Light in the Darkness «Reylo»

«1»

Small specks of dust surrounded me in an almost suffocating hug as I clung onto the wall of an old broken down ship. My hands fumbled around in the metal for any sort of part that could possibly be of any value in exchange for food. Beads of sweat rolled down the sides of my face and to my neck, and I used a sleeve to wipe the perspiration from my skin.

Will a forceful pull, I managed to pull a metal piece out from inside the ships wall, a satisfied huff escaping my lips. Before beginning to propel down the wall, I stuffed the part in my bag along with the other small pieces I had found that day.

Inside the rickety old ship, the hot air was stuffy and dusty, but as soon as I stepped out into the desert, the blazing hot air engulfed me in an uncomfortable hug. The sun blinded my eyes when I removed my mask and goggles, and I quickly fumbled around for my tin of water. Barely any liquid dropped out of the bottle, and I began to hit the sides, hoping for something to quench my thirst.

As hard as this all seemed, it had been my life. Since a young age, Jakku had been my home. The stifling hot air, the brownish-orange sand, and the rude residents were all familiar.

A sigh escaped my lips, and I crawled onto my metal sled, tossing my bag into my lap while sliding down the hot sand dunes. Soon, the sled came to a stop near the junker speeder I had left before making my journey earlier that day. As normal, I stuffed my findings into a pocket on the speeder and took off towards town.

Everyday, I went through the same repetitive routine. Find machine parts, trade them in, get food, go home.

With a crash of various metal pieces banging against each other, I took down the pocket on my speeder and began hauling it towards the small town of shacks in my view. Residents and creatures trudged around in the sand, all going about their normal business.

Soon, I took a seat by a tub of water and began to scrub clean that days findings. An older woman in front of me did the same as I, giving me a troubled smile as a passing alien grumbled something in my ear.

It took a while to finally clean all the pieces, but I soon hauled them all over to Unkar who stood in his hut towards the center of the town. A frown stayed glued onto his wrinkly face as I approached, sending shutters down my spine. I avoided eye contact as much as I could while placing all the pieces onto the counter.

Unkar examined my finding, scratching his chin before croaking out, "What you've brought me today is worth..." his sentence trailed off momentarily. "One quarter portion."

Although I was disappointed and angered by the small amount of food I had acquired that day, I didn't show it as I took the sealed package of what seemed to be powder.

The sun had begun to set on the horizon of Jakku by the time I had finished that days work. The sky was a pinkish color as I arrived at my home that night. A tipped over AT-AT had been my home ever since I had been left by my parents on Jakku. The enclosed space on the inside sheltered me from the dust and some of the heat, and it was isolated off from everything else.

I grabbed my staff off of the red speeder and headed inside the AT-AT, clutching onto the little bit of food I had gotten that day. The inside didn't have much besides tins for food, a small sleeping area, and a few mementos on the wall.

A small creak came from the far left corner where a few crates sat, and I glanced over to find a small pair of eyes peeking out at me. The little girl sitting behind the crates let out a sigh of relief when she realized that I was not an intruder and crawled out.

I gave the child a smile and ruffled her hair as she approached me. "I hid just like you said. Whenever I heard something outside, I hid."

"Good job, Kylie," I said, patting her shoulder before heading over to the far wall where thousands of small tick marks were scratched onto the surface. My hand grasped a small, sharp tool, and I marked off another tick.