She watched, from her small, cracked window, the weathered cart being drawn by stubborn horses. No matter how many times they were whipped, they would not stop before the house. Animals, she had heard, could sense darkness about them. These animals could smell the rippling bouts of evil coursing through the house as if it were the dank smell of dried, decaying blood. She had become used to seeing the carts stop before the house. They were in difficult times- the plague had wiped out too many of the townsfolk. Farms were abandoned, houses left bare and death was about them as if it were in the very air they breathed.

There was no money. The townsfolk hadn't seen a single golden coin for almost a year- they were starving. Men couldn't find work, drinking their sorrows away in darkened rooms. They would emerge at smallest hours of morning- if not to make love to their wives, to reduce them to bloody messes with only their fists alone.

They had been reduced to drinking water filled with shit.

It ate away at them. Made them desperate...

The cart was finally stopped and a young girl pushed out- virgin, no doubt.

Good.

Virgins always brought in the most money for their first ride.

Pretty too. She looked down at her own weathered hands. She had been pretty once till she felt the cruelty of man. They defiled her, stripped her, beat her. Yes, she had been very pretty once... Now, as she looked through at her reflection in the old, broken window, all she saw was empty, red sockets that once held the most beautiful, blue eyes.

Now just crimson holes.

Her lips curled into the oddest smile as the girl ascended the stairs.

By the turn of the night, she would be a virgin no longer and her beauty would fade away with every hard, cruel thrust. She would become ugly

Just like the rest of them...

Emily shielded her eyes from the sun as the top-most window caught her eye. Someone had left a dream-catcher hanging from the frame and the little mirrors had caught the sun, reflecting it down as sharp glints along the pavement. She turned back, intent on calling for her parents, rolling her eyes irritably as she caught them kissing once again. She assumed after 18 years of marriage, they'd get sick of it but she felt as if they had only gotten worse with time.

Could they not go for one minute without invading each other's mouths, for God's sake!

"Hey, babe, help us out for a second." Her father called from the car, lugging out what seemed to be their cat's luggage. The little shit was perched happily above the box, surveying the man's moving abilities, mewing every time her father jostled the box just a little too roughly.

Emily walked over, happy to free her father of his feline burden as she nestled the cat beneath her arm. She was perplexed at how stiff and heavy he felt in her arms, his fur standing on end as his long, thick grey tail swayed dangerously from side to side. His gaze was fixed to the topmost window, the glints from the dream-catcher illuminating his skin in broken yellow light, as he growled deep in his throat. Emily looked up, blinking rapidly as the sun pierced her eyes with his hot glare. Everything before her, was black. She blinked once more, hoping to rid herself of her brief blindness.

It happened in the split of a split second. She swore she saw it pacing before the window sill, watching her. Simply watching.

She was so sure she saw it. So sure that she saw a woman with no eyes. Only deep, crimson sockets that rattled her very soul.

And when she opened her eyes again, it was gone.

***

It was a beautiful house. Her parents had fallen in love with it the moment they set eyes on it. It had wide, airy corridors and large French doors connecting each room to the next. It had been painted in the softest shade of yellow and the greenery outside each window only seemed to enhance the beauty of the interior. It was still bare though- nothing more than a shell. They brought with them only the bare necessities and a bed for each of their rooms. Everything else would be started from scratch.

As she lay in bed that night, Emily smiled as she looked up at the ceiling. The previous owner had dotted the entire ceiling in small, glittering stars, forming constellations amidst its random haphazardness. It was the single, most beautiful thing she had seen in her life yet the longer she stared, the heavier her eyes became until eventually, she was called to Sleep's ethereal land.

"Do you know how much your parents sold you to me for?" he was tall and broad and his breath smelled of beer and stale eggs. She reeled away, shielding her breasts from his view. She had been stripped of all her clothes before she walked in, naked as the day she was born. She had never even looked at her virginal parts before, never thought to touch it but he touched. He touched her from the moment he walked in, pushing his finger into her to see if she was indeed a virgin. "I test all my girls before I sell them but you- I'm going to have a lot of fun with you."

