Possible Trigger: domestic abuse mentioned
The woman was slight of frame, pale and drawn, her pale red hair now dulled and lifeless.
She awoke for no apparent reason. It was dark out and she could hear the door of the barn banging against the walls in the wind. How had they come to be open? Bill had thrown poor Aoefa outside to check them earlier despite her offer to go as the poor girl was in no state to go out in her nightgown. Aoefa weren't stupid and would have closed the barn up proper.
She pulled herself slowly and painfully from the bed and shrugged a shawl around her shoulders. She shivered and sleepily stuffed her feet into her fleece boots. She turned and looked at her husband snoring, sleeping like a babe, he didn't deserve it.
She rubbed her wrists where he had grabbed and shaken her, wincing at the tender, fresh bruises. This time his anger was because earlier that day his meal wasn't to his liking and there was little else she could prepare quickly. He had moodily grabbed a loaf and some cheese and stropped off to sit beside the fire and sulk. Muttering about how bad his life was and that he was better off without her, indeed, life before he met her was fine and she was a waste of good air. She couldn't help thinking whenever he made such claims that her own life and that of the children was also much better before, before her first husband had been killed.
She made her way outside to check the horses and close the flapping door, "save yet another outburst, save poor Aoefa getting beat again" she thought to herself, for the 'nth time. She padded on against the wind considering that he seemingly punished himself when angered with them, almost as if he validates his rages by somehow becoming the victim of the piece. If only the rest of the family and other folk knew, but no, not big old friendly Bill, he was a much loved member of the community and that, somehow, made it harder for her to seek help or validation of their plight.
She was pleased that her son, Breen had escaped immediately he became a man, she and Aoefa were stuck and the only means she had to keep a roof over her daughter's head was to stay for now. Breen asked them to live with him but fear that Bill will follow on to take back what he considered his property, his wife, made her cautious, she didn't want more trouble for Breen or for Aoefa to get caught up in it all. Yes, she was stuck.
She peered into the gloom in the barn to check Aoefa's beloved horses were safe. She couldn't see her two favorite mounts. She ventured further in and saw her own horse and Bill's two, but neither of her daughter's. A sudden sick, hot feeling of panic enveloped her.
"She's gone!"
