Beauty's Web

Chapter 2

As the sun rises, my lonely heart ponders. Ever since I woke up from that memory, my mind could not rest. The opening of the door caught my attention, and the same girl from yesterday came in. She greeted me, saying her name was Lily and she was my attendant. As she walked closer, I asked her what was wrong, but she didn't answer. Instead, she smiled and turned around. As she turned, she summoned a red slim summer dress, underwear, and a nice flower-shaped clip to keep my wild hair tamed. "Put these on and come down for breakfast. Master Erebus awaits your presence," she said. I nodded my head, still feeling a headache. After I freshened up in the bathroom, I quickly put on the clothes and headed downstairs. Today is the day I finally find out what's going on.

As I reached the dining room, I saw that the table was circular with five chairs around it. Erebus greeted me with a small smile, and I responded with the same energy. As he was about to draw out the chair for me like a gentleman, he asked how my night was. Not wanting to go into details, I simply said it was OK. He didn't pursue it further, noticing the discomfort on my face. Instead, he sat back down and caught my attention, stating that I should ask him anything, and he would answer. Taking him up on his offer, I asked where I knew him from. He began to tell me a story that I feared would take forever, so I made myself comfortable and prepared my mind to listen.

Erebus Pov:

Evident by the discomfort on her face and the way she was shifting her body in the chair, I knew that she was not in the mood for a long story. But she needs to know as much as she can, so she can remember the rest on her own. I started off at the time we first met. It was spring, and the cherry blossoms were blooming. A beautiful honey-brown skin girl with big black curls was sleeping under a cherry blossom tree. It was obvious that she was not there by her own will, evident by the frown on her face. As I drew near, I realized that she was simply having a bad dream. Feeling bad, I shook her, telling her to wake up. As she tossed and turned, she finally decided to open her eyes, and at that moment, it was as if time had stopped. Her big round brown eyes complemented her plump lips and small nose, which twitched when a stray petal landed on it. "What are you doing?" she said, as she backed up, shaking off the trance. "You looked like you were having a bad dream," I said. Oh, she said, "I was." As I was about to answer, a red-headed man came running and grabbed her off the floor, shouting at her, commanding her to tell him where she had been for the past 10 minutes. She looked very uncomfortable. I stated, "You should not be handling a lady like that." And who are you to tell me how to deal with my woman?" he said, as he was about to continue. The lady intervened and asked him to go home with her, agreeing. He dragged her off, and I stayed still, watching her disappear.

As I was about to continue the story, I saw an uncomfortable look on her face, and her holding her head like she was about to faint. Not wanting to upset her, I said, "We will finish this later." I snapped my fingers, and we were served breakfast and chocolate tea. As she was eating her breakfast, I admired her, and every time she looked up, I looked down, afraid of eye contact. After eye contact, she finished her breakfast and headed upstairs. And once more, I watched her disappear.

Astrid Pov

I know it was rude of me to just rush out and not say goodbye, because he did nothing wrong. In fact, he has been nothing but kind to me. As I opened the door and closed it, I started to scream. As I screamed, fragments of my memory came back - memories I don't think I want to remember. A red-headed, tall figure standing over my naked body, stepping on my tummy, cursing me for God knows what, blaming me for my child's death. But I don't have a child, I said to myself as the image of his feet in my tummy flashed before my eyes. "You did," a voice said. "Who is that?" I said, but no one answered. As I started to cry, the voice became louder and started to call me names - "idiot," "useless," "can't even have sex right," "useless body," "can't even keep a baby." "Stop it!" I said, but it didn't. "Oh, stop, stop, stop!" As I shouted that over and over, I began to try to tear my hair out, but before I could hurt myself, Erebus  rushed in and hugged me, telling me to calm down. After what seemed like an hour, I did, and he lifted me up, bridal-style. When he placed me on the bed, I continued to hug him, begging him to stay. Without answering, he simply hugged me tight, and with that, darkness consumed my vision.

"Astrid, get over here, you useless whore!" Riven shouted. "Yes, sir," I said, rushing towards his bedroom with only a towel on, having just come out of the bathroom. "How many times must I tell you to keep your kid out of my room?" Before I responded Riven  gave me a backhanded slap and a tight grip on my hair. "Listen here, you little girl. I am the man of the house, and you are the woman. So if you don't take care of the kid, who will?" As he shouted, my trembling body became weak, and I agreed, begging him to let me go so I could attend to my baby. "No," he replied, and instead roughly threw me on the bed. Luckily, I did not hit the baby. As I turned over to look at the baby and see if he was alright, a hand grabbed my legs at the end of the bed, and my towel was raised from my knee to my lower back. I heard a belt buckle, and I started to cry, pleading, "Not in front of my baby, please, not in front of my baby." Alongside Max's screams, my pleas fell on deaf ears. He simply paused for a moment and whispered in my ear, "If I see that thing in my room again, I will burn it." With that, he pushed me away, and I took the chance to grab the baby and run to my room.

To be continued...

Max is a red head like his father brown eyes alike his mother and has Freckles.

This chapter was...🤔