You're Family Now

Ockward Dinner

I am in the dining room with a bunch of people I don't know and they seem oddly shy. They look away when I see them staring at me, they look at me with both curiousity and fear at the same time. Why would they be fearful? I am the one being held against my will. I'm the one who needs to be araid, the one that should be scared shitless and I am. I look around for a clock or a calender to tell me some kind of time frame for how lonq I have been in this place. I can't find one. "Now, we have another member of our family here. Cathline is home. I know that you are all curious and each want to mee her but let us first sit and eat this wonerful meal that Jocelyn as prepared for us tonight." The man speaking holds himself with such confidence he must be the man Beth threatened Ricky with, Papa. Is she his daughter? She seems too young though, maybe a granddaughter. We sit down, each person sitting in what looks like 'assigned seats'. Where do I sit? A guy I don't grabs my arm, wrapping his long fingers around my bicep and guides me to the seat next to him, it's Ricky. He kind of grins at me but it quickly deminishes when Beth glares at him from the other side of the room. What is the beef between these two? I shiver at the thought of Ricky in my cell this morning. What would have happen if she hadn't scolded him in the first place? Would he have killed me? I don't know what... It scares me that I dont even have an idea. These people don't seem like they would be phycos or crazy people but they are keeping me here and won't let me leave so they must be crazy. Only crazy people kidnap someone. This is all so fucked up! I feel a tu on my dress and see that I am the only one standing and Ricky tells me to sit. I sit, a little too quickly I think. A few people snicker at me. I can feel myself blush, I feel heat rising in my chest and th olor fill my cheeks. I must be zoning out because I feel a tap on my shoulder and Ricky wisprs to me that I should pass te green bean cassarole. I do but don't fill my own plate, I'm too anxious to eat and I don't know if the food is poisined. Though I do see everyone else in the room eating. I sit in silence, not touching anything. I stand when eveyone else does and follow Ricky to the next room. As he disappears around the corner I am the only one left in the dining room and want to run but I don't know where I would go or where I am. I choose to wak into the other room and sit on the couch next to Beth and Abigail who seem to be inseperable. Papa tells us a story, my story...