Amber Rose

Amber was lying quietly in the boot of the car.

A blanket over her to keep her warm, as the car gently made its way towards their new home.

She knew the importance of not being discovered… Their relationship, the love between her and Victor wasn’t one that would be accepted by the outside world. He knew that, and she knew that, too.

Staying hidden, protecting their future, was of paramount importance. Should she ever be discovered, she was prepared, though. Amongst the many things that Victor had bought her over the years, was a little black notebook. She loved reading, and he had recognized in her a unique talent in writing. He had always been so attentive to her interests, one of the many reasons why Amber loved him.

Little did he know that she had used that little notebook for their protection. To save him, should their secret ever be discovered.

For the past 8 years, she had made sure to record every little thing that Victor had ever done for her: the truth of what had happened.

How she wasn’t taken as a child, but had in fact run away from her nightmare of a home. How he found her in the street, wounded, and took her in to care for her after her bike crash.

How he had taken care of her ever since, loved her and cherished her, educated her and helped her develop any passion she had ever expressed any interest in.

Had she never met him, her life would have been more miserable than any day in Victor’s old, damp and dark basement.

Nevertheless, she knew what the world would think if she was ever to be found. Should that ever happen, all she would have to do would be to show that notebook.

He had saved her, and now, should he ever need it, she was ready to save him.

But the contents of her diary weren’t the only secret she had been keeping from him.

For years, Victor had been searching for a home where the two of them could finally leave their life: move around freely in it, and live life as a normal couple... grow a garden, marry in their own way, and do all the things a normal couple would do.

A house hidden enough for Amber to never be discovered.

At last, their wait was over: two weeks prior, Victor had asked her to come up from the basement in the middle of the day… Something he had, quite simply, never done.

On the kitchen table were roses and a bottle of Champagne, ready to be popped.

‘My darling’, he said. ‘I have found it’.

At last, he had found an abandoned house hidden away somewhere in the far, far north of the Canadian woods.

A house that could be her home.

After he told her, they made love in his bedroom for the first and only time in their years together, and Amber had been counting down the days ever since.

So, what was the other secret she had been keeping, I hear you ask?

Well, Amber had never, ever broken her promise to Victor: to not go outside, to never open the blinds during daytime, to never surface from the basement, except in the dark... She had never, ever risked what could have meant the end of their life together.

Ever. Except once.

She was determined to surprise her love in the wake of this incredible new life ahead of them.

So, one day, while he was out on business, she put on a hat, wore sunglasses and baggy clothes and headed down the long-winded road to the only village near his home. With some change she had found on the kitchen counter, she bought three lottery tickets.

No one, except for the store clerk, had seen her. And she was certain he hadn’t recognized her.

What a wonderful thing would have been to scratch those tickets together… Perhaps win a little sum to help them renovate the old, abandoned house, make it into their own. But she knew he would have gotten angry, had he found out she had gone outside, and she also couldn’t resist the exciting possibility that there was something to be won.

So she scratched the tickets alone, a few days before the move, in that dark basement she was ready to say good-bye to.

£20.000. She checked and checked, and checked again. They had won £20.000.

Keeping the secret was the hardest thing she had ever done. If there was anything as important to Victor as keeping her hidden, was the absolute absence of secrets between them.

But she knew surprising him with the ticket once in the new home would be... oh, so worth it.

And when he’d find out, the fact she had gone outside wouldn’t have mattered anymore. They were far away, hidden and safe now, and with enough money to start a new life in their new home.

Amber was lying quietly in the boot of the car. With every second of travel, her excitement grew at the prospect of what was to come.

Amber laid quietly in the boot of the car. Their journey lasted many, many hours.

Whether Victor actually saved Amber all those years ago, and was now driving her to her freedom, I can’t say.

Whether he drove her to their new home, or whether he had discovered she had betrayed him, gone outside and risked their secrecy... and was now driving her to her death and to bury her, I’ll leave up to you to decide.

After all, many pages of Amber’s little black notebook are, to this day, still waiting to be filled.