The next morning...
Noah opened his eyes slowly while wincing softly...He turned his head with great difficulty and looked around him.
When he noticed that he was lying in his bedroom next to his little sister, memories of last night's abuse resurfaced in his mind.
'Argh!'
The ignored pain had finally settled in, making him unable to move a single inch without aggravating a welt.
Still, Noah fought against it and pushed himself to check on his little sister, worrying that she might have been beaten by the nanny after he passed out.
'Thank god...' Fortunately, he saw that she wasn't harmed at all, making him sigh in relief.
Cluck...
Abruptly, the door to his bedroom opened up gently...The nanny came inside while carrying a bowl and a glass of water.
"You finally woke up." The nanny showed a kind worried expression as she asked, "Are you feeling better now?"
"..."
Noah merely kept eyeing her with a look filled with varied emotions, confusion, anger, hate, and lastly fear.
She has almost beaten him to death yesterday, yet she was standing here, asking for his well-being like he fell off a tree or something.
"Be a good kid and drink this soup, it will hasten your recovery." The nanny said while filling up a spoon.
She brought it close to his mouth and rushed him, "Drink it before it gets cold."
Noah opened his mouth and drank it with an expressionless face.
If he was a normal eight years old kid, he would have either thrown a tantrum and refused to touch the soup or slapped the spoon away.
But Noah was different...He was forced to mature very, very early.
This made him understand that he couldn't agitate the nanny right now by acting childishly, especially when he had no strength to even stand up.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtMost importantly...
'I need to recover faster before she falls off into another frenzy and target my sister this time.' Noah drank the soup like his life depended on it for this sole reason.
He couldn't fathom his sister's ending if he wasn't there as a punching bag for the nanny.
"Good lad, good lad." The nanny had no idea about his thought process...She was merely relieved that he was behaving and assisting her in his recovery.
After Noah finished the whole bowl, the nanny ruffled his blue hair like a loving mother and warned him, "Don't move too much, so you won't ruin your bandage...Just behave and keep lying here, I called both of your schools and informed them that you will be absent for a while."
The nanny had to do this, knowing that if Grace went to school, she wouldn't hesitate to rat on her to the teachers.
Although she was merely four years old and most teachers wouldn't pay heads to her words, the nanny would rather not take that risk.
As for Noah? He couldn't move even if he wanted to.
"Noah, what happened yesterday will never occur again." The nanny held his hand and tightened it. Then, she requested with a kind expression, "So, let's keep it between us and continue living our lives as normal."
'She is afraid.'
Noah was clever enough to spot her bullshit from a mile away, making him realize that the nanny wasn't remorseful about her actions at all.
She was merely scared of the repercussions of him going down to the school or police station and tell on her.
Unlike Grace, he didn't even need to speak.
Just remove his shirt and show them his ruined and abused flesh...This was more than enough to get a reaction from anyone.
Even though Noah knew this, he was also afraid of her.
He experienced the nanny's rage beforehand to understand that such a crazy woman was simply unpredictable.
She has almost beaten him to death over a man, he didn't dare to imagine what would happen to him and his sister if he tried to ruin her chances at getting the property.
So, he decided to remain quiet about any of this for now and keep the facade until at least he recovered his body functions.
...
Days went by then weeks, Noah had already recovered fully and return to his normal life...However, some welts had left thin scars on his back, making it hard for the nanny to send him back to school.
Since she had used just a leather belt, she knew that the welts were bound to disappear after a period of time.
If she didn't go too hard in her whipping, Noah's welts would have been disappeared by now.
The nanny knew that was strong evidence against her...There was a huge differnece between going to the school or police station with scars and without.
To avoid prolonging the absence period, the nanny kept her word and didn't lay a finger on Noah or Grace.
Still, Grace was too traumatized by the previous experience and treated the nanny the same as a hideous monster.
She refused to even make an eye contact with her or eat anything that she cooked. Plus, she started to sleep in Noah's bed and always cling to him wherever he went.
This had gotten on the nanny's nerves, but she held her anger inside and allowed her to do as she pleased.
"Behave well today...I'm going to the grocery store." The nanny smiled kindly while informing them over breakfast.
Noah nodded silently in understanding.
"Good bees." The nanny praised as she ruffled their hair lovingly, making them both flinch in fear.
The nanny ignored their reaction and picked up her purse...Then, she walked out of the door and locked it behind her with a key.
She went to the driveway and started the car...Then, she drove away.
The moment Noah heard the fading noise of the car driving further away, he dropped his spoon on the table and rushed to the house telephone.
He picked it up and dialed the number of the service woman...His father gave it to him in case of emergency situation that couldn't be handled by his nanny.
He told him that she was paid enough to do this much for him.
For the past three weeks, Noah refrained from calling her even though the nanny left the house occasionally.
After all, he had no idea if the nanny had truly left or faked it to see if they would tell on her.
Now, he felt that it was the perfect time since he had shown the nanny that he was being a sensible kid.
Ring Ring...Cluck!
"Who's this?" The same irritated voice of the middle-aged woman resounded in Noah's ear.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"This is Noah Maxwell, son of Richard Maxwell." Noah introduced with a hasty but brightened voice.
"Oh you..Why did you call? I have a busy schedule today."
"I want to request to put me and my sister in a foster house." Noah came clean immediately, "The nanny has been abusing us physically and locking us inside the house for months now!"
"Huh? Are you pranking me, kid?" The service woman was taken aback by his confession...She couldn't believe him since she had met the nanny before in the hospital.
The nanny's display of affection in the hospital didn't strike her as someone, who would do what Noah's proclaimed.
Noah knew that he was a mere kid and his words wouldn't be taken seriously. So, he called after great preparation.
"Call our schools if you don't believe me! They will confirm our stor..."
Alas, before Noah could continue his sentence, his ears picked up a familiar engine noise fast approaching.
His hand was frozen in fear after his mind started replaying images of his latest beat down, trying to warn him of his fate if he got caught.
Noah fought over his crippling fear and besought one last time, "She is here! Please save us!"
Cluck!
He hung up the phone immediately and held Grace's hand...Then, he returned to the breakfast table and spilled Grace's food on the ground.
The moment he went to the sink, the door of the house was opened by the nanny.
She went straight to the kitchen with the same fake creepy kind smile planted on her face.
When she saw that Grace was crying, her kind smile turned frigid in an instant.
However, her expression returned to normal after seeing the spilled bowl of cereal, making her believe that was her reason for crying.
Noah swiftly started cleaning it up without paying any attention to the nanny.
'Good, they are not up to anything.' The nanny sighed in relief mentally.
"I forgot my wallet upstairs." The nanny shared with a faint chuckle...She did indeed forget it.
After picking it up, she went downstairs and headed straight to the door...However, just as she opened it up, the house telephone started ringing.
"Hmm? Who's calling me this early in the morning?"
The nanny frowned and walked towards the telephone, not noticing that Noah had stopped wiping the floor and had an aghast expression.