7 Heroes 10: Adameria's Memory 1

                  Time is replayed, a scene from the past. A young image of Adameria is seen at the age of twelve. She hums a light tune to herself as she sweeps up the dirty tile floor, positioned in the hallway. This home, clearly a quite small one, is not the highest of quality, as indicated by the cracks in the walls and the stains ingrained into the building. Noise fills the air inside, children screaming in joy at their play, the sounds of their feet pitter pattering across the tile. Adameria just ignores it, focusing at the task at hand. Loud varying noises fill the majority of her life, and so she has grown accustomed to it. However, she is forced to acknowledge it when her younger brother comes running by and intentionally jumps right into the middle of the pile she just swept up, scattering the dust and debris everywhere.

“Hey!” Adameria pulls the boy away gently, grabbing his arm to do so.

“Ow ow ow!” The young boy exclaims as he drops to the floor in a sudden outburst. He cries out in pain.

“I barely touched you!” Adameria quickly becomes annoyed by his display.

                 Hearing the younger sibling’s cries, the eldest (of age seventeen) comes out of one of the bedrooms. She was clearly just asleep a moment ago, as was obvious by her nightgown, bed hair, and smeared makeup she hadn’t completely removed since work last night. She was always angry when she was woken from her slumber.

“What the Hell is going on?” The eldest sibling growls.

“He messed up my pile.” Adameria states, clearly annoyed by the current event.

“SHE HIT ME!!!” The younger boy screams out.

When the boy says this, the seventeeen-year-old turns and smacks Adameria over the head. “NEVER strike your brother! Let alone any man! Our brothers are worth more than you ever will be!”

         Seeing his sister get smacked due to his false accusation brings joy to the little snort nosed brat. He snickers at the sight of it before sticking his tongue out at Adameria and giving the remains of the dirt pile a good kick before darting off somewhere.

The eldest sister glances over at the window, seeing the sun going down. “Shit, I have to get ready for work. James is in charge until mom gets home!” She announces before heading off to get ready for her work.

          Adameria sighs to herself as she rubs the back of her head where she was hit. There was no point arguing it. She just starts from the top once more, trying to make up for time lost. Once in a mound again, she gets a bag and sweeps the dirt in and takes it out to the trash. A new noise then enters the premises as an infant’s cries can be heard. Adameria briskly walks into one of the four bedrooms of the house to see one of her younger sisters standing back, angrily rubbing her arm. This sibling was the age of ten and had dark hair and purple eyes similar in color to Adameria’s.

“Stupid baby!”

“What happened?” Adameria asks.

“She threw her pacifier at me, so I punished her.”

“You hit her?! You don’t hit babies!” Adameria scolds the ten-year-old before she turns to the baby in the crib and picks her up, hushing the child in attempts to sooth it.

“Then what should I do?” The frustrated brunette asks.

“Go do some sewing. You’re good at that.” Adameria tells her.

“Why don’t I work on dinner-“

“No, you’ll burn it.” Adameria bluntly states in all honesty. “I’ll teach you how to cook properly soon. Then when you are ready, I’ll let you do dinner on your own. But not until then.”

“Ugh, fiiiiiine.” The girl groans as she walks out of the room to get the sewing kit.

“Are you upset, little Sersie?” Adameria asks the baby as she kisses her head, the octave of her voice going up when speaking to the infant. The baby in a fit still. It’s at that moment that a loud rumbling noise comes from the baby’s belly. “Oh, that’s why you threw your pacifier. You were hungry. I think there’s some of mommy’s milk in the kitchen.” After saying this, she walks with the fussy baby out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen. On the way she passes the living room where her older brother James sits, flipping through an inappropriate magazine obscured by a book he’d obviously never willing read. The brunette boy throws his head back, shouting out loud.

“Ugh! Adameria! Shut that baby up!”

“She’s just hungry. Give me a second.” She tells him, annoyed by his complaining when all he does is sit around all day. Once in the kitchen, Adameria starts to get a bottle ready for baby Sersie. That’s when a loud crash is heard somewhere in the house.

