a/n: short chapter i know but i felt where it ended was a good cutting point. any critiques or questions please ask!

Once again, Violet awoke confused and disorientated.

Her limbs felt like they were made of Jell-O, and the pain in her head had turned into a dull thrum, beating in time to her now rapid pulse. She blinked the sleep from her eyes and sat up in the bed. She was under the covers again, her nightgown having been switched from the grass-stained white one to a pale blue frock. Frowning, Violet tried to ignore it as she looked around the room.

Something on the nightstand caught her attention– a pretty little flower. A narcissus, if she was right. But this one was pink; usually they only bloomed white. Brows creasing, Violet picked up the flower and inhaled the sweet scent. There was a twinge of…smokiness to it. Shaking her head, Violet set the flower on the bed and stood up, looking toward the window.

There was a small slit of light coming in from the closed curtains. Violet went to check the lock, finding it unbroken. Could she break it again? She looked at the window and noticed it was somehow locked on the outside too. How was that even possible? And not only that, but the vines below the window had been cut back, scarcely available for her to grab onto.

"What…" she let her voice trail off as there was knocking on the door across the room. Violet turned to the sound, finding the woman from earlier behind the opening door.

She smiled at Violet. "Hello, little one," she said sweetly. Violet noticed she was carrying a tray full of food, balancing it perfectly in her delicate hands. "I thought you may be hungry."

"Where am I?" Violet asked in answer, remaining by the window as the woman set the tray down on the nightstand.

She was a regal looking woman, Violet noticed. Dark skin, raven hair streaked with a bit of gray here and there. Her eyes were bright, and her willowy frame was lithe. She was attractive, but almost in an androgynous sort of way. It was very appealing, as was her warm demeanor and calmness. But Violet wouldn't be distracted like that– she needed answers.

"Connecticut," said the woman, folding herself elegantly to sit on the bed. "I cannot tell you the city though, I am afraid. Not yet."

"Why am I here?"

"That…is complicated," the woman sighed.

"I'm sure I can handle it," Violet said, crossing her arms defensively over her chest.

"To put things simply, you're here because there are a lot of people in trouble, and you're the only one that can help the Lord of the house keep them safe."

"You mean that big lug I scratched the hell out of?" Violet asked. She doubted he would be keeping people safe anytime soon.

The woman shook her head. "No, that is Thaddeus. He is simply a friend of Mr. Fairgrave's– the Lord of the house. The blond man you encountered in the yard is Chad, another friend and assistant. They live on the property, as do I and the Lord's nephew, Wyatt. There are a few other attendants in and out throug the week."

"What's your name?" Violet asked.

"Evangeline," the woman said, patting the bed next to her. "Please, come and sit Violet. You must still feel light-headed."

Violet did, but she didn't want to sit next to…Evangeline. What if she knocked her out again? Instead Violet looked to the door, having been shut behind Evangeline but not locked. Maybe Violet could make a break for it…

As if guessing her intentions, Evangeline cleared her throat, drawing Violet's eyes back to her. "I would not attempt escape, little one. We've taken…precaution against it."

With an overly dramatic sigh, Violet moved to sit down in the vanity's chair, a good distance away from Evangeline. "Where's Danny?"

"Home," Evangeline said. "Everything has been taken care of to ensure that he'll be well looked after. We will transfer money into the needed account every month, make sure he does not get into trouble and keep him safe."

"He's fourteen years old," Violet snipped. "Do you expect him to take care of himself?"

"No," said Evangeline. "As stated, we will make sure he has everything he needs."

"What he needs is someone there to take care of him, and love him. My mother isn't fit for that. At all." Violet felt the hot sting of tears at the back of her eyes. Her baby brother was home alone. If someone became suspicious… "What if he gets put in a group home?"

"He won't," Evangeline said. "I've made sure that he shall be safe to remain with your mother."

"How?"

Evangeline smiled, and it almost was enough to scare Violet. "I have my ways."

"I need to see him," Violet said after a moment. "I have to know he's alright."

"I can't allow that," Evangeline said. "We have everything set so that it seems you left on your own. I'm sure you understand as to why we can't jeopardize that."

"No!" Violet said, tone rising. "I really don't understand! I don't understand why you kidnapped me, what I'm doing here! I'm just a fucking college student that works at K-mart. Why would anyone want to kidnap me?"

"You can help people," Evangeline said, remaining perfectly calm even though Violet had stood from where she sat during her shouting, and was stomping her feet childishly. "You're more important than you think, Violet Porter. If you just remember who you are, you'll soon understand."

"I remember who I am perfectly! I'm Violet, twenty year old socially awkward older sister. That's who I am."

Evangeline smiled again, shaking her head. "You'll learn the truth soon enough, little one. Until then, eat. It's nearly noon and you must be starving. I'll be back to check on you soon."

Violet watched as Evangeline left, shutting the door behind her. Violet could hear the click as the lock slid into place, and it was only a moment before she let out a muffled scream, letting the tears that had been withheld fall. She threw herself onto the bed, pressing her face into the pillows so her sobs would be soundless.

