Erik's POV

It is said that when you are born, God already has your life planned out for you. They say that he will move you like a chess piece across the board of life… Though, nothing could have prepared me for the life I was going to have to live. A mother is supposed to look upon their child and love it from first sight. My mother did not smile, nor did she ever kiss me. She loathed me to no end and kept me hidden from the world. One couldn't blame her, for I was born a corpse. No one could or ever would love me…At least that is what she had drilled into my head over and over again. When I was eight, the neighborhood children had wounded me, so much so that I nearly died. My mother didn't care and I knew that she was praying to her God that I would die and relieve her of this lifelong burden.

I ran away that night, ran away and never looked back. I wasn't sure where I was headed, but one thing was for sure, I couldn't stay with her. Nothing could have prepared me for what came next, for all I had ever wanted was to run away and be free, and instead, I ran into what would become the rest of my life. I was cold and hungry, searching for anything that would keep me going. Instead of running into a patch of berries or a stream filled with fish, I came face to face with a band of gypsies. My plan was to hurry into their camp, grab a loaf of bread and run, but instead, I had been captured. At first, they were going to make me a slave, but when the leader of the camp pulled off my homemade mask and saw my hideous face, he saw money. His name was Javert, six feet tall, greasy and frightening with his long black beard and piercing green eyes. I never said a word to the man, for if he knew I could talk, there was no telling what he would make me do. No, I stayed silent, never speaking for a single second.

I was locked in a filthy cage on wheels and my mask was taken away. During the day, I was forced to show off my face to paying crowds, and oh, how they gathered to see me. If they paid extra, Javert would let them poke me with sticks and throw rotten food at me. Yes, it hurt me to hear them laughing, but this was only the beginning. I planned my escape night after night, but every time I attempted to flee, it was foiled by my master. One evening, I found a stick and picked the lock of my cage…The smell of myself and my cage had begun getting to me, therefore, as soon as the door opened, I hopped out and began running. I didn't even get a mile when my master caught up and recaptured me.

"Little vermin wishes to escape!" he growled, dragging me by my neck back to the camp. Once we were there, he pulled out a long bull whip, one that I would never forget… It was what made me fear him for the rest of my days, for on that same night, he cracked the end of it into my back until there was no more flesh left to lash it upon. I cried, oh, how I cried, but my crying only made him whip me harder. When the man stopped, he tossed me into my cage and placed a shackle around my angle, ensuring that I would never escape again. When I had been born, my face had been the only thing wrong with me, but after Javert's whipping, my back and chest were a map of destruction, for when my wounds healed, they formed into a thousand repugnant scars that crisscrossed over every patch of my flesh. This, of course, gained more crowds and attention…

If I was a good corpse and obeyed the rules, I was able to eat twice a week… Bread and water was all I ever got. I had been thin before, but once I was placed on Javert's diet, my ribs began to show. In the winters I froze, and in the summers I suffered. Three summers and winters had passed and I was now eleven… We traveled around Europe, always keeping me locked away in that rotting cage.

"And just how is my little corpse doing today?"

Javert opened the door to my cage and climbed inside, pulling the potato sack off of my head. He always pulled it off during the day and if I was good, he would give it back to me after the show. It was his way of training me to do as he pleased.

"You were a bad little corpse yesterday, so I hear… Baba told me that you were hiding your face to paying customers. Is that true?"

I turned away from the man, but he grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him.

"You don't like it when people look at your hideous face, do you?"

I shook my head and pressed my eyes closed. But this didn't stop him from torturing me…No, he patted me on the back and reached inside of his coat pocket.

"Well, we'll fix that, won't we?"

Next thing I knew, I was forced against the bars of my cage, and Javert took a rope and tied it tightly around my neck so that it was pinned against one of the bars. I couldn't breathe, nor could I move my neck…From there, Javert tied my hands behind my back and to the bar they were leaning against.

"I'm tired of you losing me money! I have been kind to you, but since you want to be selfish, now I won't let you move at all!"

All throughout that day, I was forced to stay in that position as the crowds of people laughed and poked me with sharp objects. I cried and wished for death, but God wasn't listening…By the time the crowds died down, it had begun to snow, the cold and wet flakes causing me to shiver as they landed on my bare flesh. Over the years, I had not been given new clothes, for once the ones I had been captured in became old and too small, Javert never bothered dressing me again. Eventually, my shirt withered away and I outgrew my trousers…I was still wearing them, but instead of the cuffs meeting at my feet like a normal pair of trousers, the cuffs were torn and now at my knees, for my legs had grown.

