My bruises, Your Pain

Chapter 10: Judge a book by its cover

The drive up to the farm felt long, so I knew we were far from town and if that’s a good thing I don’t know if this was a good thing exactly but there was no time for negative thoughts. We finally arrived at the farm and from every direction you look there was greenery with a mountainous finish, it was truly a magnificent sight. The farmer showed us to a small one bedroom flat-let, it was made out of iron ore stone, similar to pictures I have seen in my history textbooks. I was impressed with the little building and it was all ours… “Because you are underage you will not be on the books, but not to worry you will get paid and get a food parcel as well,” the farmer said and my mind was instantly back to reality, a reality that was like stale bread on an empty stomach; it can fill you up but it can also make you sick. We were so thankful for what he had offered that we didn’t even see what was staring us right in the face…slavery.

That night I slept like I a log, like I haven’t slept in days but let’s face it I haven’t been sleeping much at all lately. No nightmares, I was peaceful and I was in such a deep sleep that it took him a while to wake me up. Normally the first ray of light wakes me up but not this morning, I just wanted some more time to sleep but no such luck since it’s time for our first day. He was up, chirpy and positive. I think it took a lot from him to not be able to look after me after he ‘promised’ me a better life. I couldn’t help but think if my foster mom even wondered if I was okay or if I had somewhere to sleep.

“Hey sleepyhead, it’s time to wake up and start the day,” he whispered in my ear. I smiled, my eyes still closed but my mind completely blanked. “I am up, sort of.” I said giggling. It was the first time we laughed, laughing so hard that I felt my stomach muscles pulling together, being silly and carefree, and I must admit it felt good! I got up, got ready and when I finally joined him, a nice breakfast was waiting for me, well nicer then what we have had since forever. I had stars in my eyes. We left our little nest and was ready to start the day but I wasn’t sure what to expect. We had to split up, I didn’t like it one bit but I also didn’t want to chop down old grapevines and carry them to a warehouse, so instead I was doing house chores. They had the biggest house with the most beautiful furniture, vintage but still stylish. I looked at everything in wonder, wishing just some of the things were mine, ours.

I walked down a long hallway until I made it to the kitchen, it was the biggest kitchen that I have ever seen. I was sure my face showed exactly what I was feeling. Scared and not a clue as to where to start! The lady that was busy cooking showed me to a tray of silverware so I started by cleaning up all the silverware. I assumed that’s what she expected of me, there were so many! How one family had so much was beyond me, I mean everywhere I have lived or been people had just enough for their household and if we got visitors we always had to eat with spoons because the guests got ours…  Did you know that for each course there was a specific spoon, fork and knife? Well I didn’t until I saw it here, these people lived like royalty something I could only dream of. As I was cleaning I roamed the room until I ended up in front of a window, through the window I could see Alec hard at work and I felt a little guilty that I had the easier part. I was indoors protected from the elements while he is exposed to the scorching sun during the day and the cold breezes in the morning and late afternoons. It was as if he could sense me staring and my guilty conscious and he immediately looked up and blew me a kiss and that gave me peace, because we were doing it for each other.

I eventually finished up with the polishing and with Alec out of my sight I moved along to see what was next for me to do. I ended up dusting off a book shelves completely packed with books, I was looking at one when the lady of the house entered the room. “Shouldn’t you be working?” She asked snarky, giving me such a big fright that I dropped the book. Before I could say anything she spoke again, “I am just kidding, if the books interest you that much you should take a few and read it when you get a chance,” she said giving me a sympathetic smile. I returned a nervous smile and stuttered “Thank you.” She looked at me for a while. “You are not from around here?” she asked as she waved me towards a chair next to her. I was hesitant to answer, scared it might cost us our jobs. “I won’t bite” she said as she could see me tensing up. I eventually went to sit down next to her and after a long silence I opened up to her.

“No, I am not from here. We ran away from home, well if you can even call it that.” her eyes widened at my response and I could see the pity in her eyes. She didn’t even know the full story yet and already she felt sorry for me. I ignored her pity stares and continued. “I lived in a foster home and I was physically abused. The foster dad from my last home was never around and when he finally pitched I knew I had to get out of there before I was sexually abused." As I heard my own words tears started steaming down my face, I have never said it out loud and hearing what I was facing kind of gave me closure to that chapter. I completely zoned out for a minute and a hand on my lap made me focus again. It was her, she was kneeled down in front of me with her hand on my lap, trying to console me at this point I have completely let it out and I was gutted. She sat there, no words nothing as if she was trying to be there for me you know.

I wiped the tears from my face and as I was about to get up, she helped me, “I think it was a good start for your first day. Take a few books and the bags on the table and go have some quiet time,” she said as she pointed towards the bookshelf. I tried to fight it, tried to show her that I could still work but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. I caved, I took the bag and walked over to our flat. I felt really bad for not being able to complete one day’s work and I immediately got nervous that she might tell her husband we are not good enough workers. But I hardly put my feet up when Alec also walked through the door, wow I can’t believe they were such nice people, allowing us short hours even if it was just for the first day.

Aysa, things were finally looking up and right now I can imagine that you are confused because we were a happy family right? I believed it too Aysa but as time went I realised one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.