Trembling With the Strings

Bribery

Eleanor whimpered as she stared up at me through wide eyes. She rested her head in my lap, her tail wagging quietly as we sat silently on the bed. I patted her head gently, rubbing her ears as I thought to myself.

The shower was running, and I could hear Darius humming something to himself. He had asked if I had wanted to join him, but I had told him I simply wasn’t in the mood to bathe, which wasn’t a complete lie. I didn’t know how I was going to tell him the news. He had made it perfectly clear that he did not want another child running around, and I was scared to death of the prospect of another possessed baby.

I pulled myself away from Eleanor and the bed entirely, and I hurried into the hall. Kai was the only one I could talk to about this, because he surely knew. I pushed open his bedroom door to see him sitting on his bed. He was perfectly silent, as was his bedroom. It was as if he had been waiting for me, as if he had known I would go to him. I closed the door behind me, and Eleanor jumped up to Kai and licked his cheek before lying down, silent.

“Kai, can we talk?” I asked, flipping on the lights.

Kai shielded his eyes until he grew used to the change. “I know what you are going to say, Mom. I know why you’re here. You want me to keep this baby business between us, because you don’t want Dad to find out. You’re thinking about not even having it, but then you think that would make you a monster. No, you can’t kill it, you decided just now. It wouldn’t be right. So how are you going to tell your husband?”

“Kai, please,” I begged. “I’m running out of options. I didn’t ask for this.”

“Maybe if you’d just stop having sex this wouldn’t have happened,” he told me, mocking me with his small voice.

“Please,” I repeated, sitting down and pulling him into my lap. “Can’t we keep this to ourselves? I don’t know how to tell him just yet.”

“What’s in it for me?” he asked, resting his small head against my chest as I held him tightly.

“Okay, your father told me what you’re after. I’ll tell him to get you that horse, alright?”

He smiled. “I love you, Mommy.”

Even though he was evil, he was still my baby boy. “I love you, too,” I mumbled, kissing his forehead softly. “Why don’t you go play with your brothers?”

“Alright.”

Kai hopped off my lap and ran out the door, Eleanor right at his heels. I heard Darius mumble something before he appeared in the doorway, leaning against it with his towel wrapped dangerously low around his waist.

“What are you doing in here, Grace?” Darius asked, striding up to me and gathering me up in his arms.

I shook my head, yawning. “I’m really tired, Dray,” I told him quietly, wrapping my arms lazily around his neck. “Can we take a nap?”

He smiled, kissing me softly. “Sure.”

I slept for around four hours before Darius woke me, telling me that it was five o’clock and to get up. I groaned, turning away from him and attempting to fall back to sleep. He would have woken me again, but the door opened suddenly. Marcy walked in quickly, frowning.

“Gracie, you have some explaining to do!” she huffed, jumping onto the bed. “I don’t know what your deal was yesterday, but I want to know! What did the doctor say to you?”

I tried to make her shut up. I flailed and flailed, but she had said it. Darius looked over at me and to his sister, his eyebrows narrowing.

“Doctor? What doctor?” he demanded, his gaze flickering between the two girls that were now in trouble.

Marcy stumbled over her tongue. “I… Promise you won’t do anything.”

“I promise no such thing, Marcella. Why were you two at the doctor’s?”

“I thought I was pregnant, so Gracie went with me. Now before you say anything—”

“I’ll kill him!” Darius told Marcy, moving to stand. Marcy caught his hand.

“I’m not! It’s okay! This whole ‘big bad brother’ thing is getting old, Darius. Please. I’m fine, but the doctor wanted Gracie to stay behind, and Gracie won’t tell me what she said. Gracie, what happened?”

Darius reluctantly let go of the whole ‘I’m going to kill my sister’s boyfriend’ thing and turned to look at me, worry filling his otherwise enraged gaze. It was a weak look.

“Gracie, what happened?”

“She just wanted to talk to me about Marcy, okay?” I moaned, throwing a pillow over my head. “Now go away!”

“Gracie, you can’t lie to me, love,” he told me as lovingly as he could. “Don’t forget that I can just find out for myself. I know I haven’t in a while, but I will stop respecting your privacy if it’s harmful to you. Now tell me the truth.”

“I’m not lying!” I shouted into the pillow.

“You’re in my bloodline, you’re of direct descent,” he warned me, throwing the pillow carelessly aside. “Tell me what happened.”

“You’re forcing things again!” I spat, covering my ears childishly. “I can’t hear you!”

“Gracie, don’t be a child!”

I dropped my hands and looked over at Darius, my eyes wide with fear. He didn’t know, did he? I glanced to Marcy, and she gasped and threw a hand over her mouth.

“What? Marcy, tell me what!” Darius demanded, giving up on me telling him willingly.

“I, I have to go!” she said suddenly, darting out of the room before Darius could say another word. He turned to me, glaring.

“I love you, Gracie, but I think I deserve to know about everything that has to do with you. Why don’t you want me to know?”

“I love you,” I mumbled, reaching up to kiss him quickly. “I swear nothing is wrong.”

“Why won’t you tell me the truth?” he whispered, shaking his head and tossing the covers off of him. He glanced back at me once before leaving me all alone.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered after him, lying back down. “I’m sorry.”
♠ ♠ ♠
I'm going to try to update this tomorrow, I know I've been slacking. I've been volunteering at the local humane society, and lately I've been looking up how to care for a chinchilla. There's a simply adorable boy, a standard gray, at the shelter and I want him so bad! I've done hours of research, and I know how to ensure my baby boy would be perfectly healthy and happy. But my mother keeps shooting me down without reason, insisting that she will be the one taking care of him (though he would be in my room, so I do not see how I could possibly neglect him in any way). So I've been trying for the past two weeks, but lately it's been pointless. My grandmother doesn't help, and I found out where my mother gets her ignorance from. My mother is obsessed with cancer, so she is so sure that I will get lung cancer from a chinchilla. Then my grandma brought up my friend, who has 22 birds, and how I shouldn't be going over there. So that riled me up, naturally, because my friend takes excellent care of her pets--cleaning cages about 2 times a DAY! I simply do not understand how unbelievably idiotic and arrogant some people can be. I do not claim to know everything, but I know that they do not know everything either. Anyway, been upset lately because she's not even considering the idea. It'd be nice to know that my mother would take me seriously, but oh well. 2 more years, then off to college and my new apartment with my friend. Chinchilla (and hopefully hedgehog), here I come! :D

Anyway, again I will apologize for my slacking. I will not make any excuses, and I take responsibility for how lazy I've been :p Until next time!