The cage smelled really bad of rotten food, and it had a smell of animal cot, it was so uncomfortable that she felt tears in her eyes.
There was no light whatsoever, and under her feet she could feel something soft, like grass, and from the grass she could hear little insects, which made her not able to sit down. Abigail just stood there for several hours.
The baby in her tummy is now almost 4 months old, and the baby bump is a little more obvious, it looked as if she ate too much. Sometimes if she stood for a long time, her body couldn’t cope with it, and on her forehead were sweat drops showing.
Abigail tried to move her balance towards her hands that she used to hold onto the cage, while the situation played again in her head.
Joshua who didn’t stop hitting her face, attempting to force her to admit pushing Mrs. Caunter. He was telling her to admit to her own mistakes, telling her that if she did, he would let things go.
But she hasn’t done anything at all, why would she admit to anything?
Abigail was angry for the first time, her eyes were wide open, staring at Joshua’s, even if she was going to die because of his anger, she wouldn’t back off.
“The only thing that happened is that you lost your happiness because of something I didn’t pay attention to, and now you wanna punish me for that. Joshua, I don’t care what you do, but there is no need for you to be so pretentious.” She didn’t hold back, and said everything that she swallowed back these months.
“You can ignore everyone’s fault, but you cannot blame me for things that I didn’t do. I know you want to punish me, get back at me, so why don’t you just kill me for it?”
She vented all of her anger at him, she was ready to fight with him till the end, but what happened was the feeling of losing hold, and being smashed against the wall.
She heard Joshua’s voice when she wasn’t all conscious, saying “Lock her up in the cage, and without my demands, no one is allowed to visit her!”
Just like that, she ended up here. Because of her bang against the wall, her head was still hurting sometimes, and Abigail was not able to think straight.
She was always the good girl, the weak girl, and whenever she was facing the Caunter people, she listened to anything they said, she swallowed everything they told her, but what made her burst out in front of Joshua?
Was it because she was pregnant with his child?
No, it wasn’t because of the baby, it was because of her alone.
She hugged her tummy, declaring full ownership of the baby, then her body felt so much more heavier, until in the end she couldn’t hold herself, and fell on the grass.
Her head was paining her, and her body as well because of all the injuries she had to endure. Her tummy bumped out, and it was feeling a little cold, an uncomfortable feeling coming from inside. The baby hasn’t moved in a while, and Abigail was getting worried now, she wondered if it got hurt when she fell.
She lightly patted on her tummy, but nothing moved inside.
“Baby?” She said in a small voice, her throat burning, it was so painful. Her voice broke, and it was weak, she was feeling the worry.
“Baby…” She said again, this time she patted a little harder. Oh god, if something happened, if…
She didn’t dare to think about it, her body was leaning on the ground, she banged her head against the cage, yelling, “Let me out!” She was scared to death, and a feeling of horror raised in her, her tears rolled down her cheeks, fell on the grass, and from there, she heard the insects, more and more of them.
She was about to give up, when she hears a sound of the door, and quickly, someone comes towards her.
Abigail closed her eyes tight, she was in the dark for a long time, and her eyes needed a few seconds to get used to the light. Her face was pale, she was clearly uncomfortable and in pain, the hand hugging her tummy was trembling, and her almost white lips were shaking.
“Mister Caunter asked me to look for you.” It was a cold voice, without any emotions while talking, and Abigail could tell immediately that it was Rowena.
Abigail looked towards the light, and tried hard to open her eyes, she saw Rowena standing by the side of her head outside of the cage. She was calm as ever even though she was looking at a messed Abigail.
“Mister… Caunter?” Abigail’s head was spinning, she was thinking who this Mister Caunter was.
“Yes, Mister Caunter.” It was still the same cold voice, but it had the reminding factor in it. Abigail giggled suddenly, right, she remembered, the Mister Caunter that Rowena was talking about was the devil, the devil that never forgot to burn her in fire, the devil that never forgot to step on her pride and respect, and the devil, that was her baby’s father.
Baby? She again patted on her tummy, it was still cold, but there was a respond from inside.
Oh good, it was still alive and Abigail sighed in relieve, her face suddenly showed a smile, which was mystic.
Rowena still didn’t show any emotions, even though Abigail was acting a little weird, but Rowena didn’t show any difference than her usual seriousness.
“Miss Abigail, Mister Caunter hopes you can admit to your mistakes, so he can let things go.”
Rowena’s word added to Abigail’s smile, she even had to giggle a few times, and the echo in the small room was sounding out loud. Even though she was laughing, but it was somehow a kind of cry, her tears were running down her cheeks, and she banged on the floor of the cage, which made a loud sound.