“Someone go check on that!” James simply shouts, not moving from his spot.

         Adameria rolls her eyes hearing him, knowing already that if she doesn’t go, then no one will. She walks into the hallway to find the twins standing by the nightstand which was knocked over. All of the contents that once lay upon it scattered over the floor.

“It was an accident!” One of the six year olds suddenly shouts.

“No rough housing ladies, you know better. I won’t punish you as long as you clean up this mess and help me with the cooking, okay?”

“Okay.” The girls say in sinc. Immediately rushing to clean up the mess they made. Adameria watches while feeding Sersie. Once the twins complete their task, Adameria smiles. “Now come with me to the kitchen.”

             In the kitchen, Adameria goes about making dinner. She has the twins do small simple tasks where they stir ingredients or crack eggs. Afterwards Adameria gives them positive reinforcement, but honestly from the heart. “You two are the best helpers around here.” A smile grows on the older girl’s face.

“You’re my favorite bigger sister!” Says one of the twins.

“You’re the nicest. I wish you were actually mommy instead.” The other says.

This brings a frown to Adameria’s face. “Don’t say that. Our mother works hard every day to provide for all of us.”

“Yeah, but she never spends time with us.”

“Unless it’s punishment.” The other twin chimes in.

At this point, it becomes difficult to hide the sadness that grows inside Adameria upon hearing the twins. It wasn’t always like this, Adameria remembers. The twins never got to experience how it once was, everything had already gone so wrong by the time they were born. “How about I see the two of you off to bed tonight? I’ll tell you a story.”

“Okay!” The girls pipe up.

“Now why don’t you to be a big help and set the dinner table for me?”

         Hearing that, the girls treat it like a race. Quickly scurrying about to get the dishes, utensils, napkins, and cups to set each spot on the dining room table. While they are busy with this new chore, Adameria goes and puts Series back in her crib, as she was falling asleep in the kitchen sink. She closes the bedroom door quietly after she steps out, making sure to not wake the sleeping baby. Immediately when she turns away, her older brother James stands right in front of her, giving her a momentary startled jump.

“You should be proud of your big brother, Adameria. Tomorrow I will be aiding our country when I officially leave to join the military.” He leans against the dirty walls.

“I know and I think that’s great James.” She says as she tries to walk by him, however he side steps to stop her from passing by.

“Will you miss me? I know I’ll miss you.” He tells her. Adameria grows uncomfortable when he says this.

“How sweet of you. Now I need to go-“ As she tries to push past her brother, he grabs her roughly by the thick of her hair and forces her head down till she’s in a bent over position. The boy forces his way behind her as she struggles under him.

“How about you give your brother a nice going away present?”

                 James pauses and looks up when he hears the front door open. Their mother storms in, a long horrible day at work, as always. Their mother’s tired purple eyes fall onto the scene of the two older siblings. She walks right up to them, James getting off of Adameria instantly. Their mother’s hand comes down and smacks the boy hard over the head.

“Don’t molest your sister! I don’t need you putting more shame to our family and breeding bastard children that will only be more mouths to feed! Especially not since your father isn’t going to give us financial assistance anymore you dimwit!” The large women that is their mother then lumbers off to the dining room to eat. All of the children follow suit.

As everyone sits down to consume the food Adameria and the twins prepared, they remind silent while their mother gives out the instructions for the night. “Nessie, you will do the dishes after dinner. Adameria, you’ll put the twins and Sersie to bed. Then since James abandons us tomorrow, Chase, you will be taking responsibility of the yard work.”

“No! I don’t wanna!” The youngest boy screams defiantly.

“Boohoo! There’s a lot of things we don’t want to do in life, I didn’t want to be stuck alone taking care of eight ungrateful children, but here we are. Besides, you’re a boy. You’re only useful if you grow strong. You’re a scrawny little shit as you are right now, working in the yard will fix that.” Their mother tells him.

