Mia and Emma (Mia’s perspective)

I help my sister get her arm over my shoulder so she can lean on me. I don’t like leaving Darx and Oliver behind, but Emma takes priority. I’m sure Darx will understand. Besides, Darx can hold his own against Fabe. If he and Oliver fight Fabe together, there I no need to be worried about them.

There were so many questions I wanted to ask Emma, but I didn’t ask them as we were heading home. I had to get her safe first.

When we were approaching the house, Emma says, “Please, Mia. I don’t want mom and dad to know.”

“Emma, you’re not feeling well.” I tell my sister. “You need help.”

“Mia, please. I beg you.” My sister says in a weak voice. She’s on the verge of crying. What the hell, Emma?

I roll my eyes and say, “Fine. But we’re going straight to your room.”

I let Emma stand on her own and then we both walked home on our own strength. Once we’re home, we say hello to the rest of our family and then head upstairs. I do let Emma go first. Imagine she faints or something? At least then I can catch her.

Emma goes straight for her room and I follow her. I have her sit down on her bed. Now is the time for her to start answering my questions.

“Ok, what the hell is going on, Emma.” I say sternly.

“Mia, I …”

“Oliver said Fabe was beating you. Well?”

“Mia, you got to understand …”

“Show me!” I demand.

Emma was surprised with my reaction. Should she be? I’ve always been the bossy one of us two and we are twins. She should know me by now.

When Emma got over me being demanding, she grabs the sleeve on her left arm and pulls it up. He hands are shaking. Underneath I find two bruises. Holy shit, it’s true. I grab my sister’s arm and study the marks.

“How long has this been going on?” I ask calmly.

“… a while.” Emma replies.

“You have to stop seeing him.” I tell her.

“I can’t.” My sister quickly replies.

“Emma, he’s beating you.” I say as I go back to being strict. “Just dump his ass.”

“Mia, you don’t understand. If I do that, he’ll just come find me and hurt me even worse.”

“Well, then we stick together. You know, like when we were younger. He won’t dare come near you when I’m nearby.”

But Emma grimaces and then says, “If we do that, he’ll go after Oliver.” Emma sighs and continues, “I thought if I spent time with Fabe, I could get him to stop hurting Oliver, but he still does. I am such a fool.”

I bend through my knees so I can be at eye level with my sister. I then look her in the eyes and say, “Don’t worry, we’ll work something out. I’m smart, Darx is smart, if it’s for you Oliver will help out without thinking about it. You’ve got more friends than you know. We’ll keep you safe from Fabe.”

“There’s more.” Emma then says.

My sister stands up and starts unbuttoning her blouse. She takes the whole thing off, leaving her upper half in just her bra. Good lord, there’s even bruise marks on her chest. Then she brings her hands to her belly and she says with quivering voice, “I’m pregnant.”

Wait. Pregnant? I must have heard that wrong. I look closely to her belly and it looks more to me like she’s a little bit fat.

“Are you sure you didn’t just gain some weight?” I ask.

“I missed my last period.” Emma says. “It simply didn’t happen. And when you saw me puke, that wasn’t the first time. I’ve had it for a couple of days now. I’m going through morning sickness.”

No way. No way, no way, no way. This can’t be happening. I quickly take off my armor, the one I was wearing while Darx and I were training in the forest and stand next to my sister. I am now standing shoulder to shoulder with my twin, both of us in our naked torso’s except for our bra’s. I compare my belly with hers. Mine is flat, hers does seem to have a … bulge? Is she really …? But we were supposed to …? How are we going to …? FFFFFFFUUUUUCK!!!

I facepalm with both my hands and take deep breaths to keep myself from yelling. If I do, our parents might get curious and come asking. Emma doesn’t want that. Having me yell at her now is also not going to help. I should have stayed with Darx and Oliver and help them beat the crap out of that asshole. He ruined my little sister’s life!!!

After seeing my frustration, Emma apologizes.

I calm myself down and say, “You don’t need to apologize.”

“No, I do.” Emma insists. “I let him. I thought, if I didn’t, he would hurt me, so I let him. I was so afraid. I should have told you. But I didn’t. I was too afraid to stand up to him so I gave in instead. And after that, I was too embarrassed to come tell you. And then, he came back and he wanted more …”

At the end, Emma started tearing up. By the gods, Fabe. Don’t you care about what you’re doing to my sister? Was she really just an object to you?

“Mia, Fabe doesn’t know.” Emma continues. “He doesn’t know I’m having his baby. I don’t dare tell him. If he already hurts me like this now, just think how much he’ll be hurting me when he finds out.”

Find out? That’s a good one. Even if we never tell him, it’s only a matter of time. I’m guessing our parents will be the first to find out once her bump starts showing. Soon after the whole village will know. Even if they don’t know for certain, they’ll start gossiping. And since Emma isn’t married, they’ll start calling her a slut. By the goddess, this is only going to get worse.

“Please, don’t tell mom and dad. I don’t want them to find out.” Emma begs me.

That is when I lose my temper a bit. I look at my sister and with raised voice I say, “Just a few months, Emma. All they need is a few months and then they can see if for themselves.”

I might have gone a bit too far there because Emma starts crying.

“I know.” My sister says as she sits back on her bed. “I know I can’t hide it forever. I know they will find out and call me a slut.”

“No.” I quickly correct Emma. I get back to eye level with her and say, “You are not a slut, you hear me. You’re not. You are a **** victim. You are not to be insulted for that.”

As I am trying to put some confidence into my sister, tears start welling up in my eyes as well. For the remained of the day, Emma and I continue talking with each other. Mostly to calm her down but, if I’m being honest, I needed to get calmed down myself as well.

By the time we were done, Emma was tired and I told her to rest. I take my armor and head to my room. A quick look outside shows me it is already dark. Darx. I should tell Darx about Emma. I also want to hear how he messed up Fabe. But should I go now or tomorrow?