Heres my newest story! Its acually based off of a dream that ive had... I really hope you all enjoy it! Its set in the late 1800s in Southampton, England. Therefore there will be some british dialect, which i tried to spell phoenetically as it should be pronounced. You should be warned that as i wrote the short dialogue at the end, i totally said it all out loud in my british dialects, which i have to say im a beast at even tho im an american. Anyways, read and review, but most importantly, ENJOY IT!

PREFACE:

Wow, my life really sucks. I hate the way things run in this house. Mama is too strict with me ever since Papa died. And Emmett thinks he can take Papa's place, and control everything I do. I can't believe Mama lets her own son treat me like he does, but I'm sure its just because she's scared of him. I know I am sometimes.

I sit in my room, making as little noise as possible. I'm pretty sure Emmett is drunk, and probably having another one of his whore parties upstairs. I still cannot believe Mama let him have the entire third floor of our mansion. I'm only sixteen, but I already know enough to understand that what Emmett does, is not right. But of course if I say anything to Mama, she will hit me, or worse, send me up to Emmett's party. I would kill myself before I did something stupid like that, especially now that Mama is always so irritable.

Ever since she started getting her headaches this year she has been on edge. The doctor says it is just all the stress, and gives her special "pills", but they don't work and Mama stays the same. Everything that I do seems to set her off and then she sends me upstairs for Emmett to punish me. I don't think that's fair seeing as Emmett is only twenty. I can't wait until I am old enough to marry. Just two more years and then I am out of here, even if that means marrying the first suitor that asks Emmett to start a courtship with me. Although I'm afraid Emmett won't let me get married, and then I will be trapped her forever, and then I'll be one of the old spinsters Mama used to tell me about to frighten me. But that can't be possible, I am pretty sure there are laws here in Southampton that prohibit such things as not letting a man marry a woman as long as all the financial things are worked out first.

I'm sure once I am eighteen, Mama will be nicer to me, and help me to start attracting suitors. It shouldn't be hard to attract men, seeing as Mama has groomed me for the sole reason of marriage and social advancement, though Mama hasn't been that way with me since Papa died. Everything changed in this family that terrible night three years ago. I remember that day as being very traumatic for me, not only because my own father died, but because I saw that a part of my mother died along with him-the part that was happy and loving and who wanted to enjoy the finer things in life, things that we still have, though are reserves are dwindling because of my brother Emmett's new lifestyle. I would love to see the old Emmett again, the one who was a joyous young man who loved to learn and wanted to follow in Papa's footsteps and become a doctor. But that changed when he had to become responsible. Emmett couldn't keep up with payments on some of Papa's riskier land purchases, and so he turned to the bottle to cope. And then one of his friends took him to one of Southampton's grungy opium dens, that was also known to be a brothel. And that's all it took for him to throw everything away, and spend all of our family's money on booze, gambling, and whores.

And that's how we became the "cheery" family that we now are. Every day I wish that Papa were still here. It would make all of our lives so much easier. We would still have a steady income, and Emmett would be in Cambridge, studying to be a doctor, and Mamma would be helping me prep myself for my future of marriage. But all of that is dead and in the ground with Papa, God bless his soul. I hope God hears my cries sometimes, maybe he will hear them the next time I cry out in pain whilst Emmett is beating me. I hope that's not all I will ever have-just hope. I need my hopes to become real.

"Bella, get your ugly arse over here! I gottah give you somefing you little wench," I heard Emmett slur from somewhere beyond my bedroom door. I guess that means it is time for him to beat me for no particular reason, and Mama to look on through unseeing eyes. Maybe now God will hear me and help me out of my situation.

"You fink you're a little smart one doesn't ya? I don fink that I agree wif that. Not at all!" Emmett shouted at me, spit flying in my face, his breath making my eyes tear up from the strong smell of alcohol. And then he punched me in the stomach. I fell to the ground. He hit me again making my head snap back. I cried out in pain, blood filling up my mouth, and running out from my nostrils. He punched me once more and caused me to hit my head on Papa's old velvet, claw-footed chair. I blacked out when my head made contact with the hard wood of one of the feet, but I welcomed the darkness that would take me away from the pain…for now. And there completed the cycle that has become my, well all of our lives.

There you go! I really hope that you enjoyed it, and if you would like to know what happens next, drop me some love in a review :)

I LOVE hearing from you all! Please keep up being awesome readers!

-Valerie-