The Story Of A Slave Girl Called Apate

Chapter 1

"Apate, Apate, what do you think?" Livia squealed like a school girl. Why was she always so excited to show me her tortured drawings? It was like she had literally tortured her drawings into terrible pieces of art. I glanced at her wax plate slab drawing, it was creased with smears and grime. Just as I thought, a disaster.

It looked a bit like a leopard with polka dot spots, if you could even identify it to be that. I could draw better than that, well when I could draw. Slaves weren't permitted to own belongings in the Tiberius household. I longed for the times when I could draw to my heart's content but deep down I knew that would never happen, unless I did something about it.

The drawing was a detritus disaster in my opinion. But if I told her that she would have me thrown out before you could say Zeus. I swallowed hard a bit too hard because Livia turned towards me and gave me a quarrelsome look. "It's beautiful mistress one of your best," I lied, smiling through my teeth. She grimaced in horror at my smile and turned her head away from me. I quickly put it away. Not wanting to expose myself. Livia was a shy, easily scared girl and I got the feeling that everything scared her.

If someone dropped a plate she would jump up in horror. You would think someone had dropped dead in front of her but no it was just a plate. If Gaius, Livia's older brother, came into the room unannounced and started to talk in his unusually loud voice, Livia would be startled and for a flash of a second scared. I often noticed when people were scared or hurt. It was like I was drawn to pain.

I remember one day when I was accompanying Livia around the garden when a black bird suddenly smashed into the wall and broke it's wing. Livia started to sob as she knelt down and cradled the dying creature. I on the other hand watched intensely. At its pain, the pain it was in, and I wanted it to continue. But I knew that would never be aloud so I explained to Livia that we had to end its suffering, as it was cruel to let it carry on, but Livia just clutched it to her chest and turned her back on me.

"No!" she cried. "I won't let you harm him," she begged but she knew she was being silly. She hated seeing things suffer and she was only continuing the birds. Eventually she gave up and came to her senses. She turned and gave me the bird, carefully lowering it into my hands through tears. "Thank you," I said and let the bird drop. Before Livia could react I snatched a rock and smashed it down onto the bird.

Livia had screamed. She fell to her knees and flung the rock off the bird but it was too late, she knew it was gone. Livia had held the bird for hours after that only crying and muttering the words "I'm sorry." But sorry wouldn't fix this. I tried to convince her to let the bird go but she just scarpered away and held her hand out and said "go! Go away." So I left her to her whining.

We sat in silence. Livia slash glancing at me, giving me looks of concern. She was always giving me looks of concern. Always wondering if I knew, if I knew her secret. Livia had been keeping things from me and up until a few days ago I had no idea what they were. She had no idea that I knew and she never would. We were still in Livia's room and I was starting to think weather I should leave or not. But she would have stopped me anyway, she would want me to stay.

Livia's bedroom was a sizeable room. Smooth chalk tiles littered the floor with a complicated design, 'too good for a slave to even look at' apparently. The room had blood red wallpaper and pasty cream furniture. Her father (my master) had payed 800 denarii for the wood to be cut, striped, shipped and carved into the elaborate things it was today.

"It's for my daughter Livia, the jewel of my palace, and I want it ready next time you come in to the docks." I overheard him explain to the boat man as he was ordering it. "Stuck pig" I heard the boat man say as Master walked away from the man. "He doesn't even care about his daughter either, he just wants people to know that he's rich. Oi Marcus, you going sponge diving today!" They disappeared on to their boat so I couldn't hear anymore.