The boy merely pouts, lowering his head.

“If you work hard you can be like your big brother.” James tells Chase with a proud smile.

Their mother gives the older boy a scoff and a dirty look. “Yeah, cause you’re a great example for him. A Slums boy scraping the bottom of pans for the real contributors of Master’s military. So admirable that you’d risk your life to pick up a fucking sponge and dish soap.” Her comment causes James to shrink in his chair a little.

               After that it remains silent as they go about finishing their meals. Afterwards, everyone assumes the rolls they were given. Nessie collects all the dirty plates and goes to clean them. Adameria takes the twins back to their bedroom where she tells them a story as she gets them tucked into bed. The twins shared a room with Sersie, who was sound asleep in her crib. The story Adameria tells is one of a distant memory. Of a small cottage isolated and close to a field. Tall bright green grass grew, swaying In the wind that rolled by, sounding vaguely like the ocean breeze. In the spring colorful flowers bloomed vivid colors. The sky a clear blue, and the rains were more fun than dreary. Then she tells them of their father who used to play with her. Then of their mother, back when she smiled and glowed with a radiance. Back when everyone loved and cared. She could hardly remember it, but it was worth while letting the twins know, their mother wasn’t always this way. Betrayal could make someone so desperate, so bitter. The destruction of love, it was fatal to the soul and heart alike. There was no undoing the damage that had been done. Their father left with another family, and they were abandoned.

            Almost immediately after the twins close their eyes to rest, Sersie is heard coughing and hacking loudly. Adameria hurries over to the crib to find the baby in a cold sweat. The fever was back. The infant wheezed for air, it’s wet cough crackling painfully. The pain the poor baby was in almost enough to bring tears to Adameria’s eyes. Although the infant was in pain, she knew she’d be yelled at if Sersie’s cries woke anyone. And so she hurries outside into the cool fresh night air as Sersie screams in pain. Adameria sits under the tree in the backyard and pulls out a bottle from her skirt pocket. It wasn’t a good medicine, but it was all they could afford. She gives the small dose of the remaining liquid to the small baby, emptying what they had left of the contense of the bottle.

“All out already, but mom hasn’t gotten the next payment yet…” Adameria bites her lip, looking worriedly at the baby. It takes a small while for the medicine to kick in, soothing the baby’s cough and making her drowsy. Adameria rocks her, humming to the small child in her arms. She waits as long as it takes for the baby to fall asleep once more. She fears for her dear baby sister’s life. Their mother did not understand the level of intensity of the baby’s illness. She refused to acknowledge Adameria’s claims. Next time Sersie got sick, she wouldn’t know how to stop the child’s coughing fit. She hoped the child would hang on long enough for their mother to see it and agree to put funding in for more medicine. All she could do was wait. So when Sersie drifted off to sleep, Adameria carries her baby sister back to her room where she puts her in her crib. She lays her soft blanket down over her small frail body. Adameria traces her fingers over the baby’s tiny feet. She pushes her finger down lightly on the soft chubby, plush cheek of the infant. Then plays with the small tuffs of blond hair that rest on top of her head.

“Rest well little one.” Adameria whispers before lightly kissing Sersie’s forehead and leaving to her own room where she climbs into bed to sleep.

          A few hours pass where Adameria managed to slip into a peaceful slumber when she is woken in the middle of the night when she hears crying and her mother yelling something in hushed tones.

“What the Hell did you expect?! That’s the life of a whore, Pricilla!”

           Adameria lays silently in bed, watching in the darkness of the room as her eldest sibling bursts into the room, her face covered in smeared makeup from her running tears. Her blond hair a dirty mess, her gown torn, bruises covering her body. She could smell the urine and semen from across the room. Priscilla burrows her face in her pillow, weeping loud, her bloodied knees staining her bed sheets. Her body was trembling in pain. Adameria could only imagine what happened, and it wasn’t a sight she could bare picturing.
             
