The courtyard was exceptionally quiet, not abnormally so though, but today it wasn't the quite that resulted from lack of voices and sounds, this silence came from the very depth of the land, it spoke of fear, a darkness that had nothing to do with light, and death without roots.

I'm sitting under a very large pinewood tree, I don't know how long I have been sitting when I hear a loud thud from the front house. I freeze, my breathing increases noticeably, my heart starts pounding violently against my chest, but I do not move.

See, I have been alone in this house for three months now, I haven't entertained even a single visitor in that period, I used to spend the whole day crying and soliloquizing but as days changed into weeks and weeks months, I also changed into a different person, I just sit and stare into the distance for long hours. Although the house is a big one, since the incident I haven't stepped into the main house in front, I have confined myself to this little shed beside the pinewood tree. What incident you ask,*laughs mockingly*, you will find out soon enough, nothing can be hidden here.

Another loud crash shakes me back to reality, I realize I am still frozen in place, I stand up, not once taking my eyes off the direction of the noise, I walk towards the house slowly but cautiously, not making a single noise. I push the back door open and walk in,' is it a thief' i think to myself,' but who would want to come and steal here and make such loud noises too?'.I hear footsteps coming from the direction of the bedrooms and I turn left to follow it but the footsteps stop as suddenly as it started, I stop in front of the first door, it has a yellow sign that reads"don't barge in mf" I smile subconsciously, I step in and look around, it is neat and tidy as expected, but it is also empty, I go into each of the other rooms but nothing. The last room is a masters bedroom, it stands at the end of the corridor, I shudder and feel light-headed staring at it, I feel hot and extremely cold, I begin to dry heave as the memory I have struggled to suppress for these three months threaten to burst out, I hold my head and scream, I turn to the wall and jam my head on it continuously, I feel hotter and colder and shiver and slump down as my eyelids become too heavy to stay open, but before my consciousness drifts out, I feel an ice-cold strong hand pick me up, I feel like I'm floating, I hear a very distant soft but masculine voice say"I've got you" as I pass out.

*flashback*

"you disgusting thing" Annie sneers, I stand mutely not making eye contact with her. She gets enraged by my silence and slaps me hard across the face, the pain making me lose my balance, I forget I am standing at the mouth of the stairs and stagger backward, I didn't fall down the stairs as I had expected but landed firmly on a pair of strong hands, "I got you" a voice whispers beside my ears, I shudder as I recognize the voice but before I could react my hair is pulled and I am dragged forcefully and thrown on the ground"you're so shameless, you cheap dirty bitch, do you have to seduce every man you meet" ann lashes out at me. Micheal, the man who stopped me from falling, holds her back before she could hit me again, I stand up quickly and run downstairs." how dare you touch that thing" I hear Annie say "she isn't a thing, she's nice and hardworking, why are you always so hard on her" Micheal responds.

" That witch, has she also turned my boyfriend against me" she says, her voiced laced with the hatred she doesn't try to hide.

I walk to the kitchen and finally break down, I try never to cry in front of others, I try to always smile and put on a cheerful look. I was sold by my mothers' uncle to the Wilson's when I was seven to pay off a debt.

My mother died a few days after childbirth, so I was told, so from the age of seven I had lived with the Wilson's and was raised not as a child but a maid to their only child Annie.

For twelve years I have gone  through every form of maltreatment thinkable, well thinkable to Annie, I am starved and flogged daily, but I have learned to hope through it all

*FLASHBACK ENDS*