When he released her two hours later she had sat in the grass rubbing her chafed wrists while keeping a sharp eye on Mike, but he hadn’t said a word to her, nor made any attempt to explain himself.

Only very occasionally he strings her up in the basement from the winch and rarely does she understand why.

During dinner she had asked why he put her in the basement and he told her he needed some time alone and continued with the evening like nothing ever happened. They watched movies together all evening, Ella had curled up under his arm and slept through most of it.

Often when they're outside, she lazes around in the sun, suntanning while Mike works from the patio. Sometimes she tends to the garden even though she's not a very good gardener. Mike has her help cut the grass and trim bushes and such. And she secretly has a pot behind a larger bush where she tries to grow a rose bush.

But whatever she planted there is not a rose and will never be a bush.

Mike found out about this secret project when the salad bowl went missing from the kitchen. Another little lie from Ella.

Over the last few months she sometimes almost forgets that she's a captive. Sometimes they even have actual fun together. A tickle contest, or a pillow fight. Cooking together. Making her laugh from a comic in the newspaper. Having an actual conversation that she's actually interested in. Simple but fun things.

He had brought a badminton set and a frisbee home at some point, but they both agree it's not very fun.

The pink inflatable flamingo is much more fun, and it’s used as a sunbed for tanning a lot.

And despite all this and her programming, she can't let go of the nagging thought that she’s in a loveless one-sided ‘relationship’.

Her collar is a symbol of that as well.

11 – Staring at people Ella, or Girl, as she’s known these days, sits in the kitchen. She made breakfast for Mike and is thinking about what she wants for her own breakfast. As she does on some days she reflects on her sad excuse for a life and wonders how long she’s been here. Her thoughts are interrupted when Mike enters the kitchen.

“Morning…” He greets her with a quick kiss on her cheek.

“Hello Sir.” Girl replies with a smile.

“Today I have to head into town,” he shares with her.

“Oh, that’s great.” Her smile widens.

‘I’ll sleep some mo…’ she starts making plans.

“I want you to come with me for a change,” he announces.

“What? Ehh. Really?” Girl asks, she looks startled.

“Yea why not? You’ve been very good behaved. I think you’re ready to see the world again. We’ll get an ice cream and be among other people, see how that goes.”

“But I have no clothes.”

“Oh I have something for you,” he casually responds. He has been preparing for this day for years.

“Yeah? Thanks.” Ella agrees on auto-pilot. She can’t refuse him, but she rather stays here and not see him for the day.

“Sir?”

“Yes Girl?”

“How long have I been here?” Ella asks.

“Uhm, that’ll be 4 wonderful years now, almost 5,” he informs her.

“Oh…” Ella sits quiet for a moment.

“And my previous life?”

“What about it?” He inquires.

“Is my house still there? My friends and family?” She wants to know.

“Ehh. I doubt that. But you’re here now… Your new life,” he says.

“Yeah, but…”

“But what?! Just be thankful that I’m here for you. That you can live in this nice house and not have to worry about anything except me,” he bursts out, sounding upset.

“If anyone in the world cared for you they would have come looking…” Mike adds.

“But how would anyone know where to look?” Ella continues. “I'm sure someone is looking for me…” she thinks with a small voice.

“Shut up Girl! And don’t ask me again. I don’t know,” he shuts her down.

‘Maybe she’s not ready yet…’ He thinks with worry.

Every once in a while they have this argument. It always more or less goes the same, Ella asks her simplistic questions and Mike gets cornered by his lack of knowledge about her old life. And tells her to shut up.

He never bothered to look up where she’s from, if she had a boyfriend, friends or parents. What her education is, things like that.

He has zero interest in such things.

He did follow the news for a while after he took her but he stopped paying attention when the Police floated the idea that since there is no trace of any wrong-doing or any leads at all, she might have simply ran away.

Ella makes a grilled cheese sandwich for herself and they eat their breakfast in silence while Mike reads his emails.

