{ MARCH 19TH 1869 }

{ HUELVA, SPAIN }

Sonia Cain would like to say that she hadn't made many a mistake in the short nineteen years that she had been alive. However the horrible truth was that her only biggest mistake was made the day she decided that she wanted to find a better life for herself outside of her home town in Spain, were she wouldn't be married off to some lowlife that would make her bare child after child and eventually become sick and frail like her own mother had become.

No, she wanted to experience the taste of adventure and freedom that she had heard about from the foreign men that would pass through the town from time to time, how they 'Didn't follow the rules of the law, not when they could have the choice of their own freedom!' or at least that's what she had thought she heard from the limited english she could understand.

So, at the tender age of fifteen she had decided that, when she reached the age of adulthood, she would move all the way from her home country and to the country of freedom, United States of America, were she would start the beginning of her new life.

She started her journey by asking the people who spoke english to help teach her, in exchange for small bits and pieces that she had pickpocketed from passersby that the could sell in exchange for money. It wasn't an easy feat, in fact she struggled greatly with the language and found that it was hard to roll her tongue around certain words that were too sophisticated for her foreign mouth to pronounce, and after find that she would never be able to learn every word that was trying to be taught to her she asked that they just teach her the simple means of being able to keep a conversation, as she'd at least need to be able to find a job while she was there before she were to be able to commence her full journey of freedom.

The next step she took was collecting money to be able to actually get across the long journey at sea and being able to afford food and accommodation whilst over there. She did this by begging for money, stealing from the unaware as they were walking past her, and seeling the eggs and vegetables that were produced from her family's farm. Of course she couldn't keep all the share, so she took small percentages from it and gave half of that share to her unsuspecting father who took whatever was given to him to spend on things that were only ever for himself, such as alcohol and cigars, before giving the rest to her sick and weak mother who was still working when she should have been in bed resting.

The final step Sonia took was, on the day of her nineteenth birthday, organizing for a boat to take her across the sea to a town called Saint Denis (that she had heard about from the lips of the men that would travel through, about how big and popular the town was) where she would ultimately begin her journey. It was difficult trying to find time to actual set up a boat with all of her other responsibilities going on, plus helping her mother with her five younger brothers, but she managed to squeeze in a short time frame were she was able to get away from the farm. And so the date was set, she would leave her previous life behind the day after her birthday.

Sonia honestly did feel bad about leaving her mother (Sofía) and brothers (Samual, Diego, Simón, Martín and little Javier) behind to deal with their drunken father and the debt that would most likely come once she had left, afterall her brothers weren't old enough to be selling whatever was grown on the farm and she was the one that brang in all the money for the household. However, she knew that she would have to go, otherwise her mother would soon begin to start agreeing with her father about needing a husband.

And so as she left at the dead of night, leaving a farewell letter for the reason that she had suddenly up and left, she kissed her sleeping mothers forehead in a soreful goodbye and checked one last time that her brothers were all safe and asleep. She snuck out the back door, her satchel of money and small amount of food and water attached to her hip as she took off in a sprint to the docks that awaited her.

Once she reached the docks she took in a deep breath of air, trying to catch her breath after the short sprint, before find the man that would take her to Saint Denis. She timidly walked up to him before speaking in broken english.

"Senor? You take me to Saint Denis? I have money.."

The older male had looked down his nose at her before giving a slight smirk as he took her in. He held out his hand as he waited for the money. "Of course miss, just $30 and you will be set for your journey."

Although reluctant to hand over more then fifty per cent of her money, she knew that if she didn't do it know then there would never be another chance like this. So she handed it over and boarded the boat.

The boat journey there went for the course of two months, with a limited supply of food and water, as well as the motion sickness that came with it, she had started to think that the journey really wasn't worth it. However once she had reached the dock of Saint Denis she had known that she had made the right decision, even if she had been dehydrated and underweight. Atleast at the time she had thought that it was the best decision.

{ MAY 21ST, 1869 }

{ SAINT DENIS }

For the first few months after she had arrived she was lucky enough to find a job working in a tailors, were she put her limited knowledge of sewing to work. She was surprised that she had been hired to begin with because, well, she was a women of colour that had little to no knowledge on sewing. She was even more surprised when she wasn't immediately fired for accidentally stabbing many clients with the needle.