               As Adameria examines her eldest sibling, her eyes fall to the other bed in their small room. It was empty. Where was Nessie? Adameria gets up, figuring Pricilla needed some time alone anyways, so she steps out into the hallway where she hears two people moving in the living room by the front door. Adameria steps forward to see what was going on. That’s when she sees their mother with her younger sister, Nessie, by the front door. Nessie was dressed in her nicest outfit. They looked like they were about to go out. At this time of night? Adameria was confused at first, but after the first moment of confusion passed, she understood what was happening. This, she didn’t want to believe.

Their mother sees Adameria and remains completely calm about it. Nessie, however, looks at Adameria with terror in her eyes, the poor girl was shaking violently where she stood. “Adameria, I know you understand.” Their mother starts. “Without your father’s financial assistance I cannot afford to feed everyone in this house. The twins and Sersie are obviously not worth anything. Obviously, I’d never get rid of the boys, since they are the pride of this family. I need Pricilla to continue aiding the family with her income from her street work. However, it only takes one to take care of the house and kids. Although we don’t have to worry about James anymore, you sister and I still won’t be able to compensate, especially not with Sersie’s medication being an extra expense. I have no choice but to sell your sister. Even after this, things will be difficult, but we’ll find a way to manage until the twins are old enough. So this is the last time you’ll ever see Nessie. Say your goodbyes.”

             After their mother says this, Adameria’s eyes fall to her ten-year-old sibling. She was speechless, she couldn’t process what she was hearing. She looks hard at Nessie’s purple eyes before she abruptly walks forward and embraces her younger sibling. Nessie squeezes Adameria, gripping her nightgown in her fists as she tries to remain composed. Her voice shakes as she whispers in Adameria’s ear, “I’m scared.”

“Alright Nessie, lets go.” Their mother announces as she opens the front door.

                  Nessie slowly lets go of her older sister, taking slow steps back. Adameria feels a squeezing in her chest as the strands of Nessie’s long raven black hair ghosts over her skin on her hands as she moves away. She felt guilty that she couldn’t say a damn thing to her younger sister. It felt like a horrible dream, but she knew it was real. It was just too sudden. How did it get this far?

                Once the two step out of the front door, Adameria’s mother closes the door after her. Adameria just stands there in utter shock for a while, staring at the closed front door. Never again will Nessie come back through those wooden frames. After a moment, the shock turns into a heavy weight as she turns and walks back to her bedroom. Priscilla still laid in bed wallowing in her own sorrows. Adameria wore the expression of someone who had the life torn from them. She plops down on her bed, staring off in the room. She could not find rest after that, her mind plagued at the loss of her sibling. How could someone just sell their child? It hurt to think about.

                  Laying there for a time, Adameria doesn’t even sense the passage of time, that is, until, Chase pulls her back to reality. The defiant child bursts into her room and looks right at her with an angry expression on his face, hands on his hips. Then loudly he announces, “Im hungry!” In a whiny tone of voice.

Adameria lays there unmoving for a moment as she responds. “Alright, I’ll make you breakfast. When I do that, can you start the yard work please?”

“No! I don’t wanna!” Chase stomps. “Get off your fat butt and make me something, NOW!!”

“Mom said-“

“I don’t care!! I don’t wanna do it!” Chase yells before turning and running away to avoid work.

                  Adameria sighs to herself before slowly getting up. She walks into the kitchen and starts making a simple breakfast, not finding the emotional strength to put much effort into it. After they all eat a quick breakfast, Adameria has the twins clean up before they go play. She goes and checks on baby Sersie, changing her diaper and feeding her before she heads out to just do the yard work herself. Once she completes that, she briefly cleans the dirt off and sits the twins down for their sewing lessons. In the middle of this, Chase comes in with dirt he grabbed from outside and starts flinging it around the house in an attempt to show his defiance towards their mother. This prompts another sigh from Adameria as she cleans up that mess too.

“That boy is such a brat.” She growls, irritated, to herself.


