Pearl had a tendency to cling in her sleep. In the night, it didn't bother me so much. The warmth of her on my side was unfamiliar, but comforting enough. In the morning, however, the room heated up and it was no longer something enjoyable.

But that morning, Pearl wasn't as bright and cheerful as she usually was. She didn't hop up out of bed entirely too early and get ready for the day. Instead, she stayed in her nightgown and slept far into the afternoon. I awoke before her, and I usually slept far too long.

When I went to get up and out of the bed, she grabbed my arm and asked if I would stay for just a moment more. She sounded so sad, so I did.

The room was filled with the most dried out heat you could imagine. My mouth was dry, and I desperately wanted to get a drink, but I stayed like she asked. She hugged my arm close to her, and even though it was entirely too hot for that, I allowed it because she was in low spirits.

After a moment, she mumbled "I haven't been entirely honest with you, Jack."

I blinked up at the ceiling and then looked over at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I've kept something from you… Something very important to me." She released my arm and sat up a bit to look at me. "The main reason I hate my mother and aunt."

"You don't have to talk about anything you are uncomfortable with." I told her, but she shook her head.

"No, that's the problem, Jack." Her cheeks reddened with anger and she brought her hands up to her face.

"I don't understand."

She lowered her hands and grabbed my arm again, gripping it with more strength than I thought she had. "Allow me to explain." She let out a controlled breath before continuing. "I am one of three children. I have another brother, a younger brother by four years. His name is Andrew. Andrew is, for lack of a better word, slow. But he is a good boy, even though he acts younger than he actually is."

"Why haven't you spoken about him before?"

"Because he is considered a disgrace to my family." Pearl frowned. "Not to me, I love him. He is my little brother. But my mothers were humiliated by having a child like him, and they sent him away to an asylum. My brother and I were not to ever speak of him again. It was as if Andrew was never even born."

I was beginning to understand. "That's terrible."

"That's not all. I took it upon myself to visit him about a little more than a year ago." She sobbed bitterly, and I didn't know what to do. "He is crammed into a room with seven other people. Some of them boys, some of them grown men, and all of them are truly awful. They've harmed him, both physically and emotionally. The nurses do not bathe him or take care of him at all. He rarely gets fed. When I came home, I told my mother and aunt about it, and I was punished for mentioning him."

She began to cry in earnest. "He is their son and they don't even care about him. There is nothing I can do for him, either. I can't even write him letters. I worry about him every day. He is just a boy. I fear for his life, if he even still has one." Not knowing what else to do, I pulled her to me and let her cry.

"What about your father? Had he no say in this?"

"He allowed it." She hissed in a breath. "For all the goodness in his heart, he's weak with love for my mother and will allow her nearly anything she presses for."

"Pearl, I'm sorry, I don't know what to say."

"Say I don't have to go back to them. Say I can stay with you." I sighed and pushed her away from me.

I couldn't look at her. "You know I can't do that."

"Why not? Don't you like me? Don't you want to be with me, Jack?" Her hand was at my arm again.

"I can't take you away from your parents, Pearl. Your father is a good man. He loves you. He would miss you."

"I will deal with that myself." She pulled at my arm, trying to get me to look at her. "Say I can stay with you."

I shook my head. "I told you, I can't do that."

"I am a grown woman, it's not like you would be kidnapping me!"

"You should at least talk to them first."

"You don't understand, Jack, there is no talking to them!" I pushed her off of me, stood, and began to get dressed.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"You should get dressed too, because I'm taking you back to Blackwater right now." I told her.

"Like hell you are!" She bolted over to the door and swung it open. "You didn't listen to me at all, did you? Do you even care about me?"

I looked at her again. Her face was free of the makeup she wore during the day, and swollen from sleep and tears. Her hair, thick and dark, was in desperate need of brushing. Her nightgown hung off of her like it was made for someone else. Before, it was easy to look at her and see a woman, but in that moment she looked all of her eighteen years, and I couldn't give her what she wanted.

"I do care, Pearl." I told her. "And that's why you need to try to talk to your parents instead of running away."

"No, Jack." She was crying again. Out of anger or desperation, I'm not sure. "If you cared about me, you'd have some ounce of sympathy for what I just told you. I can't go back to them, I just can't."

"My parents are dead, Pearl." I told her, and she paused. "I wish more than anything that I could speak with them about all the problems I had, but I can't. If you don't talk to them about it, you're going to regret it for the rest of your life. Just like I do."

She stood still for a moment. She looked at me, and then at the ground. Then she closed the door and walked over, crawling back into the bed and pulling the sheets over her head.

"Come on, now. Get dressed." I nudged her through the blankets. The blankets shifted for a moment and then paused. I nudged her again.

"No. I'm not going back to Blackwater and you can't make me."

I sighed and tried to pull the blankets back, but she held them down. "I will dress you myself if I have to."

"I took off my nightgown. You wouldn't dare pull these blankets back unless you want to see me naked. Now leave me alone."

"Damn it, Pearl!" I rubbed my forehead. "You're acting like a child!"

"Leave me alone!" I didn't know what else to do, so I left her alone to begin my drinking a little earlier than usual.