Lost in their Past

Chapter 24:- Mariposa and Barrie

As a baker, working in a factory stood against everything she stood for but complaining to the Governor was as useless as screaming at a deaf man to get off the road because a car was about to hit him.

But here she was, mixing tons of flour and sugar while wearing a shower cap.

"Someone's a little bitchy," said Dawn as she pressed start.

"Is it Marie again?" Serena asked while putting down the container.

"Who else would it be if not the ruler of all that is dammed?"

A laugh escaped her lips which was rare, especially for her. One could not imagine how much bitterness was buried inside a factory which made sweets. Marie was their supervisor, she was as bitter as she was wide. Dawn had said it was because Serena was way more pretty than her, she had agreed. But then Dawn had been angry at her for a week because she hadn't said the same about her.

Friendship was tough, Serena learned it the hard way.

"Move your ass!" Marie lashed from her office upstairs, gawking through the tarnished mirror. "I ain't paying you for talk!"

Dawn rolled her eyes as she moved along, leaving Serena and her batter.

As time progressed, she couldn't help but look at the clock which was ticking right next to Marie's office. It was five minutes till three, her lunch break was about to begin.

Today's the day, she thought to herself, we'll find the opening and get out of this wretched place.

But that's what she said yesterday and the day before that and the day before that. She wanted to be optimistic but the Academy had taken all of her optimism months ago, they had drained her like a squeezed lemon.

A sudden chill went down her spine as she remembered her night at the silver room, the cold, the metal... the blood.

"Work!" Marie shrieked in her ear, "what the hell am I paying you for?!"

The thought of the silver room had send her into a deep trance. Her hands had frozen along with her body, she hadn't noticed Marie come down to spit in her ear.

That's how powerful they were, to make her forget about her surroundings and the loud stomping of Marie's feet.

"S-sorry," she apologised, "it won't happen again."

"Better not!" She shrieked again.

The clock had stuck three, lunch time had started. Before Marie could interject and make her work for extra hours, she bolted out of the way. Blending in between the hoards of workers until Marie and her large body disappeared.

She walked past the machines and the smell of mass produced cheesecake, dodging her fellow workers as they settled down in groups outside to eat their lunch.

"Mariposa!" Amelia, a fellow worker said, "come on! Eat with us!"

Mariposa was Serena's undercover name in the hell hole, she wasn't fond of it but it was better than Barrie which was given to Dawn. She politely declined not because Amelia had the tendency to eat all of her lunch but because today was the day, she had a feeling.

Dawn was already at the tank by the time Serena came fiddling with her dyed blonde hair and constantly looking at the notch with a wilful eye awaiting Serena's arrival.

"There you are!" She sighed, "what took you so long?"

"Amelia saw me," she took out her shower cap along with the clothes, "I took the other way," a sigh escaped her lips, "the longer way."