Breaking Chains

My alarm is blaring telling me it's time to get up and start another miserable day. I get up and head to my sink and mirror in the back of my room to throw my long blonde hair back in a ponytail and rinse off the sweat and dirt off my face before heading downstairs to fix breakfast for my master and his family. And who am I, you may ask? My name is Michelle. No last name, just Michelle and, for as long as I can remember, I have been a slave. I'm the person who does all the cleaning for the family and cooks all their meals. I am also the person that the twins have the most fun torturing. Anabeth and her twin brother Alan loved to make my life a living hell. Every day I would have to listen to them tell me I am useless and stupid and how no one loved me or ever would because I was ugly and a slave. Being a slave, if I so much as looked at either of them wrong, I would be lashed for insubordination. So, instead of going through that again, I did my best to remain out of their sight. The master of the house was a distinguished Duke of the region. He is called the Crimson Duke in some social circles due to the fact that his favorite form of punishment for crime is to lash a person til they bleed or pass out from blood loss. For more extreme criminal cases, he was known to be much more vicious and twice as cruel. I never wanted to be on the receiving end of his punishments. Most of my punishments had been dealt out by the Lady of the house. She reminded me of a rabid wolf, sometimes she would show me kindness and give me some of Anabeth's old clothes, and other times she would be screaming at me for getting mud on the floor. I never knew what to expect from her. Today is the twin's birthday and I have to have a banquet prepared and have the garden decorated before 6 pm. On top of making sure that Anabeth's gown was ready and waiting for her in her room along with Alan's suit. I will also have to do her hair and makeup and then find something semi appropriate for me to serve all of their guests during the party. If I wanted to escape tonight without a scratch I needed to get a move on. I get to the kitchen by 4:00 am. The family won't be up until 6. I have 2 hours to make breakfast and start on the food for the party. I get started and once I get into a rhythm, the work passes quickly. Before I knew it, I heard the family coming down. I quickly set the table and made sure everything was perfect before I went to fetch the morning paper. When I returned, I was met with the lady's hand across my face. "What do you think you are doing?" I stood there for a moment because I wasn't sure what I had done wrong. "I'm not sure what you mean, my lady." "Why is there no orange juice on this table?" "Beg your pardon Madam but there is." Wrong answer I thought as her hand went to the back of my hair, and she pulled me to the floor. "Do not correct me!" "Yes, Madam." I went to the table and picked up the container with the orange juice took it to the sink and dumped it down the drain. Then I grabbed the juicer and the oranges and began an entire new batch of juice for the family. Once breakfast was over, I cleaned up and got to work on my many other tasks for the day. By 4 pm I was finished with everything and waiting at the door to welcome the party guests into the house. The party didn't end til midnight, and by the end of it I was ready to collapse. The twins were now 21 so you can imagine how much puke I had to clean up all night. I was ready to go to bed when Anabeth came up to me and said her father needed me. I went to the door of the master's study and knocked lightly. "Enter." I walked in to be met with a room full of people smirking at me like they knew what was about to happen to me and were glad about it. "You sent for me, Master." " I will just cut to the chase. You are being sold. I want you to pack what little you may or may not have and be off the premises in 20 minutes. " I immediately left the study and packed. Then I left the house and everything I had known since I was 5 years old behind. I had no idea what was in store for me or even where I was going for that matter. Can't be any worse than here. I thought to myself as I approached the large wrought iron gate that gave entrance to the property. Right as I came to the gate, a large black SUV pulled up and stopped right beside me. Three large men stepped out and walked up to me. Not knowing what to do, I just stood there waiting for instructions.the tallest of the men approached me and in a surprisingly soft voice asked, "What is your name?" "Michelle," I replied. "Well, Michelle, my name is Aaron. I will be taking you to your new home." I followed Aaron to the SUV and climbed into the back seat. Once everyone was in and had their seat belts on, we took off. Sometime during the drive I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes I was in front of a magnificent mansion that looked like something out of an old plantation movie. The back door opened and one of the other men helped me out of the SUV while the other grabbed my small bag for me and Aaron came around to escort me into the house. He offered me his arm, but when he saw I was not comfortable, he stopped and asked, "What's wrong, Michelle?" "Why are you being so nice to me? Aren't you my new master?" "New master? What are you talking about? Why would you think you were a slave here?" "That is what the master told me before I left. He said I was being sold, and he wanted me gone." What has this girl been through? Aaron thought to himself as he assured Michelle she was not a slave and that she could relax. "What am I doing here Aaron?" "I may not be the right person to tell you that, Michelle, but I promise all of your questions will be answered." I don't know what it was that told me I could trust Aaron, but I decided to see how this was going to go down, and hopefully I can get some straight answers out of someone about what the hell is going on here. I took his arm and into the house we went. I was so not prepared for what I was about to become a part of. He led me up a long, grand staircase to the seventh door in the hall. When he opened the door for me, I clapped my hands over my mouth in surprise. Right before my very eyes was the most beautiful bedroom I had ever seen. The walls were an ocean blue green with the linens on the bed matching the walls. The bed was a California King and had a four poster bed frame. I put my bag on the bed and laid down and cried myself to sleep.