Chapter Two

Following Vee’s memories led her to an area unfrequented by the villagers as she collected edible mushrooms, shepherd's purse, a patch of fiddleheads, and then dug up a few wild onions. Because they rarely let the women out and the men were currently busy in the field, there were plenty of untapped resources. The only problem was that they all had one commonality: they really needed to be cooked before eaten.

The light was starting to dim when she found the true treasure: a wild blueberry bush that was just starting to ripen. As soon as she plucked the fruit off the branches, she popped it into her mouth, careful to chew only with her back teeth. She threw in a few of the cleaner mushrooms as well, trying to make eating them raw more palatable by mixing them together. She couldn’t bring any of the berries home or Mother Vance would get suspicious that she’d snuck food.

“Oh, how far you’ve fallen…” She murmured ironically as she ate as quickly as possible. She had never considered that she would be scrounging in the woods for a few bites just to stave off starvation.

After a few handfuls, she stopped, not wanting to make herself sick. Instead she hurried to the river, scooping mouthfuls of fresh water to fill the gaps in her belly and clear her teeth. Making sure there was no evidence of her ‘crimes,’ she used the last of the fading light to hurry back to the village, slipping through the deepening shadows straight back to her house, avoiding the men returning on the road.

The whole place was much louder at night, with jeers and the occasional moan as the men either took advantage of or beat their women for failing to meet their unreasonable expectations. Her fists clenched, but she continued on her way, slipping through the back gate of her ‘home’ and taking a deep breath to calm herself before resuming the dopey look Vee normally affected.

Right now, she didn’t have the power to help them. She would find a way to get them all out. She had zero intentions of leaving any of them in this hellhole. Heading towards the kitchen door, her voice called out softly as she opened it, “Mom, food.”

“Give me that, you greedy gut. What did I ever do to deserve having such a hungry ghost in the house? Nothing but a money-losing fool who can’t even lay eggs…” The woman constantly complained as she sifted through the veggies, finally pulling out the shepherd’s purse and onions as she pushed them at the girl. “Wash and cut these so we can add them to the soup. Don’t even think of sneaking a bite, I’m watching you!”

“Wash and cut, wash and cut.” Vivian bobbed her head and moved to obey, just like Vee always had. Mother Vance glared angrily at her, but still kept away the rest of the food as she returned to the smokey stove to stir. She quickly rinsed off the dirt and picked up the knife, staring at it for a few seconds before she resigned herself and started chopping. Patience. She had to have patience.

She’d helped add the veggies to the simple stew and was stirring under supervision when the last member of the Vance family came back. “Mom, Sister Vee, I’m home!”

“Oh, my little Leo, you’ve come back. Did you finish all your work in the fields like mommy asked you to?” The old madam’s scraggly voice took on a sickening sweetness that gave Vivian the chills because of how unnatural it sounded. She had abandoned the stove for Vivian to watch as she went forward, giving her son a cup of warm water to drink taking an only slightly less dirty cloth out to wipe him down.

Leo was still a teenager, but he’d bulked up from working the fields. Seeing his mother fuss over him and the innocent look in his eyes was unsettling. He’d clearly inherited her features, as they shared the same squashed looking nose. She dipped her head and gave him a stupid smile as she murmured, “Brother Leo.”

The mother continued to fuss over Leo until Vivian removed the fully cooked food from the stove, meekly bringing it to the table before getting out their pathetic utensils. While Mother Vance and Leo both had large, intact bowls, hers was half the size and badly chipped. She dutifully scooped out the soup and rice generously into their bowls, only then filling hers.

No matter how unobtrusive she tried to be about it, Mother Vance noticed she was actually putting more than a leaf or two of vegetables in her bowl and reached out, pinching her waist painfully. “Stupid girl, who do you think you’re fooling? You barely brought back enough for us to eat, and you think you deserve more?” The disgusting old woman used her chopsticks to steal all but one lonesome leaf in her bowl before she was satisfied.