“So about going to town. What do…” Ella tries. She’s cautiously excited to go.

“Yeah, let’s prepare. It’s a long drive,” he interrupts her and slaps his laptop closed while getting up. They head to the bedroom where he pulls a shoe box from the bottom of the closet and pulls out a colorful flowery dress and a pair of slippers.

“Here, wear this,” he hands her the knee length dress. “And these.” A pair of brown leather slippers drops in front of Ella.

She stares at the garment in disbelief. She has known that the box has been there for years but never looked inside.

She quickly slips the dress over her head. It's a bit tight around her chest but it'll do fine and she looks at the strange girl in the mirror. After being naked for over 4 years it feels weird to wear clothes.

She twirls around with a giggle.

Mike looks at her and sees her excitement. She never really giggles, or looks happy like this. He’s already doubting his wisdom for having her join him, thinking again that maybe it’s too soon.

His book claims that 4 years is enough to turn a person into a trustworthy partner though, and he’s going to have to try it some time, so he ignores his worries.

In the car Ella looks curiously around, she has never been further than 20 meters from his house in the last 4 years. Worse yet, she doesn’t even know where ‘here’ is. Nor does she remember how she got here. Everything she sees is new to her.

“Sir? Where are we?” She wants to know.

“Hm? We’re in the car,” he avoids answering.

“Are we going to Bristol? Or some place I’ve been before?” She continues asking questions.

“Oh I doubt that.” Comes his vague answer. He navigates around a tree and the path improves to a pounded gravel road.

Moments later the car emerges from the forest and Ella sees farmlands and buildings immediately next to the road.

A mere 2 kilometers from Mike’s house there are already people. Nobody is in sight though.

“This is your neighbor?” She asks Mike.

“Yea I guess, I never met them though,” he confirms. “Just a bunch of farmers,” he adds.

Ella thinks about that and wonders how he can not know his neighbors. She knew her neighbors. She remembers a kind couple to the right. And a creepy weirdo on the left side of her house.

It’s a 40 minute drive over smaller rural roads, every few kilometers there is a farm or a house or some kind of building. Mike doesn’t live in a remote far away house at all it seems.

Then they turn onto a bigger 2 lane road and follow it for another 15 minutes and finally they drive through the outskirts of Penzance, a town in the south-western tip of England.

While clearly British, Ella doesn’t recognize anything other than some larger stores that are in Bristol as well. There’s a train station too.

“Now don’t talk to anyone, OK?” Mike warns her.

“Yes Sir.”

“I mean it! If you think a month in the basement was bad. Think about how you like a year down there…”

He remembers how defeated Ella was when she came out of the basement after 5 weeks. When they talked about that before he made her sign his contract, she admitted she thought it was the worst experience of her life.

He had used the threat of the basement ever since.

“Yes, Sir…” Ella sighs.

Stopping at Tesco he picks up 3 bags and a box that are there waiting for him. The weekly groceries.

10 minutes later they park near the harbor and she follows Mike through the small town center to the ice-cream shop. Her dress feels funny as she moves. The fabric is rubbing her nipples, making them erect. It tickles on her hips and legs when the fabric brushes her skin, too.

She clings to his arm and rubs her face on his elbow in order to hide her flustered state. Mike doesn't pay much attention to her as he guides her through town but thinks she's acting strange.

All throughout town there are people. People are talking and laughing. Kids run around playing on a little square. People are working. There are some couples. She stares openly at everyone.

At the ice-cream shop she can pick 2 scoops and after taking way too long to choose she picks chocolate and banana in a waffle cone.

Her first ice-cream in years, and it’s super delicious.

From there they head to the nearby seaside and they look at the many sailboats that are anchored there while finishing their treat. Ella always thought the forested hilly land around Mike’s house was nice, but seeing the sea is something else.

They sit on the stone seawall and Ella leans into him as he puts his arm around her shoulder.

“Mike?” Ella starts.

Mike scowls at her “I’m Sir to you Girl, behave!”

