Joy's voice was flat, but her eyes held darkness as she went on to say,
"Every day was horrible. That filth of a woman would mock my mother, scold her, abuse her. She treated her like a doll...a toy to play with."
Cassius's grip on the fence tightened. The wood began to crack under his fingers.
Joy noticed and she felt a strange sense of comfort.
He was angry for her mother. Just like she was.
It made her resonate with him.
"It wasn't just my mother who suffered." She continued. "I did too. Nothing like what she went through—she bore the brunt of it to protect me—but that awful woman didn't let me off either."
She spat the words like poison.
"She gave me menial tasks. Wiping floors, scrubbing dishes, cleaning out the latrines."
Her disgust was palpable. She would have loved to chop that woman up all over again.
"But there was one good thing that came out of it."
Her expression softened.