                While Adameria continues cleaning, scrubbing down the tile floors, Sersie begins to cry. The instant she hears the child cry out, Adameria drops the sponge in her hand and hurries for the room the twins and the baby all share.

“Adameria, shut that baby up! I’m trying to sleep!!” Priscilla screams.

                  Adameria ignores her sister’s outbursts, already on it, but not for the reason her eldest sibling has stated. She feared for the youngest’s fate. When she enters the room, Adameria walks straight for the crib, peering inside where she sees her baby sister covered in sweat, coughing and hacking, wheezing for air. Scooping her up into her arms, Adameria wraps Sersie in her soft blanket. The first step Adameria takes is getting fluids into the baby’s system. She dabs off the baby, who’s covered in sweat, experiencing an extreme fever.

“It’ll be alright little Sersie, hang in there.” Adameria frantically paces as she tries to calm the distressed baby. They were out of medication. She didn’t know what to do. There was nothing she knew that she could do, and she quickly grows panicked. As Sersie continues to have a crying fit, it becomes noticeably more difficult for the infant to breath.

“UGH!! Take that damn baby outside!” Priscilla hollers.  

                  Upon hearing Priscilla’s impatience for the baby, Adameria briskly walks over to where the twins play in the living room. “Can you two clean up for me? I need to help Sersie for a while.” The two see the distressed baby and nod lightly before putting their toys away. After that, Adameria carries her youngest sister out back where she sits with her in her arms by the tree. She sits down, the flesh of her back pressing against the sharp uneven edges of the bark decorating the tree trunk. The color of the tree was an ashen grey, and not a single leaf was present on its branches. Although it was uncomfortable, Adameria pays it no heed as all of her focus goes to the child crying in her arms. Heart thundering, all Adameria can hear is the child’s crying and painful coughing over the sound of her own heartbeat. She losses track of time, her only concern in the world in that moment is Sersie. A lullaby, soothing rubs, gentle rocking, all the things that always worked before failed. Never had Adameria felt this powerless.

“Sersie, you need to calm down sweety.” Adameria says, keeping her voice soft in the current situation, not wanting to upset the baby any further. She wipes the sweat from the child’s small forehead. That’s when the coughing is replaced by intensive gasping and wheezing. An unbearable squeezing feeling grows in Adameria’s chest and it makes her lurch forward, looking at the child desperately in her arms. The moment the squeezing sensation releases, silence fills the air. A moment passes. This is real. That’s when the horror sets in. The fussing child that only a moment ago cried in her arms was now limp. Blue eyes staring blankly up at the dark sky. Adameria gave her a light jostle, the child non-responsive and covered in its own sweat.

“S….Sersie?” Adameria chokes out her sibling’s name. As she touches the stiffening face of the lifeless child, tears well up, burning hot in her eyes as they overflow and trail down her cheeks. The words that come out of her trembling lips are shaky, filled with a deep sadness and guilt. “I’m so sorry…I’m so sorry…I couldn’t help you.” She pulls her baby sister close to her chest as she curls up with her under the lifeless tree. Adameria breaking down, bawling loudly, unable to control her feelings.

               As Adameria weeps for the loss of her sister, the stars emerge in the blackening sky. Their mother enters the front door, returning from work. The moment she enters the house, she is immediately put off by the absence of the aroma of food. Dinner was always prepared in advance of her arrival.

“Why the Hell isn’t dinner ready?”

One of the twins answers, “Adameria went out back with Sersie. She hasn’t come back inside since.”

               Confused, their mother heads out back. Seeing Adameria by the tree, she is at first put off. She approaches slowly when Adameria looks up at her, her face puffy and red. Sersie becomes visible in her sibling’s arms.

“I couldn’t help her.” She sniffles.

“What?!” Their mother rips Sersie from Adameria’s arms when she says that, shoving Adameria aside. Looking over her infant, the mom is quick to grow hysterical. “My baby! My poor baby!” As Adameria pushes herself up from where their mother shoved her, their mother snaps their attention to her. “You. You let this happen. You let my poor baby DIE!”

