Chapter 13: Resolve

It's been over a month since we came here.

Our lives haven't been any better. We've had to witness a lot of cruelty and injustice, even saw some people die. And everytime someone dies, they hang their head on the wall of fear. A constant reminder of our misery and helplessness.

We work at the beck and call of the bad guys, slaving away, working to the bone at their pleasure. We barely get any food, the most food we can get are the leftovers in the mess hall. But the bigger problem was drinking water. We could go on without food but water was more of a challenge. There was a well from where we got water but we had to pay for it. And since we barely had any money, we'd usually go thirsty. And the tap water was in no way drinkable, it was extremely disgusting in taste and also consuming it caused illness which was fatal for slaves since we didn't have any proper health facilities. But we'd still drink it when the thirst got unbearable.

The main source of water was a river outside of sclavus urbs but it wasn't available for the slaves. We had access to the river on Sundays and we'd collect some water but it was never enough since we didn't have a proper place to gather it in. At this point we'll die of hunger and thirst, or exhaustion. I wish there was a way for us to at least secure water.

The punishments for not working properly were inhumane. A man was whipped for having slacked off on work (turns out he had fainted due to the inhumane labor). His back was covered in scars and blood. He was then left beneath the burning sun, tied to a cross to serve as an example to the slaves.

"THIS IS INSANE! HOW—HOW COULD THEY BE SO CRUEL?!—DO THEY NOT HAVE A HUMAN HEART?!" I let out my frustrations in the form of pointless complaints once we get back to the house.

"Quiet down, Ray. You're too loud." Jay says.

"How come you guys don't say a single thing?" I ask them.

"Complaining isn't gonna get us anywhere." Vivi scoffs, she was right but it still pisses me off.

"Well then…should we try and figure a way to get out of this?" I say and everyone reflexively turns to look at me, like I had said something insane (which I had because it was taboo to even think of escaping or rebelling.)

"Reina…it's best you let go of such thoughts." Vivi replies hopelessly.

"But why?! We can't simply stay here for the rest of OUR LIVES!" and then I slightly regret spouting all this pent up frustration because Arien was here and listening to us and I didn't want to appear insensitive since he's been here for a decade. (he's been hanging around us quite often, he's basically a part of our group now)

Arien glances my way but then looks away. He has the same expressionless face. No one ever knows what he's thinking. I wonder if he was sad, or angry watching us bicker over our hopeless situation.

"Listen Ray!" Vivi grabs me by the shoulder with both arms. "We tried escaping this hell hole once. Remember where that got us?!" She growls at me, reminding me of the night we lost Eve. My eyes widen at her remark but then I lower my head. "Yea, we are never doing that again." She says and lets go of me.

'Never' she said. Does that mean everyone has really accepted that this is where we will live and die? No. No. No. I shake my head.

***

The next day…

I was working outside when I noticed some commotion outside. I went to check it out and the bad guys were shouting at a girl. One even slapped her so hard she fell on the ground. I quickly run over and get in the way.

"Wait!" I yell out. I don't even know what I'm planning to do. I can't possibly make this situation any better. "Wha…what's going on? Did she do something?" I ask the bad guys, trying to reason with them.

"And what the hell does it mean to you? Huh?!" One of them scoffs at me.

"I think you have scared her enough. Could you please let it go now?" I asked them even though I knew I was being unreasonable.

"Let go?" He growls. "She tried to steal our water. We don't forgive thieves!" He warns.

"Water?" I repeat. "So you screamed and slapped her simply because she took your water?" I was flabbergasted.

"She 'stole' it! Not 'took'." He corrects me.

"But IT'S JUST SOME WATER! COULDN'T YOU SPARE SOME?" I unwillingly raised my voice slightly. I looked at the girl on the ground, she was young, probably younger than me, she was crying and trembling in fear.

"Listen woman! You better get the hell back if you don't want to get punished along with her. We won't show you any mercy." He threatens me.

"Ten lashes for this pathetic thief on the ground." The other man orders.

As they tried to drag the girl away to punish her, she cried out, "NO! Please! Please spare me. I'm sorry! I won't do it again!"

I've seen countless people cry but the way she cried, helplessly begging to be spared or at least shown an ounce of mercy—I couldn't stand there and merely watch. She was very young, and I can't bear to watch that happen.

"WAIT!" I yelled out. "Ten lashes from that whip of yours is enough to kill her. There is no way she will survive that…please…show some mercy." As much as I hated having to ask or beg them for simply showing basic human compassion, there was nothing else I could do.

"You want to save her that badly. Huh? The. How about this? You take on her share of punishment and we will let her go." They offered me an offer.

Perhaps it was the guilt for not having saved Eve but I just really wanted to keep this girl from getting hurt. And so just like that, I got permanent scars for the first time. Whip marks across my back, it looked like my back had been ripped by the claws of some ferocious beast.

Liz bandaged me up later that night as I wince in pain at the slightest touch.

"You are INSANE! RAY!" Vivi shouts at me. "The hell is wrong with you?" She sounds extremely frustrated and sick of my shenanigans.