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“S-sorry…” Vivian half sobbed quietly, hanging her head so that the flashes of disgust of hatred wouldn’t be seen in her eyes. Trying to ignore the thought of the old woman’s saliva tainting her soup, she quickly downed it so that even that small bit of nutrition couldn’t be taken away. Right now her body needed every scrap of energy she could get, even if it felt degrading.

Listening to the stilted conversation of a mother and her foolish son, she mentally went through Vee’s memories to figure out how she’d ended up in their household, eventually landing on her oldest recollection.

***

She was thrown to the ground in front of a large group of people, her muddled mind struggling to make sense of things as she threw up what little had been in her stomach after that perilous car ride. Her body felt like it was burning up as she lay there limply, listening to the men who brought her here extoll her qualities. “Such a fresh and tender little girl, she’ll make an excellent wife for your future sons!”

“What’s wrong with her? She looks ill.” A querulous voice pointed out.

“Just a bit of carsickness, she’s absolutely fine.” A booted foot kicked her none too light as he said, “Go on girl, tell them your name.”

Blinking slowly in pain and fever, she repeated softly, “Name?”

“Yes, your name!” He grumbled angrily, nudging her with the boot again. She had a feeling if she disobeyed she’d be in for a world of pain.

“Name… Vee?” Her tone was questioning as it trailed off and she stared at them blankly, her brow furrowing as she said softly, “Head hurts…” Her little fingers reached up, covering the bump and grimacing.

A woman stepped forward then, hooking her fingers into Vee’s collar and yanking her up. Ignoring Vee’s small cry of distress, she batted her fingers away and poked at the lump, then touched her forehead before spitting in the dirt next to them. “Old man, you’ve knocked her silly, and her brain’s burning up in a fever. Trying to sell us broken goods!”

“No, thats…” The man grabbed her, pulling her around as she flopped back and forth like a weak rag doll as he felt her forehead for himself, grimacing. “It doesn’t matter if she’s a little stupid. That won’t stop her from bearing kids.”

“We want a worker, not an idiot.” One of the men grumbled angrily.

“Maybe Madam Vance will want her. A stupid girl for her stupid son.” Another voice rang out.

Other voices called out for them to go get the woman, but Vee had already passed out. The next time she woke up, she was already in their home, and the old lady said she was Leo’s future bride, so she was part of their family now, brainwashing the little girl into thinking this was her home.

***

Silently cleaning up the kitchen after they were done, she rolled her eyes as she realized the mother-son duo had literally licked the pot clean. For her own peace of mind she gave it an extra scrub, trying to disinfect it.

The only good thing about the Vance family was that Leo was truly an idiot child. Madam Vance wasn’t in a hurry to push them together given that they were both mentally stunted and young. So while she might have been beaten and half-starved, at least she hadn’t been violated. The other women… weren’t so lucky.

As she washed the pots in the backyard, she listened as Mother Vance quarreled with their next door neighbor, Auntie Wang. “Sister Vance, if you don’t like the girl, you should just sell her to one of the other men. She’s nothing but skin and bones right now. If you don’t fatten her up, how do you expect her to bear any children?”

Sighing dramatically, the old lady replied, “Aya, fatten her up for who? When my little Leo turns eighteen next month, I’ll teach him how to take her down. It won’t be too late to feed her more once she’s pregnant. I’m not in any hurry, so why should you stick your nose into my business?”

“Fine, fine, but if you change your mind…” Auntie Wang trailed off before Madam Vance interrupted her.

“Don’t think I don’t know you’re just eyeing the coins she makes baking bread for the village feasts. She belongs to my family, so you can put away your greedy thoughts.”

“Pah. You’re just lucky Sister Mia recommended her to you back then. Who knew you’d pick up a treasure, even with her brain burnt out?” The two women started quarreling again, but Vivian was frowning down at the dirty water. Mother Vance’s words were a startling reminder that even if he wasn’t all there, Leo’s body was still a growing teenager. The thought of his mother teaching him to violate her sent shivers down her spine.

Where before she’d thought of waiting patiently for an opportunity, a very real fear gripped her heart as she considered the countdown. She had less than a month to make her escape.