Hearing that, Adameria looks at her with utter disbelief. “No! We were out of medicine. I tried to-“

“SHUT UP!” Their mother puts the child’s body down and tears a branch off of the tree. She goes to Adameria with it and starts to beat her with the branch. Using her living child, she exerts her sorrows, releasing her sadness through anger. The edges of the branch catch at the skin with several strikes, splitting Adameria’s tanned skin. After ten minutes drag on of the mother getting out her frustrations, she drops the branch and grabs Adameria by the thick of her black hair and drags her back into the house. Seeing Adameria cut up and bleeding, the twins instantly pipe up in protest. Crying out for their elder sister and for their mother to stop. Annoyed by their protests, Their mother shoves the six-year-olds away violently when they try to pry her hands away from Adameria, slamming one of them into a wall in which prompts the child to start crying. The mother just ignores it for the moment, as the other twin goes to comfort the now crying sibling. Opening the a closet door, their mother throws Adameria into the small room filled with cleaning supplies. “It’s all your fault!” She tells Adameria, as if condemning her. Then the door slams shut, followed by the sound of the locking mechanism clicking on. Letting out a deep breath, Adameria just shrinks against the door, sitting in the pitch black closet while silent tears continue to stream down her face. Even now, she could only think about the lost look on her dead baby sister's face. Is it my fault?

                 The clock ticks on. Numbness sets in within that cold closet. A point comes where Adameria doesn’t think at all. There had been yelling, their mother yelling at the crying twins for crying about their ‘minor loss’. About when she went on about their dead sister, and the selling of Nessie. The six-year-olds don’t exactly take it well. After that, she heard their mother crying for a long time. Then everything had gone silent. Adameria’s eyes burned from the crying she’d done today. Her wounds from the tree branch throbbed, but at least the bleeding had stopped. She should be sleeping, she even felt tiered, like she could rest for an eternity. However, she feared the realm of her dreams and refused to visit. Dead faces of her siblings would surely emerge and she wasn’t ready for that, not yet. So she just sat…that is until a soft knock came on the other side of the closet door.

“Adameria?” It was one of the twins, Dawn. Although they were identical, there were differences between the two warm brunettes. Fawn appeared to have more freckles, but Adameria swore Dawn had a certain softness to her voice that Adameria could recognize instantly.

“Yes Dawn?”

“How did you know it was me? Fawn and me sound the same.” Dawn says, surprised and impressed.

A small smile grows on Adameria’s face. “I can just tell.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’ll be okay. Don’t worry about me.”

“Fawn and I wanted to check up on you, but Fawn isn’t feeling too good after mommy knocked her back. So only I came.”

“It’s probably best she rests then. Thank you for checking up on me, that was sweet.”

“Adameria.”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too Dawn. Let Fawn know I love her too. You should go to bed before mom catches you and you get in trouble.”

“Okay.” Dawn says, not really wanting to go. Despite Adameria telling her that she was okay, Dawn didn’t really believe it. However, she follows her older sister’s request and gets to up to return to her room for bed.

              After Dawn speaks with her, Adameria finally falls victim to the sleep that slowly crept up on her. Not long after she shuts her eyes for rest the closet door is unlocked and the door opens, leaving Adameria falling back on the floor and woken abruptly. Her mother reaches down, grabbing her arm and pulling her along. She’s forced to change clothes, dressing up nice. Not a word is exchanged between her and her mother during the entire process. Once Adameria is decorated in her best outfit, her mother takes her out. It is late in the night as they head down the housing area and into the main shopping area in the Slums. At this time the normally bustling shopping area is mostly closed down. The crowd had changed from the average mix one would see during the day. The people out now were dabbling in unrulily deals and businesses that were kept under wraps. Gang members went about, in one alley way a group of them were beating the shit out of some poor guy who was caught alone. Some guys could be seen through the doorway in one bar harassing a women. Whores were out attempting to draw in anyone who walks by. Drug dealers were out, some people just looking to start fights. Adameria just does her best to walk tall, not afraid to look. None of it could upset her now, not while she burned with such rage at the betrayal she knew was happening in this moment. A mother is supposed to protect her children. Adameria’s mother leads her over to where a small canopy was set up, under it were several young kids and their sellers behind them.

