Vakkar's Light [SAMPLE]

Chapter 1 : Leora

These expressions were not new to me, and did not affect me the way they once did in the past.

My eyes lowered back to my plate as I continued walking, my fingers shaking the longer I stared at what rested on my plate.

The meat was fatty and the small scoop of vegetables were hard and brittle.

But when I reached my cell, and the clanging of the door echoed behind me whilst I sat upon the floor, I immediately ate, jaw working furiously as I chewed and swallowed food, tasting little, just consuming.

And when I finished my meal, I licked the plate clean, my chest heaving with each ragged breath I took.

Disappointment settled in soon after, and I finally came down from the adrenaline punching through my veins.

I was still hungry, but I knew I would not receive another meal today. I ran my tongue over my teeth and along the insides of my cheeks, searching for any scraps or pieces of food left behind, finding little but swallowing the few anyway.

My fingers curled tight around the curved edges of my now empty plate, and my eyes blinked slowly, a familiar aching heaviness in them.

I had not slept the night before, as the Luna of this pack had wanted me to perform much more duties than I had ever done in the past. The pull of sleep was rapidly catching up to me.

I allowed myself a moment, gathering myself, trying to soothe the wild beating in my heart at the thought of returning back to the Luna's home - she had said that there were more tasks I needed to complete, and she would be there to observe me throughout most of them.

She was quick to anger, and her standards, ones which were mostly impossible, were always expected of me to meet.

I rubbed at my mouth with the back of my hand, inhaled deeply as I mentally prepared myself for what laid ahead, and when I stood, plate in hand, I forced my composure into one that was calm.

********

That calm composure fled three hours later. Instead, my limbs felt heavy with each jagged movement I made as I mopped, and I could feel the stickiness of my sweat intermingling with the trail of blood running down the back of my neck and into my shirt.

My sandals dragged against the floor, not because I did this purposely, but because lifting my feet was difficult.

I'd been reprimanded, as I had expected to be. I had failed to reach one of the Luna's unattainable standards, and a barbed wire had been used on me, had ripped open the skin and flesh on the back of my neck.

And now, here I stood, with tight, pressed lips and burning eyes as I mopped along one of the floors of her home- a corridor floor which I knew had been cleaned already.

It was spotless and free from dirt or whatever the Luna, Edith, claimed it held. This did not matter. I was to mop it until she was satisfied.

The Luna's gaze was on me throughout me mopping, and I could hear her whispered words to one of her daughters, Nelda, an eleven year old girl.

"Do you see how she moves? So slow, yes? And do you see her shirt? Her skin? How filthy she is?"

"Yes."

"She isn't cleaning good enough. The corridor floor is still dirty. You can see that, correct?"

There was a pause, and then, "Yes...?"

My fingers curled tight around the mop's handle, and I sucked in air, hearing the catch in my breath as I did.

Nelda's words were soft, holding a trace of pity. "She's crying, isn't she?"