Beta read by calenwric.
Here is the newest chapter. Ideas are very welcome. The more the better.
Chapter 4:
Joanne paused at the cottage door. She wasn't sure if she wanted to enter just yet. Her stepmother was sure to be livid at the news she had to bear.
As her stepmother opened the door, which gave a noisy groan, her stomach turned sour. It was like she had known Joanne was there.
"Joanne, you swine! Where have you been?" Stepmother boomed.
Joanne cringed, certain the neighbors had heard. Maybe even Cyrus.
Oh dear, I hope he doesn't see this humiliation.
"I forgot myself and lost track of the time." It was the truth. No lies here. Joanne carefully hid her wrapped hand behind her back.
Stepmother squinted her eyes down her nose at her stepdaughter. "Where is my water?" Her hands were on her hips and Joanne noticed the woman was beginning to tap her foot. That was never a good sign.
"About that…it broke—I didn't mean to break it, but it slipped and I couldn't catch it." Joanne kept her voice even and waited.
Stepmother's face was mixture of emotions. One of them undeniable fury. "You broke my grandmother's water pot?! It had been in the family for centuries and you just break it?" Her face turned beet red, and Joanne feared she was
going to pop a blood vessel. "You worthless girl!" Stepmother screeched.
Joanne stepped back quickly as the older woman swung at her. She wasn't quick enough as she felt a sting across her chin.
"You swine!" The woman screamed again and strutted toward the garden close to the cottage.
Joanne remained still, having taken the punishment quietly. She knew this would happen.
Stepmother came back around the cottage with a horsewhip in hand.
Joanne's eyes widened in horror. The woman had only punished her harshly twice and that was with a belt. Never had she used a whip.
Stepmother grabbed the girl's hair and yanked her toward the side of the cottage.
"No! No, please! I beg you!" Joanne cried out, trying to pull her hair away.
"You must learn something, you spoiled child. Your father has raised an absolute heathen." The woman threw her into the stone wall. This hurt more than having her hair pulled, but Joanne suppressed her pain.
"Father would object if he were home," she insisted.
"Your father doesn't care about you, Swine." Stepmother sneered and crudely ripped the back of Joanne's dress open, not even bothering to unbutton it first.
"No!" Joanne pleaded right as the whip came down on her bare back. She fought back a scream as she felt the crack of it tear at her skin.
"He doesn't care at all." Stepmother said spitefully as if it pleased her.
Tears streamed down Joanne's face like waterfalls. The humiliation and harsh words were more than she thought she could bear.
Joanne said nothing. She intended to keep her pain to herself and not let her agony show. That would only make the woman happier.
The whip came down again harder than the first time and Joanne muffled a scream into her arm. She could feel her skin trying to split and it was only the second lash.
Strike!
Strike!
Strike!
Joanne no longer cared to muffle her screams by then. She felt a wetness forming on her back and she wanted to throw up right then and there.
"You are not allowed in this cottage until you decide to do what you're told. Your Father will know what you have done when he gets back tonight." Stepmother brought the whip down so hard this time that Joanne felt the welts that were forming spilt apart. She let out a scream so loud that a neighbor opened a window to peak outside before he shut it again. No one paid any mind to what was happening.
With that, Stepmother flung the whip to the ground and kicked Joanne, smashing her back into the stone wall. Joanne heard a crack and wasn't sure what the cause was. She hurt so bad already she didn't feel it. Her head smacked the wall, and she felt dizzy. Slinking down to the ground, she lay there in a daze.
"Now, I'm going to cook lunch. You are to get none. Neither supper. Don't you dare show your face in that cottage. Do you understand me, Swine?"
Joanne didn't bother nodding and just turned her head toward the forest. Away from the
crude stone wall.
Her stepmother was gone in a flash.
Joanne groaned and tried to sit up. Her arms gave out and she fell back to the ground with a cry. It hurt so bad. It was like her body was being split into.
Cyrus had followed Joanne back to her home. He had hid himself behind some bushes to be kept from being seen. He almost wish he hadn't.
An old human woman came out. At first he thought she was only scolding Joanne but then she had Joanne by the hair and was violently throwing her against the cottage wall.
His heart clenched. What type of animal would do such a thing to a creature like Joanne? When he saw the whip it was all he could do to make himself stay put. He would only make things worse for Joanne if he went to her aid.
Her screams were blood chilling and deafening and Cyrus knew he'd never get those sounds erased from his mind.
When it was all over and the woman went inside Cyrus knew what he had to do…
Joanne caught sight of a pair of green eyes in the bushes yards away and wondered if she were hallucinating from her pain. "Cy-rus." It came out a croak. She stretched a shaky hand toward the faun. He was here to help her, a complete stranger. Somehow he had known she was in trouble.
Cyrus stepped out of the bushes cautiously looking around to make sure no one was around but them. Then he hastily went to her.
"Please, help me." Joanne tried to speak the words but they barely came out. She was so
dizzy.
He knelt beside her. The faun's face was ash white. "I'm going to take you away for awhile. Is that fine with you?" Cyrus asked gently.
Joanne tried to nod.
Carefully cradling the girl in his arms, Cyrus stepped into the forest.
Joanne knew no more.
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