"Here, honey," the lady said, pulling a chair for Ilya. "Come. Join us for a lovely family dinner."
Ilya slowly got on his feet, once Martha was shackled away from him, and took careful footsteps toward the dining table.
Martha was still growling at him, but a little bit quieter now.
"Maggie!" the lady shouted up the stairs. "Time for dinner!"
Ilya was scared shitless but managed to compose himself around those people. He was unsure how to handle this new situation he was thrown into. He was invited to a family dinner with a family that was too far gone to be called such a thing. One member was a walking corpse, another was a nun in denial, then came a third member just when Ilya was settling down at the table.
A girl older than Martha and about the same age as Ilya descended the stairs while tying he long colorful hair in a ponytail. Her attire was different from her mom's and sister's, more Gothic than Victorian. Ilya assumed she was related to them since they all had blue eyes and dark hair. The natural color of her hair was showing through her roots, but she dyed it in rainbow colors.
"Who's this?" the girl said in a non-friendly way, sneering at Ilya.
"Behave," the lady whispered with a threatening tone. "He's a poor boy who lost his way in this storm." She turned to apologize to Ilya. "Oh, sorry. I didn't even introduce myself. I'm Anne." She placed her hand so gracefully on her chest, then waved it toward the girl. "And this is Maggie." Then she waved at the chained girl. "And you already met Martha."
Martha sneered showing deadly teeth then barked suddenly, causing Ilya to jump.
"Oh," the last let out a small laugh while covering her mouth. "I think she likes you."
There was a brief pause which Ilya filled by saying, "Nice to meet you."
Maggie had her arms crossed over her chest the whole time. When Ilya talked, she gave him a look then scoffed and walked away.
Anne, on the other hand, was a bit offended by Ilya for not introducing himself. She waited for him, but when he didn't talk, she covered her irritation with a smile.
Ilya didn't want to share his name, since Charlie warned him not to say it in this village, but he couldn't come up with a name right away.
When Anne was heading to the kitchen, Ilya suddenly announced, "John."
Anne turned and said, "What?"
"My name. It's John." The most American name he could think of.
Maggie stared at him for a second then chuckled. "Sure it is. And I bet your last name is Smith?"
"Shh. Maggie, stop it." Anne was surprised at first, but then she smiled. "Well, it is lovely to meet you, John."
Martha growled, she must have smelled the sweat coating Ilya's face when he lied.
"There there, darling," Anne said to her as she grabbed a bowl and filled it with meat from the fridge. "I didn't forget about you."
She walked to Martha and patted her unkempt long hair before serving her food. The bowl had chunks of red meat in it. Martha aggressively devoured them like she was wrestling with a wild animal and ripping it apart. It was messy and bloody.
Ilya had to turn away from the scene. He could almost feel his own flesh being torn apart and eaten by her. It made him shiver.
"Mom," Maggie started with a slow angry tone. "Where did you get that?"
Anne looked over her shoulder and sent a glare at Maggie. Then her friendly face quickly came back when she noticed Ilya watching them.
"I got it near the beast's place." She continued while patting Martha. "It was lying around. We were lucky no one found it first."
"Mhm." Maggie crossed her arms and looked at her mother suspiciously. "And the beast just let you take it?"
Ilya couldn't help but interrupt them when they mentioned the beast twice.
"You mean Charlie?"
"What?" Maggie squinted her eyes at Ilya like he was stupid.
Ilya hesitated before he said, "The beast. I think I met him."
"Are you a retard or something?" Maggie mocked with a laugh. "Nobody meets the beast and lives to tell it, except his weird-ass friends."
"But Charlie—"
"Charlie is not a beast!" Maggie interrupted with a harsh tone and a posture ready for a punch. "He's the sweetest person in this fucked-up town."
"Maggie," Anne scolded. "Language."
Ilya leaned back. His light green eyes focused on the folds between Maggie's brows.
"B-but he—"
"Don't you dare!"
She gave him her back with a huff.
Once Anne and her daughter Maggie got busy making dinner, Ilya got thinking:
Maggie's stare was intense. Ilya could tell that she had beef with every single person in this house, including her own mother. Ilya wasn't surprised that she would look at him that way, after all, he was merely a parasitic stranger who was staying to shamelessly eat their food.
However, the way Maggie looked at her sister Martha, so disgusted, somehow was the only normal thing about this house. Ilya himself had to hold his vomit in a few times from just glancing at Martha's deformed face and sometimes catching a sniff of her horrible smell.
Despite her aggressive behavior, Ilya felt relatable to Maggie. She was the only sane person he met here, a person that didn't act like this town was normal. She knew it was a fucked up place, but Ilya wondered why she stayed? Why couldn't they leave?
Anne and Maggie served dinner as Martha sat in her corner staring at Ilya with a drooling mouth.
Ilya started sweating.
"L-Let me get that."
Ilya got up to distract himself by helping Anne in the kitchen, but she gently pushed him back to his seat.
"Oh, no. I ain't a lady if a let my guests serve me."
Everyone in this town seemed to have very old values, unlike the American values today where each person helped themselves. Even Charlie had the same old values as Anne. Although the daughter was different; Maggie was disrespectful towards her mother and scoffed a lot whenever she heard her talking.
If Maggie didn't trust her own mother then Ilya had to be careful. He didn't trust Anne even when she looked like a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ with her nun outfit and her kind words.
The table got filled with veggies and meat, along with a basket of freshly baked bread that made Ilya's mouth water.
The mother and daughter gathered at the table. Maggie sat to the right while Anne was at the front. Anne held her hands together and started saying a prayer. Maggie and Ilya did the same.
"Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."
"Amen," Maggie and Ilya repeated.
Finally, Anne gave permission for everyone to eat.
I don't know about you guys, but I don't trust that woman not one little bit 👀
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