Outside the Rain.

Richard Buckingham came to our home the next day, and then the day after that. I tried to avoid him as much as possible because I had overheard my parents saying that he may be looking to marry into our family. Naturally I figured that they meant he might be marrying Penelope. I didn't want to ruin that for her by being a nuisance, I don't think I'm much of a nuisance because I don't say anything to bother people like I used to. Mother says I'm a nuisance because I just sit in the corner like a sack of potatoes.

"Except we all know that you're just being nosy, and you probably gossip about your own family to that awful friend of yours, Eliza. We all know that whole post-trauma silence of yours is a game," Mother says that to me often, she didn't know that I didn't speak because of her favorite form of punishment. I instantly push the memories out of my mind, I avoid the memories at all cost. It never happened. Ever.

Despite my best efforts to avoid Mr. Buckingham he seemed to follow me everywhere. If I was in the library, he ended up in the library also. If I was in the kitchen, so was he. Usually when he entered the room I would leave, but he managed to corner me in the barn.

Sometimes I go to the barn to get away from everybody, especially if somebody is in the library that I didn't want to be around. In this case I went in the barn to get away from him, I don't know why but I felt that he knew too much about me. Which was ridiculous because he knew nothing about me except for what my mother and Penelope told him, and honestly they did not know very much themselves.

Anyway, I was sitting in the barn on a pile of hay reading a short story that was published in the paper. When I heard the door open, I look up and see Mr. Buckingham walking towards me.

"What are doing out here, Miss Dawson?" He says softly, he didn't seem to mean any harm. I was terrified of being there alone with him, all I could think about was the fact that if he decided to hurt me I would never be able to scream for help.

I threw the paper aside and jump to my feet, and I began to back away from him. My heart was racing.

"Miss Dawson, don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you," he begins walking toward me faster, so I begin back away faster.

Perhaps I overestimated my ability to walk backwards, because I tripped over my own feet and hurt my ankle. It hurt pretty bad, but I had felt worse pain than that. I didn't let out a single whimper, you know how most people at least groan if they hurt their ankles. I didn't make a peep, I just sat there on the ground my hand on it. He knew I hurt myself, so he rushes over to me.

"Can I take a look at it?" He asks, and he indicates to my ankle.

I shake my head rapidly, and I scoot away from him. He follows me until I've finally backed myself all the way against the wall.

Good job, Annabella, make yourself even more vulnerable!

"Please, just let me take a look to make sure you don't need medical attention," he says. He had the most sincere look on his face that I didn't feel frightened anymore, I pulled my stocking off and pulled my dress up just enough for him to be able to see my ankles. Mother would have taken the whip to me if she knew.

He takes my hurt ankle into his hand, and gently pull it closer to him. His hands were calloused and rough and strong, like the hands of a real man. Not the pathetic aristocrats that Mother used to try a pair me with. He touched my ankle gently, he would put pressure in certain areas and asked me if it hurt. I just shook my head each time until he let go, I put my stocking back on and pulled my dress back down.

"You'll probably, you may have just given it a little twist is all," he says this with a reassuring smile. I didn't need reassurance, he was the one that was concerned about it.

"Miss Dawson, I dearly wish you would speak to me. Considering that your father isn't home at the moment, I need somebody to have a good conversation with."

I stare at him blankly, why would he want to talk to me? He knew I didn't speak to anybody, Penelope told him.

He backed against the wall beside, and from the corner of my eye I saw him staring at me. I looked down at my feet, a small blush coming on my cheeks.

"Where did you get that scar?" He asked, and then he began to trace the side of my temple where my mother had hit me with a branding iron. It knocked my unconscious and left that scar on my temple, unfortunately it wasn't the first or last time she would do that to me. I had burns all over me from the multiple times she had hit me with that damn branding iron. At that moment I hated Richard Buckingham with a passion for reminding me of it.

I push his hand away from me and leave the barn. I begin running across the the field, past the grazing cows and horses. I hear him chasing me, and calling my name. I don't look back, I just keep running. Eventually he will give up on me.