บท 9: Freshly Caught
It's been not even a day and I already regret leaving without saying goodbye.
What if he's angry with me? Maybe I should've stayed and talked this over with him more. Ugh he'll be so disappointed when I return defeated!
Relax! Papa said it was your decision!
Yes, I know, but what if it wasn't the wisest?
No decision made at the moment is wise, but over time you can see that it may have been the right thing to do.
Listen, I know you're just me trying to be positive about being a first stage breaking multiple laws in just one day...I have no idea where I was going with this point.
As I walked down the dirt road through another village I passed by kids playing kick ball in the street with melons and vendors shoving goods in people's faces trying to make a decent trade.
"And for you my young second stage girl? I freshly caught bass to bring home to your hubby or maybe some bread to fill his pit?" A big burley vendor with what looked like flies buzzing around him shoved a 'freshly caught' fish in my face that dropped salty muck from its gills and mouth.
I tried backing away putting my hands up, "no, no that's quite alright...I have nothing to trade anyways." He looked me up and down then smirked.
I backed away slightly, but ended up hitting a young man, "Oh come on sweetie, I'm sure we can find something you can trade for these fine goods..." he pulled me by my wrist closer to him and stroked my cheek with his other hand. "Maybe some of your own personally made fine goods."
He licked his lips while I shook my head no and tried to run away. I looked around frantically looking for anyone in the crowd of people that would help me, but they all averted their gaze somewhere else.
I squeezed my eyes shut and was on the verge of tears until the man stopped pulling and loosened his grip on me. "I don't think my partner has any 'fine goods' she'd like to trade with anyone today, like she stated just before , no?" Looking up in awe I see a boy, no a man standing between the vendor and me.
He looks back and gives me a small wink then turns back sternly to the vendor, "uh- Yes! I told him before uhm...darling, that I had nothing to trade with him but he insisted!" I played along the best I could with the courageous man.
The vendor let go of me completely frantically trying to explain himself, "w-well I just thought she was too young to have a partner yet that's all! Please I didn't realize!" He looked around, uneasiness creeping up his shoulder. "Don't make a big commotion out of nothing," looking around I could see some guardians marching over to us then back to see the vendor begin to pack up his stand.
Before I could see if they'd catch him in time I was being pulled through the crowd and into a small shack just off the road on a river bank.
I came to my senses once in the humble building and came face to face with the same man that saved me from the vendor. "I'm sorry, but if we stayed over there any longer they would've taken us in too." He walked away from me to close the front windows and door.
I looked around the shack to see clothes hanging everywhere with dryers and washing machines lined up against the wall.
Another laundromat...
I spun around to see the man looking back at me. He stretched out his left hand towards me to shake, "I'm sorry I forgot the introduce myself," I took his hand and he lightly shook it. "I'm Sam, a seventeen year old second stage...I mean I guess you could tell from my uniform but just in case y'know?" I giggled like a child at his small joke.
He smiled as I softly said back, "my name's Azami a—" I thought about telling him that I'm still a first stage but didn't want him to freak out, "—a sixteen year old second stager not partnered yet. I guess you could tell that though, seeing that I'm traveling alone." We both laughed at this.
Sam is very kind-hearted and seemed very understanding.
I wonder if he has a partner yet?
Shush we're traveling to look for mom, not to find a partner!
It wouldn't hurt to look for both right?
Ugh...
I looked back to see Sam softly smiling at me, but when we made eye contact he averted his gaze. "S-so, what's a young lady like you walking around alone this late in the day anyhow?" He looked back at me brushing his hand through his dark brown hair smiling cheekily.
I quickly thought up a lie that technically wasn't even a lie. "I-I'm going to see my mother. She's uhm...she's in the cities by the boarder." I looked away shyly, but turned back when I heard a creek in the floor. I saw him come closer and I'm an instant he took my hands in his.
"Really? My father is there too! He uh..." He trailed off for a moment but then stiff up straight as a toothpick and whispered with pride, "he's part of a group named The Black Cats fighting up north. I'm waiting for him to return so that I can leave home and fight in his place!" He stood tall and proud as he spoke, it made me seem a little foolish for hiding it from him.
'S-Sam? I uhm...I kind of lied'. Is what I should've said next, but instead I just went with my little white lie. "That's so cool! What exactly is he fighting for?"
He looked back at me like I was asking something silly, "well to exterminate the rebels of course! Those rotten people that don't respect what we have, trying to taint the very presence of our leader Eiji the Great." He kept in babbling on about how amazing our dictator was as I slowly spaced out.
'Exterminate the rebels.' Is she even alive at this point?
Of course she is! Papa told you she sends codes letters all the time, relax!
But people are dying up there everyday...Am I looking for no one by now?
"—zami? Azami!" I snapped out of my awful thoughts and looked over to a shaken Sam holding my shoulders. "Are you alright? I've been calling you for awhile? Are you afraid the rebels will win? Or is it just this y'all of war that's getting to you?" He lead me to another room with some pillows on front of a small broadcaster. "I'm sorry, I'm just always so intrigued about the ongoing civil war in our country." We both sat down on the pillows.
I looked towards him a little confused, "civil war? What's that?" He have me a small chuckle the injured his broadcaster.
He nodded his head in the direction of the screen, "watch." At the very moment that I turned to watch the screen did the channel suddenly change to a male reporter at what looked like rioting grounds. There were fires starting everywhere and people running around either being beaten with metal rods or sprayed with firehouse hoses against brick buildings. I watched in horror as people tried to kill other people in front of my eyes, one beating another on the ground with a stray brick and another wearing a full dark blue armored uniform spraying down other people with water.
I looked to San to see him with a straight face staring at the screen. "It's really sad to see this, but my father wants what's best for me." He looks back to me then stands up and faces away. "I know this may seem awful to say but..." I got up and walked over to him. He turned back to me and lightly held my shoulders, "sometimes I just want there to be peace, without all this crap."
"That's fine really...I feel the—"
"NO!" He stepped back and went up a few steps, I quickly followed behind him.
"W-what do you mean? It's really okay, I'd like to think there are people out there that feel the same!"
He stopped when I said this and shook his head, "why am I even talking to you about this? I have no idea who you are..." he turned to me and we immediately locked eyes, "but somehow I feel..."
Attracted? Pulled to me?
No! Stop this is serious!
"...like I can open up with you around." He looked away with a slight blush on his cheeks, "gosh...I must sound like a lunatic."
And at those words, I lunges up to where he stood a whole foot taller than me, grabbing his face to make sure to get my point across. "No! I feel exactly the same!"
Lies.
"I feel like I can tell you everything too!"
Stop lying.
"R-really? Then can I tell you how much I think about joining the rebels sometimes?"
I hugged him the second he said that and whispered, "of course you can."
At least you stopped lying...
While I ignored my conscious mind, I kept listening to Sam talk about how he feels like these innocent people dying for no good reason should be stopped. I agreed with him through every word he shared, by the end he was just staring at me with earnest eyes. "Where have you been all my life?"
I sat there a little taken aback but then just softened into a heartwarming smile. "No where special." As I said this the image of Haru's blank face popped into my mind.
His words repeating in my head, 'I'm sorry, I can't.'
"A-Azami? Are you alright?"
That was the last thing I'd heard before everything went black.
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SoFran
SoFran It's been a hot minute...
Chains by The Airborne Toxic Event for the music
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