5. History

Abigail soon learnt what it was like to work. It hurt, badly. Not as bad in the beginning, though. She got used to it. What Abi didn't understand, though, was why her other two sisters who were still at home didn't have to do this job. They could just sell some scarce food supplies. She'd asked Mary once. The reply she got pretty much pointed out that Elizabeth and Becky were too ugly to do it. And too stupid, she had added.

'But you don't need brains to be a prostitute. '. Abi never, ever used the word whore. Even though she lived with poor peasants now, she would always keep her style .It was one of the most important things her mother, or her adoptive mother, had taught her. It made her who she was.

'Of course you do. It takes brains to figure out how much a guy should pay you. If you ask too much with certain guys, you get a reputation. We can't have that, now can we?'.

'No Mary.', Abigail answered. 'We can't have that.'.

'You, have those brains. You may be naive and still a spoilt brat, but you're not stupid.', Mary said, and left her behind to take care of the little ones.

That night before going off to work, Abi stared at her reflection in the mirror. Mary thought she was smart. And pretty too, obviously. She let her do the 'special' work. She looked at her honey blond curls and smiled at herself. From that moment on she decided that life maybe wasn't so bad after all. This job could earn her and the family a lot of money. Maybe then, they would finally accept her as their sister. Maybe.

Abigail didn't have much of a childhood. From the age of sixteen, she spent all her nights, and sometimes days too, in bed with unfamiliar, sometimes dangerous guys. It didn't matter, though. Her brothers and sisters weren't as poor anymore, and Abi could wear pretty dresses again. That was how things went, she bought a dress, she wore it, and a guy ripped it off. Not that she enjoyed it, though. She just took life the way it was. She stopped believing in God a long time ago, he had never done anything for her. She would just have to help herself. So, she did. As much as possible. Until one day, she felt really ill and couldn't bring herself to get up and get ready for a rough night.

'What's wrong?', Mary asked her, entering the room to see what took her sister so long.

'I'm not well..', Abigail replied. 'I think I have a fever.. and I can't get up.'.

'Great. Like we don't have enough issues yet. I'll go and get the doctor.'. Mary said andspeeded off to get Dr. Greene, who lived next door.

He immediately followed her into Abigail's room and started to examine her. The diagnosis was soon made, with not any kind of doubt.

'Syphilis.'.

The rest is history.

Literally.

- The End-