House Of Cards

 Amelia's shoulders dropped. Another pig had been slaughtered. She slumped against the wall of her home as she stared at the butchered animal. She jumped as her brother turned the corner, her hand on her heart. He approached her. He loomed over her. She felt her skin crawl but she was too numb to speak.

 "I told you it's pointless."

 "Whatever," She muttered as she turned from him only for him to grab her elbow and turn her to face him. With one touch the pit within her heart had filled with rage that heated her face and vibrated her hands and she stood with her nose to his, "We can't live like this. How many siblings should we have? How many cousins? How many uncles? Aunts? This is sick!"

 "That life just isn't for us and you need to accept that."

 "I can't. Why can you? We were so close when we were little."

 He stepped closer to her, bringing his chest to her own. She held her breath. Her flesh oozed sewage in response to the stir he created within her.

 "We can still be close if you stop rejecting tradition."

 The last feast she couldn't force herself to eat. That was when the killing of the livestock had begun. That was when it was decided that starving the hamlet was worth it if it meant smiting her.

 Her brother walked off. She stared down, dejected, at the pig. He was far too old to eat but she didn't have the energy to dispose of him. Instead she left him there.

 Later that day she was giving her mother a sponge bath. The sickly woman was pregnant again. Like many of the others it likely would have been stillborn.

 She lifted her mother and took her into the bed to dress her. Those tired eyes followed every movement with the distain that clutched Amelia's heart, digging in its nails and bleeding her.

 "He's so good to you."

 She pulled the shirt onto her mother and walked out of the room, her mom calling after her. She stormed into her bedroom and curled up atop her blankets. She closed her eyes. She felt hollow. She had considered so many times what it would take to run away, to abandon the hamlet as the new family should have, but she wouldn't survive a day on the roads.

 Hours passed and she heard banging on her door. Sluggishly she opened it to reveal her brother. He took her hand and lead her downstairs where a plate of food had been laid out for her. Her stomach was aching already.

 "Is that the pig?"

 "One of them."

 She sat down at the table and cut into the meat that sat atop a bed of greens. The flesh resisted her gnashing teeth. She knew her brother was a lousy cook but staring down at the meat she felt sick. She looked up at him. He smiled smugly. His eyes glittered as though he had a single thing to be proud of. She spit out the meat and he sobered.

 "What is this?"

 "Eat it."

 The way he barked at her sent a jolt through her body and she dropped her fork. Mechanically she skewered the meat again and forced herself to swallow without chewing. She repeated the action again, and again, and again. She could taste bile. She could feel her stomach ache as it stretched out to avoid touching what had fallen into it. She forced the last piece of meat into her mouth and swallowed again. It felt thick in her throat.

 "Do you want to know what it was?"

 "No."

 "Poor little girl. Fine. Mom wants to talk to you."

 She stood and turned away. She ascended the stairs with her head filled with static. When she opened the door her stomach sank. Her lips parted. Her shoulders fell, her hands colliding against her hips. 

 She turned and walked back down the stairs, mindful of each step until she reached the door and stepped outside. She saw her aunt that smiled and waved at her. She walked until she came to the door of the new family that had moved in not long ago. She twisted the knob and passed through the threshold. She collapsed onto the couch and closed her eyes. Sleep took her. When she opened her eyes she saw a cup of water before her. She sat up and drank. She placed it down and met the gaze of the boy before her.

 "What happened?"

 She told him everything. She told him how her ancestors had two children together, a boy and a girl, and how those children had done the same, but they had two girls. They devoured the second girl and kept trying until they had a boy, and that had become the standard. Some would have more than two children but they had to begin with a girl and a boy. Those two would pair, and so on. She told him of the life she had. The life that she cursed.

 "You have to be with your brother," He spoke aloud, "Has he violated you?"

 "He hasn't even kissed me. I have to be a virgin until the ceremony."

 The boy sat back, "I have an idea."

 The boy stole enough goods over the span of a week to feed himself on the road. He was prepared to kill to steal a horse and take off. He didn't know how he'd cope with his family seeing him as a monster but hopefully one day he could tell them the truth.

 He snuck into the Amelia's house and entered her bedroom, locking the door behind him. He turned her onto her back and she woke. He took her gently. Once he penetrated her she screamed, begging as loudly as she could until her father and brother came banging on her door. Eventually they kicked it down.

 The boy jolted out of bed. He held a blade in his fist as he pulled up his pants. Amelia ran to her father and threw herself into his arms. He locked eyes with the boy, his soulless gaze turning the boy's blood to ice, as he plunged his knife into his daughter's back. She slid down his body and crumpled onto the floor, blood pooling beneath her.

 "You might as well finish," The father spat as he kicked his daughter toward the boy.

 He lifted her into his arms. As quickly as he could he jumped out of the window and fled. He sprinted toward the horses but the guard must have heard the screaming and blocked his way, his sword drawn. He sprinted toward the tavern and leapt onto the stack of barrels and vaulted onto the roof. He ran until he could leap over the fence and onto the grass below.

 Over the next few days he spent his freedom sculking about, listening in on the conversations happening within the hamlet. He learned that his family had been killed. He had only planned on spending a few nights beneath the cliff, beaten by the freezing air, his only company his greatest failure. Staring at the girl he promised that he would find his strength, his moment, to slaughter each and every one of them.