*Seven Years Ago*
"For God's sake, Bill! Put down the goddamn bottle!" Beth's mother shouted, kneading the bread dough with a fury Beth hadn't seen in awhile. Her mother, a plump, shapely woman, had a few strands of brown hair slipping out of her bun from her efforts. Sweat clung to her forehead from the heat of the kitchen stove, but Beth still thought she was pretty.
"Mind yer own business, woman!" Her father waved the glass bottle in the air at her, still seated in his chair in front of the fire. His speech was severely slurred from too many drinks already, and he swayed back and forth in his seat.
"That stuff'll kill you! And we don't have any money to afford those drinks anymore. You know that!" She glanced behind her at Beth, who stood waiting for her mother's orders. "Bethany, dear, will you go fetch some water from the well. We need to boil the potatoes in a pot."
"Yes, mother." She answered, slipping past her drunken father and out the door. Behind her, she could still hear the angry shouting of her parents. Wanting to get away from the negative atmosphere, she started walking.
Outside, the air was cold, freezing really. The November winds had come early, in September, that year. Normally, Beth loved the colder weather, but with her family low on finances and food prices going up, they needed those warmer days to plant crops and harvest.
Things hadn't been easy lately. With her father out on a job and her mother having to resort to side work at the local clinic to make end's meet, Beth was forced to learn to take responsibility of herself pretty early on. She got a little sad over that fact but shook it off. There were other more important things to worry about at that moment.
Grabbing the bucket from the side of the little wooden house, she skipping down the hill to the well in the middle of the village. Daisies poked up from the dirt, clinging to life as the wind tossed them to and fro. Beth stopped to smell a flower before arriving at the well.
Attaching the bucket to the hook on the rope, she took hold of the large turn wheel it connected to and slowly lowered the bucket down into the shaft. The crank squeaked with rust and caught on the rope sometimes, but she still managed to retrieve the needed water.
Taking the heavy bucket from the hook, she waddled back to the house and pushed open the door. Her parents were still arguing.
"...if you had just taken that job at the pier, things would be easier! I'm doing the best I can!"
"Quit yer yappin'! Jobs'll come when the summer hits. Ain't no use lookin' when there ain't nothin' there." He took another swig of the bottle, and Beth walked back in the kitchen with the water. Her mother dumped it into the pot and put on the heat.
"There are plenty of jobs available right now! Hank from the bakery offered last week to employ you but you waved it off, the butcher asked if you had any interest and you walked away, I've even gotten visits from the Marines to see if you would want to enlist!"
Beth's father had apparently had enough, of the booze and her mother's lecturing it seemed. "You think you're all high and mighty? I ain't gotta take orders from you! Hell, why don't the girl get a job? You've done nothin' but make bread in that kitchen! She'd be a pretty thing to put on the corner and earn her keep!"
"Bill!" She screeched, accidently dropping a plate on the floor in her shock. The ceramic shattered on impact and sent pieces across the floor. Beth, terrified of the intense nature of her parents' fighting, backed away from both of them and wedged herself into the corner of the room. "How dare you even insinuate such a thing of your daughter. Bethany can't work, she's only 14! She has no experience in trade skills, but once she has a few more years on her, the women at the pastry shop would-"
"She ain't gonna be useful to us that way! We need money! Right now, she's just a useless mouth to feed!" He roared, smashing the now empty beer bottle onto the floor. Those pieces flew across the room as well.
There was an eerie silence, both parents staring across at each other menacingly. The slow boiling of the water in the pot and the wind outside was the only thing that broke the silence. Beth glanced back and forth, trying to foresee what was to come. Finally, after what was forever to the young girl, her mother began moving about the kitchen, pulling a canvas sack out of the cupboard and stuffing various vegetables and loaves of bread into it.
"What're you doin', woman? I'm talkin' to you!" Her father blared, narrowing his eyes in either suspicion or from a headache. Perhaps a mix of both.
Without answering, she left the kitchen and disappeared inside her room. There was a rustling and the opening and closing of drawers. Beth, curious as to what was happening, got up from the wall and followed her mother.
"Mother, what's happening?" She squeaked, watching as she stuffed a set of her clothes into the sack.
"Just don't say anything, baby. Don't say a word to your father. Let me do the talking. Everything's gonna be alright." She ushered her into the hall and into her room.
