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Alina's Lure.
For many days I fretted at the way we had left Svend; so wrong, a terrible vengeance that could not be made right. Part of me could not believe the outright viciousness Master had displayed towards his own. Did he really hate his brother that much that he could leave him bloody and almost unconscious in his very home? Was his rebellion towards his family justified?
I guess he figured it was, his ruthlessness astounded even I. I was happy though to finally be free of the haze the tranquilizers Svend had insisted I take. Though withdrawal left me very anxious and often feeling quite ill. I suffered through this alone, there was as always no one with which to share my woes.
It was to begin with kind of eerie to live there again. We now occupied the smaller and less pleasant of the bedrooms, Master seemed not to care. I guess he was just grateful to have a place to stay, no questions asked that was in this expensive city very affordable and convenient.
The four of us swiftly settled into daily life. Master began job hunting in earnest, and Tubby and Mick would rise late and adjourn to his tattoo and piercing studio that was located downtown, not returning until the early hours most mornings.
I was as expected relegated again to the confines of his home to perform my usual series of mundane household tasks. There was no computer available to me now, books to read, nor writings to busy my mind. Master no longer needed a computer, nor sat up long nights doing his father's book work. It left a void in my quiet afternoons, but I had changed too. I was less restless and rebellious than I had been one year ago, more accepting of my station.
As I looked through the ancient wavy glass set in the back door of the kitchen, dwelling at that moment of all those who had gone before and lingered by this very portal in this very old home. Women like me of many years past, who made the most out of so little. Those who led simple lives long ago lost to living memory. As I would be one day as well. I sighed at the seeming purpose of existence, did we just lie to ourselves that we really had any meaning at all?
Beneath the great elm tree the earth was bathed in deep shadow, the grass did not thrive there. I could still make out only just, little Cleo's grave beneath the great spreading canopy of green. It was almost indistinct and overgrown. However she would never be that way in my memories. I also discovered Mick had not kept Odin, Master's Christmas gift, finding the immense dog's appetite too costly, and the yard too small, so there was no canine company to fill my days.
If the changes in his old friend disturbed or shocked Mick, he did not let on. He took Master's often unnerving silences or lack of direct replies to questions all in his stride. After all that is what good friends did, they were in many ways brothers even if not in blood. Mick was a fiend, but then so was Master. They drank together in the evenings like old times, and we all choked on the byproducts of Mick's obsessive smoking habit.
I learned to interact with Tubby some and even assist her in the daily chores, I wanted to know her better I burned to. She was too afraid or unwilling to let me in, and most of what passed between us was only small talk. Our baby grew and the tussle I had with the constant sickness passed. It was a huge relief.
Now I had a new issue, the chastity belt which Master insisted I wear was rapidly growing too tight, he did not trust Mick to be strictly hands off my person in his absence and I was becoming so uncomfortable in it that it worried at me incessantly. Even worse he had finally commented on this and had told me I was going on a diet. I did not know what to say, I wanted to tell him, surely what was happening to me was by now most obvious. However for reasons of his own Master did not take my cue and much to my horror the diet regimen was enforced further adding to my misery.
Master in a very short space of time landed himself a foreman's job with a rival construction company. It was obvious he had not been honest with his medical records or his application would have never been accepted. However he held a prestigious name in the industry and he used it now. I feared for him working on site with his inability to be always aware, and worried he was an accident waiting to happen, becoming most nervous if he arrived home uncharacteristically late.
In spite of this I was proud of him, though his new employment meant long days and much harder working conditions with none of the privileges he had come to enjoy in his Father's company. He seemed to not balk at this, he was very serious about his separation from his family's clutches, even to the point of closing his bank account, withdrawing the balance and writing his father a cheque for the monies he had been given.
I overheard Mick telling him it was madness, and he should at least keep the money his old man had given him just for the inconveniences sake. However Master was not swayed, and I believe he doggedly returned every cent he had received, hoping I guess to snub his step Father completely.
His statement must have had some effect as that following Saturday Svend at last paid him a visit. It was a long drive from Arhus only to be turned away. He banged on the weathered door loudly and called to his brother.
"Don't do this Frej."
Master did not move from the chair he occupied. I looked up at him from my place on the floor, he gave me an evil grin which suggested to me he was enjoying shunning his brother. He made no move to answer the summons. I did not know if I thought he was brave to ignore him, or merely a coward.
"Your killing Mum and Dad. If you can't be civil for Dad at least do it for your Mother." Svend entreated through the closed door.
I thought my ears caught Master mumble something such as.
"He isn't MY father," under his breath, emanating nothing but black vitriolic hate.
Through the sanctuary of the gauzy curtains I saw his brother at last turn from the doorway in defeat. I could plainly sight the cuts on his face and the lingering black eye Master had left him with. He looked back at the house one more time then turned, getting back into his shining black Audi and drove away.
Mostly it was just he and I in the evenings, it could have almost been old times. Mick and Tubby were rarely about unless he did not open his shop. However that was rare, it was his life and he could gravitate towards the people he was most comfortable with, the night crowd, the alternative lifestylers; leaving Master and I to share the evenings alone after he returned from work.
I cooked him his meals which he again ate with gusto, looking every bit the savage barbarian as he tore at his dinner like some ferocious beast. I had to admire his wildness, it was something very few men possessed in this soft modern age. Looking at him I firmly believed if anarchy broke out tomorrow he would be no victim, and he had the capacity to keep me from harm's way. He would prosper on the backs of the meek in such a brave new world.
He looked up from the remnants of his dinner to catch my eyes on him, it was still an infraction I knew; if he chose to take offense to it. He had never really completely rescinded his ideals of blind obedience. I paused,