Then, one night as she was walking to the small room that she was renting for the time being with the small amount of money she was making, she was grabbed from behind and before she could even scream out for help a rope was tied around her mouth, muffling her cries. She squirmed and kicked and tried to shout but was rendered useless when she was forced into the back of a carriage and a cloth of chemicals was forced over her mouth and nose, knocking her unconscious.

The next interactions were very unclear and blurry to herself, she couldn't for the life of her make sense of what was happening or how long it had been. She did remember the sound of voices shouting and the feeling of being pushed and hauled around like a lifeless corpse.

The next time she awoke she was laying on a small uncomfortable bed with in a small room. The walls were faded with the wallpaper slowly peeling off. There was a small chair in the corner of the room and a rotting dresser was against the wall. It was also freezing, with only a ratty thin blanket to cover her, and not a lot of light was available. The room also had a stale musty smell to it that made her nauseous whenever she were to breathe in.

She gave a groan as she groggily sat up, a slight headache taking over her. As she got her bearings back she found that she had been changed out of her more sophisticated robes and into a maid like outfit. There was also ankle cuffs around her ankles that limmited her to take small steps at a time.

Just as she was beginning to panic, releasing that 'yes, she had in fact been kidnapped', the door was pushed open and a black lady, slightly older than herself, wearing a similar outfit, stepped in. as soon as the lady had seen that she was awake and up, she rushed over to her.

"You're finally 'wake! 'Aster Pritchard will 'ave you straight to work, no doubt." The last part being a mumble more so for herself.

Seeing that Sonia wasn't moving she forcefully grabbed her arm and pulled her up, pushing her to the door. "Come! Come! I'm in charge of gettin' you ready to be the mistresses house maid! I don' wanna be getting in trouble for your own mistakes."

Sonia followed behind the lady with heavy steps, the chains weighing her down. "Excuse me? Where am I? And who are you?"

The lady raised her eyebrows at her before answering. "You're at the Pritchard Estate, run by Earl Royston Pritchard 'imself. You're to be Mrs. Pritchard's personal maid. And ma name is Tammy Strandburg, another maid of this estate."

Tammy glanced done at the chains that hang around this young woman's feet and couldn't help but grimace a little at the familiar sight. It was after all only a few years ago that she herself was in the exact same position as this women that was only a few years younger than herself, the scarring around her ankles giving every indication. Lost, confused, beaten, drugged and worn down. It was rough at the start, she tried to escape numerous times and got heavily beat for it. Left her limping for a few weeks and a nasty bruised rib that took just as long to heal. She eventually learnt that there was never really gonna be a chance for her to escape, giving up on the notion completely.

She tried to shake those painful thoughts away as she faced back ahead. "Hey, what's ya name anyway. Can't just keep callin' you girl forever."

"S-Sonia Cain."

"Well it's nice ta meet ya Sonia Cain. It would 'ave been better to honestly never have met ya however." At the bewildered look that she received from Sonia she quickly backtracked her words. "What I mean is that you darlin' have landed yourself in some unfortunate circumstances. Let me put it real simple for ya. Just like myself ya, and a majority of the rest of the servants in this place, have been kidnapped and sold as a slave to work for the rest of ya life under the ruling of the master of dis manner, Royston Pritchard. You try and escape or steal somethin', prepare for a beating of a lifetime or even death, you might even one day be praying for it. My advice from one person that has gone through with all of these tings, keep your head lowered and follow any order you are given by ."

The rest of the walk was an uncomfortable silence for Sonia after learning of all this information. 'To think.. All I wanted was a better life and a chance of freedom in the land that was renowned for its freedom. The biggest mistake of my life, and yet there is no going back… mama, why was I so foolish...' As Sonia thought of all this she couldn't help but wish her mother was right beside her trying to comfort her and bring her reasurences. But she knew that was never going to be possible. It must have been karma finally catching up with herself for leaving her poor mother and brothers behind.

