Silent Emily

Adaptation

Three months passed and all was fairly well in the house.

Anne did the dishes and Axel even trusted her enough to let her help me with breakfast.

He still came inside in the evening and made dinner.

I was around 7 months pregnant now and my stomach was fairly large. Stretch marks had lined my skin and Anne helped me use what we had to attempt to fade them. She had none on her belly and she was proud of it.

We had gotten relatively close and I enjoyed her company. She told me about the custody battle with her kids and how she was hooked on meth after she had Adrianna. She posted a picture online and someone in her family reported her the police. Child Protective Services took her kids and the father won custody. She had finally beat her addiction and had applied for a custody hearing the morning Axel took her.

She didn't fight much and she was happy to help me. She didn't like sleeping with Axel but she said he didn't hurt her. I often found her sitting at the table and her eyes drifting somewhere far away.

I know she missed her girls.

Anne and Cora developed a relationship. Cora hadn't done much with me since I arrived unlike Ivy. She was a strange little girl but Anne seemed to open her right up.

Atticus had grown like a weed and he was almost taller than me. Ethan and Felix still worked the farm with Axel and were evil as ever.

Anne talked to me about escaping. She told me about all the books she had read about abducted girls and how we had to keep our act up to win him over so we could slip out.

I wanted to.

I wanted so badly to leave and never look back.

I couldn't now though. Atticus was attached to me by the hip and the other kids still mattered to me.

I was their mother.

I agreed with Anne when she talked about it and we were the perfect sister wives. Axel treated her like dirt and most of the time made her sleep in the stable building. She went along well with it. She never complained and never disobeyed.

Anne reminded me of a puppy with the way she acted and how she followed every order as if someone were dangling a treat by her nose.

She was a beautiful woman. Tall and fair skinned with blonde hair and hazel eyes that glittered in the sunlight. She had looked so small the first night but she was actually nicely sized. She was super skinny, almost sickly.

I had asked her about that one time and she had ran to the bathroom. She stripped her clothes off and stood naked staring at her reflection. Her fingers pulled at her skin and she sucked in and out so her belly grew and fell again.

It made me sad the way she picked herself apart.

Anne finally confided in me and told me about her Anorexia.

She started sharing a lot of stuff with me.

I was a liar.

~

Axel, Ethan and Felix came in from the farm in the evening. Anne and I sat in the dining room chairs as Axel washed his hands and started dinner.

He pulled the last little bit of chicken we had in the fridge, whispering to himself on how he would slaughter some more tomorrow. He fried it in a pan and the sweet smell filled my nose. I was almost salivating onto the table.

It didn't take long for him to finish the chicken and whip together a small batch of mashed potatoes. I called the kid's down and we all sat at the table and ate together. Anne and Cora talked quietly to themselves as did Ethan and Felix. Axel, Atticus, Ivy and I were silent as we stuffed the hot meal into our mouths.

Once we were done Anne did the dishes as I made my way upstairs for bed. The heavier I got the more tired I got and the earlier bedtime came.

Axel joined me a few hours later. He shook my shoulder until I sat up. He was laying next to me and a small line of sweat was on his forehead.

He had finished with Anne for the night.

His arm crossed my waist and his fingers played on my belly as he put his head into my hair. I heard him sniff as he kissed my neck.

"What are we going to do with her?"

The words caught me off guard.

"Anne?"

"Yeah. You'll have the baby in a couple months and I won't need her anymore."

I felt my body go rigid under his touch as one of his fingers ran down my arm.

"You're not killing her Axel." I stated.

He pulled away from me.

"I'll do whatever the hell I want. Who are you to tell me anything? If it weren't for that belly, I'd smack you right now."

"No. I want to keep her."

He laughed.

"Like a dog? She's your dog?"

I closed my eyes and forced my head to nod. I hated dehumanizing Anne like that but I couldn't let Axel murder her.

Or even worse Ethan or Felix.

"There goes our Valentines dinner." He grunted before rolling over.

I rocked myself through the night to keep from throwing up.