Rowen was confused when the council pulled her into the library while she was on her way to farm duty with Rick.
She was even more confused when they sat her down and started asking questions.
These people are nosy Rowen, we can't trust them.
Her father's words stuck in the back of her head. "Rowen, we need you to be honest, okay?" Carol stated, Rowen hadn't had many interactions with the older woman, but she seemed nice.
Rowen nodded, "We need to know what happened last night after you left dinner." Hershel spoke up. Rowen's eyes widened slightly, her hands grew clammy.
She wanted to know how they knew, but she didn't ask. She couldn't tell them, her dad would get in trouble. She knew all about getting in trouble.
"Um-" the young girl swallowed thickly. "I went to bed." They told her to be honest, technically she was. She did go to bed after she left dinner, it's just.. not the first thing that happened after she left dinner.
"We was told differently." A grumbling voice spoke for the first time. She hadn't met the man properly yet, but she had heard other people talking about him.
"I went to bed." Rowen spoke with a sort of finality in her voice, she wasn't sure how they knew or what they knew. And she sure as hell wasn't giving them anything else.
So, they let Rowen leave. She went back to her cell, and she didn't come out until the next morning when she was due for farm duty.
☆
"That's the stupidest thing I ever heard! I saw it, dad! I watched it with my own eyes! She said two words and they just accepted it!?" Rowen was walking towards the pig pen where she saw- where she heard Carl and Rick.
She caught the end of their conversation, the end of their conversation about her. Once Rick saw her he gave his son a look. And walked away, leaving Carl and Rowen alone.
"Carl," Rowen spoke after a few beats of silence. Carl turned his head towards her slightly. "I don't know what you think you saw the other night, but whatever it is you're wrong." Rowen continued into the pen, pouring the buckets of food into the trough.
Carl scoffed "The council might believe you, but I saw it. I'm not an idiot." Rowen grabbed the empty buckets and walked out of the pen.
"Stop talking about it! Nothing. happened." Then she left. She walked to Rick who was harvesting some vegetables they had planted well before Rowen arrived.
Rowen watched Carl storm off angrily back to the prison, she continued to help Rick.
After pulling most of the vegetables in the garden, Rick asked Rowen to take the fresh produce up to the cafeteria, so she did.
She handed the basket of produce to Carol, who gave her a small, soft smile. Rick told Rowen that once she took the basket in she was done for the day, so she went to her cell, relieved to find that her father wasn't there. She grabbed the book she was currently reading, and sat on her bunk.
The book she found in the library, Maggie had told her it was a classic. A tragic love story, but beautiful nonetheless. Romeo and Juliet. Maggie had told Rowen that she read it when she was around her age. So Rowen decided to read it as well.
The girl was only ten chapters into the book, and Maggie was right, it was beautiful. The writing, the way the author portrayed Juliet. It was all amazing.
Though even with a book as riveting as the one she held, her exhaustion had won, and she fell asleep, Romeo and Juliet sat open in her limp hand.
Not long after she was awoken by a smack to the back of her head. Blinking to adjust her eyes to the light, Rowen looked to her father, confused by the sudden wake up call.
"What the hell is this?" Her father hissed, a low tone that Rowen knew not only meant he was mad, but that he was pissed.
"What?" Rowen's still, sleep foggy brain couldn't move that fast.
"What the hell is this." Mark spoke louder this time, holding up the same book Rowen was reading just an hour before.
"A book?" That earned Rowen another smack, but instead of his hand landing on the nape of her neck, it landed on her cheek.
"Don't be smart with me, girl" Her father threw the book, it hit the wall right next to her head. "That," he pointed to the book "Is not appropriate for a child."
"I'm sorry." instead of looking at her father Rowen decided to look at the thin blanket that was pooling around her waist, or at the way her shirt had more than a few holes in it. Rowen decided she would ask for a new shirt soon.
"Get down here." He was already removing his belt from his worn down denim jeans when she began to move, and by the time she was standing in front of him. He had it folded, and in his hand.
Rowen remembered the time when she had grown used to the sting the belt left when it hit, so she didn't cry, she didn't beg for him to stop. Rowen thinks that's why he does it, to feel above her, to get that reaction. So he took his power drill and drilled a hundred more tiny holes all over the belt.
She was eight when he did that, she still wasn't used to the sting the belt left behind now.
Rowen felt the belt crack onto her ribs, the bones were pretty much exposed due to the months of malnutrition, so it hurt worse this time.
Rowen tried to ignore it, like she did with the burning. It never worked, she'd try to stare ahead, to disassociate. when he used his belt or his hands, it just seemed to make the pain worse. It only worked with the burns.
Once Mark was through with the belt he threw it down. Rowen's eyes were downcast to the ground, she wouldn't make any eye contact with the man in front of her. She refused to cry, she would not give him that satisfaction.
So he straightened his hands from their previously clenched position, and smacked. He smacked, and punched, and kicked. He beat the small red headed girl until she was on the ground pleading with him to stop.
But he continued, he continued until the curtain that was hanging on the cell for privacy was ripped open, Stripping the father, daughter duo of any concealment.
The entire council, and more, stood in front of the cell. They all watched as Rowen shook on the ground in front of them. They all watched as Mark flexed his blood splotched hands. They all watched as Rowen's father, the man who was supposed to protect her from any harm that came her way, brought the only harm the young girl had ever known.
All over a book.
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[EDITED]
-Sadie⭐️
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