My Escape

All this time, I turned a blind eye. All those years, working for those rich people, sweeping and dusting and cleaning and cooking. I didn't get money. Instead I got a room, the size of a cupboard, to live in. I got a toilet, that I had to share with 12 other servants. In fact, I shared the room with 6 other servants. One tiny room, and 7 people. I got beat up, if I didn't work hard enough. Forced to sleep in the attic with the rats if I was ill. If I ever vomited after eating the raw, several weeks old food, I would be not given any food for a week.

All that suffering. All those canes and sticks, slaps and kicks. None of our lot were allowed to respond back to Master. He was king, and we were his dirty pests. He even treated us like pests. I remember when a male servant was thrown against the wall and pushed repeatedly and repeatedly. This was Master's entertainment for the night. He invited his friends from the casino and all of them were cheering and jeering, laughing and cackling while Master was beating the servant.

Last year, I escaped. Escaped from hell on Earth. I was awake, the whole night. Thinking what Master would do to me if he found me trying to escape. I imagined him giving me a slow, painful death. I knew that sooner or later, if I stayed here, I would be killed anyway, for fun. This is when I decided to escape.

I escaped from a window, which I had scrubbed so clean that day my skin was raw and chapped with all the effort. I remember feeling the joy, as I felt the fresh air hit my cheek. I hadn't felt fresh air in years. The only air I felt was dusty and unclean, as whenever we had finished scrubbing and cleaning Master would deliberately make the place dirty again the next day.

This is my story. Now, after many years, I am free. I have a family again, with my husband and two children. I have a home again, clean and fresh. I have a life again, perfect and beautiful.