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NORA! WHERE ARE YOU? 
WHERE THE F*CK ARE YOU, NORA? DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE HIDING AGAIN. PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME ANGRY SWEETHEART - YOU KNOW I DON’T LIKE TO HURT YOU. 
THERE YOU ARE! I WAS WORRIED SICK! 
Dear, what are you doing - just lying there? Can’t you hear the baby crying in the other room?
I - I can’t move..
You can move! You need to, or else Shaun is dead, Nora!
No - No I can't! He won't let me...
You’re a terrible mother! Go! Get up and save your son! You're his only chance!
I can’t I can’t he’s here he’s going to -
Use your legs and escape! You don't have more time, hurry up!
OH HONEY - YOU’RE HURT! COME OVER HERE - LET DADDY KISS IT BETTER.
Nora, get up! We have to move.
What? Wh-what’s going on!?
I'll explain later - Just come on! we’ve got to go NOW.
O-Oh God
Where are we going!?
Just keep running up the hill! I’ll catch up - I just need a minute. Meet me by the big tree!
F-f*ck! Okay!
W-what -
Oh Christ Nora - I’m so sorry, but you’re just so f*cking gullible! It's pure comedy.
You - you -
Yes?
Why? W-why are you doing this? Why are you - tormenting -
Entertainment, sweetheart. I bore easily. Anyway, c’mon, take a seat - we’re having a picnic.
...What?
Are you f*cking deaf? Did the explosion destroy your eardrums, too? I swear every other f*cking word out of your mouth is a question.
Would you just f*cking - stop with that, already!? The remarks and the insults -
*Snort* Sure thing dear. Now, take a chair. It’s question time.
Alright sweetheart - now, I was just going to violently interrogate you and leave your mangled corpse rotting in a ditch, but I’ve grown attached. So I figured - let’s make this mutually beneficial. Question for question, how will that work for you?
You wouldn’t.
Pardon me?
I said, I know you w-wouldn’t kill me.
Now what made you think such a silly thing?
I j-just don’t think you would. You’ve never shown me any real hostility since you’ve taken me here. Threatened me numerous times, sure - but never actually hit me, or - well... you know. Y-you’ve saved my life at least once now, even if...
Oh?
I don’t think you would’ve left that up to chance, would you?
No, no I wouldn’t. I’ll admit - I knew those boys would be there - one group or another, at least. They’d been picking at that caravan’s corpse for a few days at that point. You needed to learn for yourself.
I - I thought so. But regardless… you were right, I wasn’t ready. If I - If you didn’t take me, I probably would’ve been killed somewhere. I was so poorly prepared… I didn’t even take a gun out of the vault, did I?
You didn’t.
I barely remember... I t-think I took one at first - but when I tried to shoot it -
Probably deafened yourself, didn’t you?
Y-yes. I still get the ringing, sometimes.
Tinnitus. The ringing, I mean.
Did you have some kind of education? I - I mean I’d figure… You seem very knowledgeable, considering...
No. Nothing formal - besides the previously mentioned shovel beatings, that is. However, I have taken plenty of steps to self educate - Hence this conversation. So, back on topic - what do you say? Question for question work for you?
Um - sure.
You can start - just give me a minute, I need a drink.
Y-your face…
My face? Is there something wrong with it? Am I missing some particular part or something? Or are you just struck by how f*cking handsome I am?
N-no, it’s just…
Oh, the mask isn't to hide anything - It’s not like there are police out here - there’s really no harm to you knowing what I look like.
O-Oh.
So... What do I call you?
That’s right, I never introduced myself properly, did I? I suppose you can call me… Skiddah. That’ll work.
Skiddah? D-does that mean something?
Oh f*ck, I don’t know - does Nora mean something, sweetheart?
It means honor - that’s what my mother always told me, anyway.
Oh. Well - okay. Skiddah is what they’d call me in my old gang. Not entirely sure of the meaning, honestly - I just appreciated that it wasn’t obviously offensive. Knew a guy who got called “Skinbird.” So - take what you get and appreciate it, as I say.
Now! Stop wasting questions - I’ll give you one more since the others were just throwaways - then it’s MY turn. Carefully consider, sweetheart.
...Are you going to let me go, at some point?
Good question! Better one - is that even what this is anymore?
What do you mean?
Well you’re not exactly a prisoner - obviously you’re not shackled to the wall of a small room anymore. I’m leaving you alone in the house, to your own devices - and we’ve established that you don’t think I’ll kill you. So, what keeps you here, exactly?
...Y-you.. That’s not true. Y-you know…
I know what, dear? Sweetheart, the dynamic has changed; you are now taking advantage of my hospitality. Just because you’re afraid of leaving doesn’t mean you’re restricted; the only shackles now are your own fears. If you really want to leave - well, I’d rather if you’d wait until we’re done talking, but I won’t stop you.
Y-you.. You bastard.
So I’ve been told, but my parents were married. Now! My turn.
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5 comments
Nora, though, she's hiding it. She wants to find Shaun and leave, but she won't leave. She's putting the blame of her inaction on him, amplifying his help and danger to titanic proportions. In the end, she won't leave until her hope burns down and then, with nothing left, stay with him.
I'm curious to see what will happen after that point.