The church has tall ceilings and arched, stained-glass windows. They hold me tightly, their hands squeezing my forearms hard. I don’t blame them - because I’m sure that if they let me go, I’d run. I know it’s the place. The church. It’s the building itself that’s making my bones ache. I squeeze my eyes shut, jerking in their arms again.

“It hurts!” I groan and one of them sighs. The human one.

“I know, I know it does. C’mon, it’ll get better.” He murmurs and continues to usher me forward. I plant my feet on the ground, trying to stop them from bringing me any further in but they’re both so much stronger than me and I’m positive that even if it were just one of them, I’d stand no chance. I breathe in through my mouth and out through my nose, the pain in my body is just getting more and more intense, like it’s trying to crush me.

“Tuckar!” I try and keep my eyes squeezed shut, but the one on my right lets my arm go and out of curiosity my eyes flutter open. The other one grabs my arms, holding me even tighter now and I whimper. I don’t know why it hurts me, and not the one holding me. Maybe it hurts him, too, maybe he’s stronger than I am but maybe not… they did say it gets better. I breathe out shakily, my eyes flicking up again to watch the one that let me go again.

“You’re home.” The voice murmurs - the voice is really a girl, maybe a little bit taller than me, with red hair down to her shoulders and freckles scattered over her face. She’s got a sweet smile and she’s holding his shoulders - and I can tell, even from this angle, that she’s with child. There’s a wedding ring on her finger and even though I don’t know these people, it makes me smile. Love like that always makes me smile.

“I’m still working, baby, I’m sorry.” He murmurs and the girl pouts, her eyes finding me over her shoulder. Her eyes widen a bit, and then she looks a little scared for a minute. I guess it makes sense - I’m probably kind of terrifying, jerking and shaking and whimpering. Her lips press together, her green eyes pulling off of me and looking up at him determinedly. Her hands slide away from his shoulders and she wrings them nervously.

“I’ll go get Mathew.” She says softly and he nods.

“Thanks, Alex.” He says quietly, pressing his lips to hers once before she’s hurrying off. He turns back to look at me, sighing quietly and a nervous smile working up on his face.

“He’ll be here soon, and we’ll get you help.” He tells me reassuringly and I’m pretty sure the noise I make is equivalent to a grunt. I try not to open my mouth too much, I don’t want the pained moans to leave my lips. I’m stronger than this. I’m stronger than this. I keep telling myself that but even now, I know it’s not true.

“What seems to be the problem?” Another voice. Different this time, kind and wise. I look up and there’s a man in priest’s robes with his arms folded behind his back. He’s handsome, with soft brown hair and sharp blue eyes, and he has a small smile on his face. When he looks at us, the one holding me’s arms loosen slightly and he moves his lips by my ear.

“You won’t run, will you?” His voice is soft and I clench my jaw together, forcing myself to nod. I… I won’t. I won’t. I won’t. I’m lying. Lying is a sin, that barely registers in my mind as he slowly lets me go. I make myself stand still, curl into myself and drop to my knees. It’s like I’m trying to smother the pain.

Their voices blur and fade and it occurs to me dimly that they’ve left the room. My eyes open and I look around, slowly getting to my feet. Get out, get out, get out, my mind is racing and that’s the only thought I can process. So in seconds I’m finding the nearest exit and running. It’s not the way we came in and it’s not in a direction I know but somehow I end up in the graveyard.

I stumble forwards, looking around numbly. And for some reason, I don’t find myself in front of Momma’s grave. I’m standing in front of a grave I’ve only seen once, a withered rose crumbling into the ground before it.

I shut my eyes and drop to my knees, and I don’t know why I don’t move, don’t go back home and be safe, but I stay here. The pain is gone, and I’m breathing evenly when I feel cold hands on my shoulders, yanking my up, pulling me flat against a chest.

“Her name was Courtney, she was my sister.” The voice… His voice, is soft for a moment, he’s soft for a moment before I feel him tighten. He pulls me tighter against him and pressed his lips against the scarf against my neck. “You’re not a very smart one, are you, running off like that. You could have been safe.” He chuckles and slides one of his hands up, tugging the scarf away from my neck.

“You almost make it…” He trails off and presses his lips to my bare neck, the same spot where he did previously. “Uninteresting.” He grins and I’m not sure why I’m not screaming. Why I’m not trying to get away. Maybe because it’d be useless because I know that’s wrong. I feel stuck against him, like a magnet.

I almost want to apologize for making this uninteresting.

“I…I…”

“Shut up.” He snarls and turns me around, shoving me onto the ground, against Courtney’s grave. I stare up at him, my lips parting, the panic finally erupting in my chest. But there’s no getting away now. I whimper, tears bursting to my eyes and I look around. God, let someone help me, please. “You speak when I tell you to. You will not make any noise.”

I whimper and nod slowly, and he smirks.

God help me.