"I want to go home." She whispered, afraid of this beast before her, her tears had not deterred him. Instead, it had only encouraged him to hurt her further as he slid another finger into her body. "Please don't do this to me."

"I paid 5 copper coins for you." He smiled, pulling his fingers out, only to push them further back into her. "5 copper coins. That's all you were worth to them, Emilia. Only 5 copper coins."

Her body felt as if it were on fire and her thighs were stretched so far apart that they began to hurt. She had woken up that morning as Emilia, daughter of Stephen and as night fell, she had become nothing more than Emilia, the whore. The whore who was worth only 5 copper coins.

As he probed her even further, she could do nothing but close her eyes as the last of her tears had dropped off her chin.

She was now Emilia, the whore.

He lowered his breeches, forcing her to her knees before him. And she could do nothing more than comply to his single command.

"Suck."

Emily woke with a deep gasp. She felt as if her throat was clogged and most foul taste invaded her mouth as she coughed loudly to expel it. She couldn't understand what that taste was nor why she had come to hate it so. It wasn't just a bad taste in her mouth- that taste was filled with so much of anger and hatred and anguish. She didn't know these feelings nor why she was feeling them. They settled heavily upon her as if pushing the very air out of her lungs. She struggled to breathe as she sat up, wincing at the odd pain between her legs. It was almost as if it was an odd, tearing pressure, cutting her from the inside out.

She lifted the covers and pushed her shorts to her knees, examining the deep purple bruises along her inner thigh.

What the fuck?

But the pain had gone further than her thighs. They went higher up her legs, to the apex and she couldn't begin to explain why her hands began to shake as she pulled the thin cotton material of her panties forward

Dotting the sensitive skin, were deep, purple bite sized marks. And as she watched, they began to fade into a dark blue, then green and yellow and within less than a minute, her skin was pale white once more.

***

She had chalked it down to nothing more than a dream. She had had dreams like that before...

This was nothing different.

Yet, she couldn't truly rid herself of that taste in her mouth nor the pain between her legs. It was still as poignant and as real as it was the night before and no matter how many times she told herself it was a dream, she knew it had truly happened.

***

The man who had paid for her virginity had requested she be held with chains. He claimed that he hated women who struggled and virgins that were being plucked were always the worst. She could feel goosebumps dot her skin as the cold winter air invaded her room from a large crack in the window. Her sheets were soiled and stained, brown and black and grey as if they had never been washed and her body felt cold above its decrepit surface. The thick metal chains cut into the skin of her wrists and ankles and her muscles protested as they were held taut for far too long, waiting for him.

She was grateful for every minute of pain though because every minute meant a minute away from the nameless monster who would shatter her body.

She closed her eyes as the thud of heavy footsteps sounded outside her door. Her heart pounding in her chest as the footsteps grew louder and louder, her body sweating, drenching the material below her. She flinched with every loud sound...

Her chest heaving with her heavy breaths as the doorknob creaked.

She could feel her lungs begin to rasp beneath her heavy breaths as the door opened with a loud groan. His footsteps sounded closer

Closer

Closer

Closer

Her eyes opened when she felt his grip against her chin, his dirty, black fingernails pressing into her skin.

"Squeal for me, whore."

He invaded her body, wiping her blood over her thighs with his hands as he pushed deeper and deeper and deeper into her.

And all who heard her scream that night, simply turned away, happy to pretend it was not happening at all.

Emily woke with a cry, feeling the sticky, hot dampness between her legs. She pushed off her covers, stuffing her fist in her mouth as she saw the deep, red blood that coated her shorts. She couldn't understand what was happening nor why it felt as if something were being pushed into her over and over again. She closed her eyes, willing herself to wake up from her dream...

She had to be dreaming.

It couldn't be real.

She opened her eyes, jumping back as she saw the woman standing before her. Her clothes were black and tattered, her bony fingers crusted in blood and her eyes....

Nothing more than empty sockets staring down at her from the foot of her bed.

"Leave from here."

Emily woke with a gasp once more, nothing more than her light yellow wall before her. She sat up, unwinding her long braid as she rested her forehead against her knees.

What's happening to me?

