The last of Joy's chapter on what happened to her, then it's going to be regular chapters. Thanks for the support!
The morning light filtered through the dirty windows casting a faint glow on Joy's face, gently waking her up. Her body felt sore and stiff as she stretched almost hearing her muscles cry in discomfort. The left side of her face was still tender but it allowed her left eye to barely crack open. She felt her shoulders slump forward as she knew Jason wouldn't think of her pretty anymore. She knew she wouldn't blame him if he simply asked her to leave the family not wanting to see her ugly face again. Hot tears slid down her cheeks as her mind kept replaying she was no longer pretty. But she knew she had to escape. At least let them know she was alive. She swallowed slightly and winced at how dry her throat was and all she wanted was to get this gag out of her mouth. She could tell she would have a long recovery as she could feel herself starting to get sick.
I'll help pay for the doctor; she thought knowing that John and Olivia would make sure she was taken care of. It's the least I could do. She let out a sigh and tried to shift but felt the mysterious object from underneath her. She bent her fingers trying to retrieve it but had to stop for she heard a truck pull up and stop in the back. Her heart thumped in her chest as she closed her right eye, letting the left one stay cracked to get a glimpse of who it was. She could tell by the heavy footsteps that it was her monstrous father. She remained still hearing him walking in and sliding the chair closer to her. With a sharp jab in the stomach Joy let out a muffled cry of pain which resulted in a dark chuckle from her father.
"Like I told you yesterday," Isaac said kicking Joy again in the stomach, "I hoped you had a decent rest as you'll won't be getting it. Not until it's all over." Joy knew what Isaac meant by the look on his face. A dark grin spreading over his face. "But I might as well tell you why I did all this. Why I plan on taking that family out as well." Isaac leaned in closer to his daughter and painfully grabbed the bottom of her chin squeezing hard on the skin beneath. "I loved your mother dearly. I had given her a life of comfort. A beautiful house with a large flower garden. A swing and a small gazebo she could sit and enjoy tea with friends." He had a lost look in his eyes as Joy forced herself not to cry but stare inside them. "Then the depression hit. I lost my job and started to drink to calm myself as I tried to figure out a way to support Linda and then you. Of course you were old enough to know what was going on. But I had to figure out a way to keep you from being forced to work in the factories." Isaac's eyes began to gloss over as he was brought back into his memories. "Your mother wanted to leave and be with her father, as she said my drinking made me scary. But I couldn't let her leave. She was my wife. Even though she said she and I were still married and she loved me, she still wanted to leave. So I pushed her and she broke her arm. Your grandfather had shown up to take you and Linda away and when he saw her hurt had me arrested. He convinced Linda to divorce me and take sole custody of you."
Joy began to tremble as Isaac's face grew more seriously dark. His glossy eyes filling with anger as he squeezed tighter on Joy's skin under her chin. She let out a whimper and his eyes locked onto hers. Tears already began to stream down her face as Isaac slapped her hard on the face.
"I'm telling you a story, you ungrateful girl." Isaac spat knocking her head back against the pillar. The pillar cracked a little from the force of the impact. "I'm trying to justify what I'm about to do." He gripped her throat and began to squeeze making Joy's eyes roll in the back of her head. "Where was I?" Isaac said seeing Joy fight against his squeezing which he stopped and pulled her hair, making her head snap back. Isaac frowned a little as his daughter looked dazed as she leaned heavily on the pillar. "Oh that's right...your mother went through the divorce calling me an abuser. Calling me a danger to you. But she left St. Louis to find a new place to live. So for three years I started my search, trying to find my wife and you."
Isaac soon stood up and walked over to where the rifle was. Grabbing the bore snake that he had wrapped around the butt of the gun he sent sat back down and in a trance like state sent the tool through the barrel. "I vowed to bring you and your mother back home with me." Isaac said getting too deep into cleaning out the rifle. "Then I came here. On your birthday no less." He chuckled as he ran the bore snake three more times. "I asked your friends at the school house. They didn't give me any specifics but I drove up the street and saw your mother's hanging flower garden."
