.:Chapter 6: One Gets Away:.
.:I woke up in bed. My room, my plain, brownish-white walls. I jumped out of bed, worried for Hope. I still remembered the events of today...or had it been yesterday? Just how long had I slept? All I remember is the blood...Hope's screams as Jim slammed Hope into the wall, again and again...:.
.:I went into Hope's room, where I found her in bed, looking weak and thin, her face as pale as flour. Tears rolled down her cheeks. I cautiously approached her bed, and she saw me:.
.:"Oh Colvin...." she sobbed, holding her arms out so I could embrace her, which I did. I pulled back to look into her eyes:.
.:"What happened, Hope? You was so bloody...I tried to protect you, I tried!" I cried, and she drew me tight against her...that's when I felt the difference. She'd always been too thin, even when she was pregnant, but there was no mistaking...horrified I looked at her:.
.:"Hope..I don't feel the baby!":.
.:Her face went sad, yet looked a bit relieved at the same time as she turned her face away:.
.:"I lost the baby...I aborted, Colvin," she said in a choked voice:.
.:All I could do was sit there, as if in shock, and perhaps I was. I had loved that unborn baby so much...I began to cry. Hope held me, her tears silent, and I threatened to get back at those who had hurt us! They would pay, pay, pay until their faces were pale and thin, their ribs sticking out like ours, bruises over them from the lack of strength!:.
.:A few weeks later, I turned fourteen. Nothing was special about getting older in this house, it just meant that you might be able to escape when you were eighteen...even though Hope hadn't escaped yet:.
.:I went to Hope's room, the first place I went every morning. To my surprise, I found her room empty. Her closet was open, and what dearth amount of clothes she had was gone; only the raggedy clothes and too small clothes remained. Her notebooks full of her wild fantasy stories were gone, her necklace I had gotten her last year by getting money for mowing grass in the richer neighborhoods...her bed was made perfectly, and a note with a white package set on top:.
.:I took the note and unfolded it, curious at the contents...:.
.:Dear Colvin,
The last thing in the world that I ever wanted to do was to break your heart, or abandon you, so I hope you find enough love for me in your heart to forgive me. Ever since my father died, I wanted out of this house. I suppose I stayed longer than I should have because I didn't want you in this awful house alone. All it did was make me pregnant and then I aborted. I may never be able to have any children again. Please do not be too harsh with me for leaving, I love you with all my heart, but I knew I wouldn't be able to take me with you, for it would be kidnapping. I would be thrown in jail, and you would be punished even greater. Forgive me for my selfishness. I hope you will cling on to that hope inside you, and the love you wish to one day bestow apon the woman of your dreams. Good luck, my little prince.
*Hope:.
.:My wet tears soaked the letter, as my dark eyes glared at the wall. No, I didn't blame Hope, not one bit. I blamed Mother, blamed Jim! But most of all, Mother, who married this monster in the first place, let him rape Hope, molest me, abuse us! I was glad Hope had escaped, I hated her living here, sometimes I thought we would both be better off dead than to live here!:.
.:Mother and Jim, of course, blamed me at first for Hope's disappearance:.
.:"No...I think she ran off without him...knowing it was too risky..." Jim drawled. And I had thought he was a complete moron. Amazing how the worst people can sometimes surprise you:.
.:I never let Mother nor Jim see the note Hope had written me. I hid it carefully under a loose floorboard under my bed, with what had been wrapped in the white package. Inside was her notebook of wild fantasies...stories she had created for me:.
.:On the inside, she had thoughtfully written: "I hereby dedicate this book of wild fantasies to the one whom they were created for, Colvin Donahue Casteel." That made me smile everytime I saw the inscription:.
.:Even though Hope was gone, I felt happier, as if maybe she was somewhere, happy too. I hoped she wasn't worrying over me, for with her gone, I could start my revenge. In the bible, sinners were to be thrown into the fires of hell. I would make sure every day without Hope would be a day of living hell for them:.
