Abigail’s Second Life

Screams echoed through the basement.

Zeke's fingers bled profusely. His whole body trembled as the stream of curses he spewed earlier vanished.

Kevin leaned against the car, staring at him coldly.

Saltwater splashed onto Zeke's wounds, making his face contort in agony. His fingers quivered violently until he couldn't take it any longer. In the end, he cried out, "Alright, alright! I'll talk!"

Irene lay weakly on the cold, hard bed, her neck chained to a stake in the ground.

Outside, rain pattered softly.

Wrapped in a thin blanket and suffering from blood loss, she teetered on the edge of death.

"This girl's got a fiery temper and nearly lost her life. Noah says we need to patch her up, or she'll die. We spent too much on her. She still needs to give birth to more sons for Walter's family. Otherwise, it's not much of an investment."

"What a waste of money! We even have to foot her medical bills..."

The voices of a man and a woman could be heard outside the door. Irene couldn't stop the tears from flowing.

Will I never find peace, not even in death?

"They say she's a university student from Capitalis, an artist with good genes. If she gives birth to a son who makes it to Capitalis, Walter's family will be known far and wide."

The man's voice was full of anticipation.

short, chubby woman walked

and handed her a bowl of

her teeth,

sighed before commenting, "You can't escape from this valley. Even if you die, they'll find a way to bring you back. Drink this medicine to stay

me go!"

believing what anyone says. This is good stuff, made from the

leaned over and retched

let up

and the infection from the old man's abuse had left

to clean the wounds, her

local doctor,

"She needs to go to a hospital. This infection won't heal without proper treatment. If we don't get he there soon,

spent thousands on her, and now we

grabbed a broom, and swung it hard at

quickly passing

haze, Irene felt herself being

figured she was on her way to

without a

Irene's battered face and knew they had no time to

in bride-buying. Clean it up!" Kevin muttered as he

and bruised from the beatings, and he could only imagine

I'm here to rescue you. You'll be alright," he