Joy trembled as she remembered that birthday almost four years ago. She remembered what he had done to her mother in the very room she now sat in.
"Oh, your mother was so scared." Isaac said shaking his head recalling the memory. "I didn't want to do it. I just didn't want her to leave me. But I found out she was courting another man named Henry Davis." Isaac stood up and stumbled over to the cupboard and opened one. He pulled out a small blue box that Joy recognized as bullets as she had seen John Walton had some when he went hunting with the boys last fall. "I was so angry I lost you to that Walton family. But I was furious I lost your mother to that Henry Davis. I found out he visited her at her job at the Dew Drop Inn. So I waited. Got a description of him so I ran him down." Isaac turned around and looked into his daughter's battered face. He loaded the rifle and sat down on the chair.
"I saw you two." Isaac said setting the rifle against the wall and sitting back down in the chair. "The Funeral was beautiful. But it was sickening to see my wife buried next to Henry. But the most sickening was seeing that man, John Walton taking you and that girl. I followed him to Charlottesville and saw him heading to that orphanage." He sat down and placed one of his feet on top of Joy's left leg. "I watched him take you to the door then turn around and brought you back to his truck. I wanted to run him over and take you back. But there were too many people around." He stood up putting all of his weight on top of Joy's leg causing her to let out a muffled scream. But the look on Isaac's face let her know he didn't care of the discomfort he was putting her through. "So for four years I sat and watched you grow into this fine young woman that you are now. I saw you down at the corner store and how beautiful you looked. I knew I had to take you back. I had to find out a way to get you alone. That's when I thought about the telegram. I hoped you wouldn't noticed it wasn't from St. Louis and it appeared to have worked. By stealing a ticket I forged it so that it looked legit. But what I didn't plan was you bringing that boy with you. That boy who tripped me down that ravine. I should have broken that boy's neck." He stomped hard causing something to crack beneath his foot. But Isaac ignored his daughter's cry of pain. "But now I have you, and don't be hopeful of being found, you silly girl. I made it seem you were already dead."
Joy's face paled as she fought back the cry of pain as Isaac stomped again his face twisting in anger.
"You had an innocent girl killed! Her death is your fault!" He stomped again and then three more time until Joy knew her leg had been broken. She saw something pushing against her pants and felt dizzy as she saw her pant leg starting to change purple from the blood. "But don't worry. After I kill you, I'm going to hide you where nobody can find you. You will be back with your mother and then you both will be coming back to St. Louis with me." He shoved her leg away from him making Joy lean more and scream into the filthy rag as tears stung her eyes. "I might just bring you with me to the Walton's home. As I start to take them out one by one. Then I'll make that young man watch as I take your life away." Joy shook her head as she began to beg him, pleading eyes full of tears. "You're begging won't help you. But I will let him know his family's death is his fault and let him live. It's a shame the little ones will have to die so young." Isaac turned and stared out the window and then down at his daughter's face. "But don't worry you'll have until nightfall. I got to get myself ready to celebrate this joyous occasion of being reunited with my wife and daughter." He slapped her as he walked past and out the backdoor. After a few minutes the sound of his truck turning on and a few seconds more, the sound of it rattling out onto the street.
Joy's face burned with pain as she kept hitting her back to keep herself from falling asleep. She needed to escape right then and hoped that whatever object was beneath her was something sharp and allowed her to escape. She shifted slightly and slid the object out from underneath her. She quickly began to rub her fingers over the object and found it was indeed something that would allow her to escape. Her monstrous father's knife. Her heart burned with determination as she felt the blade flip out nicking her palm just slightly. But the pain her left leg overpowered the small cut on her palm. She had to escape before her father came back. She had to find away to stop him from hurting her new family. She had to do her older sister's duties by protecting those younger then her. She had to protect John and Olivia as they were her parents and sacrificed everything to help her. She had to protect Emma, as she was an orphan before coming to the Walton family. She had to protect Jason from ever blaming himself for the death of his family.
Even if he doesn't love me anymore; she thought as she worked on cutting the rope. I have to save him from a life of misery.