***

"Who are you?" Emilia asked the woman before her. She was taken into the room as soon as she had awoken only to be met with a stern face and undisguised disgust.

"The healer."

"Oh..." she felt uncomfortable before this woman. She was only allowed to wear her shift- her dried blood still crusted over her legs. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to think about the pain between her legs or the vile ways he had taken her the night before. He had held the keys to her holdings, forcing her into new, painful positions.

She shook her head, focusing instead on the woman before her. Her hair was wound in a widow's braid and she wore the black and navy clothes signifying her position as such. Her hair was dark black yet her eyes were the brightest green Emily had ever seen. But they were dead eyes. They held no light or hope of life within them. They were nothing but instruments meant for vision- that was all. She walked slowly towards Emilia, threading a thick cotton through a small, sharp needle.

"What are you doing with that?" Emilia moved back, frightened of the woman before her and terrified of what she would do.

"Master says you are to be a virgin once more."

"I don't-" Emilia was cut off as two young girls pulled her thighs apart, and a third held her body down.

"You're to be a virgin again." She said simply, before squatting down before Emilia's bared lower body. She tutted at the dried blood, irritated that she would have to work through it... no use wiping her off with the rags she had. She would sooner give the girl a venereal disease with the filth lurking around those rags. She pulled her open, readying her needle in her right hand before she pushed into the girl, stitching her up so that she would be pristine and pure once again.

The forever virgin.

Like she had been, once long ago...

"Emily?" her father watched her worriedly over his cup of coffee, shouting her name for almost 5 minutes before she looked at him.

"Yeah Dad?" her was shocked at her appearance. Her eyes had become dull and the once sparkling grey irises were nothing more than dark, empty pools.

"Are you okay, babe?"

"Yeah, I just haven't been sleeping well." She tried to smile yet it looked like nothing more than a pathetic simper. She had been lying though. She hadn't been sleeping at all in the month they had been in that house. Every night, as soon as she had closed her eyes, she was taken back to that place. She was in that room- the pungent odour of human faeces clinging to her nostrils and the sounds of the loud moans, groans and cries echoing in her ears. It wasn't just a dream- she could feel them as they hurt her, beat her, whipped her, claimed her...

There wasn't many things that she was not subjected to. She had been chained to a bed and rode like a pig by 4 men for an eternity. She had been taken standing, sitting, lying down. She had been taken in her mouth more times than she could imagine and she had been restitched so many times that it no longer hurt. She was the forever virgin...

And as she woke up, always the woman with crimson eyes would be there. Simply instructing her to leave.

Before she woke up once more only to look at the bare yellow walls before her. She was so sure that she was going crazy.

She was sure she had seen her in the corner of her eyes, seen her in the shadows beneath her clothes, seen her in the mirror just as she switched on the light. She was so sure that she was always there. Always...

Just watching with her empty eyes.

Just there.

She no longer wanted to close her eyes. She would stay awake, till her eyes burned and her mind protested. She could no longer think rationally or properly... she wanted to just be without being sore every single morning. She wanted to shower without seeing red water puddle beneath her feet, only to blink and have the water look clear once more. She didn't want to wake up to the bruises and the bitemarks.

She wanted to just wake up.

Just wake up...

***

He was the only man she liked. He was a sailor, a retired sailor but he was younger than most. His leg had been lost in the plague and so his steps were always identified by the thick wooden stump beside his booted thuds. He was kind and funny and he always taught her a stupid trick whenever he walked into her room. He was also the only man who had spilled himself inside her...

She thought she loved him. With his wide body and dark brown hair, she was powerless to resist the attraction she felt towards him. She moaned loudly as he found himself inside her once more, caressing her skin, touching her, loving her...

He was the only man who had ever made love to her.

She could feel the stump of his leg against her own, his powerful body holding him up as he pushed into her once more. "Let me take you away." He breathed into her ear, his body coated in thick sweat as he pleasured her with his hand. "Please, let me take you to live with me."

"They won't let me leave." She gasped, holding him closer to her as he brought her closer and closer to the brink of insanity.

"I'll pay them."

