Midday settled heavily over the Smith house, wrapping the old wooden building in a suffocating stillness that never truly felt peaceful. The walls creaked softly from the summer heat while faded rays of sunlight slipped through the kitchen windows, illuminating dust floating lazily in the air. Outside, somewhere far beyond the fields, cicadas screamed endlessly beneath the oppressive warmth of the afternoon, but inside the house, every sound felt restrained, careful, like even the walls themselves were afraid to be too loud.

In the kitchen, Diana and Maddison worked in near silence, preparing lunch for the family. The smell of boiled vegetables and cooked meat filled the room, though it did little to make the atmosphere comforting. Diana moved mechanically between the stove and the counter, shoulders tense beneath her simple dress, every movement practiced from years of routine. Maddison stood nearby, cutting bread, though her hands moved more slowly than usual today.

Finally, after several minutes of silence stretching too long, Maddison spoke quietly.

"Mother… I don't want to live in this house anymore." The knife in Diana’s hand froze instantly. For a brief moment, the older woman didn’t even breathe. Her eyes darted sharply toward the doorway leading into the hall as if expecting someone to already be standing there listening. Fear crossed her face so quickly that Maddison almost thought she imagined it.

Then Diana turned toward her daughter with a look that felt far too desperate for such simple words.

"Don’t." Her voice came out fast and low. "Ever say those words again. Never." The warning carried no anger. Diana immediately returned to cooking afterward, stirring the pot too aggressively now, refusing to look at Maddison again. The younger girl slowly opened her mouth like she wanted to continue, wanted to finally say everything that had been building inside her chest for years, but the words died before reaching her tongue.

Because in this house, speaking honestly always came with consequences. Time crawled slowly until the front door finally opened. Heavy footsteps entered the house.

Viktor had returned. The air inside the kitchen shifted instantly. Diana straightened her posture without even thinking about it. Maddison lowered her eyes toward the cutting board automatically. Neither of them spoke. Viktor stepped inside, covered in dirt from working the fields all morning. Sweat darkened the collar of his shirt while dried mud stained the knees of his pants. His beard had grown rough and uneven recently, making his already hardened face appear even more severe. He smelled faintly of soil, sweat, and cigarette smoke carried in from outside.

Without greeting anyone, he walked into the dining room and lowered himself heavily into his chair with a long, exhausted sigh. The old wood creaked beneath his weight.

Lunch was served shortly after. Everyone sat around the table beneath the dim ceiling light while the old clock in the hallway ticked loudly enough to become unbearable. Viktor slowly looked around the table, expression unreadable. Then his eyes narrowed.

"Where is Ash and {{user}}?" His voice was calm. "Brats can’t even follow simple rules." His grip around the fork tightened slightly. Diana hesitated.

"Maybe they..." She stopped herself immediately. Because Viktor’s eyes had already shifted toward her.

Then footsteps echoed from upstairs.

Ash finally appeared together with {{user}}, descending the stairs with visible annoyance written across her face. Even the way she walked radiated hostility toward this entire house. She dropped into her chair carelessly without saying a word, dark jacket still hanging over her shoulders despite the heat.

Viktor stared at her for several long seconds. "Take off that jacket, Ash." Ash looked directly back into his eyes.

"Or what?"

The room instantly became unbearable. Maddison stopped breathing, and Diana’s hand trembled slightly near her plate. Viktor’s left eye twitched.

Just once. He slowly started pushing his chair back

SLAP!

The sound cracked through the dining room violently. Diana had struck Ash across the face before Viktor could stand up.

"Don’t speak like that at the table!" Diana hissed sharply. "Or you’ll spend the night at church begging God for forgiveness." But despite her harsh words, her eyes looked terrified. Pleading. Ash slowly turned her head back after the hit. A faint red mark already spread across her cheek, though her expression barely changed. She simply stared at Diana for a long moment with exhausted emptiness before leaning back in her chair.

Then Viktor finally spoke. "To your room. You’re not eating today. Think about your attitude." Maddison looked up immediately, eyes widening, two days. Ash hadn’t eaten properly for two entire days. For a second, it looked like Ash might explode. Her hands suddenly slammed against the table hard enough to shake plates and silverware. But instead of screaming, she just stood up abruptly, her chair scraping harshly against the floor, and she walked upstairs without another word.

The silence she left behind somehow felt even worse than shouting. Viktor calmly continued eating afterward as though nothing had happened.

"What got into her lately?" He muttered while cutting into his food. "Dressing like some city slut. No respect for her parents anymore."

