Author's note: Can't believ how many reads this story is getting. Thank you everyone! Please keep commenting to tell me your thoughts. Votes to would be appreciated!

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Jimmy snored the entire night. I lied awake on my back with my arm curled up to my body. I hoped that the cut was the end of the punishment. My stomach twisted as I thought about going downstairs in the morning and Charles telling Jimmy to punish me in another way.

I wanted to scream out and tell them what really happened. Tommy was to blame yet again. But I couldn’t tell them that. Tommy would definitely make sure that I have a miscarriage if I got him in trouble. Jimmy had only cut my arm so I knew that our son was safe.

My mind was racing and I squeezed my eyes together tightly as I tried to chase away the thoughts. I kept thinking about our baby. How much giving birth was going to hurt and how awful it would be if we had a baby girl. I tried to chase the thoughts away with more positive ones. I thought about how it would feel to hold his little body in my arms as he was tightly wrapped up in a blanket.

I tried my hardest to just focus on the positive thoughts. I kept my eyes closed and I gently stroked my belly as I listened to Jimmy snore. Hours must have passed before his alarm went off.

Jimmy groaned as he rolled over onto his side and reached over me for the alarm clock. He had himself propped up one elbow and was looking down at me. He grazed two of his fingers along my jawline and then ran his thumb under my eyes.

“You didn’t sleep,” he told me.

There must have been bags under my eyes if he already noticed that. I just shrugged my shoulders and I avoided looking in his eyes. His large, dark eyes were looking at me warmly like they usually did.

“Why?” he asked.

“My arm hurt,” I mumbled.

“What?”

“My arm hurt too much to let me sleep,” I said.

Jimmy reached over me again and turned on the lamp. The room filled with a dim, pale light. He reached down my arm and I let out a gasp as the pain shot up to my shoulder. He lifted it up to examine it. The white gauze already had a trail of crimson blood seeping through it.

“Why’d you do it, Julie?” he asked me. “Why’d you eat the meat? You knew that you wouldn’t be able to get away with it.”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized.

“Dad told me we aren’t having anymore meat now until we go hunting. What you ate was all we had left. Dad and Tommy ate the last bit last night.”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized again.

“This better not hurt our son,” he said as his fingers tightened around my arm. I screamed out in pain as he continued to grip harder onto my arm. “If he has to suffer because of your mistake I’ll have to punish you again.”

“Jimmy, it hurts,” I whined.

“Good. Maybe everybody is right. Maybe I have been too kind with you,” he told me. “I love you, Juliet, but you keep screwing up. There’ll have to be more punishments until your attitude straightens up. You got that?”

I nodded my head as my vision began to blur. Jimmy let go of my arm and I used the back of my hand to wipe away the tears. Jimmy rolled out of bed and I got up and changed as quickly as I possibly could. I didn’t say another word for the whole day.

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My stomach began to grow larger and larger and we still had no meat in our fridge. The summer was almost here and I hoped that someone would come onto our property soon. Jimmy’s attitude had never changed. He was hungry and he was taking every punishment out on me that he possibly could. If I broke a dish I got a cut. If I burnt dinner I got a cut. If he found a dirty spot in the house I got a cut. My arms were covered in scabs and scars.

I ran a hand down over my stomach. If I had to take a guess I’d say that I was seven months pregnant. My large belly leads the way no matter where I go and I was wearing Marilyn’s maternity clothes. It was hot outside and inside the house the air was very humid. I had on a blue sundress with yellow polka dots covering it and I tied my hair up into a bun on the top of my head. I could feel the odd bead of sweat roll down my back.

“Julie, is breakfast almost ready?” Jimmy asked me.

They were all sitting around the table in the kitchen. Charles had a letter in his hand and was reading it out loud. It was from Taylor and he said that they were coming down for a visit soon. I was at the stove pouring oatmeal into bowls.

“It’s coming,” I told them.

No one answered me and I gathered their three bowls in my arms and brought it over to the table for them. I set it down in front of them and went over to the stove to get some of my own.

“When Taylor comes down tell him to bring some meat,” Tommy told Charles. “I’m starving.”

I walked over to the table and pulled out my chair. Tommy had already managed to scarf down his entire bowl and was wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“That’s not funny, Thomas,” Charles told him sternly. “But we can’t have Taylor and Emme here and no meat. There’s also a new mouth coming into the family in a few months.” Charles gestured to my stomach. “I need you boys to do things differently. We can’t keep going on like this. It’s not healthy for anyone. You need to go out hunting off property. Just until we can get our lives back to normal.”

I looked up to see Tommy had a huge smile on his face. I don’t think I’ve seen that face since he had held me over the stairs that one day. I looked over at Jimmy to see he was smiling too. I couldn’t believe it when my own lips curled into a smile. They would finally be happy again and I wouldn’t be punished as much. We would finally eat something other than vegetables, potatoes, and eggs.

“Really?” Tommy asked in disbelief.

“Yes,” Charles said nodding his head. “Just do your chores and then you two can go out.”

“Come on, Jim,” Tommy said throwing his spoon into his bowl. “We’ve gotta busy day ahead of us.”

Jimmy’s chair screeched across the floor as he got up. Tommy and he ran out of the house. I could hear Charles lightly chuckle under his breath. He shook his head and got up from the table.

“It’s good to see them excited, but I doubt there’ll be anyone way out here today,” he told me. “I wouldn’t be planning a feast yet if I were you, Juliet.”

My lips lifted into a smile and I swallowed my last mouthful of oatmeal.

“I won’t be then.”

Charles continued to chuckle as he walked out of the door. I got up too and started cleaning up the kitchen.

I went on with my daily routine and continued to clean the house. I hadn’t heard anything from them until I was in the kitchen preparing dinner.

Someone began to furiously pound on the door and was screaming at the top of their lungs.