Tradition Comes Third

Listen To What I Say

 I sat beside Blair on the floor as she stayed curled up in a ball crying. I didn't know how to comfort her, and I had a feeling she did not want me near her.

There was a knock on the door, and Blair let out a whimper. The door opened, and Mom stepped into the room. She looked around the room before spotting us on the floor. She closed the door and walked toward us. Blair peered past her knees, and watched Mom kneel down in front of her.

"How are you kids doing?" she asked.

Blair let go of her knees with one of her hands and wiped away the tears. She lifted her head up and looked at us. Mom gave her a soft smile, and Blair bit down on her lip.

"None of us want to be here," Mom said. "We're all going to get out of here."

"I don't want to die," Blair said.

"No one is going to die," Mom said. "Trust me."

Mom reached out and put her hand on Blair's shoulder. I could see white gauze poking out from under Mom's sleeve. Dad has been punishing her again.

"The men are outside," she said. "Come down to the kitchen and have some breakfast. Hunter, get her a change of clothes."

Mom got up off of her knees and glanced out the window before leaving the room. I went over to the dresser and rifled through the clothes. A lump formed in my throat when I saw the dresses and sweaters that Ava wore. I searched for something I had never seen her wear. I found a striped shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants that Ava never wore. I set them down on the end of the bed.

I looked down at my own pajamas. I had not changed since the night Ava died. I grabbed a pair of jeans a T-shirt.

"There's some clothes there for you," I told Blair. She nodded her head. "When you're done go down the stairs to the kitchen."

I left the room, and went down the hall to the bathroom. I changed into the new clothes and left my old ones on the floor. When I got down to the kitchen, Mom was setting two plates of food down on the table. Leah was sitting down and she had a book in her hands. She set it down and smiled at me. Mom sat down next to Leah.

"What's her name?" Leah asked.

"Blair," I said before digging into the scrambled eggs on my plate.

"The poor thing, she's so scared," Mom said. "Your Dad is going to scare her even more."

The stairs creaked, and we all turned. Blair stopped in her tracks, and her eyes were wide. I hadn't realized how short she was before. The waist and legs of her sweatpants were rolled so that they fit her. The sleeves of her shirt ran past her fingertips. Her dark hair was tied back. I pulled the chair out next to me.

"There's food for you," I said.

Blair took really short steps toward us, so it took her awhile to get to the table. She sat down and I looked over at her. Blair's eyes were focused on Leah's stomach.

"How long ago were you kidnapped?" Blair asked her.

"Almost two years ago," she said.

"We're going to find a way out soon," Mom said.

"Why haven't you found a way out before?" Blair asked.

"It's my fault," Mom said. "These men get into your head. Jimmy convinced me that I loved him and that I was happiest here."

"They brainwash all the girls," Leah said. "They take girls from broken homes so that they can break us further."

"That's why they killed Ava," I said. "She was too smart to fall for any of it. She saw what they were doing."