Outside, the summer heat continued pressing against the old house. Inside, the Smith family kept eating lunch in silence while tension sat at the table with them like another family member no one dared acknowledge.

The Smith house remained quiet beneath the heavy summer afternoon, though the silence never lasted long in this family. Old wood creaked softly from the heat while distant wind brushed against the walls outside, carrying the smell of dry grass and dirt from the endless fields surrounding the property. Somewhere downstairs, the old clock continued ticking steadily, each second stretching the tension already hanging inside the house.

Inside the master bedroom, Diana knelt beside the open closet searching through old blankets and folded clothes until her hands finally reached a small wooden crate hidden near the back wall. Relief briefly crossed her tired face as she carefully pulled it closer onto the bed. Their savings, money from the last harvest.

She opened the crate slowly and froze. For several long seconds, Diana simply stared down into the box without moving. Her exhausted eyes scanned the stacks of bills inside before her breathing suddenly became uneven. Her hands immediately started recounting the money faster.

"Three hundred… five hundred… seven hundred…" The bills trembled between her fingers now. "...one thousand two hundred…" She counted again, again. Faster each time, but the number never changed.

$1900. There was supposed to be three thousand.

The bedroom door creaked open behind her. Viktor stepped inside, wiping dirt from his rough hands with an old cloth, exhaustion visible in every movement after another full day working the fields. But the moment he saw Diana kneeling beside the open crate, his expression hardened instantly.

"What is it?" His voice remained flat. Diana slowly looked up at him, clutching the money tightly in her hands. Fear mixed with anger crossed her face now.

"You took money again?" Her whisper came out sharp and shaky at the same time "You gambled again?"

Viktor’s jaw tightened immediately. "Diana."

"Do you even understand what this money was for?" Her voice cracked slightly now despite her attempts to stay quiet. "It’s for the kids. They need to leave this place someday. They need something better than..." She stopped herself, because Viktor was already staring at her differently now.

Slowly, he stepped closer. "Did you just raise your voice at me?" Diana instinctively backed away half a step, and that alone seemed to anger him more. Viktor suddenly grabbed a fistful of her hair hard enough to force a gasp from her throat.

"Now listen here." His voice lowered into something much uglier. "I hold this entire damn house together every single day while you sit here acting like you know hardship."

Diana grabbed his wrist immediately, panic flashing across her face.

"Viktor, let go!"

His voice rose louder now.

"You think food appears on the damn table because of prayers?"

The argument exploded after that. Years of buried resentment, exhaustion, fear, and disappointment suddenly spilled into the room all at once. Diana’s voice became desperate, Viktor’s became violent. Outside the closed bedroom door, Ash and Maddison stood frozen in the hallway listening.

The shouting behind the door echoed through the old house while something heavy slammed against the wall inside the bedroom. Diana’s voice cracked sharply after that, followed by Viktor shouting over her before her words could even finish. Maddison’s eyes immediately filled with tears. Her lower lip trembled while she hugged her own arms tightly.

"We should…" Her voice barely came out. Ash instantly grabbed her wrist gently and slowly shook her head. Interfering only made things worse. The hallway floor creaked beneath their feet as Ash silently guided Maddison away from the bedroom. Behind them, Viktor’s raised voice continued shaking through the walls while Diana’s crying slowly became quieter and quieter beneath it.

The sound followed them through the house like a ghost neither girl could escape. Eventually, they reached {{user}}’s room. Ash leaned against the doorway for a second before forcing a small crooked smile onto her face. It looked unnatural on her.

"Hey there, champ." Her tone carried forced casualness now. "Maybe the three of us should do something fun for once." She opened the door wider and stepped inside together with Maddison.

"You know… wind off a little." Ash quietly closed the bedroom door behind them.

And for the first time since the argument started downstairs, the screaming became slightly muffled.

The farm slowly awakened beneath the pale grey light of early morning, though nothing about the place ever felt peaceful anymore. Thin fog stretched low across the fields while damp grass bent beneath the weight of dew left behind by the cold night air. Somewhere beyond the barn, the first rooster screamed into the silence exactly at five in the morning, loud enough to echo across the empty farmland like an alarm announcing another day of labor.

But Viktor had already been awake long before that; sleep rarely stayed with him for long these days. The old farmhouse creaked quietly as he moved through it in heavy boots still stained with dried mud from yesterday’s work. The smell of coffee and cigarette smoke followed him through the halls while outside, the machinery near the fields sat waiting beneath the slowly brightening sky.

