Tradition Comes Third

Need to Survive

"I'm not eating that. I'd rather die."

I slid my hands off of her face, and down to her arms. I buried my face in the crook of her neck. Ava was stubborn, and I knew she wouldn't eat. She will continue to starve herself, and in a few days she would die. I would be left alone in this house. I would truly break without her here with me.

"I need you to be safe," I told her.

"We're not safe in this house," I said.

"I know, but until we can get out of here we need to stay alive."

Ava's hands ran up my back and into my curls. I looked down at her to see she had stopped crying. I wiped the few lingering tears on her cheeks away with my thumb. I leaned down and pressed my lips against hers. Her salty tears coated her lips.

I rolled onto my side, bringing Ava with me. She pressed her hands against my chest. Her hair was wet and tangled. I tucked a few stray pieces behind her ear.

"You need to get one of those keys," she said.

"I know," I said. "We'll have to keep getting them to trust us."

"It'll be months, maybe even a year until hey just hand you a key. We need to steal one."

"How? And where will we go? We're in the middle of nowhere. They'll hunt us down before we can go get help."

Ava wiggled up on the bed, and pressed her forehead against mine. I felt her breath tickle against my skin. I pulled her closer to me.

"They're breaking you," she whispered. "Please, don't leave me."

"I'm not going anywhere," I told her.

She shook her head. "You can't see it, but they're brainwashing you."

"No, they're not," I said. "I'm trying to protect you."

"Why? Why not just kill me like you killed Chris?"

I dug my fingers into her, and she let out a gasp.

"Because I love you," I said.

"No you don't, Hunter."

I held her tight against me. We lied tangled on top of the bed in silence for what felt like hours.

--

I was drifting off to sleep when I heard a commotion in the hallway. Ava propped herself up on her elbow, and stared at the door.

"No!" a girl screamed out. It sounded like Leah.

"Calm down," Jared said.

"No! How could you?" she cried. "That's sick."

Ava popped off the bed, and ran over to the door. I followed behind her, and looked over her shoulder as she pushed the door open. Leah and Jared were at the end of the hallway. Leah's face was red as she cried. Jared tried to grab her wrists when she swung out her hands.

"Stop it, Leah!" he snapped.

He grabbed her shoulders and shook her as she tried to push him away. Her glasses fell off of her face, and slid across the floor. Ava took a step out into the hall. Jared looked over his shoulder at us. I grabbed Ava's elbow, and yanked her back into our room. Jared shoved Leah into a room at the end of the hall, and slammed the door behind him.

Ava pulled her arm out of my grasp, and ran to Leah's glasses. She went over to Jared and Leah's room and pressed her ear against the door. She didn't need to. I could hear Leah's cries from down the hall. I put my hand on Ava's shoulder.

The stairs were creaking, and I looked over to see Dad walking up the stairs.

"Kids, get away from that door," he told us.

"What is he doing to her?" Ava asked.

"That is nothing for you to worry about," he said. "Don't question us."

"He can't hurt her. She's pregnant."

"He won't hurt the baby."

"Why's she upset?" Ava shrugged my hand off of her shoulder. "What happened?"

"You don't need to know," Dad said. "I told you to stop asking questions."

"You guys are crazy. You can't hurt her!"

Dad scowled at her. I grabbed Ava, and pulled her back to my chest.

"Hunter, do you have the knife in your pocket?" Dad asked.

The pocketknife felt heavy in my jeans. My heart pounded in my chest, and I curled my fingers into Ava's arms.

"I'm not cutting Ava," I said.

"She's asking questions, and sticking her nose into places it doesn't belong," he said. "She needs to be punished. It's either you do it or I do."

"Nobody is hurting me," Ava said.

I knew Dad was going to make sure she was punished. If I let him do it, he would be harsh. He would cut her deeper, and the slashed would be longer. If I was the one who did it, I could make it shallow, and smaller.

"I'll do it," I said.

"What?" Ava tried to turn around in my grasp, and I held her against my chest.

Dad nodded his head. "Good decision, Hunter. I better see three new marks on her by dinner."

"Okay," I said.

"Wait, what?" Ava snapped.

Dad watched as I tried my best to drag Ava into our room. She screamed and thought against my grasp. She dug her heels into the ground to stop me, and I struggled to push her forward. I closed the door behind us when I got her into our room.

"Hunter, don't do this." Ava held her arms against her chest.

"I have to," I said. "If I don't. He'll punish me, and he'll hurt you more."

Ava glanced around the room, but I was blocking the door and she had nowhere to run. Ava was stepping backwards, and I stepped closer to her.

"You know we have to survive until we get out of here," I told her. "I don't want to do this."

Ava's back hit the wall, and her eyes widened. She shook her head, and her knees gave out underneath her. She lied crumpled on the floor with her arm clutched to her chest. I kneeled down in front of her. I dug into my pocket, and pulled out the knife. I leaned down and kissed her quick.

"You know I don't want to do this, right?" I said softly.

Ava nodded her head, and I gave her another kiss. My hands were shaking as I pulled down the gauze wrapped around her arm. The three cuts I gave her looked like they were already beginning to scab. I flicked out the blade of the pocket knife, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

I placed the blade on her flesh, and gave her one quick short slash. She bit down on her lip, and held back a cry. I did the next to as quick as I could before dropping the knife and holding her to my chest. I could hear her softly weep, and apologized as I kissed the top of her head.