I answered shyly, rubbing my elbows and staring at the floor. It was considerably clean, with not one speck of dust in sight. I found it rather ironic considering we lived in the Underground. It was a nice break for once from the filthy atmosphere.
"Nice to meet you, (Y/N)," Farlan said, serving me the breakfast he had just finished preparing.
"Thanks for breakfast. It looks lovely. I was actually on my way to work when you body slammed me. I didn't have food at home, and I was starving, so just wanted to say..thanks for feeding me.." I looked down at the plate. Pancakes.
How'd they even get the ingredients for pancakes down here? Eggs cost so much.. I wouldn't be able to purchase a small pack by working double shifts at the bar.
"How'd you guys afford this?" I asked, looking up at Farlan. I wasn't complaining. I quickly grabbed the fork and knife next to the plate and dug in. Cutting the pancakes into tiny pieces and shoving them into my mouth.
Farlan hummed at my question. "You actually don't know who I am? Or better yet: Levi and I?" He raised his thin eyebrow in question, a small look of contemplation written upon his delicate glare.
"No. Should I?"
He smiled and gently ruffled my hair.
"Let's just say we're the Robin Hood of the Underground," he said and he walked off to sit on the couch.
"I see. Interesting. So you...steal from the wealthy and give to the poor?" I asked.
"Somewhat. We typically knock down the carts those merchant pigs carry around, so people can take what's inside. They deserve it. Medicine and food is so expensive, and no job pays enough to afford them." Farlan looked at his shoes, "A good friend of mine has this disease, the one that causes your legs to go bad and unable to function, and the only way to help him is to get medicine. He's one of the main reasons why I do this."
"Agreed. I have to work overtime at my job just to afford some food to keep me alive for three days. I'm out right now." I say as I chew on the last piece of pancake, savoring as much goodness as humanly possible. I've heard about that disease. Whenever I was a child playing outside, I would almost constantly see people lying on the dirty ground in immense pain, moaning and groaning.
I'm no scientist, but I figured this was caused by the lack of sunlight.
"If you ever need some, just stop by. If you're lucky, you may even get a chance to see Levi and I in action." Farlan slightly chuckled.
Levi had been cleaning up his knife as I took a glance at him. I noticed he had ran his handkerchief on the knife several times. He hadn't said a word. He just sat there on the couch with his legs crossed.
What's his deal?
He seemed to not take interest in anything. Once in a while he would stare blankly around the room, or take a quick glance at me, but that's about it.
"Well I thank you for breakfast. You're surprisingly a very good cook for a guy" I giggled. "But I should get going. I'm already quite late to work and my boss would have my ass if I didn't show up," I sat up from their table, giving a slight bow.
"Hey, anytime! I know we just met, but you're a friend now. You're welcome over anytime." He smiled and bowed in return.
The quiet man known as Levi looked up from his knife and said, "Bye (Y/n)". Then returned his attention back to his knife
I was surprised that he had actually said something. "I er--bye Levi.." I stuttered, waving in goodbye.
I head towards the door and walked out.
Work was work. I worked at the pub/bar in the poor area. I was just a waitress. I served drinks and such. We had lots of prostitution going on...it sickened me. Why would a girl choose to ever give up her body like that? I'm only 16, and even I didn't resort to prostitution.
Usually only men came around to get drunk and have sex with women.
"(Y/N)"! Someone shouted my name.
I slightly turned my head towards the noise.
I immediately recognized the precious face.
"Hi Samuel." I greeted. Samuel was one of my greatest friends. I've known him since I was a child, probably around the age of 6. Samuel stood at a good 5'8 while I was 5'4. He had shaggy blonde hair and dark brown eyes. I would often find myself falling into his eyes. I thought they were beautiful. Though I would complain about his hair being way too long and that it looked 'raggedy', he never took my words into account. He simply left it that way.
"What are you doing here? You know I'm supposed to be working. You're going to get me in trouble!" I giggled as he approached me
"Meh, just wanted to see how you were doing. I can't help but notice your head--" he pointed to my forehead. "What's that bandage you've got? What happened?"
"It's a long story." I answered him as I bent down to scrub a table that had spilt liquor all over it from the men that sat there.
"What happened?" He repeated
"Basically, some guy accidentally ran into me. I passed out, he carried me to his home, and treated my injury." I shrugged, picking up glasses and setting them in a tray I held in my left hand.
I walked towards a counter where all of the liquor bottles were held underneath. There was a sink at the top of the counter. I lowered the tray into the sink and turned on the facet, spraying the bottles hard with hot water.
Samuel followed me. He wasn't allowed to, but Samuel wasn't exactly the type to care about what he was or was not supposed to do.
