Amelia

004.

Human trafficking; the sale, transport and profit from human beings who are forced to work for others. 

Mark Raumone was a man who was well-respected in this business; the slave trade. In nearly nine years, he had fought and risen to the top. Despite the fact that he was one of the youngest in the business, he was one of the few who held extreme wealth and power. The extravagant, palatial mansion he resided in and the flamboyant lifestyle he led, proved this. His riches and good fortune were credited all to the people he made money off of by selling, buying and trading. Of course, he never gave them any credit. In his eyes, they were mere objects that didn't have any real significance or value, other than money. All they brought him was more money and fortune, nothing else.

The slave trade is a complicated world. Unlike many misconceptions, it's not made up of husky, 19 year old men who walk around busy cities at night, kidnapping young fourteen year old girls for their own lust-filled fantasies. One is never abducted and then forced into this life, but it doesn't come as a choice either. Slavery carries through the bloodline of a family. If your mother was a slave, then you are automatically a slave. The second a mother gives birth to her child, that child belongs to her master. He/she is free to do whatever they want with it. Sell it, trade it, keep it, whatever.

Many people pity these people, the ones who have lived through this lifestyle. However, all of that is senseless, really. The only life these people have ever known is this one, this is as normal as it gets. Their outlook isn't that they live horrible, tragic lives, they don't wish for "happiness" and that they could be "normal." Well, at least the majority doesn't. Ignorance is bliss, in their minds this is how everyone lives.They don't realize that they, in fact, are the minority and that life is meant to be so much different from this.

This is how it was for Amelia. She was happy. Yes, she went through her fair share of abuses and hardships, but that was completely normal to her. She could not imagine any life other than the one she had been living, not that she had ever tried to do such a thing. She belonged to Mark, he loved her in the way a master loves and cares for his slave. This was all she knew.

Considering the circumstances, Amelia was quite bright. A slave has no schooling, no education of any sort. The only "studies" they ever experience are instructions on how to carry out their duties and chores. Education is seen as a threat, it would open their eyes to the real world and show them that their lives should have been entirely different. Amelia didn't know how to read or write. Despite all of this, she was still clever and smart, although one might not know it simply by looking at her. She was known for being quiet and introverted, she rarely spoke at all. She had always been a quiet child; happy, but quiet. She clung to the ones she trusted and avoided any situation wherein she had to come in contact with new people.

Mark did care deeply for Amelia and in turn, she cared deeply for him. It was a mutual relationship, despite the fact that their feelings toward each other were much different from each other's. Mark had an infatuation, an obsession of sorts, with his Amelia. She only loved him like a daughter loves her father. In her eyes, he was her father of sorts. Of course, she never met her birth parents and knew Mark was not her blood, but she loved him all the same.