We proceeded to our spots, where our work began. A 10 hours galley began, a cloud of black smoke was perpetually coming out from those aged rustling machines.
No preservation from those clouds of smoke and intense heat that made all of us sweat like cows in a slaughterhouse. We only got a 2 day holiday every month, those two days were Saturday and Sunday in the last week of each month. Injustice and exploitation of human rights were at their peak.
However, no one attempted to file a complaint against them. All were frightened of losing their paychecks and the owners were well-established people in that locality.
On several occasions, we faced near-death experiences, especially when the chains from those worn machines fell.
Recently the same thing occurred with Levan as he shouted: "Agh we will eventually die at a young age because of these unmaintained machines!"
Calm down, calm down, Levan… Take a few deep breaths and continue with your work.
Fortunately, those words I told him helped him to feel assured and to stop panicking
At that instant, he realized that if he continued complaining, he would eventually lose his job and his paycheck. He was afraid of losing his employment, as his miserable memories flashed back through his mind.
Levan was 22 years old at that time, he had just graduated from University. It was an unusual phenomenon of having a graduated lad working at a textile factory.
His family wasn't wealthy and the current situation made it somewhat unwanting. At that moment his family was solely supported by his mother.
His father was a shopkeeper, earned just enough to support his family. However, his health conditions deteriorated with time. Most of his savings was utilized for treatments. Sadly he passed away a few months later, leaving his wife and Levan alone.
His mother couldn't pay the rent so they were kicked out of their house, forcing them to go into a much smaller house in a rural area.
He ought to find a job to financially help his mother. His mother worked as a cashier from a nearby convenience store, however, its paycheck wasn't enough to last a whole month. He couldn't find any good-paying jobs that satisfied his attributes. Hence he joined the textile industry where we both met and worked since.
He shortly adapted to this new environment.
Some corridors in the industry were unilluminated. We used lamps to brighten our path whilst going to the washroom. We added a little bit of petrol to it when we utilized it. It had a layer of transparent glass that covered the flame and a handle made of metal.
As the day passed by, some of our colleagues began feeling a throbbing pain in some parts of their hands and limbs as they had to remain standing for most of the day. I was frequently having unbearable headaches.
In that same week, 2 workers managed to flee away from that industry without getting caught red-handed. Everybody was shocked and left speechless after finding out what had just happened. We instantly saw our superiors approaching us.
"Again!, when will they stop this ruthlessness?" Levan murmured in my ear.
I told him to remain quiet and obey what our superiors will tell us. They threatened all of us that if we helped someone to flee or escaped that there would be severe consequences. Although it wasn't the first time someone had fled from there without getting noticed.
They simply were courageous enough to do such a thing, and just have planned for several weeks or months. However, nobody from my close friends had thought of such a thing. They accepted injustice, cruelty and low pay.
Several days later, our curiosity slowly increased. We had nothing planned though we were all fascinated with that room which was kept away from the worker's eyes.
Escape ( One-shot)
Start from the beginning
