In the city of Vir girls are property, bred and raised to be the perfect wives. To serve and obey and honor the men that rule their city.
Elaia has always been content with her place in society. She is a perfect daughter, and with any luck she'll b...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
------ ELAIA -------
Trinia gets up from the table, stumbling into my arms, sobbing. Her makeup is smeared, her red hair in knots.
"What are you doing here?" I ask her softly, embracing her. I'm still in shock.
"I didn't want to," she whispers between sobs.
"Didn't want to what?" I ask, confused. "You're not making any sense."
"I didn't want to," she whispers again before dissolving into violent sobs. "I didn't want to." She keeps whispering these same words over and over and all I can do is hold her and wonder what she means.
"What's wrong?" I ask her, pulling away from her to look into her glassy green eyes.
"He made me," she whispers before burying her face in my shoulder again.
Oh. This happens sometimes. But nobody really talks about it. "Oh, Trinia, I'm so sorry," I whisper in her ear, tears blurring my vision. "I'm so, so sorry." I hold my best friend tight, letting her cry.
When her sobs have quieted to shaky breaths and soft sniffles I pull away from her, leading her back over to the table. Trinia falls into the chair carelessly, burying her head in her hands.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask her, taking her hand in mine from across the table.
Trinia stares me down for an impossibly long moment before shaking her head. "No, I don't," she whispers, her words so quiet that I almost don't hear her.
I nod in understanding, squeezing her hand tight. "Is there anything I can do?" I'm at a loss. For words. For what to do. I've never known anyone who's been through this before. What do I say? How do I help her? I don't know what to do.
Trinia takes a deep breath, glancing to the other side of the cafeteria. "I don't know what," she replies, her words broken.
"We could talk to someone. Lord Annistor, maybe?" I suggest.
Trinia scoffs. "He won't listen," she replies simply. She's got a point. Kreston would be furious to hear of this - he's not his father, but he's also not the Lord of Vir yet, so there's little he could do about the situation.
"Well, what about the city council? They might-," Trinia slams her hand down silencing me. I jump.
"They're not going to listen to us, Elaia. They don't care. And they never will."
Her words sting with truth. She's right. They don't care about what has happened to her. Or about what happens to any of us. We're just toys to them. Pretty things for them to play with and dress up and order around.
My grief gives way to anger. They've hurt my best friend and I can't do anything about it. I wasn't there to stop it, and now it's too late and there's nobody that will listen or help us.
Fresh tears fill my eyes, except these tears are angry. "I'm sorry, Trinia," I say because I don't know what else I can say.
"You didn't do this," she replies quietly, dismissing my apology.
I grit my teeth, trying to hold back my rage. "No, I didn't," I agree absently, staring blankly ahead. All the things I felt the morning my family was making fun of my friends at the camp come rushing back - anger, helplessness, fear.
"But I will help you fix this. I don't know how yet, but I promise I will."
-------
I'm laying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling when Castine comes back into our room.
"Hey," she greets, sitting on the edge of her own bed.
"Hey," I reply quietly, not meeting her gaze. A minute of awkward silence passes.
"Are you alright? You seem really quiet," she says.
"Yeah," I say, but even I can tell my words aren't convincing.
"You sure?" Castine prompts, folding her arms over her chest.
I sigh. "No, I'm not alright," I finally admit, knowing she can see right through me.
"What happened?" She asks, sounding concerned. "If one of the-," "it's not about me," I interrupt.
"Then who?" Castine asks, laying back on her own bed.
After a moment I decide that it can't hurt to tell her. And so I relay everything I got out of Trinia to Castine, occasionally having to pause to collect my thoughts or choke back a sob. The whole situation is still so messy in my mind. When I'm finished Castine thinks on my words a moment before responding.
"I'm sorry that happened to your friend," she says finally, her words more quiet than I've ever heard them before. Castine is usually pretty loud.
"Why do they have to treat us like that?" I ask as tears well in my eyes.
Castine lets out a heavy sigh. "Because they've been taught it's okay. The men in this city have been allowed to use women for decades and now they don't know that they're abusing us," she says, sounding far away even though she's only a few feet to my right.
I think about the way the handler treated me earlier after my meeting with Kres. The way he hit me, and how he wouldn't call me by my name. Is that what that was? Abuse?
"How do we show them?" I ask her, turning over on my side, finally meeting her gaze. "How do we make them see that they're hurting us?"
Castine's brown eyes become glassy with tears. "We fight. We have to stand up for each other because nobody else will stand up for us," she says. "They've forgotten that women are people too."
"Is that why you hate this place so much?" I ask her, using my hand as a pillow. "Because they abuse women?" I ask. That term is still new in my mind.
She swallows hard before nodding her head. "Yeah. It's the reason I fight," she adds, wiping away a stray tear. The lights dim, telling us it's time for bed.
"We should get some rest," Castine suggests, turning over to face the wall.
I think about her words. About how the men have hurt Trinia. How they've hurt me. Men have been abusing me my whole life and I didn't even know it. What kind of sick city do I live in where my best friend could get sexually assaulted and then she gets punished for it? It's not fair. None of this is right. I can't turn a blind eye any longer. I won't.
"Castine?" I call into the darkness, hoping she's still awake.
I hear her sniffle from across the room. "Yeah?" She replies, her tone of voice sad.
It takes me a long time to get up the courage to respond. "I want to fight, too."
------- Author's Note -------
Hello, loves! So sorry it took me so long to update - life has been a shit show as of late but hopefully it's getting better! What did you think of this chapter? I know it was probably rough to read but I think it's important. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Thank you for your patience, and for reading We Are Wildflowers!
