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Especially those opinions which went against the values of their people Nearly everything she believed in or desired flouted what she’d been taught

She did not believe the world would end in her lifetime

She did not believe they’d make use of the hundred-person bomb shelter the co and stocking

She did not believe they needed to for the inevitable violent degradation of society

She could not understand why the coht hatred and intense distrust of everyone with a lifestyle different from theirs

She absolutely did not believe young children needed hours of physical andor working in their sewing shop

No one questioned No one had an independent thought Every man, woman, and child she lived with seemed perfectly content to exist in their sheltered, fear-fueled world

Everyone except her, which hadThe majority of her belief system came from her mother, who’d whispered tales of a life away from the community One where women had free choice, men respected those they loved, and children spent their days playing frivolous gauised as stories, and when her o, she’d kept them alive in her mind and with her actions, which led to ainst the idea of , she’d vocally expressed her disinterest in an arranged e, and she’d flat out refused to work at times None of it had ended well for her, but no s and punishments she’d endured, her desire for a different life persisted

Poor Roger had been saddled with the black sheep, but she was young, pretty enough, and would provide nu he could mold into little clones of himself

Or so everyone had thought

They had no idea that when she was in town on errands, she’d been sneaking off to o The woman orked at a Planned Parenthood The very same woman who’d provided her the oral contraceptives when Delilah spilled her story in a fit of hysterics after finding out she’d be e of nineteen

Actually, eighteen years and eleven months

When she’d been thirteen, Delilah vowed she’d never bring a child into the world At least not while living in the para-military community where she’d been raised And since she’d had no hope of leaving, she’d pretty ned herself to the fact she’d never reproduce Not that it mattered The compound had so many children, it was practically overrun She’d had a hand raising kids since she was in the single digits herself

Roger, we all thought she’d give you hters to carry on her father’s legacy How could this have happened? She’s so pretty

How many times had she heard a version of the sentiment?

Because that’s hoorked