Finally Free!

Arabella felt her body freeze up as though she’d not heard the words escape his lips properly.

“Huh? What... what did you say?" Her voice was almost cracked into a whisper because depending on his answer, she was ready to throw a major tantrum. If truly she had an idea of what he was about to say, then there was going to be trouble she could already sense it.

His face twisted into a grimace. "Are you suddenly deaf or something?" His unfocused eyes seemed to scan her down to her feet, “Someone is interested in taking you off my shoulders. I showed him a picture of you and he couldn't take his eyes off your perfect figure and pretty little face. Dare I say you caught a shine.” He laughed lewdly with a slight shrug, “Although he doesn't know how much of a pain you truly are. I didn’t tell him though, that’s up to him to find out.” He trailed off at the sight of the stern expression on her face - there was an intent to kill.

"If you wanna say something, go ahead and say it. I’m listening, besides I don’t have much time.”He leaned back in his wooden chair with an arched brow.

"I know what you’re trying to say…” Arabella began, “You want to sell me off to someone in marriage right?”

A bemused expression appeared on her Uncle’s face and chuckling he said, “Absolutely! You get it.”

He seemed happy, and Arabella clenched her fists tightly at the sides. It was taking her all the strength not to walk over to where he was and slam the plates he was eating from on his greasly face but she held herself and instead spat out? “There's no way I'll marry some old geezer or whomever you want to sell me too. I’f rather die!”

At her statement, she seemed to unblock his anger streak, and she watched him abruptly sweep the plate of food off the table as well as his bottle of beer away to the floor, and it shattered on contact with the ground before he roughly got up on both feet, “A mere beggar like you dares raise your voice at me?”

She watched him gradually approach, and she took a step backward before meeting the obstruction of the wall while her eyes searched for an opportunity to sprint towards the exit door.

But the front door was directly behind him and she couldn't reach it fast enough based on her physical capabilities, and so she was trapped in.

“You won’t dare disobey me, and I can do whatever I want with you. You’ve been under my wings all these years without being profitable in any way. So now you will be!” As he said this, he stretched out his hand and latched it around her neck making her gasp loudly for breath as her feet left the floor to hand in the air.

She kicked and struggled in a bid to pull herself free, while clawing desperately at his fleshy fingers.

The choking smell of alcohol around him made it more difficult to breathe, and before she could even utter a word he threw her onto the floor with such force that the entire rickety house almost shook.

"Arghh!" Arabella cried out at the sudden impact while he gripped her unkempt hair, before pulling her off and into her room as she screamed in anger.

She didn’t even dare cry out for 'help' because no one would come to her aid. If no one had come over the past decade, what would make today so different from other times?

"Bastard! Leave me alone!” She cursed with her bratty mouth, her hands flailing as he roughly tossed her against the chapped bed frame.

“You're lucky I'm taking you to see him tomorrow unless I'd have turned your face into a bloody pulp! He wouldn’t like that at all, so I’ll restrain my anger.” He spat, walking towards the door, and just before his footsteps faded off into the distance, he whispered, “Ungrateful little piece of shit!"

The door slammed shut, and she could hear the key locks turning, as he was probably imprisoning her. This was not the first time he was doing this, but today the reason why he had done so sent a shiver down Arabella’s spine.

She sat on the floor gasping for ai, as tears freely streamed down her cheeks. It wasn't just the fact that her body ached like hell - but that he'd really sell her off instead of simply chasing her out.

What had she done to deserve all this?

Over the years, she’d realized that he’d taken her in under the pretense of adoption, so he could cling to the money left by her parents and that he could get assistance from government agencies, and he still had the gut to say she wasn’t profitable to him in any way?

That must have been his plan all along, after all - she was just another piece of furniture in his collection that he could flip over whenever he pleased.

She hated him! She hated it all! She hated this miserable life she was living!

Mrs Elizabeth and the rest of the neighbors knew exactly what she went through, but they never did anything to help.

Biting her lower lip till it bled out before getting up to stand, Arabella’s eyes searched around the compact-sized room which had barely any of her belongings. The only clothes she had were those that had been worn over the years, and when they they didn't fit anymore, she had to remake them with a needle.

“Tch!" She hissed, her hands going to her hair as she ruffled the strands carelessly. She wanted to kick his oversized belly and watch him roll down the stairs, but he had more stamina than she did and he might do something more harmful to her should she attempt that move.

This had been her life for a decade and she’d learnt to finally accept it, but he was going too far if he planned to decide how she was going to spend the rest of her life!

Arabella stood up and paced about for a bit till the snoring of the geezer in the next room reached her ears.

‘How audacious of him'. She thought sighing and letting out a sad hysterical laughter.

Did he really think she would allow him do this to her? Did he think she won’t fight against this cruel slavery and crass punishment? No!

She had to escape. She had this thought since time immemorial, and now she was going to put her plans to motion.

This was a window right above the room, and if she had the opportunity to escape she would live, not minding the risk of the floor below them.

With determined eyes, she dug her hand into a hole beside her foam to get out the money Mrs. Elizabeth had just handed to her. A beggar really couldn't be choosy, so fifty dollars would have to do for what she had in mind.

Taking hasty steps towards the window, she paused to look back at the foam she’d promised not to abandon. "Don't give up.” She let out a mild smile at it, as an encouragement to herself as well a tear flowing down her cheek.

To be honest, she was scared to death of leaving out the window plus her body was already quite weak from the regular beatings it received, and she didn’t know if she could do this.

"You can do it, don't worry. You can Arabella.” She whispered out loud to herself, while hanging unto a fat metal pipe that protruded from the wall. Once her grip on it slightly loosened, she carefully slipped down swiftly, until her feet landed securely on the ground at last.

She hadn’t expected this escape to be so easy, but well she was lucky. The only thing she had experienced was the fact that her palm stung from all the friction between her skin and the metal, but it was a small price for her freedom and she would gladly pay it.

No matter how much she wanted to, Arabella made sure not to look back while making her escape as no hesitation was needed for the life she planned to live.

She just wanted to go far away - to escape it all.

She walked briskly round the neighborhood, head bent and stepping out of the road, she hastily stopped a cab to give him instructions to drive to the nearest sea port.

She had no idea what she was going to do there, but maybe she could be lucky to get a free boat ride to somewhere farther than this damned place she lived in.

The driver nodded lightly before the engine roared to life. It was common knowledge that only fifty dollars couldn't take her very far. So she might as well have to find a way to get smuggled into another country, and again the sea port might be off help.

Her eyes turned back to the road, and she stared at the small apartment she’d spent most of her sad life in. It was already out of sight and a few teardrops escaped her eyelids.

“This is it... I'm going to be free.” A forced smile formed at her lips although what she felt was far from happiness, and she shuddered a bit.

She was already having anxiety for what the future might hold - worried that things might turn out worse than what she’d left behind?

She slapped both her cheeks in annoyance before wiping her watery eyes dry, and leaning back in her seat. To take her attention off those negative thoughts, worried eyes moved to watch the road and count the buildings.

There was nothing special about this city - even at night, it still looked so lifeless the way her whole existence was and finally she relaxed

She’d half dozed after looking out the window for almost an hour, when the driver suddenly announced, “We're here, miss.”

"Ohh.” She jerked up before getting out to pay him.

Her eyes moved sideways to look down at the port where various ships lay.

“From today onward...” A hand moved to wipe the single teardrop that escaped her eyelids as she watched the moonlit ocean, forced smile forming on her lips as she finished, “I'm free.”