Rules Were Made to be Broken {Watty Awards 2012 Finalist}

Chapter Four

SO, been editing all these chapters, if it says *EDITED* its been edited, obviously. :) LOL, enjoyioz!

*EDITED*

CHAPTER FOUR

I kicked the chains on the ground one last time before I left Harold’s tent and workshop, but not after showering him with my profound thanks and shooting Veronica a look of immense gratitude. I was really free of those chains forever. I followed Veronica blindly back to her tent, occupying my time as we walked by studying my wrists.

They were hideously scarred from years of wearing my chains, starkly white where the cuffs had encompassed my wrists, and then chafed and sore where they dug into the delicately thin skin of my wrists. I absentmindedly traced the blue veins along my inner arm, as I wondered what it would be like to never have been imprisoned.

What if I had been raised in the city? Grown up as a rich child, never having to worry about bomb raids, or slavers, or dying.

I would never have met Finn, or Aiden, or become part of the Rebellion.

I wouldn’t be me.

Broken, and destroyed as I was, it was better than not knowing the horrors that the SPA had committed. I would rather be what I am now, than have to live a lie.

                            “Come on dear, it’s getting cold outside,” Veronica admonished, ushering me into her tent.

I followed her like a puppy over to the bathtub and then I realised – I could actually have a bath! Before I went behind the bath curtain I caught a glimpse of myself in Veronica’s full length mirror that was propped up against the couch.

I was like a mangy cat, that was the only comparison that sprung to mind. My dark hair was in a tangled mess, my clothes were worn and tattered, and I was bruised and battered. It was my eyes that really shocked me. Instead of the clear green they normally were, they wore a haunted look as I stared at myself. I look shattered.

                            “Come now, Eva, don’t worry about what you look like,” Veronica said, pushing me behind the curtain and closing it after me. She was actually strong for an older woman.

I undressed, and I could count my ribs as I gazed at my emaciated body.

I gasped as I lowered myself into the tub of freezing water. I was grateful, anyway, just to be able to wash the filth of imprisonment from my body. I scrubbed myself clean with the bar of soap Veronica had left me, and I even attempted to untangle my hair, rather unsuccessfully. In the end I just left it, looking rather ridiculous with a huge knot at the bottom, and kind of untangled at the top. In fact, I probably just made it worse.

I stepped out of the bath tub, and I had to stifle a yawn as I did so, I hadn’t realised I was so exhausted. The cool evening air was icy, and it chilled me to the bone as I hurriedly dried myself off with the towel Veronica had given me.

I picked up the clothes she had laid out for me and I had to smile. It was a plain long sleeved shirt, and some long pants as well as thick woollen socks and a woollen jersey, and warm underclothes.

I was considerably warmer once I was dressed although the water and cold air left me with a slight chill in my bones nonetheless.

                            “Eva, dear, are you ready to go now?” Veronica said as I stepped out from behind the bath curtain. She must have been knitting, because I saw her begin to put away some knitting needles and wool, as well as a misshapen object that I presumed was what she was sewing.