Chapter 1

"This is the last straw, Yvonne!" I'm surprised the people in London didn't hear Harriet's yell. Harriet and George Colstrum are my adopted parents. Harriet grabbed my sketchpad away from me. Looking at what I had drawn, you'd think it was a self-portrait, but no. It was a picture of my deceased twin sister. I was two minutes older than her, but that two minute's age difference was our only difference. But Harriet wasn't fooled.

"George!" Harriet called down. "Get the whip!" That was typical. Harriet and George were always trying to stop me from thinking about Lorelei, and not in a kind way. Every time they found me doing something related to my sister, Harriet always escorted me outside and George brought the whip. I usually received about thirty lashes during one whipping. I was used to being whipped. Every time the two found anything wrong around the house, they found some way to blame me, which would usually result in about ten lashes. Backtalk would add twenty to that. If they found me doing anything related to remembering my sister, the number would vary depending on how angry they already were. I was whipped about five to seven times a day.

"She was my sister!" I yell at Harriet as I grabbed my sketchbook back from her. "You already control nearly everything I do, but now you're trying to tell me what to think?"

"You're just increasing your punishment, girl." Harriet hissed at me. She glared at the sketchbook. "I'll let you keep that for tonight, but in the morning, I'll have you throw it in the fire!" She then pulled me outside to where George was waiting with the whip. It was a somewhat merciful version of the cat-o'-nine tails. It had the nine cords, yet it lacked the shards or orbs at the end of the cords. That way they could whip me as many times as they wanted without fear of killing me.

"I think a hundred lashes should do it this time around, George," his wife said.

"A hundred?" I gasped. That was more than I ever received during a single beating.

"First for the drawing. That was thirty." Harriet smirked as she explained this. It was almost as if she enjoyed punishing me this time. "Forty lashes for it being a drawing of your sister, and then thirty for the backtalk. George, if you would."

George stepped forward and raised the whip ever so slowly. The whip stung, but I had learned to tune it out. But by about the fiftieth lash, I started to feel the pain. My body wasn't used to this many. By the sixtieth, I had fallen to the ground, crying out in pain. Somehow, I still managed to hold my sketchbook. At the end of the beating, I lay there on the ground in shock. Tears welled up in my eyes. I had long since stopped crying because of the whip, but this was the most severe beating I'd ever received. I heard Harriet and George leaving. Struggling to my feet, I made for the woods, slowly at first, and then I picked up speed, until eventually I was running. How I had the strength to run, I didn't know. My tears blinded me and my blood was pouring out of my wounds, weakening me. Soon, I tripped and fell. I lay there on the ground, sobbing. I hoped that a wild animal would come along and put me out of my misery. I was totally unprepared for what did find me.

A/N: This is my first Chronicles of Narnia fanfic. Please be nice and don't give me any flames. Don't forget to R&R!