Bella

It’s the day Bella must do her duty as a maid for Madam Lina. She is the most considerate and caring of all the brothels. Growing up that’s what Bella was taught and she learned how extremely lucky she was being bought by Madam Lina’s home.

“Dear Bell, don’t be scared. This is an honorable job. Men need to be taken care of and you are the only one able to give that care.”

Madam Lina was sweet as normal but this time Bella felt a darkness behind her words. It felt like she was trying to convince Bella what the girls were doing was right, and that the men were just being normal.

Bella was not a child. She knew how disgusting the job was. She was to be used and abused. Broken until not a penny more can be made.

“Yes ma’am, I’ll try my best.”

Lying through her teeth she did her best to sound convincing. Bella learned how the Madam saw the girls that day. All the young girls and even the older ones. They were just cattle to the madam. To be sold an bought. Milked dry until pockets were satisfied.

The Madam was worse than all the men. Manipulating the girl's feelings having them believe the brothel was the best option and everyone else was monsters.

Bella knew now that Madam Lina was the monster. That day the young girl vowed to escape and burn Madam Lina’s down with or without her inside.

The plan was simple- when the man came to the room, Bella would burn sleep incense purchased with the money she had been able to save from the months of cleaning. The older girls tossed her a few coins here and there, and even with all that time she only had enough for one- a single incense. She'd have to do her best with just that. Then she would alert all the other girls who wanted to escape alongside her, together they would burn the building down with everyone else inside.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

She planned to wait until the man was asleep so she could leave the room. So Bella waited buying as much time as possible pretending to be shy and questioned the man. She was able to convince him to let her burn the incense, saying it was to calm her. As the smoke flowed she held her breath, waiting. Within moments the man’s eyes grew heavy and he slumped over. What would be the only thing Bella remembered about him? He snored.

After leaning low and breathing the fresh air Bella slowly tip-toed out of the room and rushed to the other girl's as quickly as possible. None of them believed her or listened to the plan she had, all thinking that Madam Lina’s would be their best route for their survival in the city. The big city was unkind, evil, and cruel. if the plan failed she would lose everything, and nobody liked that idea. A few of the girls were so scared and filled with rage, accusing her of trying to ruin their cushioned lives. Thinking Bella was foolish they alerted the Madam so Bella acting recklessly; smashed the lanterns against the building walls. As the fire blazed the screaming began.

The echoes followed after Bella as she ran into the streets.

Nick

The fire and screams echoed in my head as I woke up. I wiped the tears away, and as I cleared my eyes the metal clanking of the mine could be heard. I had overslept.

I’ve been in the city of Lucden, resting by the edge of the Ava desert, for as long as I can remember. We're all poor here, committing crimes and scavenging for food is the only way of survival. That, or you were a slave in the mines and brothels, unlike those snobbish bastards who lived in the kingdom of Avadin. They all had freedom, beautiful homes, and happy families.

We were not part of their kingdom so there weren't any knights to take care of the bandits or crime and there was no trade because of the harsh deserts and abundance of low lives. I despised the kingdom of Avadin for abandoning us, letting us sit and rot away. Not even batting an eye at their dying neighbor.

Because of that, I worked with other starving kids to rob passing merchants. We were disposable so we came up with sly and conniving ways to trick them into giving us what we wanted. They wouldn’t care about throwing us in a jail cell or dirt pit, so why should we feel bad for stealing from them? I am starving and they are fat.

When I was young they didn’t allow me to mine but now that my thirteenth Nox has passed I’m officially a miner!

I was given new clothes and a pick, it wasn’t fancy but it was brand new. I was told if anything happened to it I’d have to make and pay the repairs myself. Which isn’t uncommon for the company to have us do.

With the new digs, pardon my pun, I also got pay! From now on anything I got over the quota was mine.

For now, I had to eat my measly breakfast as fast as possible if I hoped to be able to meet the daily quota on time.

Tomorrow would be my first day and I already knew exactly where I was going.