"You have no money." She said, whispering his name over and over as he found his way even deeper into her body, finally losing himself inside her body...

"I love you." He said softly in her ear. "I'll find a way." He waited until she had finally come undone, rolling off her body to lie beside her. "I'll sell my God damned leg if I have to."

"Your wooden leg?"

"It wouldn't fetch much money, love." he teased, "If I came in without any legs, I've finally have you take me instead."

"I'd take you now." She said cheekily, moving to sit above his waist. "If that's what you want."

"Yes..." his voice was nothing more than a breath as she guided him into her body.

Emily sat up in her bed, her eyes widening as she looked straight into her empty sockets. She was right in front of her, moving closer and closer towards her.

"Leave now..."

She heard the words in her head, heard them as clearly as she heard the crickets outside her window.

"Why?"

"Leave."

And Emily sat back, groaning as she looked at her clock. It was barely one in the morning yet sleep would not claim her again.

***

The birthing process was difficult. Her blood had coated the sheets beneath her, finding its way slowly up her back. She was surrounded by women, holding her hand or sponging her forehead. She gave one last push and the screams of a new born baby could be heard resonating throughout the entire house. "Georgiana." she smiled, naming her daughter after the only man she had ever loved. He would never see her, hold her, touch her.

He had been dead for almost 6 months, side-sickness they called it.

"Just wait until she's 5 years old." Master walked in, smiling gleefully at the newborn before him. "Many men pay to take children."

Emilia shielded her daughter from his view, covering her face in the dirty woolen blanket she had been given.

He would never, ever hurt her daughter.

Never.

The sun had only risen when she walked towards the kitchens beneath the stairs. She held her baby close in her arms, walking softly towards the baths of water on the floor. Her steps were careful as she made her way across the slippery surface, intent only on one thing...

She would keep her baby safe from him. Always.

She knelt down on the ground, wiping her finger gently over the beautiful babe- over her forehead, her nose, her puckered lips... She was perfect. She brushed the softest of kisses to her baby's forehead, before she dipped her in the water, keeping her face down until she stopped thrashing...

And her beautiful, perfect baby was no longer alive.

Emily had woken up with tears streaming down her face. She had been sobbing in her sleep, lamenting a loss she had no knowledge about. She felt sorrow so painful that it crushed her heart until it was no more. It hurt to breathe alone that she could no longer even think about taking another breath. She didn't know how she could live with this pain. It was torture just to think about living for one more minute.

Yet, in all those tears, not once did she remember why it was that she was crying at all.

And in her anguish, she hadn't taken notice of the silent lady, drops of blood falling from sockets that no longer held any eyes.

***

"Take them out!!" she pleaded. "Take them out, I beg of you. Take them out. Everywhere I look, I only see her."

The healer couldn't understand her garbled talk. "Take what out."

"My eyes!" she cried, "I don't want them anymore. Please take them."

"What will you give me?" the healer asked, readying her tools.

"Anything."

"Lie back." She said, heating her branding rod within the hot flames of her clay oven. "This will hurt."

"I don't care." She opened her eyes, looking at her daughter one last time before the branding rod was pushed into her eyes and she was blinded for eternity.

Emily awoke with a scream so loud, the glass beside her rattled. Her eyes were burning and as she opened and closed them again- all she could see was black.

"Em, babe, what's wrong?" her mother asked, rushing into her room.

"I can't see, Mum. I can't see." She cried, rubbing her eyes will they yelled in pain. "I can't see." She felt her mother's arm around her, felt a steady heartbeat beneath her ear yet nothing would silence the shouts in her mind. "I don't want to see anymore, Mum. I don't want to see them anymore."

"See who, darling?"

"The woman with no eyes. The men, the-" her tears had interrupted everything else... they made her throat so tight that she couldn't begin to talk.

I don't want to see them anymore.

***

Her parents walked into her room.

It was too silent and the very air around them cried out in warning. Everything in them told them not to go any further.

They walked in, yelling and screaming at the sight before them.

They she was, hanging from a noose.

Her eyes, dug out of her sockets.

And only one simple message on the wall behind her.

I don't want to see anymore.