The Strongest Adventure Can't Talk

Ever since I was born, I was different from everyone else. From what I have been told, my mother's pregnancy was normal, my birth had no complications, but I could make a sound for some reason. The doctors said tears left my eyes, that my mouth moved but now cries left my lips the day I was born. No one could explain what was wrong with me or heal my condition. So began my lonely quiet childhood.

Growing up, my parents never let me out of the house. When I was little, I always thought they just locked me away to keep me safe, but now I know they were embarrassed by me. I still know little about how noble society works. Still, it would appear that my family was at the top of the pecking order from what I could figure out. When I got older, I started to understand that my family locked me away so no one would know they had a daughter that could not speak. No one would know they had someone in the family that was not perfect.

I had no friends growing up. I had plenty of toys but no one to play with me. My parents may have locked me up, but they made sure I had everything I could ever want as a child. But once I became an adult, that changed. I still remember my sixteenth birthday when my mother and father came to visit me. I can remember being so happy until they had one of the servant's hands me a maid uniform and told me I will start work in the morning. "It is about time you repaid us for our generosity," I still remember the last thing my father said to me before he and my mother left me alone in my room. That was the first time I cried. I may have been lonely growing up, but I always thought I had my parents. But at that moment, I realized they only saw me as a nuisance.

As much as I was hurt at that moment, I become a maid in my family's mansion. I had nowhere else to go, no one to turn to and no choice but to accept my parent's decision. For nearly two years, I put up with my parents treating me as if I were a slave. I cooked, cleaned and sewed, working my fingers until they blistered and bled on multiple occasions. I had hoped my parents would treat me like their daughter one day, but I was only shunned in return for my hard work. I hated those two years. At least when I was locked up, they would treat me with kindness, but now as their maid, they seemed to forget I even existed.

Countless times I just wanted to run away, but the fear of being even more alone than I already am kept me from fleeing. Even as I found myself crying under my covers at night until I fell asleep and tempted by an open door or view from a window, I stayed. Until the day when I was told I would be marrying someone I never even heard of before. I was told I would become one of my parent's friends third wife and leaving in the morning for church. Seeing the wedding dress hanging in the room and my parents counting the money their friend paid them for my hand in marriage was the final straw. During the night, I finally found the courage to leave.

I took only a few things with me. A few coins I found laying around the house and the clothes on my back. I also took a small jewel that fell off my mother's ring that she simply replaced rather than looking for. I did not know much of the world outside of my home other than money was essential and necessary to survive out there.

Getting out of the house was easier than I thought. The guards did not question me walking around at night, and I found the backdoor was left unlocked and unguarded. But getting out of the garden proved to be more challenging. I sneak past the guards, who would have found it suspicious that I was out so late at night. Then I had to climb the fence. I had climbed trees before, but that experience could not have prepared me for the bitter coldness of the metal fence or the pain of being scratched on the metal points on top. Luckily, it was not too bad, and the bleeding stopped after a few minutes, but it still hurt. But I was outside. Free, and it did not appear that anyone has noticed me missing yet. I smiled as I ran through the streets, unaware of the problems I would face in just a few days.