Silent Pain

9

A couple of weeks go by and Angie starts to notice the difference between Marie and Donna, sometimes she would catch them in the living room, smiling and talking constantly. She's not mad about Donna being friendly with someone but she's definitely jealous that she isn't the star of attention in Donna's eyes anymore, sure Donna still reads her bedtime stories and gives her cuddle time before bed but she misses Donna's attention 24/7.

Currently, though Donna was sitting on the counter, Marie stood in front of her. Black button-up shirt, a pair of white jeans and boots. Donna looked down as Marie carefully undid the wrap on her wrists looking at the damages, it's not the first time they've done this. Marie would often clean Donna's wrists and check on the stitches and healing every morning and before Donna went to bed, this time seemed different.

Angie and her friends were upstairs playing in Angie's newly painted and fixed-up room while Marie and Donna were left unattended. "It's nice... Not having Angie around, quiet." Marie said softly, Donna chuckled and laid her left hand around Marie's shoulder "Yeah... I love her more than anything... But she can be a handful sometimes, honestly, she's acting like an only child who had their sister come home for the first time."

Marie furrowed her brows "I don't want to be seen as a sister to Angie..." Donna looked away and hissed as Marie cleaned the wound, "Sorry... I know." Marie whispered softly, "I hope you know... You're not." Donna said softly, swinging her legs back and forth, "Angie likes you, I don't think she likes my attention on her dwindling. We've been alone for so long and for almost a century she's been the center for years."

Marie smiled "You're like a mom to the other dolls." Donna sighed "I don't think I'd make a good mother though... I was never taught how to love properly." Marie narrowed her eyes, "Hey Donna... Can I ask you something?" Donna nodded and Marie finished cleaning and put some gauze on the wound before wrapping it in black, "What was your family like?" She said softly, "Like... My mother and father?" Marie nodded and Donna looked down.

"They were fine when I was a baby, and I remember small moments where everything was nice but... I turned 5 and my father found out my mother was having an affair with the gardener. She ended up pregnant and having a daughter, my half-sister Claudia... My father was angry after he learned that Claudia wasn't his due to blood work and such."

"It was the first time I'd seen him get violent with her, I'd always heard it when I was sleeping or trying to sleep... They would scream and yell, my father used to chase my mother around the house, screaming nasty words and threatening her. He came home the night he found out Claudia wasn't his and found my mother and I on the couch... He threw me down to get to her and grabbed her by the throat, pinning her against the wall and screaming at her. I ran to my bedroom where Claudia was sleeping and from there I heard the fighting match. When it was over my father had hurt my mother so bad that she was unconscious."

"When I woke her up she held me tight and told me she loved me so much. After that night everything seemed to change, they would fight constantly, whether that be about me and my sister, or money, or something it would always turn physical. My father drank a lot more and would get extremely violent, he would come after me but my mother would throw him in another direction to avoid him hurting me or Claudia."

Donna seemed to take a slow breath as Marie started on her left hand, "One morning it was different... They were being really kind to us, we found out that Claudia was sick... My mother was a doctor but she couldn't seem to figure out what was wrong and Claudia passed away when she was 10. They changed after that as well, I thought it was a good change, they were more immersed in work than themselves. I watched my father work for weeks on end, and my mother used to sit on the couch and sew, it's how I learned everything they did. Sometimes they would work for days on end and I would be left alone for 2 days, fending for myself."