Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 94313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Before I was ready, Aunt Lacy was back in the bathroom, calling for me to hurry and get dressed. She was gone by the time I climbed out of the shower but she’d left clean clothes on the closed toilet seat. I recognized the dress. It was one that she wore all the time when she was running errands. I lifted the fabric to my nose and inhaled the familiar scent of their laundry detergent.
I let out a small sigh of relief. I’d wondered in my most paranoid moments if my dad had hidden me away until he could find a man willing to marry me. It wasn’t beyond reason, but I couldn’t think of anyone we knew who would take on another man’s baby. Aunt Lacy hadn’t given me anything especially nice to wear, though, so I was pretty sure I wasn’t about to be taken to the church for my wedding.
I pulled on the pair of underwear and bra that she’d left me, far beyond caring where they’d come from. They were clean and soft and it occurred to me just how stiff my own underclothes were from washing and hanging them to dry by the fireplace. As I carefully dried my hair I stepped in front of the mirror and finally got a good look at my face.
I understood why Aunt Lacy had been startled by my appearance. I didn’t think I looked sick or anything like that, but my face had changed dramatically. My cheekbones stood out in stark relief and my chin was more pointed than it had ever been. I’d lost the round cheeks I’d had all my life. My whole face looked… sharp.
I stared at myself as I pulled my hair back into a bun, pulling a hair tie and bobby pins from the drawer to the left of the sink, going through the motions without thought. The hairstyle made my features seem even more severe and the hair felt heavy, but I didn’t even consider leaving it in a braid down my back like I’d been wearing it at the cabin. Unconsciously, I fell back into the patterns I’d lived by my entire life.
After I was dressed, I picked up my dirty clothes from the floor and folded them neatly. Handling the ripped tights was a stark reminder that in a few hours I’d probably be right back in the cabin. Quietly, I pulled open the drawer again and stole a few more hair ties, stuffing them in the pocket of my dirty dress.
I left the bathroom and followed Aunt Lacy back out of the house with a sense of unreality that I couldn’t shake. As we climbed back in the car my heart began to race. Where in the world were they taking me?
“Just going to make sure everything’s going the way it should,” Aunt Lacy said, turning to look at me as we pulled into a small parking lot.
“You’re taking me to the doctor?” I asked in confusion, staring at the sign on the building.
“Just a quick check up,” she replied.
I followed her into the building, leaving Uncle Hank waiting in the car, and a thousand thoughts ran through my head. Should I say something to the doctor? Tell them that I needed help? What would happen after that? Would they even believe me? Would Uncle Hank and Aunt Lacy get into trouble? I wasn’t sure that anyone had actually done anything illegal. I could’ve called 911 any day since I’d been left at the cabin. I wasn’t a minor so it couldn’t be considered neglect.
Swirling around the thoughts of escape and what it would mean for me going forward were thoughts of the baby. What if they found something wrong with it? Had I screwed up by not going to the doctor before I’d told my parents? I couldn’t have anticipated that I’d be whisked away so soon afterward. I’d imagined that my mom would help me set up that first appointment. I’d known they’d be angry, but I could’ve never foreseen that they’d banish me into the freaking wilderness.
We checked me in and only waited for a few minutes before I was called back. At first I was surprised when Aunt Lacy got up with me, intending to follow me into the appointment. Then I realized that she was there to make sure I didn’t say anything I wasn’t supposed to.
I wasn’t sure if I would say anything. It wasn’t as if I had anywhere to go if I escaped my family, but knowing that I could was a heady feeling. I had the opportunity. I could tell the doctor’s office that I was in trouble, that I needed help, that I needed to get away from them. I could.
A nurse asked when my last period was, took my blood pressure and weighed me—I’d actually lost weight and I was pretty sure that wasn’t normal—and then made me pee in a cup. It was all startlingly normal, and I began to feel a little hope as I spoke to her. There were normal people on the outside. Maybe I should say something. I could figure out whatever came next. I was smart. I had skills. Surely, I could figure out a way to live.