This wasn't fair. How could this possibly happen to her? What had she even done? Violet liked to consider herself a good person. She took care of her family even though that wasn't really her job, and she had no complaints about it. She didn't start trouble; she was as nice to everyone she met as she could be, and she was honest. How was that a sentencing for this?

It didn't even make sense. She was here because she could help people? How could she help people when she'd been kidnapped and locked in a room to rot? At least if Evangeline had told her that this Mr. Fairgrave wanted to rape and torture and murder her, things would have been more understandable as to why he kidnapped her. But no, here she was in a lavish room with a nightgown that probably cost more than her wardrobe and a nice, albeit crazy woman bringing her food.

Thinking of it made Violet's stomach growl. Last night she hadn't had much for dinner, having had a stomach ache from the sweetness of the ice-cream she'd eaten with Danny that afternoon. She was starving. Looking at the tray, she found basically everything one could want. There was a muffin, toast, jelly, hash browns, eggs, bacon, sausage, three different kinds of fruit, tea, orange juice, milk and coffee. It all smelled heavenly and her mouth watered.

But she wasn't going to touch it.

If she was stuck here, she wasn't going to do a goddamn thing that they wanted her to. She'd rather die. If she was going to be stuck in this room, she was going to waste away and hopefully have a heart attack. She wasn't going to help anyone. Screw them. Screw them and this Mr. Fairgrave and his friends and everything they wanted her to do. She hadn't been asked if she wanted this. She hadn't even known about any of this. What was it even?

She didn't care. She wanted to go home. She wanted to see her little brother. He was there without anyone to care for him. Sure, Danny was resourceful and could take care of himself perfectly fine, but he shouldn't have to. He was fourteen, for God's sake. A year and a half younger than Violet when she had to start taking care of things, and at sixteen it had been bad enough. He was supposed to be a kid– she wanted him to be able to be a kid.

But now he thought she'd left him. All alone with a crazy mother to care for. How could she? Never in a million years would she do so, even if it did mean helping people. She'd scorn the world to take care of her baby brother. He was the only person she had left, and she was the only person he did.

They had an aunt in Pennsylvania that visited on the holidays and was sane enough, sure. But she wasn't the type to be able to take care of kids full time. She'd called when they were younger and their mom had lost it, and always made sure Violet and Danny had what they needed if Violet couldn't. But she wasn't nurturing enough to love Danny the way he needed to be loved. And who even said he'd thought to call her, now that Violet was gone?

Evangeline had said she'd made sure that Danny wouldn't be put in a group home, but how could Violet believe the woman? She had to be insane, if she was so content with letting Violet be kidnapped and held against her will like this. Not to mention the way she'd told Violet things would make sense when she remembered who she was. What kind of sick game were these psychos playing at?

If anything, Violet began to cry harder, punching at the pillows and kicking her legs against the bed. She didn't know what to do, how to do anything but lay in despair. Her head was throbbing and her stomach in knots and her limbs ached now that they were no longer lax.

She just wanted to go home. She wanted to go to work, and hate her life, and go to school and complain about homework and midterms and eat pizza and play video games with Danny and help him study for his chemistry test and maybe throw up the pizza and drink Diet Coke while Galanthias whined for milk and take care of her insane mother and sleep in her own overly uncomfortable bed and fill her sketchbook with drawings of flowers and fawns and go on walks through the park in spring and winter and go out awkwardly on dates with Albany and try to flirt with guys or girls or whoever she wanted to and then maybe fall in love and graduate college and get a real job with her beloved flowers and get married and adopt a dog and have babies and put Danny through college and watch him change the world so she could grow old and have grandchildren and die in her sleep, fat and happy and content with her life.

But now, how was any of that possible? Unless she escaped from here, who was to say she'd get to keep her life? She remembered stories of kidnapping, rape, murder, sex-trafficking, torture. She'd even heard one story of a couple who had kidnapped a girl when she was hitchhiking and had tied her up and had sex in front of her before keeping her in a box under their bed for seven years.

Violet thought she may be sick.

Stumbling out of the bed, she ducked into the bathroom, finding the toilet and tipping herself toward it, vomiting stomach acid followed by dry heaves. She coughed, plugged her nose so nothing would come out of it because she knew from experience it always did.

After she was finished, she just laid there, arms around the toilet bowl to give her support. Usually when she puked, she could just get up afterward and wash herself off and rinse out her mouth and be done with it. Now though, she had no energy. She'd lay on this bathroom floor forever and just die.

Why not?

In the back of her mind, she knew she was being dramatic. She knew she needed to stop feeling sorry for herself and find a way to escape, or find out what these people really wanted. But she couldn't. She just couldn't right now. The only thing she could do was begin to cry again, letting go of the toilet and curling up on the floor, knees tucked into her chest with arms around them as she shook with her sobs.

She just wanted to go home.