Only the purest hearts break

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Kentucky 1846

The smell of burnt bread was the first thing May noticed when she woke up, that and her father bellowing from outside the door into the next room. Tears sprung to her eyes, cowering as though he was standing over her. "Not even sunrise", May mumbled to herself as she threw the knitted off white blanket from her body. The slight pink tint as a reminder from the last time breakfast was 'ruined' as her father called it. He got angry over the smallest things,  bread toasted wrong, a blanket not placed in the right place. He wasn't a man who liked a tidy house – far from it but craved the power he gained from pointing the smallest mistakes his 18-year-old daughter, May, had made or his naive wife who was 20 years his junior.

Patrick Adley was an ogre of a man, with a harsh face and an even harsher temper.

"Get yer ass out here, you brat. Come see how useless yer mama is" Patrick bellowed loudly, echoing along the wooden beams of the rundown hut. May hesitated as she looked over at 3 mice scurrying along the floor in search of something small to eat. "Good luck finding anything" she whispered to them afraid her father would hear her utter even a single world.

'Not to be heard is a good girls' job', her father would constantly repeat to her if she even thought about opening her mouth to say a quick greeting. The loud thumping at the door followed by a smack cut May from her little daydream – something she had a habit of doing. "GET YER ASS OUT HERE NOW!" Patrick roared as he gave his wife another smack, she bit her lip and knew better than to stay quiet.

May quickly threw over her battered shawl, taking a deep breath and exiting her room. There may have been a bed, but that was the only place she could call her own. The stained blanket held her at night when all she craved was the love from her father who was too repulsed to give any sort of contact besides a beating.

As she entered the main section of the hut, a small room with a cooking pot over an open fire, she saw her mother, Nancy Adley cowered in the corner as her ogre of a husband towered over her with his usual black leather belt in hand. This was his signature weapon; he knew how to scare his wife into submission – that's how May came to be. A cruel act of power over an innocent Catholic girl of only 17. Her family once they found out about the babe, consented to the marriage of Nancy and Patrick, which neither parties wanted. Patrick felt sickened everytime he set eyes on his daughter and wife for giving responsibilities he did not want.

"Look how pathetic yer mama is, can't even toast f*cking bread right" he spat as he ran the belt teasingly down Nancy's' leg, making her flinch already knowing what was to come. Like most things in the house it had a slight tint of pink to it, a common thing in the Adley household. Nothing was off limits when it came to Patrick's rage. May cautiously walked towards her parents, before being dragged the other 5 meters as her father kept a firm grip on his property. "I've been working hard to provide for ya both, and this is the thanks I get. I should throw ya both out and see which unlucky b*stard will claim ya". May shut her eyes, wanting to block out as much of what was to come, she loved her mother dearly, yet she couldn't help but blame her. Nancy had multiple opportunities to run, to leave the life of pain, yet she chose to stay. By staying she guaranteed not only herself but her daughter a life of pain be that Patrick or some other monster who would soon come and pay for the right to own May. That's how it worked up there, they had laws of their own.

"Ya will watch!" Patrick dug his nails into Mays' arm making her eyes fly open as she winces and bites her lip to muffle her moans of pain. Patrick now satisfied with May's obedience, glanced down at his pleading wife before swinging his belt and hitting her across the face. For the next 10 minutes, Patrick swung aimlessly at his wife's body watching as her body turned from her usual pale skin to many colours of black and blue.