full of him and he was pushing deeper with each thrust. He doesn’t care if he chokes me to death. In fact he would like it . She held her mouth as still as possible and concentrated on calming her throat muscles as so not to gag, and breathing when he pulled out.
Gripping her hair even tighter, he lunged deeper and faster, stomping his feet and moaning. A terrible stream of hot, salty fluid spurted inside her mouth and down her throat. She felt like she was drowning.
Finally finishing, he pulled out of her mouth and put his knife away in its s heath. Then, he slapped her hard yet again which knocked her down on her back and caused blood to flow out of her nose.
“See, the way I have this figured is if you want me to keep quiet about what I know, you’re going to do what I want.” He licked his lips obscenely. “Any time I want.” He threw the torn bloomers at her, and fastened his trousers. “Now clean yourself up. We don’t need anybody else to know about our little secrets, do we?”
Suppressing a sob, she watched him leave the chicken coop, swaggering as he went.
Chapter Eleven
Rachel . The thought tore through her heart. I have to get to Rachel. Not bothering with the shreds of her clothing, she got herself up as fast as she could and ran for the house. No telling what that monster would do to a helpless baby.
She threw the front door open , ignored Mother Yoder’s snide comment about her wretched appearance, and scrambled half tripping up the stairs . Rachel. That’s all she could think about. Rachel.
At her bedroom her boots made loud echoes in her ears as she rounded the bed to the crib and looked inside. Rachel lay on her back, her dark curls in disarray, making the slight sucking motions that she sometimes did as she dreamed.
Nearly in tears with relief, Rebekah sat on the bed for a moment observing the sweet undisturbed peace of the child. It was up to her to make sure her daughter kept that peace. She couldn’t keep her here another minute.
In her shock over what had just happened she moved with singleness of purpose. She only threw into a bag what Rachel would need for a day: diapers and a change of clothing, nothing else. Gathering up her sleeping child, she headed out to the barn to hitch up a buggy only to be frustrated when she got there. Neither horse nor buggy was in the barn. No sign of Ezekiel anywhere.
What to do? I could wait for Ezekiel to get back. No, if I wait, then Jakob could come back and do worse than he’s already done. She thought of the malice in his eyes as he skinned the cat and the nefarious smirk on his smug face as he had assaulted her and then gazed down at her small baby. No, we have to leave now! Right now!
Shouldering the diaper bag and carrying Rachel’s baby seat, she headed out on foot toward the other side of town. It took her three painful hours to walk to Nick’s trailer. Every step of the way she was in fear that Jakob would follow them. Every step of the way, her body cried out from Jakob’s abuse. As she plodded on, she sensed her face becoming more tender and swollen. It was hard to see out of one eye. She drew curious looks and avoided meeting anyone’s eyes, lest they should ask her what happened. She was quite out of her senses, confused, terrified, and overwhelmed. Nonetheless she strove on. Must get to Nick. He’ll know what to do. He said he would protect Rachel. Must get to Nick. He’ll know what to do. The chant went around in her head as she trudged, her feet too heavy and clumsy for her body. She made them move by sheer force of will.
Finally arriving at Nick’s trailer, she was flummoxed to find his van missing. She tried the door. It was locked. Where is he? That he wouldn’t be there never occurred to her. Where was he? Panic was striking within her and all her cognitive powers were slipping away. She tried to
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley