I race along the hallways, trying to ignore her taunts that ring in my head. I'm aware of Arthur calling for me, his voice ringing out to me. I ignore him though. He wouldn't understand.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsByr0HFdzZ
I slow to a stop, my hand lazily grazing across the stone walls. Tears stain my face, dripping down as I try to wipe them away. I hate her, I hate her, I hate her. I lean my head against the wall and run my fingers through my hair, letting it fall across my face. My knees give way and I slide down the wall, my hands covering my face. I've ended up here, alone, scared. A couple of days ago I thought the guards were coming to kill me. Now that would be a gift. The only thing that keeps me alive...that gives me the will to live is Tina. Her smiling face, her quirky ways keep my heart beating inside a lifeless chest. And now I can't even look after her. Tears sting my eyes. I wasn't even able to say goodbye.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEu4WWJOnJg
Someone touches my shoulder. I jump and see him, Arthur, concern flooding his face.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNzDRFmmIHr
"She's a bitch, right?" he says.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLMbH6ZTv11
A tiny smile forms on my face at his lame joke. "I guess you could say that." He flashes me a toothy grin. He reaches out a chubby hand and I clasp onto it like a lifeline. I realise he couldn't be more than thirteen years old. So young, yet so determined.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRCaHpbWkac
"I got some food for you...so you won't have to face her again," he says. He hands me a bread roll and I snatch it from him like a starved animal. As I gobble it up, he leads me to a wooden door. It's bolted shut but he knocks on it anyway and it swings open on it's hinges. An older woman stands before me, her body plump. Grey hair springs out from underneath her white cap and she sports a pair of white pants and a white, buttoned top with a little red cross on her right breast. She takes one glance at me and ushers me inside.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshoOmu7Egl
"Take a seat," she says quite sternly. I obey, afraid to make anyone else hot headed. She sits down in front of me, along with a bowl of hot water and soaps. "Got into a little punch up?"834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTAHclQRF7d
"Aadya," I say. She nods, understanding the name. She's must've had every kid in here with bruises over their faces because of her. She leans forward, her chair squeaking in protest. 834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUeiCHeCJDh
"Now, this will hurt just a bit," she whispers while holding a cloth drenched in the water and soaps. A searing pain hits my face, the stinging bolting across every cut and bruise. I clamp my mouth shut, determined not to scream. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. My hands clutch onto the sides of the chair, my nails biting into the wood. I squeeze my eyes shut but the pain shoots across my face again.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm3scDM5h7s
"There we go," she says. I peel my eyes open and attentively touch my aching face. My fingers stroke the soreness, as if trying to coax the pain out of my body. Arthur still stands beside me, his hand clasped around my shoulder.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6KtdE067X
"Sorry," he says. "Keeps out infection."834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKAzEOa1eB
The nurse smiles at him before glancing at me again. "You're the first to not scream." I nod my head instead of smiling - or talking. "Okay, fun's over," she says and ushers us out. As I'm about to leave, I feel her cold hand wrap around my bony shoulder. "Go," she whispers into my ear, her breath tickling me, "and become the body guard."834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMBCbXgaqnX
***834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMbzvnCDj1
I'm awake early enough to see the sky painted in hues of pink and orange, dancing along the sky as the sun rises and bathes the earth in it's warmth. I lay on my bed, cocooned in my blankets, alone in the tiny room I was given. I watch as the sun kisses the furniture, making the wood turn to a beautiful shade of burnt umber. The hard thumping on my door rises me up out of my bed.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZWHSz2Ia3
"Rise and shine," I hear the guard call.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgEjVUgr3tr
I pull the brown shirt over my head, the smell of persperant still lingering on it. The pants aren't so bad.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5KHNY91BXP
As I leave my room, I see Arthur coming out of his room filled with the boys. Aadya's nowhere to be seen, probably in some room of her own as well. I wait for others to pass and Arthur stands with me. He leads me to another room, which he explains to be called the mess. A room that I guess to be near the training grounds. No tables or chairs, just one plate with a pile of bread rolls in the middle. Nothing else. One boy groans and complains about the food.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx9PsXrbLqw
"Eat that or eat my shit!" one of the guards yell, his face inches from the boy's. He whimpers. Swallowing, I walk past them and keep my head down, my heart hammering in my chest.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhVjLkKfe81
A sea of boys stop us in our tracks. They flood the plate, grabbing whatever they can. I see some walking away with two, three, sometimes four bread rolls piled up in their hands. I go to push through, wanting, needing that food. I know firsthand what it's like to starve. My stomach growls as if to agree.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVLZlZy6LKT
