Over The Fence

Another Day, Another Dime

"Wake up girls! Wake! Up!" The fat lady screeched.

We woke up, our bodies aching. It wasn't a education day, which would make lots of little children happy. No school! Yay!

But it wasn't a good day for us. We had to work, Saturdays and Sundays. Every. Single. Week.

We'd sit in a hot workhouse, just doing a single stitch, or filing out the good and bad eggs. The work formed calluses on your hands. Some got burns, other cuts, but in no way was it liberating from school.

I've been doing this for the past eight years. Girls normally start working around six, and start school around ten.

Eight years of hot workhouses, eight years of kept-quiet abuse, eight years of propaganda teachings, eight years. Eight years of my life, and that number still grows longer.

All I thought about while sorting out fabric squares was what I was gonna do when I got out of here.

Blanking... blanking... blan-

"AHHH!"

A woman screamed.

"Get some bandages!"

"We need to take her to the hospital!"

"NO! She'll be fine! GET THE BANDAGES GIRL!"

My heart was racing, my head was spinning. I saw the woman, she laying on the ground in a pool of blood, screaming and crying, and her hand...

I blacked out, I don't remember anything after that.

"672... 672 wake up."

There was something cold on my face, my body was so hot.

"Open your eyes."

I looked, it was the girls teacher, she was patting a cold rag on my head. I was under a red quilt, a bowl of soup was steaming on the bed side table, it was chicken.

"I-I..."

"Quiet, you need rest."

And she left.

I sat alone in the dorm room, it must of been day out, none of the girls were home.

Knock knock knock...

"H-hello?"

The door creaked open, it was Mr. Lamb, the principal.

"Hello May, I heard you weren't well, so I brought you this." He handed me a book and some warm bread.

"Thank you sir." I looked at the book, "The Great Colonies".

"It the writing of British people on their views of America." He told me.

"When was it written?"

"Well it was complied very recently, but some of the letters date back to the eighteen hundreds."

I thought about this book.

"Wait... this is so cool! How did you get this?"

"Well..." He rubbed his arm.

"Whatever it's so cool! Thank you Mr. Lamb!"

"You too May, get some rest."

"Goodbye!"

"Goodbye."