Stolen

Part 20: Ethics

Marilynn didn't know how to work a dishwasher. She'd never had to, when out of her father and her, she'd done the dishes, nearly every day. Manually. She could, however, very well guess where the dry little cubes of dishwasher soap went, and how the cutlery went in the pocket on the door, and so on. So she loaded the dishwasher, and while it was working, she went back to scrubbing pots. She finished washing them and put the clean rest of the dishes in the cupboards with still time to waste. She decided to scrub the surfaces so that when Ashlee arrived, she found Marilynn sitting on the counter of an inordinately pristine kitchen, a remarkable contrast to the hell it was before.

"Wow," was all the woman could word, ogling the room thoroughly. "You actually did it," and she felt an odd sort of pride at surprising Ashlee. "Come."
Marilynn followed her upstairs, where soft sunlight shone through cream curtains into a living room. There was a cabinet on the far side of the room hosting a TV, at which Neil was glaring, flopped onto a green couch in front of it.

"Neil, pass the crackers," Ashlee said, and he halfheartedly pushed the box on the couch towards her, still staring at the screen. She took it from him and handed it to her.

"Here. The rest."

Marilynn opened it and she could see that it was nearly full. She looked up at Ashlee, trying to decipher whether this had been intentional or not, but the woman had already turned away and was engaged in conversation with her partner-in-crime. She only half listened as she devoured the box of crackers.

"... to tell him we've got a surprise, but he wanted to come today."

"So I can't play with her first?"

"Of course not. She's running a high fever. We need a couple more days, a week even, before she may recover."

"Oh, then I'll just run off to the clinic and get some medicine, shall I?" Neil retorted. "Yes, please do," Ashlee replied. "Bandages and alcohol, too." He slunk out, muttering swears under his breath. She, in the meanwhile, parted as well, saying, "We just need a few more days."
A minute later, it sounded as though she was on a phone call. "We need a few more days. You can't come yet." A pause. "What do you mean, whatever? Alright, I'll tell you what it is. We found a girl in that house you told us would be empty - yeah, on 11th Street - but she's running a high fever."

"We had no choice," Ashlee replied after another sentence from the caller. "You can't! It's wrong to handle a sick girl like that." Then, proudly, "ETHICS."

Another pause.

"There's not a book of ethics, stupid. You feel it in you heart and you know it's wrong. That's all." The caller answered, and Ashlee yelled, "We do that for a living!"

Marilynn stopped listening there when she realized. It was one of the worst things, to hear someone else talk about you like an object. She found the bathroom and relieved herself, but when she stepped out, Ashlee was still in the call.

Then it struck her - she could escape.