Old Version Shatter Pieces

Chapter 2: Night Night

                                                                                                Elinn

When I woke up I was back in my dank bedroom. My whole body aches from the beating I received earlier. I carefully propped myself against the nearest wall to inspect my injuries. If someone were to have seen me lying there on the floor they would have assumed I was dead. My body was covered in blood and bruises which would explain the aching.

As I stared down at my body I felt a tear run down my cheek. You'd think by know I'd be used to this sort of thing after years of the same treatment. Somehow, I don't think it has quite sunk in yet that I am stuck here until they tire of me and kill me. When that day comes I'm not sure what I'll do, is there a point to continuing. All my memories of happiness had been torn from me. I am a worthless piece of garbage, but that doesn't change the fact that I want to be treated well.

They had stolen so many things from me here, things that destroyed me inside and out. They had taken me from my family and my friends, then taken my memories of them as well. Master had taken away my privacy, there were cameras in my room and anywhere I went I was usually recorded somehow. This place had taken my fight and my courage when I was beaten to a pulp almost daily. Most heartbreakingly it had taken my hope. I no longer believed in a world where people were kind and cared for me.

I had given up hope of ever getting out. I had tried on several different occasions, but it never ended well for me. I was always caught and taken to the dungeons. Usually I was kept there without food or water and the guards used me for personal entertainment. It was the punishment I feared worst of all because there were never breaks and it ended whenever Master decided. When I passed out Master would usually stop hurting me, his men were a different story.

I attempted to crawl my way to the box known as my bed. It caused excruciating pain to run down my back, but I kept moving. While it wasn't the most comfortable, it was preferable to the cold and hard cement floor. With the last bit of my strength I managed to pull myself the last couple of inches to my "bed".

I sat and stared at the ceiling thinking about my life. I knew at some point I had been a part of a family, though I couldn't remember how many of us there were. Somehow, I had been taken away from them and was taken here. I wasn't sure how old I was when I got here and I had no idea how many years had passed since then. I wasn't allowed to go outside or watch TV, so I had no way to tell exactly how long I had been here. My best guess was that it had been seven years, but I had also lost a good chunk of my memories that I had of my earlier years from all the trauma I had experienced in my life.

The footsteps I heard in the hall caused me to stiffen. As I listened closer I could tell it wasn't a man approaching, the footfalls were too soft. I began to relax, the few women that lived in this place weren't mean like the men here. They never got in their way and didn't try to help me, but they never hurt me and would smile. Every evening before Master came in to turn out the lights one of them would come and give me my medicine. I had no idea what any of them did or why I had to take them, but Master had ordered them and Master wanted me healthy. Well, relatively healthy anyways.

The door opened and a young woman walked in. I recognized her and I knew her name was Marian, she was one of the regular kitchen staff.

"Good evening little one, I brought you some medicine and water." Marian said slowly extending her hand to me. I moaned as my sore muscles stretched to reach the cup and pills Marian held in her hands. When I stretched my shirt must have raised showing all my bruises because Marian gasped and stared at my torso.

"Little one don't move, you'll hurt yourself. I'll help you take your pills you stay lying down." That was another reason I liked the girls. Even though they couldn't explicitly help me they did what they could to make my life a little easier than it would normally be. I appreciated it more than they could ever really know.