Love and Loyalty

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Elizabeth!" I shot up from my bed to see my Mother, clearly angry with me.

"What's going on?" I asked, putting my hand to my head. Her yelling had made my head pound like a drum.

"What has gotten into you?! Slacking when I asked you to get groceries, breaking the glass plate, and now you're not waking up on time.

What has gotten into me? I wondered. I had been acting different ever since... Ever since... Alexander came into my life.

I didn't know why. I thought maybe I was sick. I also thought for a while that I shouldn't have been around him. Maybe he was a bad influence. But it didn't matter. I liked being with him. He made me feel special. The complete opposite I felt when I was at home.

"I'm sorry," I was apologizing to her a lot. And every time I did, I started to mean it less and less.

"Enough with the apologizes, start your chores."

"Yes Mother," I said and went outside.

I walked into our small backyard, we had a small chicken coop and it was my responsibility to get the eggs, feed the chickens, and all the other great chicken chores.

That was my life, at the time.

I walked in, and jumped at the sight of someone already in there.

Alexander.

What was he doing here? Did he not know that if my father saw him he was as good as dead? Maybe he didn't care. But he should've. I cared.

"Alexander, what are you doing here?!" I asked in a yelling whisper tone of voice.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't..." He trailed off.

"Couldn't what?" I asked.

"Nevermind, I'll go now, sorry."

I wondered what he was talking about. He couldn't what? For a few moments I questioned his intentions, and realized they were silly. He approached me first, with no requests other than to meet him. He gave me bread that wasn't moldy or old. If I brought home one of the loafs there I would've been beaten. And if I didn't bring one at all, I would've been beaten, just the same. And he saved me from that risk. Who was I to question his intentions

"No, wait for me to go too, I'll create a diversion so that you can get away."

I wasn't going to let my father do something horrible to him. Not if I had a say in things.

"No really it's okay, you don't have to-"

I let the chickens run free and out of the coop. I'd never done something like that on purpose, I knew I'd be punished in some manner for what I did, the second I let them run out. But Alexander would've had to face a much greater trouble of punishments than me if my father had found out that he was hiding in the coop.

"Elizabeth!" Father yelled.

"Go," I told Alexander. "I'll see you tonight."

"Elizab-"

"If you wish to help me then go!"

So he left. And I chased the chickens around the backyard and put them in the coop.

"Elizabeth you need to stop with this constant careless behavior. Is there something going on I should know about?" Father asked. You should know, but you're not going to know. I thought.