Some time ago...
She sat in the small, dark room, mercifully alone for now. Her body shivered uncontrollably and she rocked back and forth, tears flowing freely over her flushed cheeks.
Now she was able to think again, her head buzzed with a litany of anguished questions. Why had she been left with these people? Would she ever be able to free herself of them and the things that had come to haunt her? Did she dare try to escape?
She had come to dread the light, revealing the pitiful state of her existence and the hunger filled faces of her supposed carers. And even worse, the times when she was led out to see the people from the orphanage that came to check on her. They paraded her in front of the officious representatives, kept her drained and ensorcelled, passing her off as some dullard child.
Oh how they mocked her with their oily smiles, lapping up the praise at their generosity in taking in the troubled girl.
Stood in their presence, she fought against the walls in her mind, trapped like an animal.
Humiliation and fear left her feeling lost and alone and she cowered in the dark space that held her. Waiting, listening for the second assault. The whispering phantoms of doubt and self-loathing would soon fill her ears with the hateful list of her shortcomings.
Dimly, light began to creep under the door of her tiny room. Again? she thought desperately So soon? Panic gripped her and she dragged herself to her feet. They would kill her eventually, why wait in the dark for death?
The door opened. There was a flash of light and she charged…
Subject: Child of woe 