Chapter VI
Mr. Friedman and Leia come to a screeching halt outside two big metal gates. Friedman barks a few commands into a microphone, and the gates swing open. The car lurches forward into a circular drive in front of a beautiful and stately white mansion.
Friedman pulls up in front of the house and gets out, leaving the car running for the valet. Leia follows him into the house, a hunched figure in the magnificient doorway. With her small and forlorn figure in its proud entrance, the house now looks cold and unwelcoming.
As soon as she is inside, Leia is accosted by a bony and harrassed looking woman. She sidesteps to avoid her, and runs up the grand staircase, again looking small and sad in the grandeur of the house. The womans verbal abuse follows her up to aroom, where she locks the door and runs into the walk-in closet. Folding herself in the many coats, she can hear her heartbeat and heavy breathing.
'Madame Kent would be appalled at how winded I am from those stairs!' she says dryly to herself.
But her moment of humor is cut short when she hears footsteps coming and Friedman's bellowing voice. She closes her eyes and pretends to be somewhere else. She just lets herself go...she's in another place, far away from the cold mansion, with all its anger and fear. Soon she is entranced- even when Friedman finally bursts into the little closet and yanks her up from beneath the protective coats, she doesn't make a sound.
Even when he hits her again and again, she makes no sound. Maybe if she did, he wouldn't hit so hard. She thinks this, but she is frozen, her body is limp. Finally, she is thrown into her room, and the door is slammed.
She smiles to herself as she thinks of how nice the carpet is- how soft and forgiving. She vaguely wonders how the fluffy white carpet has turned into this ugly, matted red. Something in her mind is screaming warnings, but she is oblivious. She lays on the carpet, blood cushioning her head, and there she falls asleep, the only rest for her tired body and mind.