“Stand in line.” Adameria is told. She only looks up at her mother with a glare, not moving. Her mother rolls her eyes and shoves her in line.

                    Including Adameria, there is a total of twelve kids standing in line. Eleven of which were girls, and only one boy amongst them. Several people examine the kids in line as if they were objects in a shop window. It’s not long before a couple comes up, excited when they see the little boy, they go straight to him. With glee the happy looking couple fork up several gold coins for the boy and take him with them with a warm embrace. The boys were always worth more. He would be happy with him new family. The same wouldn’t be said for the remaining girls. Looking over the girls with them, Adameria notices the ones up for sale seemed to range from 8 to 13 for the most part. The oldest was a thirteen year old girl. A fat man waddles up inquiring about her.

“Has she bled yet?” He asks the girl’s mother.

“Yes.”

“I’ll give you two silver for her.”

“I want three gold.” Her mother argues. Girls aren’t worth that much.

The man laughs at her laughable price. “She’s not worth anything close to that price.”

“Fine, I want 1 gold and 2 silver.”

“1 gold.” The man tells her firmly. This is the price that is accepted and the man takes his new sex slave with him while the mother leaves with next month’s entire rent in her pocket.

           Of the girls present, they all vary in appearance. Including Adameria, four of them remaining had black hair, two had brown hair, two blond, and a single red haired girl. Two of the girls with black hair had blue eyes, the most common genetics in Marnix. Another of the black haired girls had brown eyes, this made her look like Desire, and therefore made her likely to sell for at least a decent amount. One of the brunettes had blue eyes, the other green and clearly came from Native descent. One of the blond girls had brown eyes while the other had green. The red curly haired girl had blue eyes and freckles covering her face, she was very pretty at the small age of eight, but she looked scared. The dark haired girl next to Adameria smiles at the people passing by, trying to charm the crowd.

              A man steps up to the small red haired girl smelling her frail neck. The girl practically jumps when he does this, handling the petite little ginger roughly. “Mmm, I love them young.” Hearing those words come out of the man makes Adameria’s stomach churn. The poor girl trembles all over hearing that.

“I want two gold and one silver for her.” Her father announces. It was certainly uncommon to see the father selling the child. In fact he was the only male selling. He asked for a lot as well. It only took a moment for Adameria to figure out what was different in her situation. The women selling were selling their kids because they were desperate for money, they weren’t exactly clean or dressed well, but this man was. He was a breeder. He knew the genetics that were desirable and bred children to sell as a side job, they were never intended to be kept from the get-go.

“I’ll give you one gold for her.” The buyer tells the father.

“Red hair like this is worth a fortune. Not to mention her freckles. Two gold it is.”

“I’ll give you one gold, one silver, and three bronze for her.” The buyer gives a new offer.

“Forget it.” Her father confidently tells the man.

“Gah!” The man puts his grubby hands all over the small girl, pulling at her pretty floral dress, every inch of the girl recoiling away. She looked like she was about to cry. “Fine, I’ll give you two gold!”

When the red head is taken away, bursting into tears, Adameria is shifted down in the line.  The Brunette next to her leans close to Adameria and whispers to her, “If you smile, there’s a chance you could get someone nice.”

Adameria looks over the crowd, a scowl on her face. “No. Every last one of them can burn in Hell.”

                  As Adameria looks over the entirety of the crowd, glaring burning eyes over each of the faces she saw. Eventually her eyes fall on one individual man in the crowed, their eyes locking. The purple of her eyes almost seem to glow and he gets drawn in, dropping the conversation he’d just been having, coming over as if in a trance. Flickering in the intensity of Adameria’s stare, a spark of orange is reflected in her eyes, like the heat of a flickering candle reflected on the clear surface.