When Javert finally cut me loose, I grabbed my sore and bleeding neck with my hand and gasped for air.

"Let this be a warning to you, corpse…If you are going to disobey me, you are going to be pinned to the bars of your cage. You are to sit there with your hideous head raised high so that every one of my paying customers can look at you. They will get what they paid for…"

I believed this torturous day to be over, but being cut loose was only the beginning. After the rope was pulled away, the door to my cage opened and Javert reached inside with his key to unlock the shackle that was around my right ankle. The shackle had not only damaged my flesh, but it had also deformed the bone…I could barely walk without a limp, and doing so was extremely painful. The man tied a rope around my waist and pushed me ahead of him to get walking. I wasn't sure where we were headed, but the snow that was beneath my bare feet burned my flesh.

"Stop whining!" the man growled. "Get walking before I give you something to cry about!"

He held the end of the rope like a leash, as if he were walking a dog. I placed my arms under one another and tried to stay warm as he led me deep into the woods. I was freezing, hungry and exhausted…The man kept me barely alive at times with the way I was treated and fed, but as I had said before, God did not listen to me when I had begged him for death. When we were about a mile away from the camp, my master pulled the rope tight to the ground. Javert had been carrying a lantern for light, but as soon as he stopped me from walking, he placed it down into the snow, the light causing his face to become even more frightening than it already was. There was nothing around except the tall trees and the only sound that I could hear was the snow lightly falling and landing upon my shoulders. Why were we here?

"Does little corpse know why we're here?"

I cowered beside a tree and shook my head.

"It has been three years this very night since I captured you…Three years and lots and lots of money since! You, my little corpse will never be leaving my sight. You have grown into a young man, one that I fancy very much."

The large man pushed me into the snow, causing it to burn my bare flesh. I was frightened now, more than I had ever been. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but one thing was for sure, I was praying once more for death.

"In our camp, when a boy turns the rightful age, he is married… It is usually arranged and there is a big celebration. Do you know what the man and woman do after they are married?"

I clung to the tree and shook my head. Oh, I just wanted this to be over…I didn't want him to continue.

"They fuck their brains out…Do you know what that is?"

Once more I shook my head. I didn't know what he was talking about, for I had only ever seen my mother kissing another man.

"That is all right, little corpse," he cooed, reaching down for his trousers. "I am going to show you what a man and a woman does. Oh, you are going to enjoy this, for no woman is ever going to want you the way a woman wants a man. You are too hideous to be with anyone, which is why you are going to appreciate this."

Javert lowered his trousers and grabbed me by the arm. I whimpered and tried to scream, but the man covered my mouth with his monstrous hand. From there, I was pushed face down in the snow and felt his free hand reaching down for my trousers. He didn't completely remove them, but I felt them come below my waist. The snow burned my distorted cheek, but I didn't cry, for I knew if I did, the torture would last even longer. I wasn't sure what he was doing, but when I felt something hard plunge deep into my bottom, I cried out in agony.

"No! No…" for the first time in three years I spoke, pleading the man to stop whatever he was doing, but he didn't.

"So, my little corpse can talk!" he growled. "Well, why don't you tell me how much you are enjoying this? Tell me!"

I continued crying, never letting up for a single second. When he was finished, my bottom throbbed with an unbearable pain, and when I was lifted to my feet, I spotted blood all over the snow…my blood. I couldn't walk, and so, Javert dragged me back to camp. More blood left my body as I was dragged over branches and rocks, a trail of blood left behind me. That night, I prayed for an angel to come and save me…I knew there was no heaven, nor any salvation for me, but in my heart I was glad no woman would ever want me, for if what I had just felt was supposed to be love, I didn't want anything to do with it…I would trust no one nor anything, I would always be alone.

Ok, so I wasn't going to upload this for a few weeks, but I was in a creative mood. So, I shall be updating this story once a week. Please review and I hope you loved the first chapter. Something a little different. I'm going to try to keep this T rated...Not too smutty. Thanks again, everyone! We are in for another adventure!