The Empire's Descent (First Draft)

Chapter 3: Times Hard

Trigger Warning: Serious Child Abuse

**************************************

Adaku woke from the cold floor of the cage they had her and her sisters in and shed a tear. Three years-it had been three years since her mother had been murdered and they were imprisoned. Her head snapped to the only door in the room and she saw that it was daytime. Oh, how she missed the sun. The usual guard came in holding a bottle of water and a book.

He wasn't nice for the hell of it, but rather, he was interested in her mind. A genius is what he called her and he was fascinated by her memory so, every day, he brought a new book for her to read and then recite some page he chose at random. She was like a lion in the circus to him, but Ada was happy for the knowledge even if she wanted to maul him.

"Hi, Alessandra," he chirped. She had decided to use their middle names when they came here. She didn't want them to sully the names her mother gave them, their middle names came from their father and she had no attachment to them whatsoever.

"Hello, Chuck," she responded. He gave a short laugh; he had never met a child so stoic, but then, these were unique circumstances.

"I've brought Hard Times by-" he was cut off.

"Charles Dickens, we've done this book last year, Chuck," she informed him.

"Oh," came his smart reply.

She looked on a random spot on the wall until he got an idea. It usually took him a beat or two, but he always got there.

"How about I choose a random page and we'll see if you still remember," he smiled. He's had this idea sixteen times before, and it always took him a beat or two, but he always got there.

"Sure, Chuck," she entertained his idiocy for the next hour.

"Chuck, how about several Science books?" She prompted.

"Where am I to get that?" He looked at her like she was stupid.

"The very library you got that book from, Chuck," she deadpanned.

"Yes!" he left quickly with a broad smile.

When he left, she stretched her legs from their folded state.

"You all can get up now," she encouraged her sisters.

Mma stretched and hit both her sisters in the face. Their cage was small so, their growth was stunted and they were underfed, but Ada gave them as much of her portions as she could and sometimes, she was able to coax Chuck into bringing them additional food. She reached into the loose brick on the ground and pulled out the bottle of water she stole from Chuck when he came in earlier and offered them a few sips. They were fed yesterday so; they wouldn't be fed for another two days. She put everything back in its place and waited until Chuck came back or Marlon woke up needing a punching bag. The latter came first...

"Good morning, my lovelies," he sang.

"Good morning," they chorused. Marlon slammed his hands against the cage in anger. Mma and Danna flinched back, but they had learned pretty early to school any outbursts. Though, Mma began hitting her herself in the head; Marlon liked seeing that. Ada let it prolong until she knew Marlon had his fill and then she coaxed Mma to calm down.

"Good morning, what?" He demanded.

"Good morning, daddy," the girls corrected. He beat it into Ada to call him that and the rest just followed to minimize damage.

He moaned in appreciation and the girls felt disgusted by him.

"Let's go, Alice," he smirked wickedly; that was the name he had given Ada as 'Alessandra' proved too much of a mouthful for him. Even Chuck managed fairly. Useless man...

His words sunk into the two who understood and Danna wanted to scream her protest, but a censorious look from Ada stopped her in her tracks. The jangling keys alerted the girls and, despite her outward stoicism, Ada found herself terrified of what was to come next. He yanked her by her hair and she let out a short scream before a swift and sure hand silenced her. Her sisters looked on and cried, paralyzed with their own fear.

Marlon dragged her by the back of her shirt, up the set of stairs, through a filthy house lined with drugs, women and men who all looked half-dead, and up another flight of stairs. He shoved her in a room with a double bed and pointed to a door.

"Go," he instructed. Her legs shook as she moved slowly to the bathroom trying to prolong the inevitable.

"Hurry up!" He barked and Ada moved faster.

Closing the door, she saw no lock and swore under her breath. She started the shower and began searching for anything she could use as a weapon. She had to kill him or he would sentence them to death. Nothing useful, but the mirror was here and she could not break it without alerting him. She was now resigned to her fate-a cruel fate.

*

Marlon dressed her whip marks with some clean rags and threw her back in the cage with her sisters who immediately swarmed her.

"Sorry, so pretty," Mma stroked Ada's face, but Ada couldn't move or even crack a smile.

"So pretty, sorry," Mma said more frantically. This time Ada gave her a small smile which did its job. Danna got the bottle of water and cradled Ada's head and guided the bottle to her lips.

"I love you. I love you. I love you," she continuously whispered.

"Every day you fight for us and you take care of us. I love you. I am so sorry," Danna kissed her forehead and continued cradling Ada.

Mma understood the words 'sorry' and 'love' so, "love you, sorry, love you," she parroted. Ada, simply, nodded.

The girls fell asleep in their huddle and each wished for a better tomorrow.