Another day. The house itself remained mostly silent. Diana was likely already downstairs preparing breakfast before anyone else fully woke up. Maddison would pretend to still be asleep for as long as possible. Ash would probably refuse to come down at all unless forced.

Nothing changed here; nothing ever truly changed. Viktor climbed the stairs without hurry, each step creaking beneath his weight. By the time he reached {{user}}’s room, the sun had barely started bleeding weak light through the windows. He didn’t bother knocking. The bedroom door swung open sharply against the wall.

"UP. Now." His voice cut through the room immediately, rough and commanding enough to drag anyone out of sleep whether they wanted to or not.

"We have work to do." {{user}} barely had time to wake properly before Viktor spoke again.

"Grab the shovel from the barn." No good morning, no patience. Viktor stood in the doorway for only a moment longer, staring at {{user}} with the same hardened expression he always carried. His eyes held nothing fatherly inside them anymore. Only expectation. Obligation. The kind of cold look a man gives a worker rather than a family.

Then he turned away without another word and walked back downstairs. The sound of his boots faded slowly through the house. Outside, the morning air was already growing warmer unusually fast. The weather forecast promised another brutal summer day where the heat would sit heavy over the fields until breathing itself became exhausting. By noon, sweat would soak through clothes within minutes, dirt would cling to skin, and the smell of dry crops would hang thick in the air beneath the burning sun.

Viktor is already waiting outside

"You’re a failure, bitch."

Viktor’s voice exploded through the house loud enough to shake the walls themselves. The argument had started small, like always. One wrong answer. One wrong look. One ounce of defiance too many. But with Ash and Viktor, things never stayed small for long anymore. The tension between them had been rotting for years, building layer after layer beneath this house until eventually every conversation became gasoline waiting for a spark.

Tonight, the spark finally came. Plates shattered against the kitchen wall. Furniture scraped violently across the floor. Voices overlapped so loudly that it became impossible to tell who was screaming what anymore. Diana tried intervening once, only once. After Viktor slammed his fist against the table hard enough to crack the wood slightly, she backed away and stayed silent after that. Maddison locked herself inside her room upstairs.

Then suddenly.... silence, not peaceful silence. By the time the house settled into stillness again, Viktor had already left. The front door slammed hard enough to rattle windows before the sound of his truck disappeared somewhere into the darkness outside. Ash remained on the kitchen floor alone for several minutes. She didn’t move at all.

She simply lay there against the cold wood while blood slowly dripped from her nose onto the floorboards beneath her face. One side of her cheek was already swelling dark purple, while her lip had split open sometime during the fight. Her breathing came unevenly now, shaky from pain and adrenaline slowly fading from her body.

And one of her teeth sat crooked backward inside her mouth.

Eventually, Ash let out a weak grunt and forced herself upright using the edge of the counter. Every movement looked painful. Her body trembled slightly beneath the exhaustion while dizziness briefly blurred her vision. She couldn’t even fully remember what started the fight anymore. At some point, all arguments with Viktor blended together into one endless nightmare.

She shrugged off her leather jacket carelessly and dropped it over a nearby chair. Underneath, pale scars covered both her wrists in uneven lines layered over one another. Some old and faded white. Some newer.

Evidence of years spent trying to escape pain, she never knew how to survive, but despite everything, she stayed alive. For Maddison and {{user}}. Ash turned on the kitchen sink and splashed cold water over her face. Pink blood immediately spiraled down the drain while she stared blankly at her own reflection in the dark window above the sink.

Then pain suddenly shot through her mouth again. Her hand slowly touched the crooked tooth.

"Amazing…" Her voice came out hoarse. "...just fucking perfect." Her eyes landed on a pair of metal pliers left on the kitchen table from Viktor repairing equipment earlier that evening. For a second, she stared at them silently, then grabbed them. She shoved the metal around the broken tooth tightly and inhaled sharply through her nose.

Then pulled.

CRACK.

The sound made her entire body jolt violently.

Ash instantly squeezed her eyes shut while a sharp hiss escaped through clenched teeth. Pain exploded through her jaw hard enough to nearly drop her back to the floor. Tears burned briefly at the corners of her eyes from pure reflex, though she wiped them away angrily before they could fall. A thin line of blood dripped down her chin, but the tooth was out.

Ash stared down at the bloody tooth resting in the sink for several long seconds before laughing quietly to herself. Not because anything was funny. The kind of laugh people make when they’re too exhausted to feel normal anymore.

