Author's Note: I'm so sorry for not updating recently. I have started school and work, so I don't have the time to write. Please keep commenting because I love to know your thoughts on the story. What do you think of the characters? What do you think will happen next?

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My mind shut down as soon as Jimmy brought me into Taylor’s house. All I remembered was him plopping me down onto the bed as I cried hysterically. I couldn’t believe that I just witnessed that all happen, and actually took part in it. I was so glad Jimmy hides it from me back home.

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I couldn’t recall whether or not Jimmy had drugged me. I don’t even remember falling asleep. He must have either drugged me or I tired myself out with crying.

When I woke up, I turned my head to the side and noticed that Jimmy wasn’t there. I went to roll over onto my side, but hands were stuck up above my head. I looked up to see that they were tied up with rope to the headboard.

Last time Jimmy did this to me was when I threatened to kill myself. This must be a punishment for me acting out at Noah’s. I tried to behave, but it was all too new to me. Jimmy has told me that it’s only scary because it’s new and I have to believe him.

I started pulling my hands down and I felt the ropes dig and burn into my flesh. The muscles in my arms ached and I continued to try and free myself. My body wiggled across the bed as I couldn’t free myself.

The door opened and I stopped moving. Emme walked in, her swollen belly leading the way. Her auburn curls were pinned up behind her head and she had on a large sweater. I could see the steam rising from a bowl in her hands. She raised her eyebrows and smiled when she saw me.

“You’re up,” she pointed out the obvious. “I wasn’t sure when I should come up. I checked on you a few times and you were still asleep. I had a feeling that you’d be awake now though. Have you been awake long?”

“No,” my dry voice cracked.

“Good,” she said sitting down on the edge of bed. She put the bowl on the nightstand and then fixed the blankets over me. “Try to get comfy.”

“Untie me, please,” I said as I pulled down on the ropes again.

My face winced in pain as the ropes burned down into my flesh again. Emme’s smile dropped and she shook her head. Her nose continued to do its little wiggle.

“I can’t, sorry,” she told me. “Taylor gave me strict orders not to. You understand that I can’t do that. The boys always tell us what is best, so I can’t go against Taylor’s orders.”

“Please,” I begged her. “Just for an hour. Or maybe only a couple minutes. It really hurts, Emme.”

“I told you I can’t,” she said shrugging her shoulders. “Try to get as comfy as you can. Do you want any blankets or pillows? Maybe that’ll help. I have some oatmeal here for you. Lift up your head and I’ll give you another pillow.”

Emme leaned across me and I lifted my head as she slid the spare pillow behind my head. My shoulders felt slight relief, but my arms still ached. Emme grabbed the bowl and stirred the spoon in the bowl.

“Can you untie me so I can at least eat?” I asked.

“Nope,” she said continuing to shake her head. “I already told you I can’t. Just open up your mouth and I’ll feed you.” She started to giggle to herself. “I guess this will be good practice for when my son is born.”

I groaned and pressed my forehead up against my arm. I didn’t want to lie here and be feed like a baby. I shouldn’t have caused such a scene yesterday.

“Don’t be difficult,” Emme said. “It won’t be that bad at all.”

I rolled my head off of arm and scowled at her. My stomach was empty and it grumble. Emme smirked at me and I knew that she heard it.

“Open up,” she said filling a spoonful of oatmeal and bringing it to my lips. I opened my mouth and she careful put the spoonful of food into my mouth. I slurped it off of the spoon and she brought it back to the bowl. I swallowed the hot oatmeal and the taste of brown sugar filled my mouth.

“Wasn’t difficult, was it?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

I stayed quiet as she gave me another mouthful of food.

“You know, I panicked too the first time I watched them kill someone too,” she told me as she continued to feed me. My mouth was full, so I couldn’t say anything, but that didn’t stop Emme from continuing to talk. “I was here for probably about five months or so. You know how hard it is to keep track of time here. Anyways, I had already know about all of the traditions, but I had never seen them do it before. One day I’m with Jenny and we’re cleaning the bathrooms and there’s all of this screaming coming from downstairs. We ran down there and they already had him hoisted up on those hooks.

“I started screaming, I couldn’t stop myself. It was like seeing something in a horror movie. It couldn’t possibly be real. Taylor made me watch and then brought me up to our room and locked me up there for a couple days. Every time they had a kill they made me watch. And guess what?”

“What?” I asked before she fed me more.

“It got easier. Taylor’s told me that at Charles’s house they do it in the basement and not in front of the girls. But if you ever come here again and they have another kill, I promise you that it gets easier to watch. Maybe not the next time, or the time after that, but I promise it does. Thanks to them and what they do we always have food on the table and never go hungry.”

“There’s other ways they could get meat though,” I told her. “They don’t have to kill people.”

“But this protects us,” she said. “No one is going to hurt us now. I imagine the outside world must have been cruel to you.”

“Yeah,” I muttered.

I didn’t want to think about what those men use to do to me inside the strip club. Jimmy may have hurt me a few times, but it was just to teach me a lesson. I’m better now because of it. Those men in the club did it for their own pleasure.

Emme leaned forward and started to tuck the blanket around me. I raised my shoulders and stretched out my sore muscles. She tucked the pieces of stray hair behind my ears to keep it off of my face.

“Now get some more sleep,” she told me. “Jimmy told me that he wants you to rest up so that you feel better. He and Taylor are over at Noah’s. I’d love to spend the whole day together having some girl time, but I’ve got to clean. I’ll check on you soon.”

“Okay, I’ll try,” I told her. I knew I was going to struggle to try and sleep with this pain running down my arms and shoulders.

Emme gave me a smile as she closed the door behind her. I could hear her humming as she walked down the hallway.

I was going to have to wait until Jimmy got home.