I open my eyes and the first thing I notice is the unfamiliar ceiling that I am staring up at. It isn’t the usual wooden roof that I have woken up to every morning since I can remember, but instead it looks like a plain slab of stone. The second thing I notice is the throbbing pain on the side of my head and I reach my hand to where it hurts. I can feel the stickiness of blood and when I draw my hand back it has traces of scarlett. I try to sit up but as soon as I raise my head up I feel lightheaded and my head starts to throb with more pain so I give up on it pretty quickly.
“Where am I…?”
I tilt my head to the side and am greeted by another slab of stone so I tilt it the other way. In my view are iron bars about as thick as my forearm and on the other side of them is a dreary looking passageway with a single torch at the end of its life at the end of the hall next to a staircase that leads upwards. On either side of the hall are more cells like the one I am currently in, but all of them are currently empty. Apart from the torch there is essentially no source of light and, as my cell is the farthest from the dying light, it is almost pitch black. I turn my gaze back to the ceiling and once again try to sit up while leaning back against the wall to my left. My head once again starts throbbing but I power through it and eventually get sitting upright where I wince until the pain ebbs some.
Looking around my cell more I see a bucket in the corner opposite of me and also on the wall there seems to be metal shackles that I can tell have been used by the stains on them. When I look down at myself I realize that the ragged pieces of cloth that had been serving as my shoes are gone and in their place is a metal chain that goes from my ankle to the wall I am sitting against.
“Where exactly do they think I would be going?”
As I am sitting here I begin to think of the last thing I remembered before waking up here and replay the events in slow motion in my head.
My wrists being grabbed by the guard.
My mom stepping in front of them to keep them from taking me.
Mom getting hit in the head and falling to the floor bleeding.
Me running to her.
And then blackness.
As I am thinking about these things I can feel tears welling up at the corner of my eyes and I don’t try to stop them. I hug my knees to my chest and bury my face in them and I let the tears cascade down my face. Sobs wrack my body and the silence of the prison is only interrupted by my tears of lonely sorrow. I cry like this for what feels like hours, my tears eventually stopping as I no longer have anything left to cry.
A sound other than my own penetrates the relative silence of the prison and in between my heavy breathing I can hear footsteps coming towards me. I bring my eyes up to look above my knees to see a pair of men walking down the stairs, the one in the lead is the baron and following him is someone I don’t recognize. When they reach my cell the unknown man speaks first.
“Is this the one?”
“Yes, she is the one I brought you in for.”
“She doesn’t look like she could serve anyone well, then again I will say that she has decent looks so she may be fit for a brothel.”
“Well I’ll leave that decision to you, I hear that you are particularly good at breaking them in but do try not to leave any permanent damage, it'd be a shame if I couldn’t sell her to anyone because of a defect.”
“I know what I’m doing. How long do I have to do it?”
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“The auction is in a month. Is that enough time?”
“That should be plenty, she doesn’t look like she will make it through two weeks.” With that the baron laughed.
“We’ll see, if she is anything like her mother I can’t say that she will be broken easily.”
During their whole conversation I just look on in silence. Eventually the baron turns around and begins to walk back to the stairs, leaving the other man behind in front of the cell staring at me like a tamer would look at a wild animal. He is dressed simply with a black cloak over a white undershirt. He holds a leather bag in his right hand and sets it down next to him as he goes to remove his overcoat. His face is well groomed, a light shading of stubble covers his lower face and his dark brown eyes show no emotion as he continues to dissect me with his gaze causing me to avert my eyes .
He pulls out a key and slides it into the lock on the cell door, a click sounds and the door creaks open as he enters. I try to back away as he moves inside the cell, but the iron chain around my ankle keeps me from moving very far at all. When he reaches me he squats down until his eyes are level with mine and just stays there. As the awkward silence continues I slowly turn my gaze to meet his. The moment I meet his eyes, faster than I can comprehend, his hand moves and strikes me across my face. I can feel a stinging situation left over when he pulls his hand back and the tears that had stopped flowing began to build up once again.
“Do not make eye contact with your master.”
“What一” Once again his hand strikes my face, even harder than the first time, causing spittle to fly from my mouth and knocking me over onto the ground.
“Do not speak unless spoken to.”
He stands back up keeping his eyes on me.
“What is your name?”
“Sar一” His foot slams into my stomach, knocking all of the breath out of me.
“Wrong. Try again.”
“But…” Another kick. He grabs my chin and holds it still so my face is facing his.
“You are nobody, you have no name, no will, you are a tool and that is all.” He throws my head back and goes over to the bag he had brought in with him. He pulls out a short leather handle which has multiple leather straps hanging loosely at one end, each studded with small metal pieces. He returns to where I am still collapsed, unlocks the chain on my ankle, and grabs me by my wrist, beginning to drag me over to the wall with the iron manacles. I attempt to struggle, but my efforts are rewarded with yet another kick to my stomach and I immediately stop. He unlocks the manacles, turns back to me and says, “Stand up.”
I don’t move causing him to drag me up by my wrists and restraining each one to the wall so that my face is facing the wall. After restraining me he moves behind me and I feel him grabbing the back of my ragged shirt.
“You won’t need this piece of trash anymore.”
He grabs a fistfull of my shirt and yanks it towards him. I can hear the ripping of fabric as the cheap material easily tears away from my body. I can feel the cold air on my bare skin, little bumps forming along my skin as the feeling trickled down my spine. Living in the countryside meant I had little modesty, and yet I still feel the urge to cover my body but the restraints keep me from doing so.
“Let’s try this again. Who are you?”
I won’t give him what he wants.
“I am Sarah.” I say so with as much courage as I can. A moment later the studded leather tears into my back. A scream tears itself from my throat, my eyes bulging with pain as tears build. My back is throbbing in pain, hurried breaths leaving my mouth. The man merely asks the question again.
“Who are you?”
“I… am… Sarah”
Another lash and another wave of pain cascades down my back. Another unanswered scream echoing around the empty prison. My fingernails dig into my palm where I can feel blood beginning to flow. My back feels as if it is burning, a pain that drowns out every other thought in my mind. Blackness is creeping in at the edge of my vision as my breath turns ragged. The smell of blood now hangs in the air, my blood. I glance back to see that the leather is dripping rivulets of blood, catching the torchlight.
“Who are you?”
“......S..a..r..a..h” I struggle to say my name, but I refuse to give in. The pain that comes this time is too much for my mind to bear. The darkness at the edge of my vision spreads and I am greeted by the sweet release of unconsciousness.