“Most of these girls are scrawny looking.” The man says when speaking to Adameria’s mother, then he turns his attention directly to Adameria in particular, who remains silent and looks at him, her glare never wavering. “But she looks strong. I’ll be needing a stronger girl for the work I do.”

“What is it that you do?” Adameria’s mother asks.

“I’m a blacksmith, I work directly for the military. I mass produce swords for them.”

“A sword smith, wow.”

“So, how old is she?” The man gets back to the topic of his business, not really interested in impressing Adameria’s mother any.

“She’s twelve, soon to turn Thirteen. She’s due for her first blood any day now.”

“That’s good, then it shouldn’t be too long before she can carry my children.” This comment prompts a silent nod from the mother, but Adameria remains unshaken, holding her everlasting glare. She felt anger like nothing she ever knew. “What interesting hair she has too.” The man comments as he touches her hair where the black transitions to purple, running his hair through it. “It’s not fake is it?”

“It’s real.”

“So how much are you selling her for?”

“Two gold.”

The man sneers at that price. “How about two silver and three bronze?”

“One gold, two silver.”

The man looks at Adameria again, lowering himself to her height. He turns her head different ways to look at the shape of her face, her eyes never leaving his face. The man looks her directly into her eyes. He becomes entranced.

“I’ll give you one gold and one silver for her. Only because I like the eyes on this one. Their beautiful…”

“Done.” Her mother takes the offer. The blacksmith hands over the cash to Adameria’s mother. “She’s all yours. She already knows how to cook, sew, and clean for you. She will serve you well.”

“That’s  good. All she needs to learn now is my own craft.” The swordsmith then shifts his words to Adameria as he stands upright once more. “Come with me now girl, you belong to me.”

Adameria exhibits momentary hesitation, but walks forward after a second or two to join him by his side. The man looks at her before walking with her into the crowd. Adameria looks back to her mother, giving her a death glare as she walks away. A momentary look of guilt crosses her mother, but only for  a split second.

“I noticed you have some wounds. Did your mother beat you?” The swordsmith asks Adameria.

Adameria only nods to that.

“Good, then you’re used to it for when you’ll take a beating from me.” This prompts a glance from Adameria. “What’s your name, girl?”

“Adameria.”

“Alright, Adameria, my name’s Jerako, but you’ll be referring to me in terms of endearment since I will be the father of your children. I’m not your dad kid. You got it?”

“Yes.”

The man stops and looks at her. “What did I just say about how you will refer to me?”

“…Yes, DEAR.” Adameria says, putting every bit of utter distaste in her voice as she says it.

“Good, now we go home.”

            The strange new man named Jerako that Adameria would get to know walks her to his house, her new house. It was a small home. Inside the living room had been made into a workshop, the forge set up and all the tools for metal smithing to be found. Several premade swords lined up and hung on the wall. In the back was the laundry station. To the right was a kitchen so small it made her old house look big. There was one bathroom and two bedrooms. The smaller room the man takes her to.

“I used to have a friend who roomed with me, he helped with the rent on this place. He’s gone now though. This will be your room for the time being. After you bleed you’ll move into my room with me. Eventually this room will be used for our children.”

Adameria just walks forwards and sits down on the bed.

“Tomorrow I will go out and buy you a few changes of clothes. While I’m out you will need to do my laundry, that includes the sheets. Afterwards I want you scrubs this place down spotless. After that I will start teaching you a few things about sword smithing.”

“Yes dear.”

“See you in the morning.” The man simply tells her, closing her bedroom door behind him before heading off to bed himself.

Adameria just slides into her new bed. The mattress was stiff and uncomfortable. She makes do with it best she can. “Back to work I guess….”

“Just another day.”

After saying this a sadness wells deep inside of her. Not ready to confront this developing emotion just yet, she shuts her eyes on it. Sleep overcoming her.