Ocean Desert

CHAPTER TWO

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C H A P T E R T W O

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I CRINGE in my sleep as soon as I hear my alarm going off. The blaring racket that blasts from it is excruciatingly painful to my ears. It is my least favorite sound in the whole world.

Despite my strong urge to hide under the covers from my responsibilities, I still get out of bed and get dressed in my work clothes—a simple tank top layered with a jacket and my 'scrapping' pants. They are dark and tight jeans with different sorts of fabric, mostly leather, sewn into places where holes used to be. I still remember the day I traded for them around a year ago. I have had to stitch them up with any available fabric multiple times since then.

When I head into the kitchen, I am met strangely with silence instead of the hustle and bustle of my mother as she makes breakfast. Instead, I find her and Willow surprisingly entertaining the guy I met yesterday. I believe his name is Jax if I am not mistaken.

His green eyes glance up at the sound of me entering the room, a small smile gracing his features as soon as he notices me. "Good morning, Nyssa." I'm surprised he remembers my name. Not many people do. I'm normally just 'that Travers girl who is a scrapper' or 'the no-nonsense trader.' It's refreshing for someone to actually remember my name.

"Good morning," I greet. I'm about to leave it at that, but my curiosity gets the best of me. "What are you doing here?"

Jax isn't fazed by my rude curiosity, and he actually decides to embrace it. "I'm just traveling around the village, visiting every family."

"Why?" I bluntly ask.

My mother shoots me a glare, trying to tell me to shut my mouth with her eyes.

"Well, I find it comforting to know where any future employees of ALLICO come from," Jax replies, a small smile still gracing his features.

I scoff. "As if I'd ever be chosen, and if I was, I wouldn't want to go," I state, grabbing the cereal box on the table and helping myself to a bowl of it. Scrapping is a hard job, and I'll need my energy.

"That's a shame," he states. "I was starting to really like you." I can't tell whether he's being serious or sarcastic. Surely, it is the ladder.

I roll my eyes as I sit down and begin to eat my cereal. My mother and Jax go back to their conversation they were having before I came in the room while Willow just stares at me giddily. As I shove a spoon full of cereal in my mouth, I notice her staring and narrow my eyes at her. "What is it, Willow?"

Willow giggles. "Nothing." She glances at Jax across the table and then back at me before giggling again.

"You're so weird, kid," I comment, continuing to eat my cereal.

"Do you make this cereal yourself?" Jax questions in fascination as he reaches for the box sitting on the table. He inspects the inside of it. "It doesn't look like the kind you get from government rations."

My mother smiles kindly. "Yes. Nyssa actually came up with the idea to make our own cereal, so she can trade our cereal rations for leather on Market Day." She sounds so proud of me, which is strange because she has never told me that my whole life. Ever.

Jax's green eyes fall on me yet again, and he sends me what I assume is a fake smile. "How resourceful of her." I send him a fake smile right back. He glances down at my outfit, a curious expression developing on his face. "Where are you going today?"