I don't say anything and then after Liz is done treating me. Jay comes in. (I was in the room, the only room in the house other than the lounge where we usually spend our time—the one where we slept on the floor when we first came here) Arien was with him. But they aren't saying anything. There's an awkward silence which only I seem to feel. And then Jay speaks, "Happy?" He sounds so irritated. "You protected a girl you don't even know."

"Are you seriously taunting me right now?" I ask him, rubbing my eyes with my fingers. "Listen, Jay. I'm seriously not in the mood to hear one of your 'listen to your older brother' lectures. I've had enough of it!"

"Oh have you now?!" He says back.

"Jay! I am done with this! I am not putting up with this anymore! You guys seem to have accepted that this is where you will live the rest of your lives and eventually die. Are you seriously telling me that all we can do is sit back and cross our arms?!" I rant out my pent up emotions in anger, unbothered that Arien can hear me make all these pathetic comments.

"Well then, what do you suggest? Is there even anything we can do? The slightest mistake or even a wrong comment is enough to get our heads rolling!" He protests.

"Hah…" I sigh. After another minute of silence, I said, "I heard something at the mess hall today. The bad guys were talking about how they needed someone, a translator, someone who speaks Japanese. And they need it urgently. They said they would try to find someone like that among the slaves."

"Where are you going with this?" Vivi steps in.

"I speak Japanese fluently!" I remind them.

"SO?!" Vivi and Jay shout at me at the same time.

"There is no way you are going to offer yourself to them! Or are you?" They asked me with a perplexed expression on their faces.

"I am." I tell them.

"WHAT?! NO WAY! What for? Why would you want to work directly under them?" Vivi snaps.

"Sitting here, slaving away to our deaths isn't gonna get us anywhere. So I thought I'll take some action." I shrug. "My language speaking skills are what the terrorists need. So I'll give it to them and by working among them, I could somehow climb the ladder and make a difference." I explained.

"Oh please! They aren't gonna let you have freedom simply because you translated some stuff for them!" Jay argues. "They could simply force you into submission and not give you anything in return."

"You think I'm not aware of that. I won't exactly be asking for freedom. I know there is no way they will grant us that. So I'm simply gonna make some little demands like…at least give us better living conditions. Like clean drinking water at least!"

"No, Ray! I prohibit you from doing that!" Jay orders. And Vivi joins him.

"And when have I ever listened to you simply because you are the older brother? I have always been rebellious, haven't I? Well then, I don't plan to change." I fight back, raising my voice at him.

This time Liz steps into the conversation and tries to persuade me. "Listen now Reina, you are being ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS! There is no way you will succeed. They could simply kill you and if they don't, who knows what they will make you do."

"Sacrifices are always needed if we want to make a change." I say.

"And why would they even accept you? They could simply find some other slave to do their translation job. Why would they take someone who makes such bold demands?" Jay argues.

"They will have to accept me." I protest.

"Oh yea? And why?" Jay rolls his eyes.

"Because I have something they need. I found something that is of great importance to them and if I offer it to them, then they HAVE to accept me and my terms." I smirk.

"Oh God! What the hell have you been getting into?" He asks.

"That's a secret. I can't tell you because it's too risky. And I've hidden that certain something in a place only I know. So they won't be able to kill me unless they can handle losing this information forever."

"No! I still refuse to let you do this. You think it's that easy?"

"YOU GUYS ARE A BUNCH OF COWARDS!" I tell them and their eyes widen in shock.

"GASP!" Nox let's out a dramatic gasp which would have been funny in a normal situation but right now it was plain awkward.

Vivi steps forward and says, "Last time we tried something like this. Eve died. And she died at your hands!" I jolt at this remark. Is she insane? Arien is still here. I know we never said a word about keeping the fact that I killed Eve a secret but I still didn't want Arien to know about it, not like this at least. But it seems like Vivi couldn't care less.

"We want to prevent something like this from happening again! Or is it easy for you because you have already killed a person?"

And that sentence from Vivi made me lose my cool.

"DON'T PATRONIZE ME FOR SOMETHING YOU WERE TOO AFRAID TO DO!" I shout back at her.

"You think this is easy for me???

it's not! it's hard, alright! but it's harder to stay here and cross my arms and lay down to die!" I gesture with my hands, moving them hysterically. "Have you guys seriously made up your mind to live the rest of your lives as—as SLAVES? And then pathetically die as slaves without having ever tried to see how far you could go if you simply took ONE STEP out of your comfort zone??? Because I'm certainly not willing to live like this. I will fight for our freedom and I WILL EITHER GET BACK OUR FREEDOM OR DIE TRYING! There is no in between!"

"YOU WILL SUFFER! RAY!" Vivi shouts at me.

"If we are gonna suffer anyway...I might as well suffer for a purpose…

And if I must die, I'd rather die fighting." I protest without even a glimpse of hesitation or fear in my behavior. And they knew there was no stopping me now. I had made my resolve.

Jay buries his head in his hands and Vivi walks out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Arien just sat there on the old table by the wall, quietly watching the spectacle. Everyone quieted down and after that, no one said a word. It seems they have accepted that nothing they say will stop me now.