“Can I have a book?” Ella asks unfazed.

“Why? What’s wrong with the ones I already have?” Mike wants to know.

“I’ve read them all. I want something new to read. I saw a bookstore on the way here.” Ella explains.

“Girls don’t have wants or possessions. But I’ll think about it,” he informs her.

When a police car drives past she briefly considers running after it. But she’s scared of what will happen if the cops don’t see her. And part of her doesn't even want to escape anymore.

Unknown to them both, the ice-cream vendor thought Ella’s behavior was strange. Plus the metal collar she’s wearing… It’s very suspicious to the old man. He made a report to a police officer on patrol and he called for the police car that drove by them just now to take a more detailed statement and investigate further.

Mike and Ella chit-chat a bit more about nothing, as they usually do. Mostly Mike babbling about sailboats and maybe going on vacation on one. She attentively listens to his ideas thinking it'll never happen.

In one ear, and out the other.

So far the adventure is actually less fun than she expected. Seeing the strange town and its people is nice and all but really she thinks it's tiring. There are so many noises around her, things to look out for. At least at Mike's house it's safe and quiet.

Checking his watch he announces it’s time to go. The 2nd purpose of the trip is to buy a few things. They get a bag of charcoal and skewers for the barbecue. At a hardware store he buys a new spout for the hose in the garden and a new seat cushion for one of the patio chairs.

Ella steals a white flower from one of their plastic plants and sticks it behind her ear.

The store clerk also thinks Ella is being weird and out of place. When 2 cops show up asking about the pair he’s convinced he’ll be an important witness in whatever is going on. But he can’t even describe either of them properly other than a plain looking man and a pretty girl in a flower dress that wandered around the store like she was lost.

Hearing that, the cops ask what things she picked up and confiscate a glass cup that visibly has fingerprints on it.

From a smaller shop Mike gets a new salad bowl and on and on it goes. Soon Ella is carrying 7 shopping bags. It all gets dumped into the car and they head to their last stop.

Ella has to wait in the lobby of an office for over an hour while Mike talks business with his accountant.

Sitting on the straight chair swinging her legs back and forth she rolls and twirls the flower she stole between her fingers. Ella could just get up and leave. Nobody would notice she thinks. It’s the best opportunity she has had in years but she doesn’t immediately take it. What if Mike catches her before she can find help? He’ll probably beat her again or put her in the basement for a year.

‘Yeah, but he kidnapped you, stupid. Run awaaaay!’ Her mind yells at her. A heated argument starts in her head where two parts of her are fighting over what’s right.

One part is scared of what to do if she runs away or who to turn to and therefore wants to stay in her stable and predictable life.

Her old self longs for her parents and to go home.

After a few minutes her old self finally gets the upper hand. Just as she starts to make a move the office door opens and a handsome man, a little older than herself, steps out followed by Mike.

“Well well, here’s the lucky lady. You really look a treat miss…” he jovially greets her.

“Are you enjoying the spoils of his riches? Mike told me a lot about you over the years. You’ve been together for almost 5 years?”

Ella is frozen in place with her butt hovering centimeters above the seat. She stares at the man while slowly sitting back down.

‘Lucky? Enjoying riches? He knows about me?’ she thinks. After all this time she still has no idea how wealthy Mike really is.

Mike nods encouragingly at her.

“Ehh, yes. He took me 4 years ago I think.” Ella tells him.

“Took you?” The accountant laughs. Eyeing her up and down.

Mike makes a gesture for her to shut up. But Ella isn’t paying attention to him.

“Uh-huh, from his work, in a bag. I don’t remember exactly. But I’m his now. Look.” Ella tilts her head so Tom can see her collar.

“I see…” The accountant frowns. Not sure what to think of this revelation.

Mike looks super angry at her and makes a fist to her before distracting the accountant.

“So Tom, see you next month?” He starts making his exit and cutting off the small talk. “I trust you’ll take care of things.”

