The Necronomicon

Chapter Thirty Five

Chapter Twenty Five of A World for Women — Meredith was finally near the end.

Chapter Twenty Five

Manipulation occurs to us women every day. Can you think of a way you have been betrayed or manipulated by a man?

Easy. Frederick... Meredith sighed, looking askance, Alfred's pacing interrupting her train of thought. "Must you pace like that?" She asked, and he shot her a look.

"Pippa — she's gone, Meredith," He said, his hands twisting together, fingers bending like willows, eyes darting around the place at great speed.

"I know," She sighed. His distraught was too much for her — she had to look away from the sorry sight. The potential death of a fiancée — it had broken him.

Composing himself, Alfred turned to her. "She — she might be dead. I'm willing to bet that right now Frederick is announcing her death: while we stand here, out of the way, unable to help her without putting you in danger. She may lay cold even now —" He took a shuddering breath, shrugging his shoulders ever so slightly.

"You sound — lost." Meredith remarked, pulling A World for Women closer to her chest.

"Meredith... Pippa is my fiancée. I can't — I can't lose her. She grounds me. She makes me feel like — like I'm whole again. Like I'm wanted, Meredith, like I — like I actually have a purpose," He drew away, flushing slightly. "I should not have told you this."

Meredith turned away, faking disinterest, flipping through a few pages of A World for Women aimlessly. "You love her?" She asked, not looking at his face as he responded.

"I do."

"I love Frederick — look how that turned out." Meredith rolled her eyes, opening her book right back up to her place, and reading on. Alfred, stepping away from her, exhaled forcefully.

"It's different with Pippa and I, Meredith — not everything..." He trailed off, halting, and looking at her with wide eyes. "We're engaged. You and Frederick were simply..."

She closed the book. "Were we dating? I don't even know," Meredith began. "We told each other we loved each other. He — he —"

"Meredith, he shouldn't have done what he did — for goodness sake, he tried to kill you!" Alfred growled hoarsely, and Meredith sighed.

She observed him — his hands rubbing against the nape of his neck soothingly, smoothing the skin. From there his arms crossed and he leant his head against the wall, closing his eyes and taking shuddering breaths. Meredith blinked — what could she say to him when he was in this state? Alfred's fingers betrayed his soul — they danced along his arms, pulling him into himself, shielding his face from her and the rest of the world.

Meredith had seen every part of this hut from every angle bar supine by now — she was bored. Yet if she told him this, he wouldn't listen. Not when he was like this. They had been hiding for hours now — 12, at least —

She cracked open A World for Women once again, leaving Alfred to mutter to himself.

Can you think of a way you have been betrayed or manipulated by a man? They wield power — even if they are not aware of it. Simply by being a male, by being a man, they hold power over women, over children, over everything. They are the... the alphas.

And how can we, as women, obtain the power that these men have? Surely we cannot just, be, so we can gain respect — the prospect is laughable! As if we could gain respect just by being women, as men do just by being men!