Her words stick with me. Something in the tone of her voice makes me shiver. It's almost like she had...tried to have a better life here, to be happy in a place where that is practically forbidden. I study that grim face more carefully, trying to see what history she has seen in those dark eyes.
"What is your tale then," I ask, reclining back on the dirt. She laughs, gruff sound raising goose bumps on the back of my neck.
"I was born and breed here so I've known most of these women all my life. I work in the fields during the day but I'm unofficially in charge of keeping everyone in line in this hellhole during the night." I raise my eyebrows and she gives me a crooked grin. She looks like she could be a bodyguard in another life. In a way she already is, protecting who resides in the Shack from each other and the forces outside. Once the Kingdom falls, I hope she becomes a guard. I could use such a solider on my side, skilled or not. I look towards the other woman next to her, taking in her skinny form and sleeping child, silently asking her the same question. Her voice is soft and husky as she talks to not disturb the baby.
"I'm Hazel and this is Luna," she gestures to the bundle of cloth on her front with a tender smile. That smile flatters quickly as she remember her story of quite simply, survival.
"I came here when I was seventeen. I was desperate for... a life without poverty. So at night I would wander the streets looking for a man to be taken by my beauty and youth. It didn't take long. I was pregnant same that week. And when he found out it was a girl..." she presses two fingers to her lip, trying to repel the tears. "He screamed at me, beat me and almost killed the child. My child. And I don't blame him. Women are destined to fail." She looks me dead in the eye.
"I'm not trying to dishearten you, my dear but be careful. Don't make the same mistakes as I." I give her a grim smile.
"Don't worry about me," I say. "I'm getting a pretty clear idea of what not to do here."
Late at night, when the slight snores of sleeping women fill up the shack and the shadows are tendrils of pure black, I slip quietly away. Laying back on the bare grass just behind the shack, I stare up at the stars. Mother's words slip into my mind. We are all just trying to shine the brightest. I sigh. Maybe not the most positive words but true none the less. I think of the stories I learnt today. Not one person has something good about this city. Honestly I don't know what I expected. Maybe a spark of hope, an inclining of rebellion. Not blank stares, smiles that don't reach eyes, sagging shoulders and aching joints.
They are just waiting here to die
This though hits me with the force of a train and I close my eyes against the light of the moon and stars. This building, hell this empire is basically a death camp for women only so much more subtle. My eyes fly open as soft footsteps approach and I see the bodyguard/women sit down next to me. I look at her, the question in my eyes clear.
"How do you live like this? How do you suffer in silence?"
"It's how we are raised. It's in our blood." She sticks out her hand.
"Jade," she says.
"Ida," I reply, shaking her hand. And for the first time arriving in this city, I truly smile under the light of the stars.
You have no idea how long it took for me to choose the name Jade. Anyways I hope this makes sense, especially the beginning as it follows straight on from the other chapter (If it confusing re-reading chapter 1 might help). It's pouring over here so writing seems to be what I'm doing today :)
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Trapped
Fantasy"I came here for one reason and one reason alone. To kill the king and take his kingdom for my own. " ------ Vreca has one mantra. Control. Over other countries, over food and its people. But especially over women. In a world where women are deemed...