{ JUNE 19TH, 1869 }

{ PRITCHARD ESTATE - SAINT DENIS }

The next month of her life within the manor was one of a complete nightmare. She tried to do everything that was requested of her as fast and neat as possible. Yet it never seemed to please the ever rotten lady that was Mrs. Margaret Pritchard. Every little thing she was asked to do was either wrong or wasn't good enough, no matter how much she improved from when she had first started her new life as a slave. The lady Pritchard wasn't afraid to throw around abusive language and slurs, a lot of the time being about the colour of her skin or the limited english she could speak or the accent she had, as well as physically abusing her as well.

She couldn't quite comprehend completely why she was getting this kind of treatment, afterall she hadn't even tried to escape once unlike a majority of the other slaves that had lived there. She was adventurous, not stupid or brave.

In fact she already had numerous scars littering her body from tea cups being thrown because the tea was too hot or there wasn't enough sugar in it, most of the time she wasn't able to dodge fast enough. She also still had large bruises covering her body and nail marks from a recent attack that she had to undergo from her mistress.

The rest of the family wasn't any better.

The sons of the estate, Benjamin and Cedric Pritchard (seven and ten respectively), were likely the spawns of satan himself. Benjamin took after his mother in both the looks and personality department, with a mop of fiery red hair and a nasty sneer on his young face that shouldn't ever be on someone so young, he would take any chance her could to belittle and hurt any of the maids of the manner. He would throw temper tantrums that would leave many rooms within the estate a complete wreck and then blame it on the closest maid who would then be punished severely.

Cedric on the other hand was slightly more mature than his younger brother however just as bad in a more reserved way, most similarly to his father. The young blonde had an almost emotionless stare to him that set of every nerve within the Sonia's body on end. Instead of outright showing his annoyance or rage he would instead do things to the maids within the manor. Sonia had fallen victim to numerous occurrences that had happened because of him. She had been pushed down the stairs, which had almost broken her arm and ankle, had numerous thumb tacks placed upon her bed that punctured her all over as she had went to lay down. The worst thing that she had however fallen victim to was the time that he had slipped a small amount of a poisonous plant inside of her water that had made her choke and come quite close to dying if he had added anymore of the plant to her drink.

However nothing could compare to the head of the estate, the Earl Royston Pritchard. A slimy scumbag that tried to always keep a facade of emptiness on when in reality he was an old disgusting man that prayed on the younger slaves of the manner. Sonia had fallen victim to many occurences of his where she was summoned to his office and instead of being given a job, she would be groped and humiliated before being sent away. However she had never been raped, unlike a few of the other maids and for that she would be forever grateful.

That gratefulness wouldn't last forever.

It was a week after her first month working in the estate. She has been cleaning her lady's room, tidying it up and changing the sheets for fresh ones. had taken her sons out for the afternoon to get them some more fitted clothes as they were growing boys. Sonia had thought that would remain in his office finishing off paperwork until he was called upon to have his dinner. She hadn't expected for him to burst through the bedroom door, a slight stumble in his step and the faint smell of alcohol lingering on him.

"Well, if it ain't miss exotic - hicc - I have - have been waitin' weeks for my bloody wife to be gone just to get you for myself."

As his words began to proses she tried to find a way out of the situation. She didn't want to end up like one of those other maid's that had fallen victim to the likes of this dirty man, broken in every way.

"S-Senor, please! I beg you not to-"

"Ain't care for what you beggin' for. I'll get what I want, when I want it."

Although he was slightly stumbling and swaying to and fro like he was walking upon a ship he was still faster and stronger then herself, managing to quickly corner her, grabber her harshly and throw her onto the bed. He quickly began to lift her skirt up, hitching her legs under his arms so that she wouldn't be able to kick him in the face or push him off.

Sonia kicked and squirmed and thrashed and tried to scream but he just wouldn't let go!

As she heard the sound of a zipper being undone she knew that if she weren't able to get out from under him soon then she would become like the others. And so her struggling become even more apparent yet it did not stop him, if anything it egged him.

Finally he managed to get inside of her.

She screamed.

From within the manor the rest of the staff kept their heads bowed and continued on with there work, the scream ringing through the whole manor, sorrow for the poor girl held deep within them knowing that they couldn't do anything. Almost all of the female staff within the estate had experienced the same thing, and almost all of them had reacted the same way the first time he had done it, with no one coming to help them. They all later learnt that anyone that came to try and help while he was in the process would end up hanged. They knew when they were useless in a situation.