"Pick a shirt and pants, only one. That's all we can take." Hesitantly, she went to her small dresser and picked out an outfit.
"What's happening, mother? I'm scared." Seeing the tears about to form in her daughter's eyes, her mother crouched to her level and placed a gentle hand on her cheek. The warmth calmed Beth down a little.
"Things aren't working out, dear. Things haven't been the best but we will make it work. I promise, ok? We're gonna be alright."
Still utterly confused, Beth nodded anyway and accepted her mother's tight hug. Her mother stood and took her hand, taking her back into the living area where her father still glowered angrily.
"Why aren't you in the kitchen, woman? A man's gotta eat!" Looking up, Beth saw her mother narrow her eyes.
"You used to be a good man, Bill. But then you had to pick up that damn bottle and lose yourself to those bars and pubs." She sighed, releasing a shaky breath. "I just can't do this anymore."
"What're you sayin'?" He grumbled, clenching his fists together tightly. Beth thought right then that maybe he was going to hurt them, but her mother continued on without looking afraid.
"I'm saying I'm leaving. I've had enough." Taking Beth's hand, she walked towards the door. Behind them, her father ranted obscenities at them and threw things against the walls.
With tears in her eyes, she held tightly to her mother's hand as they walked out into the cold air, leaving her angry father behind…
*Present Day*
Beth was brought out of her story by Killer's voice.
"I thought you said your dad sold you into slavery?" He asked, leaning his head against his arms on the railing.
"He did."
"But you just said you and your mother left him." She shook her head impatiently.
"I was getting to that. You didn't let me finish."
"...oh." He settled himself back on the railing comfortably. She sighed, clearing her throat and plunging back into the story…
*Six years ago*
"Mother, you can't leave me." Beth cried, sobbing into the blankets that covered her mother. The unmoving body that lay under the white sheet couldn't be her mother...it couldn't be. Her mother was strong. Her mother was tough. She couldn't die…
Someone placed a gentle hand onto her shoulder but she twisted out of their grip. "Get away." She croaked, wiping away at the tears in her eyes. They didn't understand. None of them did.
"Beth, there's nothing else you can do." A male voice said behind her, but she didn't want to listen.
"It's gotta be a mistake." Beth answered. Another choking sob racked her body and she buried her face into the sheets again. Underneath, the skin that should've emitted a warm, calming aura was now cold and empty. Her mother's spirit was gone, along with the sense that Beth's life was just fine.
Behind her, there were whispers before she felt two sets of hands dragging her away from the bed. "Beth, you have to understand. She's gone. The cancer finally overtook her pancreas, and after that it was a quick death. She didn't suffer."
"NO! LET ME GO!" She thrashed in vain to loosen the hands on her arms. "SHE'S NOT DEAD!"
"Put her under." She vaguely remembered someone saying. Then there was a prick in her arm and everything went fuzzy and black.
She didn't remember much after that, just the constant stream of acquaintances speaking their condolences and giving her food. She found she didn't want to eat and gave the food away to kids on the street. She was numb, unable to feel anything in the days after the funeral. Even at attendance, she didn't cry. There was still a part of her that believed everything was just a cruel dream that she would awake from at any moment. It had to be…
Days afterwards, she was brought to the head of the town guard. He had an office by the seaside, facing the ocean. It was a small building, set a little away from the main road. Beth walked in, escorted by two of the guards of the town.
"Please sit down, Beth." WIthout a word, she sat, facing him without expression or feeling. He must have seen this, as he sighed heavily and waved the two men outside the door. "Do you know why you're here?"
"No." Actually, she did. With the passing of her mother brought up questions of her residence. She now had no one to go to.
"Well, since you're still only 15, you can't just be allowed to live on your own. You need a parent figure at least until the age of 18." She shook her head, mostly out of fatigue than disapproval of his decision. She really didn't care what happened after that.
"Ok." She answered.
"In cases of orphanage, we usually send the child to the closest family friend. Your mother had plenty of those." He smiled a little, but she didn't respond. Clearing his throat, he continued. "However, those are only cases in which the child has no family left to go to."
"I don't-"
"Your father is still alive. He lives farther down the island by the harbor. There another smaller town there that he sells fish to. It's not an ideal situation, but that's tradition. I'm not too fond on breaking tradition."
"Whatever." She said shortly.
