Human

Chapter two- Moss dresses

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the moment I walked through the door I was met with the dreary sight of my home,  my family all worriedly huddled in the living room. we lived in one of the community homes, which in other words was a small apartment complex filled with studio apartments, even though almost the entirety of my family had paying jobs, we still could barely afford a one-room, one bathroom place.  you could see how long it's been since anything has been renovated just by glancing around, old wallpaper from the 50s that had been peeling for longer than I'd been alive, mold seeping out of the corners of all rooms, flickering lights, and sometimes even water dripping through the ceiling. We didn't dare bring up the damage to our landlord, for he might bill us for "ignorance of damaged property". the loud creak of the door sent heads turning my way, my family paused for a moment, before my brother rushed my way.

"Oh. my. god. do you know how absolutely terrified I've been? It's been 2 whole hours since curfew! where have you been- eden baby you can't just stay out this late-" he stammered on, although it could be annoying, the worrying is justified, so many of us go missing too often.

My older brother, Isaiah, worked for one of the brothels as a server. we don't really talk often about our jobs, but I know he's seen how bad humans are treated, sometimes coming home late can turn into not coming home at all. his green eyes were wide with worry, and his hands shook as they clutched my shoulders. I watched him scan me over for injuries, clearly noticing the bruises around my neck that had surely formed by now, he didn't mention anything though, he would probably talk to papa about this later.

He's been trying to convince me to quit the factory job for a while because it's too far from home and he can't work there with me because they only hire women, but he also wouldn't tell me to work with him in the brothel, women are treated differently there. I cannot tell him about this, he would use it to get me home. And even though I would love to mend cloth at home, we wouldn't be able to pay rent or eat. Speaking of food, the can I had bought was still tucked under my arm in the bag.

"I got food, and I didn't get fined" I spoke, holding up the can, he didn't look up from my neck. Probably wondering what happened, I wouldn't tell him. We just stood in silence for a little, Isaiah just assessing the damage. Then he walked away, taking the can of beans, either to go out it in the freezer so I can have an ice pack, or eat it. I can't find it in myself to care, I think it's the aftereffects of adrenaline, or maybe it's from that man slamming me against a wall, but my entire body feels weighed down, walking was hard enough while starving, now it was close to impossible. I was always told that other species recovered from fatigue faster than us, just another thing to be inevitably jealous of.

"You need to be more careful, that ball is tomorrow, you won't have that to protect you after that. Let's get you into bed, you look... dead" papa was the one to break the silence. If you hadn't noticed already, we don't talk much, It's just how we all were raised, we could get in trouble for saying certain things, so it's always better to be safe than sorry. He stood up, his unusually small frame guiding me to the only other room in our apartment, the bedroom. If that's what you could call it at least, we had a dirty mirror hung on the wall with a rusted nail, and a mattress stripped of all sheets or blankets. 

He didn't speak, The look in his eyes told me enough, he knows what happened, he's been here long enough to know that when an officer leads a young woman home, it's because of some guy in an alleyway. We don't speak about it though, his touch alone is enough to speak the world. I remember a time when I was younger, and papa wasn't as thin, as near-death looking, we would go out in the front yard and play in the water. Mama was healthy then, she could speak, and walk around, she didn't spend her days muttering gibberish to a wall. I wish I could go back to when I didn't have to care about some mating ball.