Sixteen Tonnes

Chapter 3: Jellal

They don't know what time it is, but what they do know is that it was time for them to get up. The bells toll, the start of another work day. Erza was able to get to sleep, but barely. From all the mining and yelling, she fell asleep to a simple dream. It was her and her mother living in a cozy cabin in the forest near Rosemary, with a roaring fire in the fireplace, with her and her mother wearing warm clothes, and sitting at a table full of actual food. She ate her fill, and was hugged by her loving mother. But alas, that was only that, just a dream. She woke up to the sounds of the mines, fear and sadness. The cells open up with the guards throw three buckets of a very watery porridge. People gathered like they did last night to grab scoops of porridge. It wasn't burning their hands or anything, the guards only served cold porridge.

"Good morning Erza" Jellal greets her with a handful of porridge. "I'm glad you're up. I got some food for you. Go on and eat". Erza looks up at him, then looks at the porridge, and then finally accepts, grabbing a handful of porridge from his hands It's watery and bland, but at least it's food. She sees Simon doing the same for Kagura. When Erza finished eating her share of the porridge, she was feeling parched since she hadn't had anything to drink since yesterday.

"Young Erza" Grandpa Rob says to her. "You seem to be thirsty. There's some water if you want to drink". He points to another part of the cell where pipes run through, and from the leaking pipes, two buckets are filled with water, albeit extremely filthy water. Most workers don't even wash their face since after all it is redundant. Erza walks to the water and begins taking handfuls into her mouth, taking in the brackish water, trying not to gag on it. At least it was something to drink, filthy as it is. Simon and Kagura do the same.

"Alright ya brats!" one of the guards shouts as he opens the gate, other guards following behind him as they drop pick-axes and shovels. "Time to get ta work!" The workers are forced to pick up the tools and march towards the inner mines. The work day began as any other. Kagura tries in vain to stay with Simon, but only for the guards to kick her down, Simon protecting her, and ultimately getting kicked himself. Erza is placed in front of heavy carts and pulls them up and down the incline. Simon, with his back still in pain, works through it swinging the pickaxe to gather bits of coal. Overall, an uneventful morning. By noon, or at least what they thought was noon, the bell tolls once again which signals their break. They have been working for only a few hours, and yet they are already exhausted. They sat down in their previous positions cramped in the dark and cold mines. The guards did not hand out anything for lunch, as they were the ones to only have lunch The workers just sat hungry, Erza included. Those who were smart enough to save some bits of food were able to munch on that for lunch, but most of the children did not have the luxury to do so. There was one other trick that could mean having a not-so-empty stomach and starving to death. But the cost is risky, as they could die any moment from doing this.

"Erza!" Jellal shouts to her as she sits down. He came up to her with a few other boys almost like Jellal and her. "We're about to get some food to eat for our break".

"Are they giving out food?" Erza asks, hopeful that she would have something to eat before she has to get back to work.

"They do not, unfortunately, but I know a way that we can eat! Follow us" Erza was hesitant at first, but what else can she do but sit and starve? She follows the boys through the pits, they make it to one end of the mines where there was a large window that looked like a break room, in front are barrels and crates of tools they sit behind them looking inside, and inside was a magnificent feast which to them were fit for the gods. But what interested them was fresh bread that was closer to the door and window to this area that is usually reserved for the guards.

"They have much more food than any of us, but if we ask for more food, they beat us" Jellal states, catching Erza up on their little scheme of every afternoon. "If we steal more than we can carry, they beat us. So what we do is take the loaves of bread as quickly as we can while they aren't looking, and then we share the bread with others when we can". The boys sneak carefully into the break room without making a noise, Erza following them scared and shaking.