When I got out of the shower, Jimmy was sitting on the bed with the plate on his lap. I did not change back into my dirty clothes. I brushed my wet hair and wrapped a towel around myself. I was expecting Jimmy to lay clothes out for me, but he did not.

"Sit back down," he told me.

I sat next to him. I clutched the towel at my chest. My knee was bouncing as I tried to avoid looking at the plate.

"Eat some more," he said.

"I'm not hungry," I said.

My stomach churned as I looked down at the meat. Jimmy placed the plate onto my lap.

"Julie, I love you," he said, "so I have to be strict on this. You can't go to sleep until you eat it all."

"But I'm not hungry. I swear I can't -"

"Julie," he cut me off. "You can and you will. We can stay up all night if that's what you want."

I looked down at the plate and then back up at Jimmy. I was going to have to eat this meat eventually. It was either eat it now or stay up all night. Jimmy would probably punish me if I made him stay up. He would be tired and upset, so his punishment would be bad. I did not want to stay up all night either. The drug that Jimmy had injected me with last night was still making me tired.

I picked up a piece and hesitantly brought it up to my mouth. I chewed on the meat with my eyes closed. Jimmy's weight shifted on the bed and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I swallowed hard.

"That's a good girl," he said.

"Can I stop now?" I asked.

"Eat it all."

I reached down to the plate and grabbed more meat. This time I did not take tiny pieces, like I did before. If I kept doing that, it would take me all night to finish the plate. I grabbed a fistful of meat and shoved it into my mouth. I chewed it fast and swallowed it as soon as I could. The lump travelled down my throat and into my stomach.

"Wow," Jimmy said before kissing my cheek. "I'm so proud of you. I cannot believe how well you are settling in here."

"Thank you," I said.

"You're almost done," he said. "Finish it up."

There were just a couple of pieces left. I pushed them into a pile in the middle and scooped them up with my fingers. I dropped it into my mouth and ate it as fast as I could.

"Good job," he said. "I love you so much."

Jimmy took the plate off my lap and set it down on the nightstand. Jimmy pushed me back onto the bed. His weight was soon on top of me, and he was propping himself up on his elbow. The room was dark and it caused shadows to cast across his face. It almost hid his scar.

"You like it here, right?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

"Tell me."

"I like it here."

Jimmy leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. My wet hair had already soaked the pillow and caused me to shiver. Jimmy's body was so warm, and I could not stop myself from tightening my arm around his neck.

He was trying to make me feel better. He knew that I was upset and he wanted to make me happy. He made me eat the meat, but that was to help me. I know that I had to get comfortable here and eating that meat would help me relax. It was scary and I never thought that I would be doing it, but Jimmy was helping me.

I needed this house. This was the only place where I felt safe or loved. I was always told that people like this weren't supposed to be the ones to make me feel loved, but they were wrong. If they were wrong about this, they could be wrong about a lot.

Jimmy's the one who loves me. I need to believe him and he says that this is the best.

I ran one of my hands down his chest and slipped it under his shirt. He stopped kissing me so that he could pull his shirt over his head. The key dangled around his neck.

There was a time that I was so foolish that all I could think about was taking the key off Jimmy's neck. I was so distracted by thinking of a way to escape that I could not see how much Jimmy wanted to help me.

--

The next morning when we went downstairs for breakfast, Charles pulled Jimmy aside. They were talking to each other in the living room. Tommy soon came thudding down the stairs and I turned around so that I did not face him.

As he walked by me, his fingertips dragged along my back. I shuddered as Tommy came up beside me.

"Good morning, Jules." Tommy had his usual smirk on his face.

"Morning," I said.

"Do you know what they are talking about?"

Tommy lifted his chin and gestured out to the living room.

"No," I said. "I don't."

"You," he said. "They are talking about you. We all knew that Jimmy would have to tell you eventually, but we are shocked by how fast he did it. Kind of makes sense though. You are not like most girls. You are not putting up much of a fight."

Tommy slid his hand up my back so that his arm was around my shoulders.

"Jimmy only hit you once," he said. "So why are you so scared? Girls want to stay here because they are too scared to leave or upset anyone. But not you. I see the way you follow Jimmy around like a lapdog. You're loving it here. The cannibalism freaks out every girl, but you are eating it up."

I opened my mouth to speak, but I did not know what to say. Luckily, I was saved by the sound of Jimmy clearing his throat. Tommy dropped his arm off of my shoulders, but he stayed standing beside me.

"What's going on here?" Jimmy asked.

"Calm down, Jim," Tommy said. "We were just talking."

Jimmy crossed his arms over his chest and turned to look at Charles.

"This is what I am talking about," Jimmy told him.

Charles went over to his seat and sat. Tommy walked away from me and grabbed a bowl out of the cupboard.

"My knee has really been bothering me," Charles said. I brought a stack of bowls and a box of cereal over to the table. "I'm going to sit out today. You boys can do all of the work yourselves today. I'm going to stay with Juliet."

