Settling Into the Basement

TW: references to CSA/incest, confinement, description of the purpose of 'twins' within a cult

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Family

2.5 years old

The drive home from the trailer park is quiet and scary. My daddy and uncle talk but not a lot. Sammy doesn't look happy. I think he's sad. He's holding his backpack real tight in his lap and sometimes hides his face in it. I want to make him feel better, but I'm scared of making a sound.

We drop off the uncle and drive back home. It was already late when we left, so I fall asleep, even though I want to keep watch over Sammy.

Daddy wakes me up by getting me out of the car. Once I'm on the ground, I toddle over to Sammy, who's put on his backpack, and hold his hand. I been wanting to do it the whole time in the car, but he was too upset til now.

Daddy takes us through the garage and the door in the back. The storage basement is back there. It's full of boxes and junk. Daddy has Sammy go in there. He doesn't say that's where Sammy will stay. He doesn't say anything at all. He pulls out a key and shows it to Sammy. Then, he closes the door and locks it. He shows the key to me before putting it in his back pocket. He picks me up to take me upstairs and put me to bed. He looks tired and must be cause he doesn't love or hurt me that night. I wait until I don't hear him moving around, and then, I wait a little longer. I get up and tiptoe to get my step stool. I open the garage door and put my step stool away. I leave the garage door cracked. I crawl down the stairs.

It's very scary  down there cause it's dark and there ain't no windows. But I go to the basement door very slowly. I knock soft and put my lips to the door. I call for Sammy. When he answers me, I lie down and squeeze my fingers under the door. When he gets it, he touches them. I stay there for a long, long time. I tell Sammy I'm sorry he got taken but I'm glad he's here. I tell him I'll get him some blankets and a pillow and maybe a stuffed friend if I can. I don't know how I'll sneak it past daddy, but I'm going to try.

When we get older, we start getting to sleep together. If we're bad, we go downstairs. If I've been really, really good and make daddy and mommy really, really happy, Sammy gets to sleep in the house with me. Except for that and stuff with the Family and some training/punishment, daddy never lets Sammy out of that room. His food is brought to him. He has a bucket for waste and one full of water down in there. I bring him treats and presents when I can. 

My favorite part of it is when I get to fall asleep with him hugging me. I like to listen to his heart beating and try to breathe in and out with him. It makes me calm and relaxed.

I know it don't seem like Sammy gets out of there much, but we do a lot of training and Family and Coven stuff at home. So, he's actually out a lot, and we spend time together. He becomes me, and I become him, and we are two but one in two separate bodies. I miss him lots.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Children who are slated for leadership positions within our Family and the Higher-Ups usually had a shadow procured for them. The shadow tended to be a 'disposable' child. These were kids nobody cared about, so from families where the parents were drug addicts (as Sammy's were) or similar situations. Sometimes, if a pre-teen or teenager within our Family or the Higher-Ups became pregnant through abuse, the pregnancy would be hidden, and the resulting child was considered disposable. It's really easy for kids to slip through the cracks in the United State's legal system.

A shadow's job was to keep the cult child safe from other cult children and to serve as a sort of 'whipping boy' for the cult child, when punishment might cause permanent injury (or if the abuser wanted to create a guilt reaction within the cult child). The shadow and cult child were allowed to tightly bond, but again, this was done with a purpose. Considering most shadows were undocumented, it became virtually impossible for them to have a life outside of the group, and the bond between the shadow and cult child was used to keep the cult child within the group as well.

Shadows had more purposes beside this, but in general, these were their primary purposes within our Family and the Higher-Ups.