It was early in the morning when Richie was woken up by his adopted mother, Maggie. In Luceat they referred to the caretakers as their parents, but in Tenebris they knew they weren't biological. Some Tenebrian caretakers hated to be referred to as parents.
Thankfully, Richie was taken in by someone he genuinely enjoyed being around and was okay with being called his mother. Maggie had made sacrifices to keep him fed and cared for, even though they often hurt her and Richie wasn't even her biological child.
"Get up, Rich," Maggie whispered, earning an annoyed groan from Richie who was trying to sleep.
Their house was small, basically a shack with two rooms. One was the kitchen, and the other was a shared bedroom with a curtain down the middle so Richie and Maggie could have their own space.
"Richie," Maggie said again, more urgently, making Richie reluctantly open his eyes.
"What?"
"Stan and Bev are waiting for you," Maggie said, making Richie immediately sit up.
Food was scarce, so Richie found himself hunting in the early mornings with his two best friends, Bev and Stan.
He was okay with missing out on eating, but he knew that collecting was the only way Maggie could eat. She used to go out, but after being injured a year before, she couldn't keep up with it and had to stick with trying to trade what little possessions they had.
People in Tenebris knew their place in the world, so they sometimes showed sympathy to each other. However, in a place where everything was overpriced and hard to come by, people couldn't give everything away to beggars.
Richie refused to be known as a beggar or to let his mother suffer more than she already had for him. So, he pulled on a thick, black jacket and a pair of boots over the only pair of socks he had that weren't torn.
"I'll be back in a few hours," Richie said, grabbing his game bag from beside the door.
"Be careful," Maggie said.
Richie ran outside and saw his friends waiting by the front door, dressed head to toe in the warmest clothes they owned. The summer seasons had ended weeks before and the temperature was dropping violently.
"Taking your sweet time, Rich?" Bev asked with a smirk. "If I didn't know any better I'd think you were Lucantian."
Richie faked a look of awe. "You think I could be one of them? My dear Beverly, I'm honored!" he exclaimed before rolling his eyes.
Stan snickered and held out a box to Richie. "Happy late birthday," he said.
Of the three of them, Stan was the richest. His parents owned a bigger shack that specialized in medicine.
"You didn't have to get me anything," Richie said, though he accepted the gift.
He hadn't gotten anything except turning eighteen, but he didn't mind. It wasn't common to receive gifts.
Richie opened the box and his eyes widened. There was a shiny blade and black handle. A real hunting knife.
Richie often had to borrow Bev's or Stan's, since a knife was something he couldn't just go out and buy.
"Stan, this is too much," Richie said, an unnatural serious tone in his voice. "I can't take this."
"You're eighteen, jackass. Just accept the gift so my parents will sleep at night. They were so excited that they could get one for you," Stan said with a smile, hugging his friend.
"I'll have to thank them," Richie responded as they made their way to the forested area that was around a ten minute's walk from their homes.
"Should we start east or west?" Bev asked, skipping ahead of the group once they broke into the forest.
"I say west. I planted the traps there yesterday, so we might as well check there first," Richie said with a shrug, and the others agreed quickly.
Richie's specialty was trapping. He was smart and knew how to plant them so they'd catch the biggest and most filling animals. Once they reached the areas that they planted their traps in, all of them were pleased.
There were four rabbits captured in a net, so Richie cut it down quickly. He offered two to Stan as a thank you and because he had three people in his family as opposed to two.
Stan accepted gratefully, putting the dead animals into his bag. From there, they wandered around, looking for places to lay down their traps so they could check them in a couple of hours.
After they'd laid their traps, they walked over to the small creek deep in the forest. Bev and Richie laid out a net in the water while Stan scoured around for the remaining blackberries that hadn't been lost to the first freeze of the year.
After they finished their jobs, all three of them sat on a flattened rock just above the creek.
"My dad wanted me to give these to you two," Bev said, opening her game bag and pulling out two bags of cookies.
Bev's father worked in the food industry and often stole extra food for his daughter and her friends, since they helped her get meat. They all knew he'd be in trouble and without a job if he got caught, but no one wanted him to stop.
"Beverly, my queen!" Richie exclaimed, opening his bag and taking out a cookie before closing it and shoving the rest into his bag to bring home to Maggie.
"He said it's a gift. I mean, it's our last day of having a leader who just despises us. Leopold Klais hates us," she said with emphasis.
"We don't know that," Stan argued. "They don't tell us enough to know for sure."
"Yes we do! They said it at the last meeting!" Bev snapped back before turning to Richie. "Speaking of which, there's one tonight. You're eighteen now, so you can join."
"Maggie doesn't want me to get involved in the rebellious stuff, Bev," Richie said with an eye roll. "We'd all be sentenced to death if we got caught. Death sentences don't happen often, but if we were-"
"Then we die with honor!" Stan said in a high pitched voice, mocking what Bev usually would say.
Richie laughed at that, ignoring Bev's glare.
"Come on, you're literally part of it, Stan. Don't mock me," Bev said, punching Stan in the arm.
"Yeah, but I'm not gonna force Richie. If he wants to be afraid, he can be."
"Woah, I'm not scared!" Richie argued, stealing one of the berries from the pile next to Stan. "I just don't want to die because I think we can rebel against Luceat."
"It's worth it though, Richie. It's only about thirty people and we could use smarter people. You're the best hunter we have, even when you didn't have a knife!"
Richie shrugged. "Maggie would hate it."
"We all work together and make sure everyone has a little extra money too. If you're a beneficial part of it, you'd get more. Then Maggie wouldn't have to sleep around for money."
Richie glared at his friends for bringing that up. He knew what his mother had done to make sure he was fed, and he hated it.
"Will it really get us money?"
"Yes, it would," Stan said. "They only want people who are willing to help make change, though, so you have to be committed."
Bells rang in the distance, catching their attention. Soon Klais would be made their leader, and they all knew that was bad.
Richie sighed. "I'll think about it."
"Meet us at Bev's house at nine if you're interested," Stan said, before changing the subject.
Even in the middle of nowhere, talking about rebellion was dangerous. Everyone knew that.
