Refuge

Chapter 4

We both walked back to our beds, sipping on our water. we both sat on my bed silently, just making use of each other's company. That's when i noticed the sky darkening through the small, barred window that was lighting the room.

One of the guards shouted, "Bedtime! I don't want to hear a single word out of any of you in five minutes!"

Katie looked over at me and asked to be lifted into her bed. I lifted her up but she didn't leave my hands. Instead she shouted, "Hey! That's my bed! I was there first!"

"Yeah well now it's mine!" a young male voice said. I looked up to see a boy about her age sitting there. I gently set Katie down before I grabbed the boy by the shirt and thrusted him off the bed. I didn't let my hand follow him to the ground and I kicked him as hard as i could in the shin with my un-shackled foot.

I heard footsteps running up behind me as i turned back around to grab Katie again. I assumed it was friends or family of his so i didn't react. But I was wrong. Arms threw around me and thrust me to the floor. The guards held me down and slapped me across the face.

Then one stood up while the other held me down. He lifted a whip above me and I squinted my eyes. I felt the fiery pain lace across my legs as i felt it hit me. "You ever fight again and we'll separate you and your sister ya hear! And you!" he said turning to the boy, "I think you know what'll happen if you mess with a fighter again! The beds are free-for-all! No fighting if you know what's good for you!" I heard, but could barely focus on it due to the increasing pain in my legs.

The guards reclaimed their posts as I painfully stood up. I lifted Katie up to her bed before i laid down onto mine. I wished for sleep to overtake me, to relive me of the pain, and for hope to wake up from this nightmare.

I awoke hearing metal clanging against something creating an awful noise. I reached over for my alarm clock but it was nowhere to be found. I opened my eyes, which ruined my hope of yesterday being a nightmare. I looked over to see a bowl holding two biscuits and something else underneath. I got out of my bed and sat on the side of it.

I looked over to find that the bread had simply been sat on top of the disgusting stew from yesterday. My stomach gurgled in hunger for food, so i hesitantly reached over to the biscuit.

I tasted the unhampered bread to find that it was stale and not appetizing in the slightest. But i ate it anyway, minus the parts where the nasty stew had touched it. I continued to eat the second one when i noticed Katie climbing down.

"Jessie, i'm gonna go to the toilets, want me to show you where they are?"

"Sure, it's not like i have anything better to do," i replied. She led me over to a small section of the room with a hole in the bottom. There was also a curtain rod that circled around the hole. "You've got to be kidding me"

"Unfortunately not, but at least there's a curtain"

"Yeah, no #@*$ kidding," I said walking back to our beds to guard them while she closed her curtain. Thankfully, someone had pity on the little thief from yesterday and shared the too-small bed with him.

They were both shoulder to shoulder, but i couldn't care less.