“Yea, sure sure. Don’t worry about it.” Tom says, sounding distracted. He has seen that face before, somewhere.

“Hey, what’s your name?” he asks Ella, realizing Mike never told him.

“Ehh, Ella Bl…uhm, just Girl.” Ella corrects herself.

Mike rolls his eyes and reaches for her hand, “See you next month Tom, call me when it’s done.” And he pulls Ella along and hurries out the door.

Ella looks pleading at Tom and mouths ‘help me’ as she stumbles over the doorstep while looking over her shoulder.

Tom stares after her and idly nods, ‘What the hell was that about?’ He thinks.

Mike takes big steps towards the car and tugs her along like she’s a dog on a short leash.

Then they’re in the car Mike explodes with anger and shouts at her. “You dumb fucking cunt! Why not just say you’re my girlfriend! Or a hired hooker! An alien from Mars! I don’t fucking care what… BUT ANYTHING ELSE THAN THAT I TOOK YOU IN A BAG!”

She looks scared at him and says, “You nodded that I could talk to him. I don’t know,” she tells him. “Sorry… Sir. I guess…”

Ella pulls up her legs onto the seat so her knees are touching her chin and leans against the door.

‘Missed my chance…’ she thinks sadly to herself.

“Yeah, how fucking dumb was I to take you along thinking you could handle it! Jesus fucking christ!” He punches in her direction, hitting her thigh and starts the engine and starts the journey home.

‘Loser!’ she thinks for the billionth time.

Later that afternoon the police raid Tom's office believing Mike and Ella are still there. After turning the building upside down they finally turn their attention to a very annoyed Tom and his startled client who only then learn why the cops so rudely interrupted their meeting.

“Goddammit, you could’ve just asked!” Tom explodes, directing his anger at the apologetic inspector leading the operation. “Hell, even a phone call would’ve worked!”

“Sorry but we had to act quickly…” The inspector explains.

“Act quickly? QUICKLY!?! They left hours ago! Go wait in the vestibule, we’ll talk once I finish here!”

He practically shoves the inspector out of his office and tries to smooth things over with his client.

10 minutes of apologies later Tom has calmed down quite a bit and invites the now two police inspectors back in. After a short talk it is revealed that the cops have been after a young woman all afternoon for questioning. The 2nd inspector has brought a few case files from missing persons and Tom, without hesitation, points out Ella.

"That's her, that's the girl. But she's older now."

The cops inform him that the young woman is in fact Ella Bloom who had disappeared years ago. And Tom now feels like a dick for making the police wait, he provides all the info he has on Mike, short of his financial details.

"I knew it. She's been in all the papers… That's where I've seen her before." Tom exclaims. "Fucking hell… So what now? Need me to help? Mike trusts me… I can call him and…"

"Mister Henning! Please refrain from any rash actions. We'll take it from here." The inspector interrupts him. "And I need not remind you that any contact with Mike is prohibited as of now. Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, of-course. Anything I can do to help…" Tom exclaims. His head is spinning from the fact that Mike is a kidnapper. He never suspected a thing.

The inspectors leave with a wealth of information and get to work on figuring out where Mike actually lives. The address Tom had provided only points at the general area on maps.

An undercover cop scouts the location and finds nothing but a mailbox next to a gravel road leading over the hill and into a forest. An opened gate is positioned a few meters down the path. He can't continue without a warrant or probable cause and him showing up without a good reason surely would raise suspicion.

12 – An end to the madness Back at the house Ella is shoved onto the patio. Mike rips her dress from her body leaving the tattered garment on the floor. When Ella is naked again he forces her to sit on the tiles and chains her ankle to the roof support pole.

“Fuck you for being so fucking stupid! No dinner and no book! Understand?!” He curses at her, giving her a kick on her leg and leaves her alone.

Mike never has been this angry with her. He can understand an escape attempt. He can understand her screwing up dinner. But this? Incomprehensible.

The Disappearance of Ella Bloom · Part 5 (5/6)
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