In the abandoned house, there were a few small things besides furniture left, one of them being a baby doll. Victor had thought about giving it to Elizabeth, but instead gave it to James as a joke. James later put the doll next to Elizabeth while she slept and gently ran his fingers through her curls.
Elizabeth woke up the next morning ecstatic. Her tiny feet pattered through the halls.
"JAY-JAY! VIC-TA!" She ran back and forth down the hallway hugging the doll tightly and had a smile so wide it looked like it could rip apart her little face. Victor walked out of his room in only pants, still groggy.
"Kid, what are you on about at this hour?"
She held up the doll to show Victor and he looked annoyed at her.
"Ya woke me up fer this?"
"Yep~" she nodded and smiled.
He yawned and stretched. "I'm gonna go get sumthin' for us all to eat. Try an' be good."
Elizabeth nodded. "Yes Vic-ta" and hugged her doll close to her, cradling it like a baby.
Victor rustled her hair and left.
A while later, he came back. James was in the kitchen trying to determine what was usable and what was not. Victor brought the catch in to the kitchen and quickly told James how to skin it before peeking his head into the next room.
"It ah-right Anna, Elisa-bet your mama now. Don' cry, Anna." He watched her kiss the doll on the forehead and cuddle her as she yawned and fell asleep. He leaned up against the door frame, still watching her.
James walked over to the doorway. "Victor, I'm done. What next?"
Victor growled low at him, looking down and speaking in a powerful yet quiet voice. "Keep. Quiet. Willya?" James nodded and looked over into the other room to try to figure out what had Victor so touchy about volume. He saw his little sister whimpering in her sleep. He hadn't slept well either. By the time he turned back around, Victor was already cooking the animals. Victor motioned for him to come in.
He spoke in hushed tones again. "Watch this so it don't burn, turn it every few minutes."
"Sure." James said quietly. Victor brushed past him and stood leaned against the doorway again.
"Mama wake up." She whimpered and Victor frowned slightly.
"Pwease mama?" she whimpered more and a small tear rolled down her face and into the doll's hair. Victor sighed. "She's reliving it." Victor said quietly vaguely in James's direction.
"Wake up? Mama?" She sniffled and clung to the doll in her arms, larger tears rolling down. Victor glanced down at his feet and back at her.
"MAMA!" she screamed as she woke up crying. She held her doll tightly to her chest.
James rushed in and Victor watched for a moment before heading back into the kitchen to finish the job.
James pulled his baby sister into his lap and tried to calm her.
After a while, the meal was done cooking and Elizabeth had been calmed down. They sat at the table, Elizabeth sitting in James's lap so she could reach the table easier. She stared at the food for a moment and watched Victor eat his.
"Why won't tha kid eat?"
"Because our ma used to cut it up for her." James cut her food up into little bites. Victor looked incredulously at the little pieces of meat and reached over and skewered one with a fork and held it to Elizabeth's mouth. She scrunched up her face and turned her head and refused to take it.
"Eat it, brat!" Elizabeth clamped her mouth shut and shook her head.
"No, Victor, she won't eat if you try to force her. Watch this." He took her fork and skewered another piece and left it on her plate. She glanced over to it and wrapped her tiny fingers around the metal and put the meat in her mouth and grinned.
Victor sighed and ate his food quietly.
"Ca' Anna has food?"
"No, Eli, dolls don't eat."
"'ow come?"
"They just don't, kid." Victor said in almost a growl.
Elizabeth pretended to have the doll whisper something in her ear. "Anna say she hun'ry" She said affirmatively.
"Tha doll don't talk neither." Victor said through his teeth. Elizabeth didn't seem to notice his change in expression and kept going on.
"She do so!" Elizabeth squealed defiantly. Finally having enough backtalk and nonsense from the toddler, Victor snapped.
"IF YOU AIN'T GONNA LISTEN TO ME, I'M GONNA LOCK YOU IN THA DAMNED CELLAR FER A MONTH! MAYBE THEN YOU'LL SHUT YOUR TRAP AND BEHAVE FER ONCE!" Victor sat back down, still breathing heavily. Elizabeth clung to her doll in shock as tears started to well up in her eyes as she whimpered. A moment later, she burst into hysterical tears.
"What in blazes what that for?" James's voice cracked from shock and impending puberty. He tried to hush Elizabeth. "And what made you think of a cellar of all things? Do we even have one?"
Victor looked down at his clawed hands. "I… nevermind." He promptly stalked off to his room.