Tammy couldn't help the silent tear that left her eyes as she too continued to do her chore of scrubbing the floors, ignore all sounds she could hear coming from the door a few doors down. She, like the others, had been in that situation. However she never cried for the others, unlike for this girl. She cried because she had grown attached to the young spanish girl and would have hoped to god that she wouldn't have to experience it. She had hoped, and it hadn't worked.

It was ten minutes before he was done, leaving her in a sobbing mess half naked on a sheet that she would no doubt have to wash and change again. She was in shock and couldn't move. She didn't understand what had just happened, she didn't want to. She only somewhat came out of her shock after a hand was gently laid onto her shoulder, who knows how long after she had been assaulted. Naturally she flinched away from the gentle touch.

"Hey, hey now. Ya alright." At the familiar voice Sonia looked up and burst into more tears as she threw herself onto Tammy, clinging onto her like she was a life line that would keep her safe.

"Lets get ya too ya room. Don't you be worrin' 'bout your jobs for today, I'll do them for today. But you gotta get back into it tomorrow otherwise the miss will 'ave you punished for skipping jobs."

Sonia could only nod weakly as she was lead away, silent sobs still raking her body.

{ OCTOBER 15TH, 1869 }

{ PRITCHARD ESTATE - SAINT DENIS }

A few months later, Sonia tried to end her own life.

It wasn't completely because she was raped, no, but it was a major part of the reason. The other reason was that she had become pregnant by the filthy bastard child.

She honestly didn't notice until one day when she looked down and realized that a mildly big bump had been forming when she thought she was only getting bigger. She also had no signs that she was pregnant, which she had gathered from helping her mother with her younger brothers births. Her mother was often vomiting and tired, often having sore breasts and the need to pee constantly. Sonia had only one of these symptoms which was always being tired, but nothing else and had passed it off because of the labor that she was doing.

Sonia didn't believe that she should or could damn a child to a lifestyle like the one she was forced to live and she herself hadn't wanted to continue on with this lifestyle, especially with the always looming threat of being taken advantage of again. So she tried to kill herself to save them both.

But Tammy had come in just at the right time to stop her from doing such a thing, taking the knife she had stolen from the kitchen and throwing it across the room where it clattered against the wall.

"What are ya thinkin' ya stupid girl! Tryin' ta end ya life like that, because ya have a baby grown-"

"H-How do you know about that?!"

Tammy shook her head in disbelief before pulling the young girl towards her. "Well it's pretty fuckin' obvious, you've 'ad a bump for at least three months now. And considering there was no period rag that I had to clean from ya for the past fours months, of course it was going to be obvious."

"Then you must understand why I want to end it all, I can't damn a child to a life like this!" Sonia broke down into sobs as she was held even closer to Tammy, just the thought of it making her upset.

"Ya gotta treat dis child as ya saving grace. Sure it was conceived under the worst circumstances, but maybe you will be able to save this child from a life like dis. Just give it a chance at life, please I beg of ya."

Sonia couldn't wrap her head around why on earth Tammy would even try and convince her to keep the child of a dirty man, where it would no doubt be constantly abused and mistreated the same way that she was being treated, if not worse. When it all came down to it, it made more sense to not bring it into this environment.

However as she did think about it, she realized that no matter what she were to do there was no possible way that if she were to have the child that she would be able to give it away. If anyone were to find out that that man had forced himself onto a helpless maid and conceiveda bastard child from it, then he would be ruined. She knew that this child would never escape like herself.

And the more she thought of what she had almost done to herself, the more scared she become when she realized no matter how shitty her life was, she did not want to die.

And so she sat there in silence, staring straight ahead, her eyes glazed over as tears fell from her eyes, Tammy holding onto her tightly as her only source of light in her slowly dimming world.

{ MARCH 26TH, 1870 }

{ PRITCHARD ESTATE, MAIDS QUARTERS - SAINT DENIS }

The past five months leading up until the birth of her child had been one straight out of a nightmare.

As soon as the estate had realized that Sonia cain was indeed pregnant everyone had been in out right shock, which was to be expected from such news. Some of the staff even had the nerve to say she was whoring herself to the master so she could get pregnant to try and get out of the estate, some of the maids even commenting that it was a pretty smart idea.

Sonia couldn't understand why they thought that she would do such a thing after hearing her cries for help after the incident.

