His Daughter

Chapter 4

We all sat down for dinner, Scarlett grabbing the pot of pasta. I sat with my back against the wall.

“Help yourself,” Scarlett said, setting the pot on the table. We all grabbed heaping piles of the spaghetti. I tried to keep my left arm under the table so he wouldn’t see the bandage.

“So, girls,” Father said, stuffing his mouth full of food, “How was your day?”

“It was great, Father, Analise is getting right back into things. She even helped make dinner.” Scarlett picked up her fork.

“Really? I’m glad. And I must add, this is delicious.” I let out an awkward laugh.

“We reminded Analise of the rules today too,” Lydia added.

“Good to hear. Are you settling in, Analise?” Father turned to look at me.’’

“Y-yes, I’m doing great,” I said, raising my left arm to grab a piece of bread.

“Analise, what’s this bandage?” Father said, pointing to my arm.

“Shit,” I cursed under my breath. I looked over at Scarlett, who now had her head down.

“I accidentally got sauce on my arm while we were making dinner.”

“And who’s fault might it be that that happened?” Father said, his voice slowly rising.

“T-that was me, Father. We were pouring the sauce in the noodles and some splashed on Analise’s arm.” Scarlett kept her head down.

“What now?” Father’s voice had started to sound angry.

“I-it was an accident, please don’t punish Scarlett,” I plead to him.

“No, she needs to be punished. She hurt her sister, and on the first day back too! Scarlett. Come with me.” Father’s arms flew in the air as he stood up. He grabbed Scarlett’s wrist and marched her upstairs.

“W-where’s he taking her?” I asked Lydia cautiously.

“You know that room we told you not to ask about?” I nodded my head. Lydia cleared her throat. She didn’t need to say anymore. We sat there in silence for about 15 minutes, not eating. I had lost my appetite, and so did Lydia.

All of a sudden, Father comes bursting downstairs. He sat back down and began eating, not saying another word. A few minutes after him returning, a staggering Scarlett came down the stairs. She was beaten and bloody, with a swollen black eye and dried blood crusting surrounding her lip. She had bruises lining her shoulders, and cuts lining her arms. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened. She hobbled over to her chair, and plopped herself down. She didn’t eat, none of us did. No one except for Father, that is.

I looked down at my thumbs for the rest of the dinner. Everything that had just happened had completely wiped the thought of Jack. While Father finished eating, I contemplated who he was after. It had to be a boy, that much was obvious. And I’d guessed that he’d be frail, given that Father could attempt to kidnap him in the first place. I didn’t know anything besides that, and I didn’t want to. I just prayed that whoever Jack was, that he’d escape Father for as long as possible.

The loud clanging of a fork brought me back to reality. “This,” Father said, gesturing at Scarlett, “Is why you behave” And with that, he stood up at left, leaving just me, Scarlett and Lydia. Deciding to heed his advice, I cleaned up all of mine, Scarlett and Father’s messes. I didn’t want to end up like Scarlett.