"You'll be under his care tomorrow morning. Make sure to get all your stuff together tonight."
*Present Day*
"So, when does he sell you into slavery?" Killer asked, sitting with his back against the railing. Beth cradled her head in her arms on the railing above him, watching the stars twinkle in the sky.
"I'm getting there. Just be patient."
*Five Years Ago*
"You good for nothin' girl!" Her father shouted as he came out of the house, waving the now empty bottle of booze in the air towards her. "What happened to all the money you said you made?"
"I bought food." She replied, hanging the laundry out on the clothesline. "We wouldn't have had anything to eat if I didn't."
"Did you get any booze?" He slurred, tossing the bottle as far out into the field as he could. It smashed against the ground in the grass.
"No."
"What?" He was outraged, and came stomping up to her. Grabbing a hold of her wrist, he pulled her towards him. "No booze?"
"We don't have the money to afford it!" She snatched back her limb and picked up the basket from the ground. "Go make your own money if you want your booze so bad."
"Hey!" He moved in front of her, stopping her movements. "You should be more grateful that I took your sorry ass in after that bitch died." She narrowed her eyes at his word for her mother. "And the next time you get any sort of cash, the first thing you buy is a new crate of booze. Understand me?"
His face was now too close to her own. She wanted to recoil from the foul alcohol and rotting teeth smell of his mouth. "I'm not buying you booze."
He didn't say anything. And that's what scared her most of all. He seemed to be thinking, calculating, if his dumb eyes could even do something that complicated. In an instant, he snatched her wrist again in a grip that she couldn't escape from.
"Hey! Let go of me!" She cried, trying to pry the fingers off of her skin. They wouldn't budge.
"You've been nothin' but a nuisance and another damn mouth to feed since you came here. It's about time you learned a lesson!"
"I've followed all your rules! I just refuse to buy you something that is useless!"
"Well, you're gonna help me now, like it or not!" He was dragging her off towards the harbor where the fishing ships were docked. She struggled and tugged, but despite his drunken state he was still a lot stronger than her.
"Let me go!" She said through gritted teeth, his stern expression never changed as he approached the docks. He seemed to be set on one ship in particular.
It wasn't huge by any standard, in fact it seemed to be pretty small to Beth. But it looked even more intimidating than one of the Marines' battleships. Painted black and scratched up fairly bad, the Reaper was tied to the last port on the dock. Her name was painted in a blood red color, and was starting to chip from her years of use at sea.
A man stood in front of the boat, directing his crew who rolled barrels and carried boxes aboard. Her father dragged her directly to him.
"Sid!" He called, and the captain turned towards his name.
"Bill, how've ya been?" He then noticed the girl being towed around by the man. "What's this?"
"This would be my worthless, disrespectful daughter. She's been nothin' but trouble since I brought her in from her dead bitch of a mother and I've had enough from her."
"Hmm…" The captain looked her up and down and Beth felt the need to cover herself despite being fully clothed. "You want me to take care of her?"
"I'm callin' on that personal favor you owe me." He said, and the captain nodded.
"Alright, well how much do you want for her?"
"500,000." The captain shook his head.
"Bill, you're an old friend o' mine but you should know that's the retail price for 'em. I won't make a profit if I give you full price."
"Wait, I-" Beth was interrupted by her father's sharp hiss.
"Shut it!" He raised a hand threateningly, and she recoiled slightly. "I've been low on money lately, Sid. Help a friend out."
The captain looked her over once more before answering. "Alright, I'll go as high as 350,000. No more, and I'll take you out to the bar tonight. Drinks on me."
"Done!" The two men shook hands and her father thrust her over to Sid. She stumbled but was caught by a hand on her upper arm. Suddenly, Sid thrust her towards the men loading the boat.
"Put a collar on her and stuff her below deck! The cage should be ready for one more."
Beth looked back to see the two men dealing with the money and her father smiling for the first time in a long time.
*Present Day*
"Hmm…" Was all Killer said after her story was finished. She hugged herself tightly, willing the tears not to fall. She'd thought about everything that had happened to her for years and she'd decided that there was nothing to cry about anymore.
"That's pretty messed up." He added. She nodded.
"Yeah…"
The two fell into silence once more, thinking about their own thoughts.
Neither one was aware of the third person listening...
ns 15.158.61.20da2