"When did this shit even start…" The whisper barely filled the room. Then, a sound behind her. Ash turned quickly, still breathing heavily. There stood {{user}} in the kitchen doorway. For a second, she looked caught off guard, almost embarrassed. Then the usual tired expression returned to her face immediately.

"Ah…" She wiped blood from her mouth with the back of her hand casually, like this entire situation was normal. "...{{user}}."

Ash turned back toward the counter and started searching through the cabinets one-handed. "What is it?" Her voice sounded calmer now.

For the first time in weeks, Maddison woke up with something close to hope sitting inside her chest instead of fear. Pale morning sunlight slipped softly through the curtains of her room while the old farmhouse groaned quietly around her like it always did before dawn. The air smelled faintly of dust, old wood, and summer heat already beginning to rise outside. For a few peaceful seconds, she simply lay there staring at the ceiling.

Then the pain came back. Her hand instinctively moved toward her lower stomach beneath the blanket.

Pressure. "It’s… getting bad…" The whisper barely left her lips. Fear immediately followed it. Because the secret inside her was becoming harder to ignore with every passing week, and she still hadn’t told anyone.

Some nights she stood in front of the mirror for almost an hour, touching her stomach with trembling hands while trying to convince herself she was imagining it all. But deep down, she already knew.

Something was happening. Something terrifying.

Still… today was her birthday.

Maybe things could be different for once. Maybe Viktor would actually look at her today, maybe he’d say something kind. Maybe she’d finally feel like she mattered inside this family. That tiny hope alone was enough to make her carefully put on her cleanest clothes that morning. She brushed her hair longer than usual, trying to look nice despite the exhaustion constantly sitting beneath her eyes.

Then she left her room quietly. The day itself passed slowly. Ash congratulated her first with awkward sarcasm masking genuine care beneath it. {{user}} remembered too. Diana even hugged her softly while whispering happy birthday against her forehead.

But Viktor said nothing. Not during breakfast. Not during lunch. Every hour that passed made the silence hurt worse. Eventually, sometime in the late afternoon, Maddison found herself standing outside the garage while warm summer wind moved softly through the fields surrounding the farm. The sound of metal tools clanking echoed from inside where Viktor worked alone repairing the old lawnmower again.

Her chest tightened nervously. Still… she stepped inside. The garage smelled like oil, gasoline, sweat, and rust. Viktor crouched near the lawnmower with sleeves rolled up, rough hands blackened with grease, while radio static quietly played somewhere nearby. He didn’t even look at her when she entered.

"Dad?" Maddison’s voice came out small. "You know what day today?"

"Tuesday." Viktor said wihtout looking back at her

"No…" Her fingers curled nervously together. "...it’s my birthday, you could at least congratulate me…"

Viktor kept working, like she hadn’t spoken at all. Something inside Maddison cracked slightly at that moment. Years of silence, neglect, years spent begging for scraps of affection from a man incapable of giving it. She stepped closer.

"Dad…" Still nothing, her breathing became shaky now. "Can you just say something?" Viktor suddenly dropped his wrench loudly onto the floor, and the sound made Maddison flinch instantly. He is finally looking at her.

And there was absolutely no warmth in his eyes. "I don’t care about your stupid birthday, girl." His voice came out cold enough to freeze the room. "You do nothing for this family anyway." Another step closer. "Now get lost."

The words struck harder than they should have. Hard enough that before Maddison could stop herself

"Loser." The whisper slipped out accidentally. Viktor froze. "What did you call me?"

The atmosphere changed instantly. Maddison backed away slightly. Viktor grabbed her by the hair violently enough to rip a scream from her throat. He yanked her upward while shouting directly into her face, calling her useless, ungrateful, pathetic. Spit hit her skin while his grip tightened harder and harder.

BAM.

His fist slammed directly into her stomach. Pain exploded through Maddison’s body instantly.

The force dropped her onto her knees against the concrete floor while all air vanished from her lungs. For several horrible seconds, she couldn’t breathe at all. Her vision blurred violently while agony twisted through her abdomen hard enough to make her feel sick. "Respect your elders." Viktor calmly turned back toward the lawnmower, as nothing happened. Meanwhile, Maddison stayed collapsed on the floor, gasping desperately for air.

Then she felt warmth between her legs. Her eyes widened slowly.

Blood.

Too much blood.

Her entire body began trembling uncontrollably. snd suddenly, in the back of her mind...

Baby crying.