“Miss Abigail, I think you should admit it.” Rowena looked at her baby bump while advising her. But, Abigail refused.
“Rowena, if you haven’t done it, would you admit it if someone forced you to?” She said to Rowena, and looked right into Rowena’s eyes, as if she was trying to read off her face.
“Sometimes, we don’t admit to mistakes because we did it, but because there are more important things to take care off, I think you know better than me that if you stay here, there are things you might lose.”
Rowena didn’t say more, but Abigail was still surprised, her words, her eyes…
Did she know about her pregnancy? But she was working for the Caunters, if she knew, doesn’t she need to tell her boss?
Devastation was rising in her, and she looked at Rowena nervously, trying to see every single detail, but Rowena has already turned away from her, and kept her calm.
Abigail wanted to ask, but she didn’t dare to, she was afraid that if Rowena found out about the truth, the child will be in danger.
“What, what do you mean?” Abigail wasn’t angry anymore, she was just trying to find out what she knew, trying to set her feet into water to test it out, and watching Rowena’s face very closely.
“Miss Abigail, being in a family like this you need to take care of yourself. Mister Caunter only wants you to admit to what you did, this is going to protect yourself, but also protect what matters to you.” Rowena looked at her tummy for a long time, and Abigail was almost sure that Rowena knew.
“So… I think you know exactly what I mean.”
Time stood still, and Abigail stared at Rowena for almost one whole minute, she could hear her own heartbeat, and feel the baby kick in her tummy.
What Rowena said might not be too wrong, if she admitted to the mistake, it might not be ideal for herself, but for her baby it would be the best protection. Abigail nodded her head like a machine, and decided, “Okay, I will do it.”
Abigail was taken to Joshua’s work room, where he just finished a video conference, he was sitting at his desk with a serious face, in his hand a glass of wine that he tasted slowly.
He saw Abigail, who was pale, and her clothes dirty, his eyes flashed, then he looked at Rowena on her side.
“What?”
“Miss Abigail said she thought about it, and is going to apologize to her fault.” Even though Rowena was much elder to Joshua, but she always showed him her respect.
“Sure, let her say it.” He turned around in his chair, with his back faced towards them.
Rowena pushed Abigail a little forward.
Though Abigail decided to do this, but it was still hard for her to take the blame, she thought for a while, then she said, “I pushed Granny.”
“Apologize!” Joshua demanded from her, still faced away from them.
“I …” Abigail pressed her lips together, then clenched her fists, the tears rolled in her eyes, but she forced herself not to cry, “I am sorry!”
Her words didn’t quite fit with her straight standing body, her whole body was demonstrating, and every single cell in her body was refusing her words, but all this Joshua didn’t see.
“Rowena.” Joshua finally turned back, and didn’t look at Abigail, “Find a professional nurse from a hospital to take care of Granny, and never let her step foot in her room again!”
He gestured with his fingers towards Abigail. Abigail had to swallow hard, she wanted to say something, but Rowena’s look stopped her.
“Let her clean the backward.”
Then he gestured his hands for them to leave.
Abigail was in the backward, she felt so lost and empty. She got away from that cage, but now she was in another hell, and this is her own fault.
She even regretted it already, regretted that she put a bad name on herself. Joshua on the other hand must be really happy, having another reason to punish her, punish her for what happened with Michelle, it must really help him with his hate.
Rowena who left here there was back quickly with a plate in her hand.
“Eat something, if you wanna stay alive, you gotta eat.” She put the plate near the flowers, and turned to leave.
“Rowena” Abigail said to her, and added “Thank you.”
Rowena didn’t turn around, and only nodded her head, then she left.
Abigail massaged her shoulders, her brows knitted, and went back upstairs. She hasn’t worked this hard in a while, and with the pregnancy, she got tired more easily. She finished sweeping the huge backyard, and felt pain all over her whole body.
When she reached the end of the stairs, she stopped, Annie and Harry were standing in the hall, both of them talking, if she wanted to go back to her room, she would have to pass by them, so Abigail found a place to sit down.
Harry shook her hair elegantly, her earrings were ringing. She tied up her hair, so that her long pretty neck showed.
She was trying to catch Annie’s attention to show her the earrings, and played with them, to make sure Annie wouldn’t miss seeing them.
“What do you thin? Aren’t they pretty?” Harry laughed, she didn’t think about Annie’s feelings at all, “I got them from Joshua, for my birthday.”
Then she lowered her body a little, and leaned on the wall, so that Annie could see her head. Annie who was about 1. 7 meters tall, didn’t have enough confidence standing next to a 1. 79 meters Harry.
So Annie stood straight, competing with her almost perfect figure with Harry.