I groaned as light fell across my face as the flaps of my tent flew open. I buried my face into my pillow and pulled my blanket over my head as a sing-songy voice cried out, “Rise and shine!”
I sunk deeper into the bed and let out a groggy, “Just five more minutes. I just need five…” I trailed off as I drifted back into a light sleep.
The sound of footsteps echoed through the tent and I flinched as the blanket was pulled from my body, “You’ve slept in long enough. It’s time you got up and started on your chores, Birthday Girl.” I groaned and looked up to see Jackson smiling down at me, his green eyes crinkling at the edges. He held the blanket in his hands and I groaned again, rolling over and choosing to ignore Jackson and his much too chipper attitude. “Come on. You need to wake up. I can’t keep being the one to get you up in the morning. You’re eighteen and an adult.” Again I let out a groan, trying to show my distaste at being woken up before noon. It was my birthday I should be exempt from chores and work of any kind. It was only one day. Jackson let out a sigh and I could see him crossing his arms over his chest, “I’m not leaving until you get up.”
I let out a sigh and sat up, “I’m sure this some kind of crime.” I watched as Jackson rolled his eyes as I swung my legs off the side of my bed. I looked up at Jackson, “Alright I’m up.” I watched him give a small nod, “You can leave now.” I watched as he exited the tent, the flaps fluttering closed behind him. I flopped back onto my bed letting out a sigh as I closed my eyes, willing myself to fall back asleep but found that I couldn’t. I was awake and there was nothing I could about that so I stood up stretching my arms over my head. I walked toward the large wooden chest where I kept my clothes. I pulled my shift off over my head tossing it to the side before kneeling down and opening the lid to reveal layers of clothes. I sorted through the clothes, pulling out one item after another and setting them to the side. After finding the clothes I decided would be worn by me, I got dressed in a worn green tunic with white trim with a cloth belt, a dark blue vest with a single button, and a pair of baggy black pants. I moved toward a small circular table near the center of the room where a small metal jewelry box sat on its center. I kneeled, down opening the box and pulling out a brown leather cuff with a metal pin through it. I gathered my hair in my hands, slipping the hair into the cuff and slipping the pin in place.
Standing up, I moved toward the front of the tent and slipped on a pair of simple brown leather boots before exiting the tent to find Jackson waiting for me just outside. He turned toward me a smile on his face. Jackson was an attractive man with chin-length blonde hair and light green eyes. He was tall, well-built, and worked as a Shifter tamer alongside Shawn. “What are you still doing here?”
He laughed and wrapped an arm around my shoulder and I shrugged it off as he said, “I figured we could walk across camp together. At least for awhile?” I over to see Jackson scratching the back of his head, nervous energy radiating off of him. I gave a half-hearted shrug before continuing to move forward away from Jackson and toward where the horses, donkeys, and mules were kept. My chores consisted of feeding and watering our animals, cleaning out their stalls and making sure that they were kept in good condition.
I grabbed the bucket that hung on the fence containing the horses, donkeys, and mules moving toward a burlap sack filled with animal feed, scooping the feed into the bucket and then poured it in the feeding troughs. I made sure the water trough had water before heading toward the small cloth shed to the side of the animal pens. I entered, finding a wood and metal shovel along with a large metal bucket. I walked toward the horse pen where I opened the gate, slipping inside. I ran a hand over one of the horses' sides as I set the bucket down and set about cleaning out the pen. I shoved feces into the bucket while humming a tune. After finishing, I moved to the next to pens cleaning them out and dumping the contents of the bucket into a pile, setting the bucket down and shoving the shovel into the pile. I brushed my hands off on my pants and ran my fingers through one of the horse's manes as I walked past their pen.
I walked swiftly through the camp avoiding the people were practicing for tonight's festivities. It was always lively before a show and I made sure not to interrupt any of the performer's practice. I arrived at the laundry tent finding that the shallow wooden buckets and cloth hampers overflowing. Letting out a sigh, I set to work on my second task of the day; Cleaning the laundry and hanging it up on the clotheslines along one side of the tent. I had fallen into an easy rhythm; dip, scrub, rinse, wring, hang, and repeat. I had just finished the first bucket and was starting on the second when my rhythm was broken; dip, scrub, and “Hey.”
I looked up to see Jackson standing at the entrance to the tent a smirk on his lips and a mischievous glint in his eyes. “What are you doing here?” I asked as I returned to my rhythm; rinse, wring, hang. I turned where I stood to look at him, wiping my hands on my pants.