The worst, of course was . It was to be expect that the lady Pritchard would certainly not be happy, after all it proved that her husband had been cheating on her, with one of the maids no less. She had been taking out her anger with all those around her, even hitting her children at some point in the past month because she had been so angered. That same night that she had found out the truth she had gone to her husband and demand that he sell and kill the baby that was growing within Sonia's body. He had refused, saying that 'his reputation will be tarnished if people had realized that he had sold and killed one of the staff that worked beneath him'.

was indeed furious.

on the other hand had been more nervous and reserved, only threatening Sonia once with what would happen if she were to tell anyone outside of the manner what he had done to her and that the child was his own.

"You tell anyone about what has happened within this estate than you should find yourself in a much worse situation that you are in now! Ya hear me girl!?"

She had in fact heard him and listened very closely.

So for the past five months she had continued her work with a bit more difficulty, because of her growing stomach, and cruelty, her head kept down and always away from a visitors prying eyes so that they could not know the truth of her. The only thing that had been keeping her sane was Tammy and a new maid that she had befriended, Alice Nair a young girl of indian descent, even younger than herself at fifteen, that had be brought into the manor after one of the older maids had died from unknown causes. Sonia didn't believe that they were really unknown.

She also had been gifted a book by Tammy as a present to 'congratulate' her for the baby, the title being Lorna Doone. Sonia had instantly fallen in love with the book and it's characters, especially Lorna. Being it was the first gift she had ever gotten and the first english book she had completely read through, she of course fell in love of it, keeping it close and personal to her being.

It was a cold march night the night that her water broke.

She had been getting ready to go to bed, her hand resting against her aching back, when she had suddenly felt a small popping sensation come from within her and the slowly trickle of water leak down her leg. As she look down at her leg in a panic a searing pain shot through her stomach causing her to bend over and let out a pained filled groan.

"Miss Tammy! Miss Tammy! Please hurry here! I need help -"

The one to the enter the room and see her in distress was little Alice who had quickly rushed over to get her to lie down as Sonia continued to moan and groan. She began setting up pillows beneath Sonia, panic in her voice as she too started to call out to Tammy.

Tammy quickly had come into the room. "What is with all dis noise - oh dear.. Come on, move over Alice, go and get some warm water and towels, we're gonna need it."

Alice had quickly rushed away.

The next few hours of the night were spent with trying to get the baby out of Sonia without causing any problems for her. Nobody else had come to help, as most of them honestly had wanted nothing to do with the women after it had gotten out that she was pregnant.

As Sonia began to scream from the increase in pain, Tammy had to get a part of her bed sheets before forcing her to clamp her teeth onto it so that she wouldn't make to much noise that the Pritchard's would be disturbed. 'Lords know what they would do to the poor woman..' Tammy thought before quickly shaking her head and focusing on the task at hand, looking in between the young woman's legs before seeing a small head become visible as Sonia pushed.

"Come on now dear, ya almost got it out. I can see it's little head!"

Sonia gave another muffled scream as she squeezed tighter onto Alice's hand, who had come back and whispered encouraging words to her. With another painful push and scream, there was the sound of an infants scream and the pain that she had helt was relieved some.

Tammy stared at the naked and crying infant and couldn't help a small smile come onto her face as she wrapped it in an old blanket. "Well, I'll be damned. What a beautiful little girl ya 'ave had, miss Sonia." 'Especially considering who the father is.' Tammy thought to herself in silences

"M-My baby, please give her.."

Tammy gently handed over the still crying baby and watched in adoration as Sonia, although tired andvery sweat and no doubt in pain, gently hush and quieted the baby before feeding her.

Alice glanced over Sonia's shoulder and couldn't help but let out quiet sounds of adoration. "And what's you gonna be calling her miss Sonia? She's quite lovely.."

Sonia smiled at the both of them.

"She'll be my little Lorna."

Lol what a shit reason to name ur daughter.

Jk I just liked the name and there was a book with the heroine as it and i'm like 'hey a reason.'

Any way I hope you all enjoyed the prologue and Sonia so far, the rest of the story will be focused on Lorna and we won't be seeing Sonia for a few more chapters after the next one.

PUBLISHED: 25/2/2019

EDITED: -