The DuBois

Quinn

"Go!" I commanded. Nick and Zack wouldn't leave and Andrew would be here any second, "I'm so sorry, Zack." I grabbed his bad arm and dragged him down the stairs to George. Luckily, Nick followed.

"Keep them here. Please." I begged George. He nodded and I locked the door behind me. Great. Now I have to go see Andrew. There's a chance that everything will be fine. He won't lash out if other people are around so my best chance is to catch him with Bianca. He had a major soft spot for her. I walked back into the dining room. Andrew was there with Carter and Jeffery. Not my first choice of witnesses, but they'll have to do.

"Hey guys. How was mass today?" I plastered a fake smile on my face and prayed that I sounded natural.

"You missed it," Andrew spoke deadly calm. I hate it when he does this. The one rule in this house is DON'T skip Sunday church.

"Sorry," I mumbled. Please let this be over with quickly. My face stung. That bastard just slapped me.
"Sorry doesn't cut it." I looked over at the brothers hopefully. Why won't they stop him?

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" That was probably the worst thing to say in my situation. He threw me into one of our nice chairs, and it broke. Bianca was going to freak. Andrew came over and stamped on my leg. It broke, and I screamed. Wow, he was strong. I let him keep coming at me. The more anger he let out on me meant less heat towards Zack.

Carter tried to stop it, "Andrew, I think tha--"

"Stay out of this Carter!" Andrew was enraged. Why wasn't anyone else coming? I was crying loud enough, someone should have heard. He was causing me so much pain, I don't think I could stop yelling if I wanted to. He continued to kick me and I knew he had broken my ribs again. Then he yanked me up by the hair and started punching me. Finally he stopped and asked if I wanted to give a "proper" apology. I did the stupidest thing on earth.

"Go to Hell," I spat. He snapped my arm and I screamed for the hundredth time.

"To match Zack's," He whispered in my ear. I cried in the corner of the dining room occasionally coughing up blood.

"Quinn!" Zack ran into the room.

"George was supposed to keep you down there," I mumbled. It was hard to talk with a swollen lip.

"Nick help me get her to her room!" That when I noticed the boy from the woods was still here. Where's everyone else? I didn't realize, I had been in here alone."Don't worry. Andrew got the others to leave again."

They got me up the stairs by some miracle, even with my broken leg. I needed to go to a hospital, no doubt about it.

"You need to do something about your dad," Nick said once I was in my bed. Zack was getting the first aid kit.

"He's not my dad. He's my uncle who's trying to control this family. Who thinks he has the right to control everyone's life. You're lucky. You ran away, and no one bothered to look for you. We could run away, but eventually we'd be found. He'd never stop looking for us, and we'd have to run for the rest of our lives. Our only freedom is death. It doesn't matter who's, his or ours, but that's the only way to freedom."