Hey guys, sorry it's been so long. This ones unedited, super long and kinda all over the place, so I hope you understand it. You guys wanted a chapter, so you got one. It's the turning point for Leah, so enjoy.
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After Lindsay had felt up Leah's stomach for the past hour and half, whilst Gabe and Jared whispered beside them, they went up to bed. Lindsay had said it was too early to conclude whether she were pregnant for sure, but that the symptoms gave off the impression that she were.
Leah couldn't take her hand off her stomach. She didn't know why. Even when she'd got changed and slid into bed, her fingers were still curled around the skin on her belly. It was like her form of protection as a mother. If she were even pregnant at all.
She knew she was. Leah could feel it. Not physically, but in her bones and in her mind.
" Are you okay?" Jared had kept asking her as he could feel her tense body against him in the bed. It was sudden, this change within her movement and the way she lay. She was confused herself at to why she was responding so strangely.
She just kept nodding, and soon Jared's breathing thickened which let her know he was asleep.
And Leah couldn't get a wink of it all night..
—-
The next day, Leah awoke to see that no sun rise beamed through the windows and slashed through the bars like it usually did, and no Jared was beside her. There was a source of relief that she chose to ignore when she realised that.
She furrowed her brows, turning to the clock beside her to see it was 12 noon, and Leah wondered why Jared had allowed her to sleep in.
Leah toddled down the stairs in her night wear, not bothering to get changed. She figured if the boys weren't in, nothing would be said. When she entered the kitchen, she seen Lindsay mopping the floor, humming quietly to herself.
Leah pushed her glasses up her face and cleared her throat, causing Lindsay to lift her face up. She stared at Leah, a wide, almost robotic smile working its way across her face.
" Good morning, " Lindsay greeted, happier than usual. She was usually a cheerful one, but today was much more full on. " Breakfast is on the side for you over there. I made a special one for you today."
Leah turned her head to the side to see a plate of pancakes with syrup on the top. Damn, Lindsay was feeling generous today. She wondered why Gabriel had allowed her to do this, but she was very grateful.
" Thank you, you didn't have to go through all the trouble alone." Leah said, walking towards the plate of food. Lindsay was the sweetest at times.
Lindsay eyed her carefully with a warm expression, and when her eyes travelled down to Leah's still flattened stomach, Leah knew why she was so gratified. Why they all probably were.
" Well," Lindsay said, disrupting Leah from thought. " Now you're awake, I'm going to go upstairs and clean out the bathroom. I won't touch yours and Jared's until he comes in, but could you start on the washing up when you've finished breakfast?"
Leah briefly looked at the basket of dirty clothes beside her feet. " Yeah, of course,"
Lindsay smiled before grabbing a bucket full of cleaning supplies and heading out of the room. Before she went upstairs, she peered back into the kitchen.
" Oh, and Leah?"
" Yes?" Leah turned to see her head smiling in.
" Take it easy today," Lindsay told her, before rushing off before Leah got a chance to reply.
Leah let out a breath she didn't know she was holding; she felt this baby weight was on her already, and she most definitely wasn't far in. It was her mind playing tricks on her as it knew something was growing in there.
Leah picked up the fork and ate some of her pancake. She didn't have much of an appetite this morning, but she knew Lindsay would complain about the baby. She was feeding for two after all, and she wouldn't want to waste food.
She stood, leaned against the side, finishing off her pancake when she heard a muffled voice and footsteps coming from outside. At first, she thought it was one of the men, but the now, very unfamiliar sound of heels rang into Leah's ears, causing them to remember that was a sound they'd heard a while back.
Leah's heart became rather erratic in her chest for some reason. Maybe it was fear of who it may be, and why they were passing across such a rural area. She didn't want to move, but she let her curiosity get the best of her and hurried across the room to look out of the window. Due to the bars that prevented her from seeing properly, she had to get up on her tip-toes.
Her eyes through her lenses managed to catch a woman, pacing the side walk of the road, away from the farm house. She was dressed formally, and had a cellphone pressed up against her ear.
" Dammit!" Leah watched as the woman rolled her eyes, huffed in anger and pulled the phone away from the side of her face.
This was so strange for Leah. It had been such a long time since she seen another human apart from the same three faces every day. The people the family killed then demolished at supper didn't count.
All of a sudden, Leah's attention was snatched away when she heard the sound of another voice. " Are you lost, honey?"
