Yin's Story

3

I'm shaken awake by Spring.

"Yin! C'mon! Wake up! We're gonna be late!" he yells. I sit up stretching.

"For what?" I ask.

"Morning role call! You'll get us in trouble!"

He pulls me up and we start running. He leads me into a clearing and we stand in line next to each other. They call out my name and I say here. Just like everyone else did.

"Alright! You know what to do! Get to work!" shouts a soldier at us.

Spring takes my hand and starts leading me off again.

"You'll stay with me until the Warden wants you," he says. I nod my head.

"They've put me on laundry duty. So we'll get you some new clothes while we're in there."

"What's wrong with my clothes?!" I exclaim.

"You can't go walking around here looking like a princess. You sure as hell can't act like one either."

I look down at my clothes. I never really liked dressing up fancy.

He holds open a door for me. It's a small grey room with a large metal table pushed against the wall. There's piles of clothes on the floor and a big metal tub filled with water.

"Alright, how about you pick out some new clothes and I'll get to work," he says rolling up his sleeves.

"Okay."

I search through a pile of clothes that he points out to me. After about thirty minutes I decide on a blue and white striped sweater, dark brown shorts, black ripped leggings and a pair of small brown boots.

I put them on and throw my old clothes on the floor. Springs washing clothes and I stand beside him leaning on the large metal table.

"Need any help?" I ask. He looks up at me.

" Nice choice kid. Can you fold the dry ones over there?" He asks pointing to the other end of the table.

"Of course."

He shows me how to fold them correctly.

"Thank you. We always had servants doing things for us in my house."

"Rich kid, huh?" He asks.

"Yeah. But I never really enjoyed it. I don't really like being prim and proper."

It's true. I just went with it to make my parents proud.

"I think we're gonna get along, kid," he says smiling.

I return the smile.