~ Y/N ~
*
7 years ago, for the last time, I promise*
I wake up giddy and excited to go to work today. I get to see Kaz, I get paid, and today is the last day that I am Saskia. I eagerly tie my red ribbon into my hair, as is habit by now. I hear that there is word of a sickness going around. I bet it's just spring allergies, which is very common in Novyi-Zem, with all of the blooming plants this time of year. Either way, my mother and I live in a clean part of the city, so I doubt that anything will reach us, if the rumors are true.
I take my time walking to Zelvarstraat today. Something feels different. Almost like the ending of an era or something like that. It just feels like something is going to happen. So, I embrace this feeling of calm and take in the spring time sun.
As I approach Jakob's house at noon, the chandelier in the foyer doesn't seem to be lit. Hm. Maybe he just forgot. He's probably busy, finishing up work with this elongated job we've been doing. I walk up the front steps and knock. I knock everyday to be polite, but I know Jakob wants me to just go up and knock on his office door instead, because that's where he always is.
After my daily knock, I open the front door. Except it won't open. Is the door locked? It has never been locked before. Did Jakob go for a marketplace run and not tell me? No, he never goes on market runs. That's my job. The one that I get paid for. I'm supposed to get paid today. Where is he?
I knock again. Silence. Something is telling me that no one is home, but I must see to believe it. I go off of the front steps and behind the bushes that are positioned right below the big windows at the front of the house. All of the lights are off. And I could have sworn there was a table with a vase sitting 10 feet from where I am peering in from. Am I at the wrong house? No, I cant be. I've been coming here for a while now. This is the right house. But something is wrong.
Jakob wouldn't have just moved all of the sudden. He can't just dissappear. He has my pay. The pay that will keep me and my mother at our apartment. The pay that will get my father out of Hellgate. But where is the furniture in the house? The house is now uncomfortably vacant, like a ghost town.
I sit on the front steps and wait. An hour goes by and I hear the church bells ring, signaling that it is one bell. I sigh, defeated and angry. I pull the red ribbon out of my hair and throw it on the front porch. I decide to head to the market and ask around if any of them have seen Jakob Hertzoon. It's worth a shot.
As I enter the market and ask multiple vendors for Jakob's whereabouts, they all look at me like I'm crazy. Have they never heard of this man before? He told me he came to the market often before I showed up and went to run his errands for him. What is happening today? I ask as many people about him as I can, until I'm convinced that he doesn't exist. But it's impossible. He was standing right there at the foyer everyday. With my pay. That I still need. But it seems I won't get.
As I walk back to my apartment in utter defeat, I think of any way that I can quickly get some money. My mother and I need to keep paying rent or else we will be kicked out of our apartment. Should I steal something? No, no I am not stooping down to that low level. Somehow this will all work out for us. I hope.
I enter the apartment, where my mother is waiting in anticipation. Our landlord has allowed us to skip a couple of weeks of rent as long as we paid it in full today. Yea, this is a big problem. The look on my face must seem very distraught, because my mother's own face drops immediately when she sees me. I show her my empty hands and then the panic sets in. My mother can't just get a job because she isn't fluent enough in Kerch to communicate throughout a whole day. We are Zemini. What do we tell our landlord? As a general question, what do we do?
We wait. That's what we do. Our landlord is coming tonight to collect our pay. We are at a loss. So, we sit and wait and try to enjoy possibly the last night in a nice little home. Unless, by some miracle our landlord decides to not show up, even though he is usually punctual.
As the evening falls, I soon discover that miracles don't exist in Ketterdam. My mother makes me wait in the bedroom while she discusses rent with the landlord. I sit still until I hear their voices raise, but by the time I open the bedroom door and walk out, the landlord is gone, the front door is left open, and my mother is silently sobbing in front of it. I know what this means.
I go and pack my bag. I might have to sell most of the stuff in it to get by, but my mother and I will manage to make it work somehow. After she pulls herself together, my mother packs her own stuff. As we leave the apartment for the last time, the realization sets in. This was not an accident, I have been fooled. Jakob Hertzoon is a dirty liar. A scam. He was using me. And one day he will pay for this, whoever he is.
We find a place to stay on the not-so-nice side of town, but we steer clear of the Barrel. We may be desperate, but we aren't that desperate. We all know what happens to helpless girls in the Barrel. As we lay down to sleep in an alleyway, we hear others around us whisper of a plague sweeping through Ketterdam. My breath hitches. It will be alright somehow. Somehow.
I never got to see Kaz and Jordie one last time. What happened to them? They probably got scammed too. I never got tell Kaz my real name. He will only ever know me as Saskia Hertzoon. A girl that doesn't exist.
I never learned where he and Jordie stay. Ketterdam is huge, I don't think I'll ever run into them again. They were new to the city, it's not like anyone knows them very well. One day, someone will pay for this.
The wind blows through the alleyway. It's cold here. My thoughts stray before getting pulled back to the closest friends I've had, even if I've only known them for a couple of weeks. Kaz and Jordie Rietveld.
I hope it's nice where they are.
Wherever they may end up.
~ Kaz Pov ~
We've been fooled. Utterly fooled.
I walk along the dark streets with Jordie. Just like we walked to Zelvarstraat thinking today was going to be a normal day of work. Except Mr. Hertzoon wasn't there. Neither was his wife. Neither was Saskia. His house is empty. If it was even his actual house. Jordie has been going on for hours about how we've been scammed and we are broke. As if I need a reminder every ten seconds. All of our dreams of being rich are going down the drain and into the harbor.
When we approached the front steps to Mr. Hertzoon's house, I saw Saskia's red ribbon on the steps. Dirty liar. She must've been in on the trick this entire time. Faking it when she said we would be friends until the day we die. After Jordie and I waited at Mr. Hertzoon's house for what felt like an eternity, we decided to go. No one was showing up and we were getting on each other's cases about how careless we were with our Kruge. We are completely alone and out of money in this new city, but we were not about to be mad at each other on top of all of that. I picked up the red ribbon and shoved it in my pocket. It is now a reminder of the revenge I seek one day against Mr. Hertzoon and his wretched family. Against Saskia.
As one could imagine, Jordie and I got kicked out of our apartment. We are completely broke and have no where to go. So for now we just wander like vagrants. We ask around if anyone has heard of a Jakob Hertzoon, but we turn up with no results. That lying bastard.
As I begin to yawn consistently, Jordie suggests that we find a place to sleep. I agree before stifling yet another yawn. We appear at the slums of Ketterdam and settle in an alleyway on a street named West Stave. It is nasty here in what people call the Barrel. There are rats running around and it smells like sweaty bodies. But, at least we are both alive.
Jordie closes his eyes. But I stay up thinking. How am I going to make Mr. Hertzoon pay for this? I doubt Saskia was even his daughter. She's a fraud. The ribbon in my pocket feels unbearably heavy but I cannot bring myself to throw it away. I must remember this. Remember the girl who gave me happiness but was also the one that took it from me. One day I'll give her a wound that time cannot heal, that she will remember every single day of her life until the day she dies. As for Mr. Hertzoon....I'll tear him down brick by brick. One day.
As Jordie coughs, I settle in for sleep and let my anger subside enough to shut my eyes. The ground is wet and the air is groggy.
The Barrel is not a nice place to be.
//ok now the real story begins in the next chapter :) the chapters will be longer and more action based than descriptive//