Leah immediately recognised the voice talking to the lady. It was Jared. She didn't even have to ask what he was doing, as she knew why he would be talking to her in the first place. Murder. Leah squinted her eyes; she still couldn't actually see Jared.
The woman flinched at the sound of his thick voice, before turning towards him, clutching her hand bag. She stared 4 o clock for a few moments, and Jared finally came in to view. Gabe wasn't anywhere to be seen. Leah watched the way the lady's eyes raked in disgust down Jared's body.
" You scared me," she said, still gazing at his faded overalls. " And my car broke down about half a mile away. I've been walking for about an hour trying to get some damn cell service, but this place ain't giving me anything."
For a lady in a suit, she sure did speak rudely, and informally, Leah thought. Her feet were beginning to ache, and she didn't think she could stand much longer. She grunted, trying to stay up.
" That sucks," Jared said, and Leah could hear the act within that tone; it had became higher in an attempt to comfort this woman. Leah noticed the lady turn, attempting to get away from Jared, until he spoke again.
" If you needed to, you could come inside and wait for your phone to pick up some service. It's cold out this afternoon." Goosebumps rose on Leah's skin. She always hated this. She wish he wouldn't do it.
Her feet dropped and she missed the woman's facial expression. Leah let out a breath, gasping for air, and she turned to make sure Lindsay weren't coming. She'd for sure want to know why Leah was ear-wigging, and would let Jared know. Leah didn't want any trouble today; she already felt odd.
" Are you crazy?" The woman asked with a scoff. " I've heard about these crazy farms out in the countryside on the news when I was younger. Thanks, but I'll wait in my car."
" I think you should just come in." Jared's tone of voice had went a little deeper and darker, and a shiver ran down Leah's spine as she pressed her back against the kitchen side. She didn't have to look out the window to know Jared had took a step closer to this girl, and she heard the dangerous sound of the heel pang backwards on the pavement.
It was clear the woman had been joking, but serious about the farmhouse, but now, she realised her joke had meaning.
Leah stretched back up again, and she noticed the woman had her cell back out, not replying to Jared's demand. You could see slight fear in her face, but she attempted to keep that mean, brave and bitchy persona. There was something different about her though. Not quite right.
Jared took another step closer, and the woman's head jolted up. " Just fuck off, would you?" Her voice was shaking, Leah could tell.
She stared at him with wide eyes for several moments before he pounced at her like a lion attacking its pray. The lady let out a wild shriek that rang through the farm house, and immediately slammed the phone she held over Jared's head. He grunted, throwing her against the ground and sitting on top of her, in which she continued to hammer the phone into the side of his head. Jared held the urge to press his hand against it, and instead pinned her down more. He seemed to have a style of animalistic behaviour with his forceful body movements.
Leah's vision reverted when boots rustling through the stringy grass entered her ears, and she noticed Gabriel running over to the two. Jared got up of the girl when he seen his dad, and she attempted to get up too, but Gabe yanked her up and over his shoulder before she had the chance.
She had began pounding her fists into his back when Leah flinched from a voice behind her.
" What's going on? What're you doing, Leah?" Leah turned to see a befuddled Lindsay behind her, but Gabriel and the screaming girl came bursting through the door before she had the chance to speak. Jared followed closely behind, his head now bleeding down his arm as he held it tightly. The blood was burgundy and gloopy. It was clear this hadn't been planned.
Gabriel appeared weakened as he dragged the woman into the kitchen. " Let me fucking go now! Let me GO! " The woman repeatedly called out.
Once they entered the house fully, he slung her against the floor and pressed his hands against his back. The woman's voice was croaky as she squealed out some more. " Help, somebody help me!"
" Nobody can hear you, so you might as well shut up." Jared said angrily.
" She's one little fighter this one, I'll tell you that." Gabe said, panting. " Jared, before you do anything, make sure that door is locked so she can't escape."
Leah's ocean-blue eyes travelled to the woman who was yelling out on the ground. " This can't be fucking real," she muttered. " This can't be, this- it doesn't happen actually. It can't be. I hear- you hear about it, but this stuff doesn't actually happen."
Gabriel was still catching his breath.
The girl looked up and pulled her face back, mascara running down it as she now had tears falling down her cheeks. "I never thought this bunch of fucked up freaks actually existed." It was like she knew about them. Leah was so confused.
This caused a great flame of animosity to brew within Gabriel, and he clenched his teeth before he swung a slap across her face in one quick motion, and she cried out.
