project.utopia

Chapter 4 - Escaping

The sun peeked into Nera's little jail cell, shining the slightest amount of light into the dark room. Nera was sound-asleep, although the night before was horrendous. Nera had stolen many times before in her short fourteen years of life, but never had she been caught and she had never before spent time away from her home(the orphanage). But she dealt with it, and ended up falling asleep at about 11pm, and was, now, awake.

Yawning, Nera got up and rubbed her eyes to open them up again. She got onto her feet and was about to see if there were any guards there who would let her out to use the washroom, when something, or rather someone, caught her eye.

"Hey," Aditya whispered, giving her a wide, dimpled smile as his eyes shone brightly.

Nera's eyes narrowed and she snarled back at him, "What d'you want?"

Aditya tilted his head to one side, trying to look as nice as possible, and ignored her rude tone of voice as he said, "Just wanted to see if you slept well...Did you?"

"Oh, yeah! I slept just great! Marvellous, actually! You know this cold, stone floor is just some top-notch bedding! It's great to fall asleep on!" Nera responded, sarcastically.

"You're being sarcastic, aren't you?" Aditya asked, still smiling his dimpled smile.

"Yeah. I am," Nera said bluntly, her eyes narrowing once again at the boy.

"Okay...You're really funny, you know that right?" Aditya said, politely.

For a long moment, Nera didn't say anything and merely took in the rich, teenage boy and all he had said and done. Finally, she asked, "Why are you here, trying to make small talk with me?"

Aditya went quiet for a moment and stared at the ground. He started to twist strands of his curly hair, and swallowed his saliva, as he nervously said, "I-I need your help."

Nera raised her eyebrows and sat up straighter to see Aditya. Finally she asked, "You need my help?"

Aditya nodded as he stared at the dusty, grey floor.

"Yeah, right," Nera said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"No, I seriously do!" Aditya said, his eyes pleading with Nera.

Nera rolled her eyes and dramatically asked, "And why exactly would the royal majesty need help from a mere peasant like me?"

Aditya bit his lip nervously, and said, "Because you're the only person who is able to help me."

Nera narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she asked, "With what?"

Aditya bent his head low and quietly whispered, "You need to be my bodyguard while I travel to Neskarta."

Nera raised her eyebrows in surprise and asked, "Can't you just take one of the Malotas soldiers?"

Aditya swallowed, nervously, and said, "That's the problem. No one can know that I'm going there."

Nera furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and, stuttering slightly, asked, "W-Why?"

"Well...Because..." Aditya stuttered as his feet played around with his shoes. He didn't say anything for a moment and stayed quiet, which annoyed Nera to no extent.

"Spit it out, you idiot!" Nera snapped at him.

Aditya shut his eyes for a moment, and, then, opened them and looked at Nera. Finally, he said, "I overheard my dad talking with this man. I don't know who it was and I don't know where he came from, but I know that he was threatening my dad about delivering a "shemesh", whatever that is, to Neskarta. That's why I want you to come with me to Neskarta."