Ciera had always wished for more. She always thought that she deserved more than she got. Her parents would just have to work harder to make her feel appreciated. No matter how hard they tried, Ciera always demanded more. Eventually, they reached the point where they couldn't take it anymore. Ciera's mother worked sixteen hours a day, and her father worked two different jobs just so that he and Ciera's mother could survive themselves. Together, the parents decided that they had only one choice. They had to let her go. Of course, they would need some money in return, but at least the couple could relax a little and live more themselves than for their daughter. So it was decided. Ciera was to be sold to the farmlands.
Ciera's parents told her they were going to take her on a trip to a farm. She had refused until they promised to buy her a new pair of shoes, the pair she had always wanted with the pretty lilac bow. The trio got in the car and drove for at least two hours, with Ciera constantly asking, 'Are we there yet?' from the back seat.
When they finally arrived, they were greeted by a grimy looking girl, with grease smeared on her arms and hands, and her hair in a wild mess, slightly singed towards the ends.
'Welcome to Lady Madeleine's Farm. I'm Tanzi, come with me. I'll take you to the house,' she greeted the family. They followed Tanzi through the many crops of cotton. They passed a large barn, where the clucking of chickens and snorting of pigs could be heard through the wall. Finally, they reached the large mansion at the far end of the property. It was a towering building, with intricate ornaments dangling from the balcony ledges. Extravagant cream walls stretched for metres along the ground. An ornate knocker decorated the front door as Tanzi wiped her grimy hands on the small black apron around her waist before carefully knocking three times.
The door swung open faster than anyone would have expected, two beady eyes on a wrinkled face popping out from behind the door. The woman squinted at the family, her eyes lingering over Ciera for a longer period of time. 'You may show the parents out, Tanzi,' the woman's scratchy voice spat. Tanzi smiled politely and turned away, ushering Ciera's parents back towards the front gates. Ciera wondered what was happening.
'You there. Girl,' the woman spoke again, 'You're Ciera, no?'
'Yes,' Ciera eyed the woman carefully, 'I'm Ciera.'
'Come with me, I'll show you to your room.'
Ciera was about to question the woman, when she looked sharply behind her back. Ciera bit her tongue and followed behind the woman.
'You will address me as either Madame or Lady Madeleine,' the woman said as she walked. Once they passed the mansion and barn, she took a right, heading behind the barn to a three storey building. Lady Madeleine opened the door.
'Sophronia!' She called sharply. A flustered girl with short blonde hair rushed down the stairs. She wore a black t-shirt and denim shorts, with an apron wrapped around her waist. The apron was cream and dusty, with cleaning utensils stored in pockets around the apron.
'Yes, Madame,' the girl said obediently.
'Show Ciera to her room. She can share with Iridiana and Vivian,' Lady Madeleine said before walking back out the door, and supposedly back to her mansion.
'Ciera, was it?' Sophronia asked.
'Yes. Ciera,' Ciera replied.
'Follow me, please.'
Ciera followed Sophronia up one flight of stairs, before they walked down a hallway and reached a door with the number thirteen on it. Sophronia knocked three times on the door and waited for a reply.
'Come in,' a voice called from the other side of the door. When Sophronia opened the door, Ciera got her first glimpse of the room. It wasn't spacious. There was two bunk beds opposite each other, with a box at the end of each bunk. There was a window, but there were bars over it. Ciera turned around to inspect the door. There was a lock on the door, but it would only lock from the outside.
'Um, Sophronia, was it?' Ciera stammered.
'Yes, but you can call me Soph,' Sophronia replied.
'Right. Are all the rooms like this?' Ciera asked.
'Yes, but don't worry, you'll be fine. Just follow the rules and don't step out of line.'
Ciera gulped at the thought of what might happen if she stepped out of line. She stepped slowly into the room and looked around further. There wasn't much more to the room than what Ciera had seen, apart from there being a couple pairs of boots under the bed.
'Well, we'd better get you dressed and show you around,' Soph said.
'But I'm already dressed,' Ciera exclaimed, confused by Soph's statement.
'Not in uniform, you're not.'
'Uniform?' Ciera asked.
'Yes. Uniform. You're going to work here, aren't you?' Soph questioned.
'Work here? I thought I was just going to have a look around. I was definitely confused when Tanzi showed my parents out but I didn't want to question Lady Madeleine. She's quite scary,' Ciera shuddered.
'Oh. You're another one of those deserted kids, right?'
'I guess so.'
