Choose

To say that the daughters gave you whiplash would be putting it lightly. You felt like you had been tossed in the air and were being flung around by three different tornadoes, all converging on you. Now here you stood, backed into the corner of a guest room, in your uniform with a feather duster. The daughters’ gazes pinned you in place and you braced yourself. Cassandra would take your left arm, Daniela your right, and Bela would drink and gorge herself on the blood from your neck. You’d be pulled apart and watch as your blood splattered the walls and flowed onto the carpet. Then you’d lying on that same carpet. You trembled in fear. You waited for their touch, their teeth, to come. A firm and excited voice was not expected. No, you expected their mouths to be occupied with your body.

“I want to show you the books and maps mother just gifted me little one! I can tutor you more on their contents!”

A scoff. “Maps? Please. This pet needs time to run around. It’s been trapped in this stuffy uniform doing chores all day. I’m going to take it out to play chase.” A wicked grin grows on Cassandra’s face.

Finally you’re being grabbed, but the touch is not as aggressive as you thought it would be. Daniela has wrapped her arms around your torso and is clinging to you like a koala. She pours. “Chase?! And get our puppy all dirty?! No way! We’re going to go take a bath together and then snuggle in my bed and read. You want to go with me, right puppy?!” Daniela looks up at you desperately.

You’re tense under her gaze and grasp. You stare at the ground. Your blood rushed and roared in your ears. You could feel your heartbeat in your skull. You heard Cassandra- you think?- yell a rebuttal to Daniela. The three girls arguing grew louder, but so did your worries.

This was the situation you feared. Before, at least you had their mother to mediate and make decisions for you. Now, you were alone and doomed. It was happening. They had gone quiet. Bela was looking straight at you. They all were. Cassandra slightly hunched in a feral state, ready to lunge and take you for her own. Daniela, now holding your hand in an iron, bone-breaking grip looking at you with pleading eyes. Bela, looking at you pensively, eyes doing their best to hide her uncertainty.

“Choose.”

How could you choose? Between Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela. How could you choose? Would it be better for you to not choose at all? No matter what, you knew one thing:

You are doomed.