“I came to get you.” He said, the smirk growing and the look in his eyes was excited. ‘What isn’t he telling me?’ I had known Jackson since we were both children. We had been friends since my father had taken him in and began training him as a Shifter trainer. I could tell that he was keeping something from me. I just needed to know what.
I quirked an eyebrow at him, “What for?” I watched as his cheeks practically split from smiling so hard.
“So we can give you your present!” He said with so much enthusiasm and excitement that it made me wonder just what my present was. Last year I had asked for a cat but had gotten a notebook with a cat on it because my Father had said, Cats can’t handle the constant traveling and wouldn’t last long. I wondered if he had changed his mind. If I was getting a pet cat. The hope for that outcome caused me to rush out of the tent with Jackson hot on my heels. I let him lead me through the camp, feeling giddy, with the possibility of not really noticing where we were going until I came to a dead stop at the entrance of a large tent that was at the back of the camp that was far away from everything else. I knew what this was. I wasn’t allowed in this tent. I hadn’t been allowed in this tent since my mother had died. I looked to Jackson who was holding open the flap.
I shook my head, “I’m not allowed.” I knew what was in there and a part of me didn’t want to see it but I was also so curious as to why I had been forbidden from entering the tent for my entire life.
“Not anymore,” Jackson said with a smirk and I reluctantly followed him into the no longer forbidden tent. The smell is what I noticed first. Feces and Urine. Like an Animal pen that hadn’t been cleaned for much too long. As we walked I could see into the cages where people sat surrounded by their own shit and piss. No, not people. Shifters. My father always said that Shifters aren’t people but as I continue to look into the cages I find it hard to believe. They look human to me. They have human faces, human eyes, and human hands. I’m sure if I talked to them they’d have human voices too. I forced myself to look away and focus on following Jackson through the winding cages and, according to Jackson, toward where they keep the new arrivals.
Eventually, after one turn, I heard Shawn yell, “Come give us some help, Jack!” I watch as Jackson ran off and I followed, turning the corner to see something I’ve never seen before. There I saw Shawn and my Father wrestling with a girl with chains who seems to be giving them more than enough trouble. I watched as my Father hands Jackson the chains he was holding and turns his back to me. I find my eyes drawn to the girl in chains who is thrashing and pulling against Jackson and Shawn.
The first thing I noticed was the large scar across the right side of her face and the way her right eye was a pale blue compared to the gold of her left. There was something off about her right eye with the way it seemed to look dully through me as if not seeing me at all while her left shone with a fire. She let out a guttural sound that caused me to stumble back as the girl jerked forward, pulling at the cuffs around her neck and wrists. She snapped her teeth at me before being jerked back by Jackson and Shawn. She let out a whimper and I watched as my father began to struggle with putting a muzzle on the girl. I watched as he pulled her head back, buckling the leather straps together and step back just as she turned and lunged at him. I watched as Jack and Shawn pulled her back away from my father and toward the open door of an empty cage.
My father walked around wrapping an arm around me, “Happy Birthday, Maven. Your very own Shifter.” I looked up at my father. He was a tall man with well-defined muscles from years of hard labor spent in the family business. He had black hair and blue eyes and I looked nothing like him. People often joked that there was no way I was his daughter. I was small and, despite the muscle that I had built up from years of hard work, dainty. I had shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes that my father always said ‘I got from my mother’ with tears in his eyes. I turned back to the girl who was being pulled into the open door. I watched as Jack and Shawn exited the cage and slammed the door and locked it behind them.
I pulled myself from my father's grip and moved toward where Jack and Shawn had put the girl. I slowly approached the dented metal cage door and peered in through the gaps in the bars. There the girl was crouched on the ground her head bowed and the chains from the cuffs on her wrists, ankles, and neck had been attached to metal bars on the floor. I leaned in closer, the metal end of my belt banging the metal bars and the noise echoed, causing the girl’s head shoot up.
Her eyes were full of fiery anger and burning hate as she shot to her feet and lunged forward, the roar muffled by the muzzle. I stumbled back in a mix of shock and fear. An arm snaked around my shoulder and Shawn spoke, “Don’t worry we’ll break it eventually and when we do it won't dare attack you.” I looked up a Shawn who was smiling down at me in the way he and Jackson always did when they were trying to be charming. I shrugged his arm off and walked back up to the door wrapping my hands around the bars.
I watched as she pulled at the chains, her eyes shining with unshed tears and my heart ached for her. I was a soft-hearted person which was another thing I had in common with the mother I had no real memory of. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the girl who was straining against the chains before falling to her knees and letting out a pitiful sound. Like a trapped animal who knew that they were never going to escape.
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