He walked away from her, and stared between his family, glaring into Leah's eyes at one point. " I'll tell you what, these modern day woman get cheekier and cheekier with each one we bring in." He tutted. " Someone's ought to teach them a lesson."
" Do you need some rope, sweetie?" Lindsay asked Gabriel.
" No thanks, honey. This one's going on the hooks."
" No!" The woman screeched, attempting to stand up and run again, only to be shoved down by Jared who didn't look at Leah. He never did when someone was being murdered. He was very serious about it. " I won't let you fucking kill me. My boss isn't far off, he will fucking find you and kick your ass!" Leah knew she was speaking nonsense; it was the fear in people she always witnessed. She knew her boss would be hopeless against the family.
" Maybe if you were more like Leah, you wouldn't end up in these situations." Gabriel mentioned. The woman's eyes turned, twitching until they landed on Leah. The pupil in them seemed to dilate with each passing moment.
" No.." the lady said. Then she seemed to laugh slightly with a lack of sanity within her personality; it was probably because her brain knew she was about to die. " This woman." She pointed her hand out. " This woman, she's been brainwashed! This isn't how she arrived, she doesn't want to be here! I've read all about you fuckers in that book!" There was so much panic in her voice, her words seemed almost strangled.
Leah's breath was taken away by this lady's accusations, but she spoke again before Leah could process what she was saying about them. " I would much rather die than live here like this. Lay beside any of you every night." It was like she was trying to piss them off. " It's disgusting."
" Enough!" Jared yelled, taking a step forward with his hands clenched by his side. His temple still leaked crimson blood, but he didn't let it faze him.
The woman stopped and stared at Leah, causing a shiver to run down her back. It didn't appear as the same irritated lady she had seen attempting to get some cell service moments before this. It was as if the woman had expected this day to come, which wasn't bound to be true at all. How did she know all about them?
Suddenly, the woman gasped, and when Leah looked straight forward, she noticed the lady had clocked her hand on her stomach. Her head snapped back up in a deformed twist.
" No, you can't. You can't have a baby out here. It'll die, you will die with these fucking monsters!" She moved towards Leah, and Leah couldn't understand why nobody was doing anything about this. Her eyes seemed to reach into the lady's. Leah felt as if she was falling into her soul as she spoke these words to her. "They've ruined your mental health, you don't want to be here! Get out of here, before it's too-"
Her works were cut off by a pocket knife slashing across her throat, and Leah's breath got caught in her throat. She whipped her head to the side to see Jared stood in front of the girl, his face red with rage and his nostrils flared.
Gabriel stepped towards him. " Sorry, dad," Jared apologised. " I had to do something. I won't have her saying things like that to Leah."
Gabriel shook his head, and Lindsay stood with vulnerable eyes in the back. " You wait, Jared," Gabriel explained. " You have to have a bit of patience. You know that by now."
Jared bowed his head against the ground, still clutching the knife. Leah was frozen. She couldn't even blink; the words what the woman had said were twirling around her mind, sending her dizzy.
It'll die, you will die with these fucking monsters.
Fucking monsters
Monsters!
She had pushed that doubt about having a child to its maximum peak, and she didn't know what to think or do. Her skin felt fuzzy, her breathing was quickening as she eyed the dead woman swimming in her own jewel red blood. Leah felt she was going to vomit; like a panic attack was coming on, but she tried to hold back.
" I'm going to go back out whilst your mother sorts this out," Gabriel said, fixing his intense gaze on his son. " You better sort this out." He twirled his finger around Leah as if she'd done something wrong.
Gabriel left through the kitchen door, and Jared ruffled his hands through his hair. The way Leah's scarred eyes batted over him now was different to how they had recently, and Leah had to adjust her eyes to this new vision; he looked almost different to her. Not the same. Changed. Repulsive.
This man. This man right here had killed. Ate what he's killed. He'd hurt her.
He'd hurt her... a lot!
That nameless woman was right. If he could do that to her, he'd hurt their baby too. Leah wasn't ready for a baby at all, but would things change drastically when the child arrived? Oh no.. Leah was doomed. She was panicking. She felt captured. But forgotten. Oh sweet lord, she'd been a fool all along!
Leah sprang up instantly as she felt an arm glide across her waist, and Jared latched onto her, furrowing his brows at Leah's unusual behaviour. " Come on," he said, leading her towards the staircase.
Leah really was trapped here against her will, wasn't she?