49. Cherish

I spend most of the evening sitting blankly on the bed beside a small black canvas bag. It contains just a few basic items of clothing and food. There is nothing of value I can include, no money, nothing to assist us once we get out of here. The trivialities of which long black dress to pack was robotically completed.

After throwing up I cried whilst Martha softly held me until I fell asleep in her arms. Any remaining adrenaline must have ebbed away from my body, leaving me exhausted. Halo tried to soothe me by suggesting I conserve my strength for what was to come. However when I woke, flinching and flailing, Martha was still holding me, stroking my long blonde hair, perhaps imagining her own girls in my place. “Martha if he dies…will we really be free?”

“I don't know but it is the closest I have ever come to it in all these years. Vincent doesn't like to be seen as a man of poor honor.”

“But then Ivan…”

“He has made a noble choice,” her voice more strict and matronly than friendl