~DSCWIN~
It took Joy a couple of hours to cut into the ropes that held her arms behind her. But once the release of the ropes breaking, Joy was now tasked with something more painful. Having to walk on a broken leg. She eyed the rifle and knew she would have better use of it as a crutch then Isaac as a weapon. The sun was beginning to sink when she barely made it to the rifle when she heard the sound of Isaac's truck rattle to a stop. Her breathing stopped as she wrapped her hand around the barrel and painfully leaned up against the wall for support. She had only used the weapon once when Jason had taken her to shoot old cans out in the woods surrounding the home. Emma had come too and they both enjoyed knowing how to shoot. Even if Olivia and Grandma Esther weren't too thrilled of it.
She waited for Isaac to walk into the back door as she took the gag out of her mouth surprised she kept it in longer then needed and tossed it on the ground spitting and trying to get rid of the nasty taste of her mouth. She didn't want to kill anyone but she knew she wouldn't be able to escape him. She knew it was either kill or be killed at that point, and she knew if she died the Walton family will soon follow.
"Remind me when this is all over, to thank the Baldwin sisters for their lovely 'recipe'." Isaac cackled as she watched him take another swig from a mason jar. He stumbled to a stop and saw that Joy was no longer on the floor. "Where did you go you stupid girl?!" He screamed drunkenly bending down and picking up the knife that was on the floor. His glossy eyes scanned the room until they saw her standing there with the rifle he had planned on using was now aimed at him. A drunk cocky smile spread across his face as he knew she didn't know how to use it. He let out a drunk cackle as he took a step towards her making her flinch slightly. "You don't know how to use that on me!" He said taking another step the knife gleaming on the fading light.
Joy's left eye teared more as she forced it to open causing her to whimper out in pain. As her father took a third step Joy, knowing the gun was loaded, squeezed the trigger and watched as blood began to pool out the front of her fathers shirt. The shock on his face, as he dropped his mason jar of the Baldwin's recipe, and fell to his knees. Joy limped herself away from his reaching arms as he fell forward.
"D-Don't get up..." Joy said her voice hoarse from the rag that he had gagged her with.
Isaac's head slowly lifted up as he, still bleeding turned around and pushed himself up again his hand reaching for her. Joy quickly pulled the trigger again this time not looking on where she had hit him. She didn't look at him, as she placed the barrel of the rifle on the ground and began to limp herself out of the backdoor of her house. Part of her wanted to sit and wait for help to arrive but part of her wanted to leave as she was afraid that her father was still alive. She held in her sobs as she limped towards the woods heading towards the Walton's. To what she hoped was a place where they will still love her regardless of what she looked like.
~DSCWIN~
The small trip to the Walton's was rough for Joy as her left leg made it difficult to steady as she walked through the uneven ground causing her more discomfort. But she had to make it. She had to make sure the family was alright that Isaac wasn't going to take them away. A small forgotten drop sent Joy landing hard against a small mud puddle causing some of it to go into her wounds. As she continued to lay there she felt like giving up. She felt drained and dizzy as the loss of blood from her leg was taking effect.
"Joy..." Joy's head slowly lifted up and was in shock when she saw her mother standing there. She knew she must have been hallucinating as she knew that her mother couldn't possibly be there. "Get up, sweetie...you're almost there..." A light began to flash up ahead making Linda vanish.
Joy pushed herself up to her knees as she adjust the rifle to push her to her feet. A dog barked up ahead and Joy knew it was Reckless. She was close to the family home. She was close to her family.
Her body was shaking as Reckless started barking at her. But when she came up, Reckless began to become excited like always. Excited whines and barks brought out the family. A flashlight beam shone on Joy's face as she got closer causing her to wince. As she walked closer she felt her stomach flutter as Jason walked up to her his hand shaking on the flashlight he held on to.
"J-Jason?" She said her right eye filling with tears.
Jason rushed up to her and held her close. Her legs dropped from underneath her as she and Jason fell. She closed her eyes before she felt soft lips touching hers. Jason's arms never let her go of her. Joy smiled as she finally knew she was home and that Jason truly loved her.