I jump when I feel a clammy hand clasp onto my arm. I turn and see Arthur, his chubby face wide eyed and afraid. 834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU16eZqwxHh
"Let go," I mutter.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgkAVKQhjB9
He shakes his head as his grip tightens. "It goes by the hierarchy. The top boys get to eat first, usually with the Bitch getting the first picks. Then the rest are left to scavenge whatever's left."834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbA1xoDbbnY
I turn to face the boys once more. I see the plate that has hardly any bread rolls left on it. The crowd before me is starting to thin, the boys getting whatever they want. "What happened to ladies first?"834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGfAi92jHh
Arthur's face barely breaks into smile. It doesn't even even reach his eyes as he says, "I'm the bottom of the ladder and you're hanging out with me." I purse my lips. I spent years providing food for my family, and failed quite a lot, but I got Tina to survive. I kept her alive, even in the days when she starved, when there was nothing to eat, I found something to keep her from dying. I straighten my back. And I will do the same for him. 834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1K7xCSylRN
I yank my arm from Arthur's grip and knead my way through the throng of people. Hands try to stop me from continuing, but I slap them away, putting my every force into the slaps. After years of hunting, designing wood to become a crossbow and surviving, I am strong. My slaps hurt enough to cause yelps from the others. I know they'll want revenge. I'm the lowest of the lows, already being flogged by the Bitch and my only ally a chubby thirteen year old.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFDYv6ce0cz
I reach the plate, only three bread rolls left. And I will take all of them. I pick them up, already cold. Curses are thrown my way as I turn to walk back to Arthur. Until a hand clasps onto my shoulder.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKU04Tqiq93
I turn, his face set in a scowl. His body ripples with muscles, his arms more like a trunks off a tree. Swallowing, I tighten my grip on the rolls. He won't take them. He won't. Years and years of hunting, stealing food from animals, I will not give it up to some boy who looks as if he could snap me in half. I guess a sane person would say it was suicide. 834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZWJYW4hfi
"Quite a lot you got there," he says, his head indicating to the rolls.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT0CI5dbyzc
"Not as many as you," I say. I motion my head towards the pile he carries in his arm. I hope he can't hear my heart thundering in my chest, but I will not go down without a fight. 834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCnzFlf0SKU
The corners of his mouth raises into a cruel smirk. "You're gonna give some of that to Fatso over there?" 834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelZ6blVAXU
"Maybe."834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdmjwOlo4Fl
He sniggers. "It's not like he needs it."834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ASVg6PfQN
I lean myself onto one leg as I try and throw as much sass as possible into my voice. "You're not doing any better, either." His eyes start to boil with rage. I've insulted enough people to know when to run. And when they're going to strike. His hand loosens just a bit on my shoulder. I sprint. I duck out from people's blows and jump over legs from tripping. As a child, I was a pick pocketer, and when they saw me with my hands filled with their goods, they did whatever they could to retrieve them.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOOgpPf9PC
The guards stand by the walls, unmoving. I see one chuckling to himself, his shoulders shaking as he tries to compose himself once more. 834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7FQMymtzVd
I reach the end of the room, stopped by the door. I whip around and see him, stalking up to me, his hands clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white. I just called him fat. I'd be pretty pissed, too. 834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEkmQJIWEo
"Give me the food and no one gets hurt," he snarls. 834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2vqfFJEEK
"Why should I give it to you?" my heart hammers in my chest. You're walking a fine line, Cecelia, I think to myself. A very fine line. 834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYwKH9NT93O
He tips his head back, his mouth in a thin line. He stands before me, inches from my body. I swallow. His hands pump in and out of fists, ready to strike. I squeeze the rolls. Maybe I should've given them back. What was I trying to prove, anyway? That I was better than them? Look where that got you, I think. 834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtC50PueCL
He raises his fist and I brace myself for the blow. Nothing. I glance up and he's whipped around. Someone stands before him, a tiny, little, pathetic thing compared to him. Arthur. He raises his chubby fists in front of his face as if in defense. Laughter echoes around us.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmXRa3pMdWv
"What're you gonna do, Fatso?" the man in front of me says, laughter erupting from him. Arthur's throat bobs. "So stupid." The man, who I nicknamed Giant, flashes a smile as he raises his fists. And flogs into Arthur.834Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUeTwDsDQQ
