I flip the book over in my hand, feeling breath rush from between parted lips as I set it down against the desk and scrunch down deeper into my seat. Scrunch is such a fun word. I'm learning so many fun words now, even if some of the others say I am too young to be saying such words. I should write in my diary. I should tell it about all the things I have experienced since the last time I wrote in it. I did not even write in it when my birthday came. It is some time past that now.

I let out another annoyed huff of air before picking up the red pen to write, and stopping. No. Today I will write with something else, I love the red pen, but it feels outdated now. A part of a person I am very quickly moving away from.

Hello diary. I am sorry I have not written in you in some time, I've been busy. Mistress De'Ville says I'm learning very quikly, that soon she'll be ready to start my training for real. As you can tell, I've gotten better at letters. Not all of them, but I try to use the ones I'm sure I know. I understand a bit more now. Feel a bit more sure about who I am.

So I will start again.

My name is Lyydea Amarra. I am 17 years old, and I used to be a slave. I was sold into slavery when my mother died in an accidant. I miss her. I live with Mistress De'Ville, who rescued me and the rest of her friends. I have spent the last year trying to learn enough to be a person, instead of a thing. Sometimes I feel myself fall again, slip into old habits, but I am able to pull myself out of that now. I owe Mistress so much. I hope I can make her proud.

Yours,
Lyydea Amarra

I nod at the paper and slowly close the book. It's something, even if it's not much. Something is better than nothing, and I can smile, wide and happy and warm because I know I am finally starting to be something, instead of nothing.