Unrequited// OC x Gilbert Blyth // OC x OC

23

KATHERINE AND BASH WALKED THROUGH THE SMALL TOWN PEOPLE CALLED THE BOG. The houses were built of wood that grew old. Most trees in the area were dead, not a single leaf on them. The people wore clothes that had patches in them and had turned grungy.

"Bash, how do you define beautiful?" Katherine asked, stepping over a dirty cloth on the ground.

"Okay so it isn't everything I imagined," he admitted.

"If it isn't the man from the train." Katherine and Bash stopped. Katherine remembered the conductor saying his name. Issac. "I'm surprised your guest hasn't ditched you. Where you from?"

"Trinidad," Bash explained. "I worked a steamship to get here."

"I mean where do you live when you're not slumming down here with us... in the muck?" he said. He glanced at Katherine. "She looks quite wealthy. Better keep an eye on her. Most are good here; some bad."

"Avonlea," Bash said.

"Farming community," said Issac. "Hear it's pretty up there. Must be nice."

"Well, good day," said Katherine, but Issac stepped in her way.

"I was rounding off a seventy-two-hour shift when you got all uppity," he said in a low voice. "Boss rode me till the end like a mule."

"Sounds like you had it bad before I stepped foot on that train," said Bash. "Pushing me to the back wasn't bound to help you."

"Boy, it's all right for you to be those people's pet, but you don't know your place and that's dangerous," Issac warned.

"Know his place?" said Katherine. "He is a free man. He doesn't have to bow down to anyone. And neither do you. I don't understand how you, a free man, can bow down when you don't have to."

He pushed her and Katherine fell. "You watch yourself, young lady. You don't know what life is like for our people. Ain't nobody helping your kind here. You're just a girl in the Bog." As Bash helped her stand, Issac said, "Laundry's a few streets down that way... They might help you."

"You don't have to stand up for me," said Bash as they walked down the street.

Katherine brushed her hands together to get the dirt off saying, "Many people have stood up for me. I've always wanted to be heard. I learned I have to use my voice to do that."

The two walked further down the street, watching out for the puddles forming as the sky drizzled rain. There weren't many signs so Bash looked into each window to find the place where they could get Katherine's dress washed. After finding the place, and being authorized to come in, he walked inside, Katherine slowly following behind him. She knew Issac was right. It was just as before that morning. Their people were looked down upon from Katherine's. She wouldn't get any genuine kindness from anyone in the Bog.

"Afternoon, ladies," he greeted the women in there. "I have to be honest— "

"I hope so," said a woman. "The last man who tried to rob us left here with less than he came in with." And the women around her laughed.

"My situation might be a bit of a challenge," Bash informed.

"Well, bring your challenge inside and close the door," another woman said.