Deep teary eyes started at the edge of a cell.

It was a cold one, and dark. Filled with smells that shouldn’t have stayed. Be felt. Lingered.

Ling mei stared.

She couldn’t see much behind the confines of the cell, of the bars that used to keep her constrained beneath the earth. Like cesspit, she would have to climb to get out.

She would have to raise herself from her position of lacking strength.

But right now ling mei didn’t care.

She stared at the ceiling on her back. Enjoying the silence. The quiet. The lack of noise. She enjoyed not being told what to do, or where to stay, or what to eat.

She enjoyed not having to feel pain. And despite the worry and discomfort from starvation, ling mei realised that she felt better this way. Alone, in the dark. Away from the confines of society that had to keep restraining her.

Growing as an orphan was hard. When she didn’t steal, she cried. When she didn’t cry, she begged. When she didn’t beg, she stayed.

And now she was born to become a slave.

How fitting of one such as her, who was raised in the streets, without the love of a parents or a guardian, without a will to survive to push her further than she should’ve been. A thief. A slave. A monster.

She couldn’t find a job in the city, nor could she find work. She was an orphan after all. And despite pitying her no one would care enough that she got enslaved. She didn’t know why she stayed. Maybe it was of habit, maybe it was fear. She knew she couldn’t survive out in the wilds, malnourished as she was, and with no knowledge of hunting or foraging. But she knew it was her only hope. Society only means death.

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She didn’t make it though. They got to her first. She had to kill, she had to steal. She stayed. Silent, she stayed.

“So this is my fate?” she thought. And stayed. Longer and longer she stayed. Malnourished and weak, too tired to raise her eyes. Awaiting death. Starvation wouldn’t take her. Mayhaps some other disease would release her from the pain.

Sounds awoken her from her stuper. Shouts of pain, and anger and despair.

“SHUT UP! YOU PIECE OF FILTH!” *slap* “YOU DO AS I SAY!” *slap* “AND ONLY AS I SAY!” awoken from her musings, she heard the master shout. And she heard the sounds of bones snapping. Of legs breaking. Of flesh hitting flesh. Tired as she was, ling mei stared. At the light, at the sound. At the face. It clattered against the bars. Whispering for fear and promising death. The man grabbed the face and slammed it against the bars. “ANY OF YOU!” *snap* “think of escaping!” *snap* she stared. Further now, as he smashed it again and again. And again. And again. “WILL! BE! DEAD!” and a final squash as the man smashed his foot underneath to crash the poor man’s skull, and splatter his brains,

all over her face. “CARRY HIM AWAY FROM HER. FEED HIM TO THE PIGS. I WANT DINNER READY IN THIRTY MINUTES”. She watched the guards go and do the work. Even if they didn’t like the man, it’s not like they can go against his pay. They needed food to eat, and they had to survive. Families to feed. Ling mei understood. Even if she hated it. They whispered among themselves. Talking about their wives or food, or the warm summer day.

Ling mei sighed.

One way or another, she will escape.