"Please ma'am, it's not what you think!" I cried, still kneeling at her mercy on the cold concrete. Her hand came down hard on my face, her sharp manicured nails leaving long bloody imprints in my skin. "I should never have rescued you from that cage! I should have left you there to rot!" She screeched. I couldn't bring myself to fight back. The worse part was that I couldn't tell what hurt more; the pain of not being able to fight back, or the pain of not knowing what I did wrong? She pulled me off the floor by the hair, and it took every ounce of energy to keep myself from letting my hidden tears fall. Reaching to one side with her free hand, she illuminated the basement. Adjusting to the light my eyes saw one thing and one thing only; An iron cage. "Oh no, please, no! I swear I'll do whatever you say." I pleaded, clinging to her arms like a babe. She dragged me, with some difficulty, over to the cage, but I simply wouldn't let go. All I could think of were the beatings, the fights, the imprisonment, and the deafening cracks of whips that had ripped into my back. I couldn't relive those memories again. It would destroy me. She tossed me into the small iron box like a ragdoll, like I was nothing, and locked the door. "Please! I beg you!" She stared at me through the bars with a gaze that could cut through stone. "Stay away from my son, you animal!" She stormed away without a second glance, screaming all manner of insults. "Filth! Monster!" It hurt, all of it, but what she called me before turning out the lights and slamming the basement door left me completely broken. "Halfbreed."
7 parts