All I could see was the color red.

Drip.Drip.Drip

Drops of fresh blood dripped from his fist. Sir's heavy breathing was the only thing that I could hear.

I was supposed to make my brother, whom I'm supposed to call Master, a hearty breakfast. I did as ordered, but he wanted something else than what I had made him.

Master had told his father I knew what he had wanted, so I had refused to make it for him. Of course, that wouldn't be further from the truth, but I knew better than to speak the truth to either of them. It would help anyway. All it would do was make my punishment last longer than necessary. I had to finish my chores, but I could even eat breakfast and begin my other tasks before evening.

"You keep making this harder on yourself, scum!" Sir bellows.

I held my face (one side was heavily bleeding from the large gash above my left eyebrow) with one of my hands while the other was struggling to hold up my body from falling to the rotten wooden floor. Sir had also kicked my stomach, making it hard for me to breathe normally.

'I think he might've broken a few ribs. Damn you, asshole.' I thought.

Knowing it was better than letting on that I was in pain. After all, he didn't care if I was hurt. Pain was the only way a piece of shit like me would learn in his twisted mind. I just had to take slow breaths to try and breathe. Though, it was excruciatingly painful to do regardless. Every breath I try to take in it causes my body to shake uncontrollably. Instead of releasing that same breath, my blood would spit out of my mouth.

Thus was how my life started every day. No hope. No savior in sight. Just this misery is all this left to me.

I shouldn't be expecting anything less than this hell on earth. No one in this family cares for me.

"Do you hear me, ingrate!? Hey! I'm talking to you!?" His voice yells out to me.

My body flinches before I slowly turn my head to look at him. He scoffs at me before he begins to repeat himself once more. He walks towards the shed's sink to clean his hands of my blood. I didn't even realize he was speaking to me since I was, oh I don't know... TRYING. TO. EFFING. BREATHE.

"You are going to clean up the shed. Once finished, you march back into that kitchen to clean up the table. Then begin cleaning out our son's room, prep the guest rooms, and prepare yourself for setting out to the market for tonight's dinner. Do I make myself clear?"

'Do I have a choice in the matter?' I looked back at the ground before uttering a "Yes, sir."

He scoffed at my reply before drying his hands and leaving the shed. "Why in god's name do you even exist?" He muttered under his breath.

Whether he meant for me to hear him, I can't be too sure either way. But for the moment, I should get cleaned up and get to work.

'Can't ruin the floors with my 'tainted' blood, now can I?' I thought to myself.

I slowly raise myself to my knees while being mindful of my stomach since that's where sir hit me the most. Once I'm on my knees, I take a deep breath. I lift my right leg to a kneeling position and then set up my left leg to do the same thing. I use the floor and wall to push myself to stand. Since I used my left leg to try and shield my stomach from most of his blows, the muscles were screaming at me to cease all movement.

However, whether I wanted to or not, I had to stand up. Or I would risk another beating. I take another deep breath and start pushing with my legs into standing with all of my strength.

Even though I went slow when trying to stand, it still was too fast for my head not to feel pain from the beating I had taken earlier. "Ugh...Shit...too quick, I get it head." I whispered loudly. I know I can't wait for my head to stop pounding right now. I have to get myself cleaned up before people start asking questions.

P.S. Sorry for not posting last month. My work and life (bad procrastination) got me caught up from posting more parts to this story. I will try to work on that in the near future.