Late Night Escape (Open)
Apr 14, 2021 10:54:04 GMT -5
Post by marziel on Apr 14, 2021 10:54:04 GMT -5
Shale was supposed to be in bed, but she couldn't bring herself to stay in the community home a moment longer. It had been a long day. Shale was doing everything she could to cover for her sister, from doing her chores to pretending to be her when their minders discovered that Galena had missed school. It wasn't like the adults in the community home could tell the difference. They'd never bothered to learn to tell the twins apart. Galena was smart enough to know what Shale was doing but on days when she couldn't get out of bed to make it to school, she hardly had it in her to argue with her sister.
So it was that Shale's cheek was black and blue, and her wrist hand a hand-shaped bruise around it. She had circles under her eyes as well, exhausted from doing two people's work for several days in a row. So perhaps bed would actually have been a good idea. But it was hard to go straight from working to sleeping. And besides, she was scared of who she would turn into if she didn't take some time for herself. She didn't want to become like the most hopeless, beaten down children that she lived with. Or one of the angry ones who took out their own abuses on others.
With this in mind, Shale waited for the other girls in her room to fall asleep and then snuck out of bed, opened the window, and slipped outside. She was good at moving quietly. There was an instant when the window squeaked that she glanced around in worry. But none of the other girls stirred, and a moment later, Shale was outside. Breathing in the fresh air, tainted as it was by coal dust. But she'd never known any other kind of air. To her, that was as fresh as it got. Shale looked around, glancing down the darkened street. She startled when she saw someone just across the street and froze, as though this would stop them from seeing and reporting her. She couldn't make out the figure clearly in the dark and just hoped they weren't a peacekeeper.
So it was that Shale's cheek was black and blue, and her wrist hand a hand-shaped bruise around it. She had circles under her eyes as well, exhausted from doing two people's work for several days in a row. So perhaps bed would actually have been a good idea. But it was hard to go straight from working to sleeping. And besides, she was scared of who she would turn into if she didn't take some time for herself. She didn't want to become like the most hopeless, beaten down children that she lived with. Or one of the angry ones who took out their own abuses on others.
With this in mind, Shale waited for the other girls in her room to fall asleep and then snuck out of bed, opened the window, and slipped outside. She was good at moving quietly. There was an instant when the window squeaked that she glanced around in worry. But none of the other girls stirred, and a moment later, Shale was outside. Breathing in the fresh air, tainted as it was by coal dust. But she'd never known any other kind of air. To her, that was as fresh as it got. Shale looked around, glancing down the darkened street. She startled when she saw someone just across the street and froze, as though this would stop them from seeing and reporting her. She couldn't make out the figure clearly in the dark and just hoped they weren't a peacekeeper.