.:I woke up in bed. My room, my plain, brownish-white walls. I jumped out of bed, worried for Hope. I still remembered the events of today...or had it been yesterday? Just how long had I slept? All I remember is the blood...Hope's screams as Jim slammed Hope into the wall, again and again...:.
.:I went into Hope's room, where I found her in bed, looking weak and thin, her face as pale as flour. Tears rolled down her cheeks. I cautiously approached her bed, and she saw me:.
.:"Oh Colvin...." she sobbed, holding her arms out so I could embrace her, which I did. I pulled back to look into her eyes:.
.:"What happened, Hope? You was so bloody...I tried to protect you, I tried!" I cried, and she drew me tight against her...that's when I felt the difference. She'd always been too thin, even when she was pregnant, but there was no mistaking...horrified I looked at her:.
.:"Hope..I don't feel the baby!":.
.:Her face went sad, yet looked a bit relieved at the same time as she turned her face away:.
.:"I lost the baby...I aborted, Colvin," she said in a choked voice:.
.:All I could do was sit there, as if in shock, and perhaps I was. I had loved that unborn baby so much...I began to cry. Hope held me, her tears silent, and I threatened to get back at those who had hurt us! They would pay, pay, pay until their faces were pale and thin, their ribs sticking out like ours, bruises over them from the lack of strength!:.
.:A few weeks later, I turned fourteen. Nothing was special about getting older in this house, it just meant that you might be able to escape when you were eighteen...even though Hope hadn't escaped yet:.
.:I went to Hope's room, the first place I went every morning. To my surprise, I found her room empty. Her closet was open, and what dearth amount of clothes she had was gone; only the raggedy clothes and too small clothes remained. Her notebooks full of her wild fantasy stories were gone, her necklace I had gotten her last year by getting money for mowing grass in the richer neighborhoods...her bed was made perfectly, and a note with a white package set on top:.
.:I took the note and unfolded it, curious at the contents...:.
.:Dear Colvin,
The last thing in the world that I ever wanted to do was to break your heart, or abandon you, so I hope you find enough love for me in your heart to forgive me. Ever since my father died, I wanted out of this house. I suppose I stayed longer than I should have because I didn't want you in this awful house alone. All it did was make me pregnant and then I aborted. I may never be able to have any children again. Please do not be too harsh with me for leaving, I love you with all my heart, but I knew I wouldn't be able to take me with you, for it would be kidnapping. I would be thrown in jail, and you would be punished even greater. Forgive me for my selfishness. I hope you will cling on to that hope inside you, and the love you wish to one day bestow apon the woman of your dreams. Good luck, my little prince.
*Hope:.
.:My wet tears soaked the letter, as my dark eyes glared at the wall. No, I didn't blame Hope, not one bit. I blamed Mother, blamed Jim! But most of all, Mother, who married this monster in the first place, let him rape Hope, molest me, abuse us! I was glad Hope had escaped, I hated her living here, sometimes I thought we would both be better off dead than to live here!:.
.:Mother and Jim, of course, blamed me at first for Hope's disappearance:.
.:"No...I think she ran off without him...knowing it was too risky..." Jim drawled. And I had thought he was a complete moron. Amazing how the worst people can sometimes surprise you:.
.:I never let Mother nor Jim see the note Hope had written me. I hid it carefully under a loose floorboard under my bed, with what had been wrapped in the white package. Inside was her notebook of wild fantasies...stories she had created for me:.
.:On the inside, she had thoughtfully written: "I hereby dedicate this book of wild fantasies to the one whom they were created for, Colvin Donahue Casteel." That made me smile everytime I saw the inscription:.
.:Even though Hope was gone, I felt happier, as if maybe she was somewhere, happy too. I hoped she wasn't worrying over me, for with her gone, I could start my revenge. In the bible, sinners were to be thrown into the fires of hell. I would make sure every day without Hope would be a day of living hell for them:.