The Business of Emotion

[13] Under Stars

Aleah watched her bruises on her skin, under the cold shackles they had chained her with. But to her, they were now her identity, her mark, her appearance, a slave. In the morning, a slave, at night, a free girl. Nights were her favorite pastime, where there were no harsh shouts from soldiers and screams of pain of her fellow brethren. She dropped her hands down to her lap and looked into the sky, the twinkling stars and the dispersing clouds.

Reminiscing her past, her mother that would smile, her father that would give warm hugs, her brother that made her laugh. Aleah sunk further down on the soil. Well, those memories don't feel very helpful right now. She looked back at the construction site where they all worked hard for, where the soldiers would not give you rest or water till noon. It was almost finished, she used to be happy when sites were almost done, but she regretted it when she knew the ladies would be sent to their master's home.

Aleah refused to become a mistress and scarred her face, which, no man would sleep with in a warm bed for the night. She shook her head, not wanting to think about it. She only kept her head up high, watching the stars twinkle, waiting for dawn to come by. Aleah soon heard footsteps, her head whipped in the direction to whence it came from. She saw a soldier, holding his helmet on his arm, ruffling his brown hair, and paused when they made eye contact.

Aleah made a move to stand up and leave but he spoke first. "Don't leave." Aleah gulped and sat down properly, eyeing the chains from her shackles.

He let out a small sigh and sat down beside her, she jumped in surprise but remained quiet. He placed the helmet on the side and watched the stars with her. Aleah was nervous, he wasn't like the other soldiers, who were mean and strict, but he, he had that calming effect around him, as if Aleah could be herself, but she wouldn't let her guard down.

"Do you come here every night?" He spoke, not looking at her, eyes in the sky. Aleah glanced at him and nodded. "Speak if you have a voice."

Her heart quickened, and hesitantly opened her mouth. "Y-yes."

"See? You do have a voice." He heartily laughed, almost to himself though.

Aleah nervously shifted and looked down on the soil, the patches of green barely showing with the cement covering it. She was still uncomfortable with the soldier beside her, but then again, at night, she's not a slave, at night, he's not a soldier. Just two people together, under stars.

The big, burly soldier on top of the built barracks yelled again and lashed the whip. Aleah winced from the sound and continued to walk across the busy crowd, carrying a heavy sack full of cement. Another slave ran passed her and bumped on her shoulder, falling on the ground and dropping the sack of cement on the soil and spilling its contents. Then, everything was silent, the slaves around her watched in big, scared eyes, Aleah shut her eyes tightly, she knew she was going to be punished. 3 soldiers entered through the crowd, the slaves getting out of their way, one stepped closer to where Aleah was lying on and crushed the formed cement under his boot.

"Look what we have here." Aleah refused to make eye contact and kept staring at the ground. "If it ain't the girl who scarred herself to protect her virginity." The other soldiers laughed at her.

The man in front of her turned to the witnessing slaves and yelled at them to continue their work, without any protest, they continued their job. He looked down on her again. "You do know what's going to happen, aren't ya?" He crouched down to her level and rose her face to his. "You don't know how expensive cement are nowadays." He stood up and spat at her.