Fossegrim's Love. (Original)

Father.

April 30th, 2017

   Later the same day Paige and Fossegrim arrived back at their home. Paige quickly got out of her ride and ran ahead a little bit and slowed to a quick walk with her arms crossed and head down. When Fossegrim did catch up to her he tried to put his hand on her but she just brushed it away.

Finally in the cabin they both sat down on her sleeping bag. Paige just sat there with her hands clasped staring blankly at the floor while Fossegrim looked at her with concerned eyes.

"Where to begin," she whispered to herself. Where do I begin? She took a deep breath and let it everything flow out. "My father is a member of a fanatical Christian cult that basically has reign over the section of Norway we lived in. The cult leader Antonella condemned all those that she deemed unworthy to go to Heaven to a life of misery and abuse but most of the time she just brutally killed them. Over the years since my time with the cult from the age of six to nineteen all I've ever wanted to know is why I wasn't loved like the rest of the family but instead was beaten and verbally abused. When my family moved to America we joined the branch off version of the Norwegian cult and it only became worse from then on." She pauses and then continues. "My old goat of an uncle took advantage of me whenever my parents weren't around not that he was worried he'd get caught he just didn't want to bother them with the noise. Considering my mom only interrupted one time to tell him to keep me quiet while it was going on."

Fossegrim hung his mouth open absentmindedly, he felt like vomiting. Why would people do this to her?!

He put a hand on her cheek and she smiled and put one hand on his and the other around his wrist.

"After the fat ass finished having his way with my twelve year old body my mom or dad would sometimes come into my room and hit me with a belt or sometimes hit me on the head with a cane while saying I deserved it and then would drag me out from under my covers and make me pray for forgiveness. Other times they would just leave me there on my bed crying and bleeding under the blankets. As I got older I looked for a way to escape all that was going on so, I joined a ballet theater; those days I was dancing was the happiest I've ever felt. Sometimes during performances my family would show up and put on a facade that made us look like a happy normal family. My mom would snap photos from the seats as I danced and would also record me sometimes. It wasn't until I was seventeen that I finally found out what the reason behind my abuse was. Apparently, my real mother was suspected of being a clairvoyant as well as a witch. My real mother was a child of nature, an innocent, a pagan just like me. Antonella arose to power by killing pagans and witches alike and started doing tent sermons to gain a more impressive following of conservatives and 'witch hunters'. I remember meeting her at a sermon one time she talked about how she saw a vision of a pure world and all those contaminated shall be punished even the children of the contaminants."

" So that's the reason why your adoptive family beat you? Because she told them your mom was supposedly evil?!"

"Yes."

"How'd she find out?"

"Antonella killed my mother by burning her alive, to free her." Paige clenched her fists in anger. "I was an infant at the time only six months and Antonella believed in her sick, twisted ass mind that the children shall be punished to save them even if they have no recollection of their parent or parents. So, she handed me to the Barnes family because they were the most devout in their shared beliefs and gladly took on the role of purifying me."

"My father still thinks he has power over me and wants me dead because he and Antonella agreed that I was beyond saving physically. One night after I graduated I over heard them talking about ways to save me through death. I didn't stick around to find out what that was going to involve so I grabbed all the things I held of value as well as clothes and shoved them in duffel bags and snuck out my window into a tree jumped down and disappeared into the night."

"How did your real aunt find you?"

"My Aunt Tabitha found me in Denmark living with a friend of mine. I was a waitress for three years so I had the money to buy a passport and went to the only place I felt was safe. Apparently, a relative of hers saw me at the village and told her that I looked like her sister. She came from Sweden found me and took me home with her."

"And now you're here."

"And now I'm here. Foss, if my dad is back for me please, please don't leave me."

Fossegrim lifted up her chin. "Paige no matter what happens I'll promise you two things one, I'll be there for you and two, I'll never give up on you."

"Thank you." As he lifted her up from her knees.

They stood there hugging as the sunset turned them orange.