• Blood Bound •||• Simon Kalivoda X Female Reader •

21 - The Devil Has Come

"Get up, Winifred!"

I stir awake and see Mother standing in my doorway. "Yes?" I mumble, rubbing the tiredness from my eyes. "Do you understand how cross I am with you?" she coldly says. "You couldn't answer a simple question, so you ran off to Lord knows where! Have you any idea of how you worried me so?"

I don't answer her. I let my blood boil in anger and look up at the ceiling. "Winifred! I am speaking to you!" I look back to her. "Yes, I'm in love with Isaac. I went to a party last night. We danced and ate mysterious berries from Widow Mary," I bluntly say. "Widow Mary..? What were you doing-" "We we're having fun, Mother," I interject. "Do you wish to know what I did with Isaac in the woods? Or do you know enough?"

Mother sighs, but keeps her eyes on me. "Or perhaps you should tell me that Marybeth and I were bastard children and that Father left because I wasn't born a boy?" Her face suddenly changes from angry to enraged. "Do not talk about him or Marybeth, you bitch," she hisses. There it is. The words feel like a stab to the heart. "Leave me be," I whisper. "I'll go fetch a pail of water for you, since I'm a bitch."

Mother's lip trembles as if she's about to cry as well. "Alright, then," she nods. "I'll leave you be." She slowly walks away and closes my door.
As soon as I hear her footsteps disappear, I sit up and bury my face in my hands. Tears burst out of my eyes and pour into my palms. I try to quiet myself by placing a hand over my mouth.

Why does she treat me like this? Why doesn't she understand me? Why do I have to take it too far? Why can't we just get along?

Marybeth would've understood. We were close. I vividly remember the night that Solomon and her came to the house asking Mother for her blessing. She was so happy with him.
And the night that Solomon had to come to our home and explain what happened to her and their child.

Mother wailed and clung onto Solomon while I couldn't even react to the words, "My Marybeth is dead. So is our dear son." I was in shock. Only when he left was when I burst into hysterics. I was screaming and sobbing. I couldn't breathe. I thought that I was dying. I fainted, and Mother had to bring me to Dr. Edward.

I hate that memory... I buried it somewhere deep inside my mind so that I wouldn't have to remember it. Ever since then, Mother and I haven't gotten along well. But Isaac and my friends were the only ones who let me talk about it to them. Mother would yell at me or walk away from me if I even mentioned her name.

Marybeth. My sister. Gone, just like that, and not allowed to speak her name in our house.

I may as well fetch some water to cool down my face. I slip out of my bed and wipe away my tears. I look back on my bed and see a pool of blood half-soaked on the sheet.
Well... that may be the answer to some of those questions. I sigh and rip the sheet off of my straw matress. I crumble it into a ball and throw it to the corner of my room.

I grab my menstrual undergarment and slip it on before my skirt. My stomach rumbles. Breakfast.
I walk out of my room, not even sharing a glance to Mother. I grab an apple from the fruit bowl and toss it in the air, catching it swiftly. It squishes beneath my fingertips. I furrow my eyebrows and turn my hand to inspect the apple. Sure enough, the apple is rotted a dark brown color.

I sigh and place the apple down on the table. I wipe my hands on my dress and pick up the bucket. As I walk out the door, Mother steps up to me. "Darling, I apologi-" I cut her off by closing the door behind me.

A sharp pain rings through my lower abdomen, but I continue to walk along the path. It must be my hunger combined with my period. I should eat as soon as possible. I walk up to the market where the food is being sold.