All Our Lives

Chapter 8

A few days had passed since I last saw the soldier. I had secretly hoped he would visit the shop but after the fifth day I lowered my hopes. Days had turned into weeks since I had last seen him. After a while I was getting worried. So of course I had to investigate. I asked any soldier that I saw until one of them knew who I was talking about. Apparently they called him Soldier RHIII. They asked me how I knew him and I told them I was a friend who was worried. Eventually when they got over their initial shock they told me where he could be found. He was over in the slums taking care of a family he adopted. Here, adopting a family for a soldier meant, he was saving them from being too poor by sharing his riches with them until he died in war. I asked them to tell me the exact location and they gave me a map. I used the spare change I had to catch a fair there. The slum parts of England is where the “poor” lived amongst each other. The fair let me off right at the entrance. This place was basically broken down houses with trash filled streets and people begging by the gates. It was like a seperate world; a good place for witches and warlocks to hide. I could sense them and looked well off.

I looked around as I walked amongst the trash and gave the people whatever I had on me to sell for money. I wished I could help but I haven’t used my powers in so long that they had seemed dormant almost. “Marabeth?” A familiar voice rang out to me.

I turned to face those beautiful eyes. I smiled and walked over to Reeceson. I stood in front of his frame drenched in sweat from head to toe. He even smelled a bit gamey. Dirt covered his forehead as was his whilte button up shirt. His sleeves were rolled up as well. His shoes were muddy as well. I couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle at his appearance. “My, my, what do we have here soldier? You and your clothes are a mess. You must have an explanation?” I teased while looking him up and down. Reeceson’s eyes lit up with excitement like a child.

“I was gardening with my family. A little birdy told me a beautiful woman dressed in a yellow sundress was wandering around here,” he said with a sly grin. His eyes wandered down to look at a small child that was hiding behind a trash can. “Come on out, Gresh, she won’t bite. I promise,” Reeceson called out to the boy. Gresh looked no more than 4 or 5 years old. His clothes looked fresh and his hair long with curls. His eyes were the color of green gems. He had a very small body and wandered over to Reeceson to hug his leg. 

“You’re very pretty,” Gresh mentioned timidly. I kneeled down a bit to the boy's height and smiled at him.

“Thank you, Gresh. You’re pretty handsome yourself,” I said as I watched the little boy blush and run away.

“Wow, he must really like you,” Reeceson chuckled. I stood back up properly and looked at him.

“Maybe when he gets a little older I’ll marry him. Won’t be able to find any more attractive men around here,” I only teased as Reeceson looked at me with a shocked expression. 

“My pride was really just stepped on. Am I not handsome,” he asked, making puppy dog eyes at me. I laughed at him. I really couldn’t hold my tongue. “Well I suppose you are, but I guess his cuteness overpowers yours,” I chuckled voraciously at his reaction as he soon joined in cacophonous laughter. A few moments passed as we grew silent. He relaxed and hummed whilst he locked onto my eyes. 

“How did you find me?”

“I asked around. It had been weeks since I last saw you so i had gotten a bit restless.” I responded. Reeceson gave me a nod and a smile.

“I’m glad you cared enough to come looking for me.” He exclaimed. I chuckled slightly and nodded.

“Of course, I care about the safety of others,” I mentioned. We grinned at each other faintly as the conversation grew cold. I needed to find something else to talk about so I don’t lose him. 

“Oh yes, tell me about your family,” I thought peeking into his personal life would show some interest in him and bring us closer. His smile and nod gave me reassurance.

“Well, if you could’ve guessed, Gresh is the son of the family. His mother is carrying his sister at the moment. Well, at least we hope it’s a girl. They waited so long to have children. Once I adopted them, they said it was a blessing so they got busy,” Reeceson chuckled, “to say the least.”

I shared a laugh with him, “that’s pretty interesting, well, I’m glad they are being taken care of. You seem like a pretty nice person.”

Reeceson was about to say something until we heard some horses coming down the pathway. We both turned to look at them as the soldiers and a general hopped off the horses. The General in green looked around in disgust at the place. What did he expect the slums to look like. People who looked down on others are what I hated most. The general looked at me and Reeceson and smirked before walking over to us slowly holding a riding crop in his right hand.

“Well, well, what do we have here? Reeceson finally found a woman to call his own, huh,” the General scoffed. Reeceson put on a facade and shook his head.

“No sir, I have not,” he answered astutely.

The General smirked and nodded. He slowly turned to me, “too bad, she is quite beautiful. Would the miss enjoy my company?” I gave a polite smile and shook my head.

“No thank you. I have other plans with Reeceson.”

While we weren’t paying attention, the soldiers behind the General were going into the people’s houses and leaving with small bags . I tilted my head to watch them, wanting to know what was going on here. The General looked behind him and cracked an evil smile once again.

“It’s tax season darling. The poor people have to pay their taxes too. They’re still living off us after all,” the General bellowed as he inched closer to me. I took a step back. He smelled of rum. I hated the smell. He took offense.

“What’re you moving away for, sweetheart? I won’t bite ya,” as he moved ever closer still. This General was really starting to bother me. Reeceson could sense the tension.

“Excuse me, General. She is just not used to being close to others. I am only her second friend here. Try not to scare her please.” Reeceson spoke up for me. Even though I didn’t need it because I was just going to continue to move away from him til he got the idea. But, I let Reeceson speak. The General scoffed a bit as we started to hear some commotion in the background.

“Please sir, that’s all the money I have. I still need to buy food for my children.” A woman begged one of the soldiers. The soldier shoved her away and she stumbled backwards and fell down.

“Stay back, little bitch! Don’t give me no excuses! You still owe us from last time!” The soldier shouted down at her.

I started growing more and more upset while watching all of this unfold. The General did nothing but watch and I could tell Reeceson was pretty upset as well. I made my way over to the soldier and woman. I heard the General say something before the crack of his riding crop could be heard.