Escape From The Green by Gadziala Jessica

Author:Gadziala, Jessica
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-09-17T16:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

Drake

She was nervous.

And why shouldn't she be?

I was.

And these were my kin, this would be my land, my ways, my customs.

Even if things had changed over the decades, it wouldn't have changed so much that it wouldn't be recognizable.

It wouldn't be a huge adjustment for me.

There would be long hours of work. My kind had always worked as a community. If someone's roof collapsed, every able-bodied man or woman would be there helping repair it. If you needed help wrangling your children, preparing food for winter, carrying your things to the river for washing, there was always someone to help.

I was used to work.

Harder work.

At the Winters compound.

It would be relaxing, even.

Then there were things we were meant to do as a group. Foraging. Tilling. Planting. Tending. Harvesting.

Everyone benefited, taking home a portion of the food to their family even if you had your own gardens to eat from.

The community aspect would likely be the hardest thing for me to adjust to, having been alone for so long. Even on this journey with Amy, Sal, and Smoky, we mostly kept somewhat to ourselves, no one needing to talk incessantly.

It wouldn't be like that back in my land. Talking, telling stories, that was all part of our tradition.

They'd want my story.

The thought made my stomach lurch.

How could I tell them?

Of the pain that at times overtook my entire body, that became so normal to me that I barely felt minor injuries anymore, so used to the feeling of worse ones.

How could I tell them about the taunts? The beatings? The way I was used to being spat on, humiliated, treated as a lesser being?

They wouldn't be able to relate, so secluded in their little world where no one knew they existed, so no one could do them any harm.

It would pass over, I reminded myself. Like a storm always does. They would stop asking, stop demanding details.

I could be normal again.

My adjustment would be more about showing these people who knew me as one man that I was a new one.

But Amy's adjustment would be more full.

She'd been so sheltered. And while she had never been spoiled per se, she had been pampered in her lovely house with servants and full coffers that she didn't need to contribute to.

She would be expected to work. To till land and harvest. To help the community. To make her own food.

It wasn't a lifestyle to which she was accustomed.

She would feel aches in parts of her body she didn't know existed. She would go to bed sore and exhausted.

She would learn that anything she wanted, she would have to put sweat and blood into it.

A part of me rebelled at the idea. Of her needing to face those realities, of having to work for everything. Some strange part of me wanted her to continue to be pampered, to be able to live a life of comfort.

The other, though, knew it wasn't something I had a say in, that I could shield her from.

It wouldn't be up to me.

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