Thank you to everyone who reads and thank you especially to Winnie, once again, for all her brilliant help Those of you who still haven't checked out her stories her penname is Winnifred Artemis, and they're all great This one's for Winnie and Emmy (my anonymous reviewer) it's people like you that keep Alice's story going :P
I'd run away from my parents' house on several occasions, although every time they'd eventually found me and dragged me back home by my hair before beating me until I could hardly move. There may have been two of them and only one of Lizzie but there was no question of who could hurt me more, although I judged that to be a risk worth taking. My parents had, presumably, tracked me down because they had at least some regard for me, even if only as their skivvy; I doubted that Lizzie would even care, she could easily find another girl to do her cooking for her.
I stepped out of the stream quickly, rubbing off the remains of the congealing blood and pulled my dress on, tying it at the waist with the piece of white string I'd been wearing since Lizzie collected me and had worn around my dress ever since and put my pointy shoes back on before breaking into a sprint in a southerly direction. I wanted to go south-west to get right out of Pendle district and everyone said it was nicer weather down south- I would find work easier, too, and by the end of the month I could be happily living in one of those big houses rich people have working as a kitchen maid. I'd always wanted to be a maid in one of those big houses; ever since I was a little girl. I couldn't imagine a better life than being surrounded by the shiny metal and the soft fabrics and all those things rich people could afford, even for the servants. I'd known a girl once called Emma whose older sister had worked in Read Hall as a housemaid. She'd said that her sister had a wardrobe she'd shared with another girl, three square meals a day and a dress made from fine cotton. Emma had laughed then and told me there's not a lady alive who would take me for anything more than a beggar outside her gate and that's what I was destined to be. A gutter rat. I'd broken Emma's nose for that and received the spanking of my life from her mother. My bottom and the backs of my legs had been bright red for almost a week.
I took a little-known short-cut through the woods where I would normally lie back and listen to the birds or watch the clouds and ran through the stream through the deepest part which came up to my waist; the blood was still trickling down between my legs. I felt like singing with joy as I saw the woods thinning out and realised that in just over a mile I would be out of Pendle district- I'd never been very far south and was looking forward to it. Until I found work I could sleep beneath the stars and live off the land, catching rabbits and eating berries. I would never return to Pendle, not for anything.
From the left a large, heavy tree branch swung at me and hit me in the chest, winding me and knocking me to the ground. As I lay on the ground, my tender breasts throbbing from the blow, and trying to regain my breath I saw that the branch was, in fact, a large muscular arm clothed in a leather jerkin and it was reaching for me. I would've fought back but I was still breathless, weak and injured and the arm lifted me up and threw me over someone's shoulder. It was then that Lizzie's face came into view and I smelt her fetid breath; almost retching at the stench of blood.
"Thought you could get away, did you, girl?" She sneered at me. "I knew when your first blood would be even before your parents died."
I merely stared at her, too stunned to reply.
"This is Tusk," Lizzie added, nodding towards the shoulder holding me. I could feel that whoever it was was exceptionally muscular and tall- and they stank to high heaven. "My dear uncle, Mother's Malkin's own son. What do you think he makes of your betrayal?"
The man named Tusk just grunted.
"I haven't betrayed anybody!" I retorted, having finally regained my breath.
"You tried to run away, girl, and for that you must be punished." Lizzie sneered again before turning and walking back to her cottage in a different direction that I had come from. I thought I would be put back down to walk but instead I endured the journey remaining on Tusk's back, while my stomach churned wondering what Lizzie had planned.
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