The Life The Beginning

Sofia *** The wind was brisk as I made my way through the warm drizzle that had started just as I'd left the residence. I kept a watchful eye as I walked, ever conscious of my surroundings. The place was still new to me and so different from home. I felt a slight pang when I remembered my home. The fact that I will never see it again made the memory bittersweet. I clutched the piece of paper close to my chest as I recited the list on silently moving lips. English was still relatively new to me, and some of the syntax was still hard for me to grasp. But my memory was sharp as a tack, sometimes too sharp. I placed my hand on my tummy that was just now starting to grow as fear rose up inside me. Things may be different here than in my village, but a young unwed mother faced the same challenges no matter where she was in the world. And for one such as myself, with not even family or friend about, it was doubly hard. At the supermarket that was not too far from the house, I open

Draco *** I wasn't into that sneaking around shit. At twenty-two I was a grown man who'd never had to do that shit even as a kid. But this was a delicate situation. Just because I felt something didn't mean I was about to jump in with both feet. There was too much at stake for that shit to happen. In the end there was only one thing to do. "Come on." I took her through the kitchen and up the back stairs to my wing. Nobody dared come anywhere near here before noon. That was more than enough time for her to sneak back downstairs. "I won't sleep with you." She got stubborn right outside my door and dug her heels in. "Didn't ask you to." I kept going with her hand in mine. "The bath's through there, go take a shower, I'll go find you something to eat." She looked at the bathroom door and back at me. "You can lock the door Red, I don't attack virgins." She lost all the color in her face. I was across the room in a flash. "What is it?" She recoiled like I'd slapped her and her body

Draco *** I helped her back to my bed and got her settled, placing the tray with the leftover food that had been kept warm over her lap. "Eat some more!" I didn't say anything about what she'd told me while she picked at her food again, but my mind replayed it all as I tried to get my thoughts together. If I'd found her pitiful before, that emotion was now magnified by a thousand. Sometime later, I realized that she'd fallen asleep sitting up with the tray still across her lap, her food pretty much untouched. I'd been so lost in my head I didn't even realize that she'd dropped off like that without a sound. I removed the tray without jarring her and eased her down on the bed. She was so tired she didn't even stir. As I pulled the blanket up around her to protect her from the cold, something soft and tender unfurled in my chest. It was such a foreign emotion that it caught me off guard. Still, I didn't play into it too much as I sat back to watch her sleep. I felt a huge sense o

DRACO *** Something's wrong! I can sense it. All-day, she's been jumpy, and that's only when she wasn't staring off into space like she had the world's energy crisis on her mind. And the look in her eyes, the light had dimmed in her eyes, and her face was sullen. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, and I knew there was no point in asking. I knew no one had troubled her because I'm with her damn near every second, so it had to be her past. I paced my room as the rest of the house slept. Outside, the window was dark, only the bare branches of the trees swaying gently against the dark sky. There was an unsettled feeling in my gut that refused to leave. I decided to go check on her. I usually stay away unless she cries out in her sleep. Then I sit with her for the rest of the night, watching over her. But I always try to give her her privacy unless she needs me. Tonight I'm just gonna go check on her and hope she doesn't wake up screaming. I left my room next door an

DRACO *** He was a beautiful boy. My inner fear that I may look at him and see the man who'd violated her was for nothing. There was no anger or hate in me for him, no blame; how could there be? I'd also worked on her enough that by the time he came into the world, she no longer associated the darkest time in her life with him. He was ours, plain and simple. The truth is, I'd been ready to step in if she couldn't do it. If it had been too hard for her to cope, I would've shielded him until she came around. I needn't have worried, though, because my beautiful wife, although a bit traumatized still, didn't have it in her to hate her own flesh. I know it was impossible for her to forget how he came to be, but I gave every effort to erase that shit from her mind and for her to see our boy as just ours. It worked. As for me, I did my part. I didn't forget, but I'd be fucked if anybody were going to blame my son for shit that he had no hand in. And because of this, the kid had more l