Ciera and Soph hurried back down the stairs and took a few lefts before reaching a light brown oak door with a small sign on the front. Soph opened the door and shoved Ciera inside, following in after her. Ciera stumbled slightly but looked up to see what once might have been a magnificently furnished room, but was now strewn with many aprons, skirts, shirts, pants, ribbons and pieces of torn fabric in black, white, brown, tan and other neutral colours. Another girl walked into the room and shooed Soph out.
'Right. What job have you got?' The girl asked.
'Um, I don't know,' Ciera stuttered, standing up straighter as the girl stared intently at her.
'Floor and room number?'
'Uh, floor 2, room 13,' Ciera replied unsure.
'Right. Kitchen. Okay, you'll need an apron, a shirt, pants,' the girl continued to ramble as she scavenged through the heaps that lay around the room. She folded the clothes into a neat pile and placed them into Ciera's hands.
'Here you are, try these on. They should fit, but come back if they don't, oh, and ask for Stella,' the girl smiled, 'Have a good day.'
Ciera hurried out of the room, stealing glances over her shoulder at the bright girl. Kitchens? Ciera thought, It won't be that hard. I've cooked before. Ciera tried to remember how Soph had gotten her to the room, and turned right at every corner. She thought she remembered some areas but her instincts were wrong, and she ended up at a dead end. She tried to retrace her steps and found her self standing in front of a bathroom. Ciera slumped against the wall and slid down, hugging the clothes to her chest. Placing her head on her knees, Ciera shuddered and heaved in a deep breathe before exhaling slowly. She tried to remember where she had to go to get to the common room and headed in the direction she suspected it was in.
Ciera was just about ready to explode, when she finally made to the commons. She sighed in relief and headed up the stairs. From there it was easy, two rights and a left and her room was third on the right. Ciera knocked cautiously on the door, incase someone was inside. Hearing no reply, Ciera opened the door and walked in. The room was still in the same condition she had left it in, but there was an extra apron hand on a hook by the bed, and a pair of boots by one of the bunks. Ciera placed her clothes on a bed and started to change into the uniform, getting a little stuck with doing up the zipper on the back of the shirt and found that she had to double round the apron because it was so big. Other than the few minor issues, Ciera got into her new uniform just fine.
Ciera had just about finished dressing when someone swung open the door, right into Ciera's face, hitting her nose. Ciera stumbled back and groaned, flopping onto the bed behind her.
'Oh, sorry,' A dull voice apologised to Ciera. She looked over to the other bed and saw a girl who looked a little older than herself. She had black hair and olive skin, and was wearing a similar outfit to the one that Ciera had been given. The only difference was that hers was a little burnt along the edges and she had oven gloves hanging from one of the pockets in her apron.
'What's your name?' The girl asked Ciera.
'I'm Ciera. What's your name?'
'Iridiana. Nice to meet you. You're working in the kitchens, I take it?' Iridiana inquired.
'Yes. I suppose so,' Ciera answered glumly.
'Hey, don't get down. Just be glad that you're not working out in the farms or anything.' Ciera smiled slightly at the thought. At least she would have a basic idea of what she was doing.
Later that evening, Vivian came into the room and told Iridiana that she needed to help with preparing dinner. She turned around, noticed Ciera and introduced herself, telling Ciera to report to Lady Madeleine. As Ciera walked back through the hallways she made a mental list of which corners she turned, and dedicated the to mind so she could find her way back later. She followed Vivian and Iridiana to the mansion and went through the kitchens to find Lady Madeleine.
'I wouldn't have expected you to take as long,' she scolded Ciera.
'Yes, Madame,' Ciera replied.
Lady Madeleine huffed at Ciera, shooing her out of the room. Ciera scurried out and back down to the kitchens.
Knives were sharpened, before performing precise cuts into the vegetables. The vegetables were simmered in oil, over raging flames, bursting from the stove. Girls rushed around, cleaning and cooking, before three girls walked out with the meals. Everyone instantly began to finish cleaning up, wiping down benches, washing dishes and sweeping the floor. Ciera helped to wash the pots and pans they had used to cook, stacking the and shopping them into a cupboard once they were dried.
Once they were all finished, the girls trudged back to the dormitories. They dispersed onto different levels and collapsed as soon as their heads hit their pillows. Ciera was particularly tired and had never known so much work in her life. As Ciera lay awake and dreamed of her old life, she noticed how restless the other girls were sleeping. They rolled around and almost fell off their beds. She wondered how long they had been here and how long it would take for her to get to that stage. She couldn't get the thought out of her head as she rolled over and fell into a dreamless sleep.
Was there really no escape?