/I don't own anything you recognize in this story. /

Chapter Two

Samara sat on the edge of the loft, looking down at the horses below, singing softly. She didn't like horses; they kept her awake at night. They scared her, all the shifting and moving and never resting, even while they were asleep. She wished she could sleep inside with Mommy; she would never let anything happen to her baby girl.

The barn doors open and a flood of light entered the barn. Samara squinted against the bright light and when her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw that it was daddy. What was he doing here? Was he coming in here to take care of the horses, or was he coming in here to yell at her?

"Samara, are you in here?" Richard called out.

Samara silently climbed down the ladder, carefully hiding in the shadows. The shadows were her friends; they protected her from things she didn't like—they gave her an advantage over things such as her father. Maybe she could catch him off guard like she had done the other day when he was trying to find her.

"Samara? Where did you get off to, you wretched girl?" Richard muttered to himself.

Samara crept in the shadows to her father. His back was pointed towards her; he was looking the wrong way—he was always looking the wrong way. Bad things happened if you were looking the wrong way.

Richard felt something staring into his back and he whirled around, nearly jumping out of his skin when he saw Samara. He narrowed his eyes, showing his anger toward the girl that he felt no love for. If only he could get this girl away, to an orphanage, anywhere.

"It's time to go see the doctor, Samara, do you understand that, wretch?" Richard asked.

"The doctors. The ones who make me sit on a chair in the middle of the room and ask me questions that I don't know the answers to. Then they leave me there for hours and hours for some reason before they come back and sit me on a chair again and ask me questions," Samara stated.

"It's all for your own good, Samara. I want to help you, girl, to make you better," Richard said.

"You don't love me, do you?" Samara asked.

"Child, I love you," Richard said with an obvious strain in his voice. It took a lot of effort to say those words to this girl, "you must understand this. I want to help you, not hurt you."

"You don't love me. You never loved me, Mommy does," Samara said.

"Don't be ridiculous, girl. You know that I love you," Richard exclaimed.

"No, I don't."

Richard sighed exasperatedly and grabbed Samara's hand and dragged her outside along. He couldn't take anymore of Samara's garbage. She was just about to go on his last nerve, no matter how hard he tried to love the girl.

"You're going whether you like it or not, Samara. And you've got to realize that if I didn't love you I wouldn't have gone through all of this trouble if I didn't love you," Richard told her.

Samara didn't answer. She never answered him when he went into his lectures. She knew he really didn't care for her and probably would never will no matter how much he tried to love her for Mommy's sake.

As they approached the car, Samara saw Anna standing nervously next to the passenger's side of the car. When Anna saw her daughter, she broke into a wide smile and rushed over to Samara, bending down to give her a hug and a kiss. Samara didn't move or show any emotion, she didn't know how to respond to this kind of love and affection. She probably would never know, considering that her father overpowered any kind of love and affection that her mother tried to give.

"Samara, darling. You know how much I love you, don't you?" Anna exclaimed.

"Yes, Mommy, I guess," Samara said.

"You guess? How can you guess? I love you with all my heart and soul," Anna said. "If I could have it my way, we wouldn't be seeing the mean, crazy doctors."

Samara looked up at Anna. "I know, Mommy."

"Well, then, why did you say 'I guess' for?" Anna asked.

"Because she's a stupid wretch, that's why. Now let's get going, I don't have all day. I've got horses to take care of and exercise," Richard exclaimed impatiently.

Anna sighed. "Come on then, Samara, get into the car."

Samara silently opened the door and climbed into the back seat. She silently put on her seatbelt and listened to Richard slamming her car door for her before going onto the other side and climbing into the passenger seat next to Anna.

Samara didn't really like the doctors. But her Daddy makes her go, whether she liked it or not. She thought this as they were driving down the road. The radio was on a talk show station—Samara really didn't know what the talk show was about or who it was, though they said it all the time before they went to the commercials, or when they got back from commercials. Mommy tried to explain the whole art of music and talk stations to Samara, but she never really understood it. Maybe that was why she was different, because she didn't understand stuff. Or maybe because it was her daddy refusing to let her fully understand anything.

Finally they pulled into the parking lot of the huge, forbidding building. As they pulled into a parking lot, Samara felt a sense of dread wash over her. It was time for the white chair in the middle of the white room with the doctors dressed in white coats trying to figure out what was wrong with Samara. They felt for sure there was something wrong with her, they just haven't figured it out yet. Maybe they would never will.

Richard and Anna got out of the car and Richard walked around to open Samara's door. Samara just looked up at the man with fear in her eyes. This was the moment of truth and Samara didn't want to get out of that car, because that meant the beginning of more suffering.

Richard stomped his foot impatiently. He couldn't take any more of this garbage from this girl.

"Get out of the car, you wretch. I don't have any time for your prattling and slowness," Richard nearly yelled at the girl.

Samara slowly got out of the car and Richard slammed the door behind her. Anna gently took Samara's hand and the two of them followed the angry man towards the hospital's entrance doors. Samara had to go in and there was no going back now.

A/n: Thanks to Darkdragon207 for reviewing my story. I really appreciate it and I hope you continue reading this. To others, I hope you'll continue reading and review, it makes me happy -.