Royal Imitation | Kylo Ren

Jorkhan

Under the midday suns the strawberry bushes glowed more rosy than they ever could as the day-shine was at its peak in the blue sky. The branches of each small shrub had spread out as if so proud of the bounty they brought and sweetness given within each one. It was a party of colours in order and of a beauty that sprung from simple seeds blessed with last week's mud and rain, to which the grown and cherished crimson then stained my fingertips and nails.

The orchard from my view is never-ending in its long rows of strawberry bushes which shifted into lines of all the other fruit that the land I walk upon grew. The landscape was a work of art in itself; perfect blends of red, green and yellow in patterns which my untrained hand could never paint.

I twisted a plucked strawberry in between my gentle forefinger and thumb Its size to the rest is uneven, as each one I tore from its branches is a different shape and I cannot predict the flavour unless I slightly squish the sizes to feel the soft, sweetness within.

My mouth watered and my empty stomach grumbled behind my tight apron, but I didn't listen to the little voice in my head, who whispered that I should eat it, for it is only one little strawberry out of millions to pluck. All because the welts on the back of my hand reminded me of how much trouble that stupid choice would result in if I was to be caught; as I was a few days ago.

A watcher is a few feet behind me, his eye trained on the little red in my hand, but he only looked away to another servant when he noticed me put it delicately into my basket and upon my tongue.

The rows of girls, including myself, are all about two metres away from the next picker. We all engage in small conversations, offer emotional support and share laughter where they could be had. It was this sort of chit-chat that began to rebuild our community which was slowly crumbling in the midst of our poverty.

Our skin is all tortured by the sun due to monotonous exposure and the stench of sweat is evident. With messy hair and dirtied skin, we all wear a uniform of rags and hard labour is the stains—meaning we are all a sure sign of rough living in a supposed, grand planet.

But what would I have truly known? I have never even seen the luxury of this planet—for the guards that had been lended by the tenacious, First Order, rip away at this galaxy into shreds, while our King allows them to. All while standing clear in the end of the town where the rags indeed, do meet riches.

All I truly knew, is that my stomach feels like a black hole in every moment I'm awake and there would be never enough to quell the pain or even provide a hint of relief, no matter how much I save my few cents and buy the fortnightly allowance of grains and rice which the Kingdom, oh-so-graciously, serve to us below them.

Getting food is everyone's obsession in the poverty line and thinking of anything else is just a waste of our time. We live and breathe for everyday that we wake with our grumbling stomachs, thanking the God's of the Universe for another sparing, whilst simultaneously cursing at them for giving us such a cruel destiny.

Being hungry is only another part of my soul. An adequate diet is a luxury for the rich. Our stomachs stay empty from sun up until sundown when we gather to share what we've found with our closest loved ones – But I had no family to share with, much like a lot of the children did here.

Many families only consisted of a Mother and their child, and you were lucky enough to even have a Mother if fate decided that.

That was only another brutal thing that the Kingdom and their allegiance with The First Order provided, for all those years ago, when the King of Jorkhan began to finance the next Order, this planet became theirs too, leaving our royal guards to turn into StormTroopers, our weapons to turn into ones of first class and our land to become their safe point in the galaxy that is enduring a gruesome war which was created by their own hands... The result of having the worst people in the Universe taking your planet as a homestead? They began to rape the women of our planet, leaving them to carry children into the same world that they didn't even want to live in.