I tried my hardest to stop my face from going pale. Being alone with Charles was not nearly as bad as being alone with Tommy, but he still made me nervous. He had been punishing people for a long time, so if I messed up I would be in a lot of pain. He's the one who taught Jimmy how to punish me. He was the one who told Jimmy to rape me, but Jimmy was human enough not to do it.

I looked at the thick red mark that ran along my palm beside my thumb. Charles was the one to slice into my hand as a punishment, and it was going to scar.

We ate breakfast in silence. Jimmy and Tommy got out of their seats. Charles went into the living room to get his book. I gathered the bowls and brought them over to the sink.

Jimmy wrapped his arms around me. He kissed me, and I could see Tommy scowling.

"Be a good girl," he said.

"I will," I said.

He kissed me once again. Tommy rolled his eyes and took his key off from around his neck. He unlocked the door and they left.

I gathered the rest of the cutlery off of the table. Charles sat down in his seat and had his book out in front of him. I filled the sink full of water.

"Juliet?" Charles said.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Can you get me a cup of tea?" he asked.

"Yeah. I can."

I opened a few of the cupboards because I forgot where the teapot was put. I filled it full of water and set it on the stove.

He did not say anything as I scrubbed the dishes clean. A minute or so after I put all of the dishes away, the teapot whistled. I took it off the stove, filled a mug full of water, and placed a teabag in it.

I brought it over to him and set it down on the table. Charles closed his book and pushed it away from himself.

"Would you like anything in it?" I asked.

"No." He shook his head and took a sip. "Aren't you going to have any?"

"Well, I-" I pointed over to the broom closet.

"Get yourself a cup and sit down," he said. "I want to talk to you."

I nodded. My hands were shaking as I made myself a cup of tea. I sat down at the table.

"Jimmy told me that he told you all about our traditions the other night," he said.

I looked down at my cup. I tried my best not to think about what Jimmy told me.

"Yes," I said. "He did."

"Now, I know what our family does may seem odd," he said. "I may help if you know a little more about our family. Would you like that?"

"Yes. That would be nice."

"We're not the ones who started these traditions," he said. "My great-great-grandfather's family are the ones who did. We've always been farmers, but when times get tough people get desperate. People would come onto our farms and steal our food. Sometimes they were vicious enough to break into our house and hurt and rob us. The only way to stay safe is to protect our family.

"So we started to do the best protection that we could. We killed anyone who came onto our property. Ever since we started doing that, we have all been safe and no one has been hurt."

"What about the meat?" I dared to ask.

"Times are tough," Charles said, "especially for farmers. The family started to go through a famine and there was all of this meat rotting in the ground. It may seem like an extreme solution, but not a single stomach has gone hungry in this house since."

"You still need to?" I asked.

It seemed like an outrageous solution, and maybe I could convince Jimmy to stop. Charles shook his head and all of my hopes were gone.

"We don't make much here," Charles told me. "It's just me and the boys who run this place. You have to agree that not using that meat would be a waste, wouldn't you?"

I couldn't help but nod. If I disagreed with him he would probably punish me. I wanted to get up and argue, but there was no point.

"Good," he said as he leaned back in his chair. "Do you have any questions?"

"The girls," I said.

Charles arched his eyebrow and I struggled with my tongue to speak.

"Why do you kill your daughters?" I asked.

"You're my daughter," he said. "Have I killed you?"

"I am?" I asked.

"Of course you are," he said. "Little girls were born into our lives, but they were never strong enough to survive. Do you have any idea how hard it is to lose one of your children? It makes the whole family feel a lot better if the family never gets attached to her. I know you women get attached because they're growing inside you for quite some time, but this makes the grieving process go by much faster. It's a hard concept to understand if you're emotional. My wife never liked it. You know, you look a lot like her."

"I do?"

The only time they have mentioned her was one night after dinner. Jimmy was upset about it, so I did not ask him about her.

"Yes, a bit," he said. "She was a beautiful woman. A bit bigger than you. That's why your clothes are a little big on you."

"These were hers?" I asked.

I subconsciously pulled at my shirt. It was another one where the sleeves ran past my fingertips. Jimmy had always given me clothes, and I got used to the way they never fit. I never questioned where they got them.

"She's not using them anymore," he said. "So you might as well have them. You'll have to share them with Tommy's wife in the future."

"What happened to her?" I asked.

"She died after giving birth to her third daughter. James was about nine years old, and he has not dealt with it very well. I couldn't imagine how he would be if we let those girls live for a couple of years before they died?"

"He'd be a wreck."

"Exactly. Juliet, I love you more than I have ever loved those girls. I knew as soon as I saw you in that strip club that you don't belong there. You're sweet and want to take care of people. Most importantly, you want to be protected. You belong here."

"I know."

Charles reached out and patted my hand. I had not realized how tight I was gripping the mug. I loosened my fingers and took a sip of my tea. Charles grabbed his book and opened it in front of him.

"You may go back to your chores now," he said.

"Thank you." I got up from my seat.

"For what?"

He raised an eyebrow as he peered at me above his book. My lips curled into a smile.

"Thanks for getting me out of that strip club," I said. "You're right. This is where I belong."