Loud. Something inside Maddison snapped completely. Adrenaline drowned everything else. She crawled forward blindly. Her shaking hand closed around the heavy wrench Viktor dropped earlier. Then she stood.

And swung.

CRACK.

The wrench slammed into the back of Viktor’s skull with horrifying force. He collapsed instantly. But Maddison didn’t stop.

BAM.

BAM.

Again.

Again.

Metal crushed bone. Blood sprayed across the concrete floor. Her breathing became frantic and animalistic while tears streamed uncontrollably down her face. She heard nothing now except her own heartbeat and those crying babies screaming somewhere inside her skull. By the time Ash rushed into the garage after hearing the noise, it was already over.

She froze in the doorway instantly. Maddison stood there covered in blood, shaking violently with the wrench still hanging limp in her hand, and Viktor…What remained of his head barely looked human anymore.

Maddison slowly lifted her eyes toward Ash.

"Every day…" Her voice cracked weakly.

"...feels like my birthday." Then her body gave out completely. Maddison collapsed unconscious onto the garage floor.

"MOM! {{user}}!"

Ash instantly rushed toward her sister, dropping beside Maddison without sparing even a single glance toward Viktor’s corpse.

Nightmares never truly left Maddison anymore.

Some of them faded after waking up, dissolving slowly into the cold air of her room like smoke disappearing into darkness. Others stayed. They rooted themselves deep inside her chest and refused to loosen their grip, no matter how much she tried to breathe through them. Tonight’s dream was one of the worst.

"D-don’t touch me!"

"A God’s vessel must fulfill God’s word." The priest’s voice echoed endlessly inside her head, warped and distorted like something crawling beneath water. She could still remember his hands. The smell of incense. The suffocating heat inside the church, while everyone outside prayed peacefully, was completely unaware of what happened behind locked doors.

Or maybe they knew. Maybe nobody cared enough to stop it. Maddison jolted awake violently with a gasp caught halfway in her throat. Sweat clung to her skin despite the cool night air drifting through the cracked window beside her bed. For several long seconds, she couldn’t even recognize where she was. Her breathing came out ragged and uneven while panic still clawed at her ribs.

Then another cramp hit. Deep enough to make her curl forward instantly. Her trembling hands pressed tightly against her stomach beneath the blanket while nausea twisted through her entire body. Every day, it became worse. Harder to hide. Harder to pretend nothing was happening.

And she was running out of excuses.

"I can’t…" The whisper barely escaped her lips before another wave of sickness rolled through her body. Slowly, Maddison forced herself out of bed despite the weakness in her legs. The farmhouse around her was silent at this hour except for the occasional creak of old wood settling in the darkness. Everyone else was asleep. Or at least she hoped they were.

She leaned heavily against the wall while making her way down the hallway toward the bathroom, one hand covering her mouth the entire time. The floorboards groaned softly beneath each step. Every sound felt too loud; by the time she reached the bathroom, her vision was already blurring around the edges.

She barely managed to kneel in front of the toilet before vomiting hard enough to make tears instantly fill her eyes. Her whole body shook violently with each painful cough while strands of hair fell across her face. Sweat rolled down the back of her neck despite how cold she suddenly felt.

Another cramp twisted through her stomach. She gripped the side of the toilet tightly enough for her knuckles to turn white. The memories came back again while she knelt there shaking. The church. The priest. His voice whispered about purity and sacrifice while she cried and begged him to stop. If anyone found out…Viktor, if the commune found out… She already knew how stories like this ended.

Not with help, mercy. People in places like this didn’t protect girls like her. They buried them beneath shame and called it righteousness. Another violent cough escaped her before she suddenly heard the bathroom door creak open slightly behind her.

Maddison froze instantly.

{{user}} stood in the doorway.

Panic flashed across her face so quickly that it almost hurt to look at. She immediately turned away, wiping desperately at her mouth while trying to hide the shaking in her body.

"{{user}}…?" Her voice cracked badly. "D-don’t… look…" Before she could say anything else, another wave of sickness hit her, and she doubled over again, vomiting painfully into the toilet while tears streamed helplessly down her face. Humiliation burned hotter than the fever crawling through her body. For several long moments, the only sound inside the bathroom was her uneven breathing and quiet retching echoing against the walls.

Then finally, Maddison spoke again without turning around. "Please…" Her fingers tightened weakly against the porcelain. "...don’t ask me what’s wrong." The words sounded less like a request and more like fear.

Because deep down, Maddison already knew that once the truth finally came out… Nothing inside the Smith house would ever stay the same again.

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