Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1
OAK
I’ve always known I was unwanted.
Melodramatic, I know, but it’s the hard, cold truth. It wasn’t a random revelation or something I abruptly thought. No, it’s something fate had proven many times over. It never really bothered me, it was a fact, like the grass is green and the sea is blue.
The looks passing strangers—disgust, indifference, occasionally pity—weren't new either. It never made me feel lesser or pathetic, like it did to so many of my peers. I didn't really give a damn what they thought when they saw us, as long as they bothered throwing me a rumble or two.
The sun slowly creeps towards the small haven where the building I’m leaning against provides shadow. Soon, the day shift will end and the night shift will start, which would means I’d have to leave.Whorehouses hated having beggars like me near them. We were bad for business, a living reminder of what happens when the adults decided to indulge themselves, which made the customers uncomfortable. My tired eyes drop to my dirty wooden bowl, and for the hundredth time, I count the money, having little else to do. 7 rumbles. I’d have to sleep on the streets again. Even the cheapest inn required 5 blue barbs.My eyes roam the almost bare street, where little kids and lads, otherwise known as the academy kids, which is what we call the ones who go to the House of Learning, are playing.But soon, their mothers would bark at them to come inside, and they would whine and grumble before wishing each other good night before going into their warm, soft homes. What torture it must be.
They never look at us, the dirt underneath their feet. As insignificant as the sticks they play with. It was an unspoken rule. The beggars and the academy kids never interacted, lest we rub off our misfortune on them. Some of my friends found it humiliating and resented it, but what was the point? Did they truly believe they would not be the same if they were academy kids? Would I not be the same?
A burning all at once starts at my foot, and I wince, pulling it back, the sun was setting, and the shadows are not enough to cover us from the last few minutes of the blazing sun. I glance one last time at my surroundings, a few men are walking down the street, dressed smartly enough to be scholars, but those men would never donate to us lesser beings. My eyes widen an inch and my parched lips tilt up, and just when I thought I’d have to sleep in an alleyway again. On the other side of the road, a young couple walks slowly, smiling and laughing and looking so happy I knew from experience that they were newlyweds, a normal couple in this area hated each other’s guts. My head whips to the side to look for Victor, only to find him staring at me with a knowing smirk on his face. I don’t even bother confirming and instead get up to do what we’ve been doing since we could walk.
“Excuse me? Young miss? Could you spare a few rumbles for us? We just need enough to find a place to sleep tonight.” I rasp, and they both exchange an uncomfortable look, too young to say no but too practical to say yes. I stare at them for a second, letting them decide, and just when the man opens his mouth, a slightly firm expression on his face, I fall to my knees, “please, we have no where to go tonight and we’re sick” I plead, eyes darting to my friends. The man continues to look uneasy while the woman’s eyes soften, “just give him something Piper, I do not think if we leave them empty handed, I could sleep well tonight” her kind eyes settle on me, making me feel just a bit guilty for what we’re doing.
Piper opens his mouth, looking ready to argue, when from the corner of my eye, Victor gives me our signal. I immediately stand up and dust my faded brown pants, like that’ll clear up the years of dirt on it. My acts immediately drops.
“It’s okay miss, I'd rather not be a burden, if you really don’t want to....” and before either of them could reply, I run in the opposite direction as fast as my weedy legs allow. Though I had done this an uncountable number of times, it never got easier. It was nerve-wrecking and tiring for me. And sometimes we got caught, which meant being beaten within an inch of my life and not being able to move for several weeks after.
I stop only after I reach the beggar’s paradise, which is nothing, yet somehow exactly what it sounds like. It consists of 30-40 falling part tents and worn-down blankets, located snugly in the narrowest, deepest alleys.It’s much too dirt and darkness for the better part of society, so it’s where we call home. A place just for us beggars and thieves.
Speaking of which........
“How much did they have?” I ask, breathing heavily. Victor grins viciously. Unlike me, he always enjoyed robbing people. He thrives on taking from those who took so much from us. It's why I had the role of distractor while he stole from them. He also had defter fingers.
He hands me my share, which I count. 32 blue barbs, which makes my mouth fall open.
“Wha- how-” . Even the richest commoners here carried only around 5-6 blue barbs.
“They were probably wealthy nobles who wanted a day of acting like commoners. They always seem to find such horseshit amusing”
And yet they hesitated to throw a few rumbles at me. My guilt decreases substantially.
That night, as I sleep in a humid old room, the soggy bed creaking with every movement, and my dirty, matted hair falling onto my face, I wonder when life would get better.My sore limbs don’t allow me to brood too much, and I fall into a dreamless sleep.
