Sixteen
Unloved. Betrayed. Sold like a piece of meat.
I always knew Father didn’t love me like his other children, but I never thought he hated me this much. That he’d sell me to the village for a handful of coins, that he wished me to die.
How did Mother not stop him? Had she not know what he signed me up for or did she just not care?
No, that couldn’t be. Mother always loved me, just like she loved the rest of my siblings. She wouldn’t have wanted this for me… Would she?
“Get down.” Leo’s voice was barely an echo. I registered him kicking my legs, but the pain never sank in. I hit the cold forest floor, my body limp and useless.
Echoes of arguing voices rang in my ears. It took a moment or two to regain my hearing but when it did, everything else rushed back to me. The pain, the be