"Are you feeling better?" He asked, still looking at my forehead.
"A little lightheaded, but yes, I'm fine," I answered. Too many questions...
"(Y/n)" I heard a husky, deep voice call out to me. That voice was the sound of my boss, the old geezer.
My boss, Tom, came around a comer from his office with his arms folded. "A word with you." He stared at me.
"Alright, sir. Just let me finis--"
"Now". He interrupted me, harshly clicking his tongue in the process and tapping his feet impatiently against the floor.
I gave a slight nod toward Samuel, apologizing for the interruption. I followed Tom back into his office. The office wasn't very big. At most 3 people could be sat in here.
"Take a seat." He commanded me, pointing towards a chair in front of his desk as he sat down in his own.
I did as told and my heart started to race.
Did I do something wrong? I thought.
"Why werent you here earlier? You were three whole hours late! You do realize we're already in lack of employees due to the sickness that's spreading around, right? Or are you that incompetent? You're one of the few I have left and I'm counting on you to show up for work!" His voice raised. "We didn't even break even today because of your absence!" He continued.
"I'm sorry sir. Something had came up."
That triggered him.
"Something came up? Something came up!? Do you know how many times something comes up here!? A lot! I can't have you lacking! We lost customers just because you didn't show!" He scolded, "The only female who works at this pub, we all know that the main customers who consistently come here, whom are in fact men, only come because you're here! You're lucky I don't sell you to them, you faulty child."
"My apologies.."
" I can't take you seriously right now (y/n). Here I am telling you to fix your act so you can continued to be paid and survive, but it's like you don't have a care in the world. Go home and stay home until you fix your fucking attitude." He put his left hand in front of his eyes to shield his view of me, and shooed me away with the other.
"But sir I-" I tried to argue back. I could not afford to lose this job! And for what? All because I got hit by a random stranger?
"Go."
I glanced down at my boots, fighting to hold back tears and not break down into complete sobs in front of Tom.
What am I going to do now? With no money coming in, I won't be able to buy food. I can always steal, but..I'll become homeless. I'll lose my home. My disgusting, small, broken down home. I have to live out on the streets, I'll catch that disease and most likely get raped everytime I encounter a man. This situation is extremely not bad.
I stood up from the chair and turned around, refusing to dare look back. If I did that, my boss---my ex boss would win. I slammed the door behind me.
Samuel saw me rushing out of the office and quickly approached me. His eyes were filled with concern as he quickly raised his hands to press them roughly upon my shoulder.
"What happened?" He asked, staring down at me.
"Nothing..." I murmured. I didn't have the courage to tell him I got fired. I've looked up to him since we were kids. He always was the one to outshine me.
I pushed past him and walked out of the bar.
Brainstorm, (Y/n). What else could I do? Not much for a 16 year old girl with literally no education whatsoever could do down here. Besides prostitution...I shuttered at the idea of me doing that with some pervert.
I began thinking out loud, walking through a somewhat lit ally. "I need to reach the surface, but I need money... the only way to get money is to sell myself.." I groaned.
"Heh..what do we have here?" I heard a voice call further down the ally.
Oh no. Not now..
I continued walking, not breaking stance. If I keep going, they'll know I'm not afraid of them and won't bother me. They're like dogs, they'll only harm you if you panic.
The voice got closer until I could finally make out a distinct feature. A slim, tall man with ginger hair and a tangled up beard stood with his leg up against the brick wall.
"Oh...aren't you a pretty little thing? So petite." The man laughed.
I kept walking, not breaking my posture.
Show dominance!
"Shut up. I'm not interested." I barked out as I glared at him. I strolled on past him.
I let out a a sigh thinking I'm all good. Then I felt a pair of strong hands grasp my shoulders from behind.
I shriek in pain. Their nails dug into my skin.
"Aww, am I hurting you?" The ginger man asked, turning me to face him.
"Ye-yes! Please let go!" I squealed as the nails dug in deeper.
"I'm lonely and bored. I was wondering if you could help me? As soon as you're done you'll be on your way. I promise. A man has needs, girly." He stared into my eyes.
"No!" I tried to push him off me, but it was too much. I had no muscle whatsoever. There's no way I could fend off the attacker.
• T R I G G E R W A R N I N G "•
If you're sensitive to topics like this, please just skip this chapter. It won't be a complete dreaded scene, but I don't want even the slightest of my readers who have gone through this to experience it all over again.
The ginger haired man forcefully pushed me into the hard brick wall. I screamed, but in the Underground, nobody really cared. This was an everyday thing. Multiple people further down the ally observed the scene unfold, some even laughed, and eventually went on their way.
"Your screams...they turn me on. Keep doing it for me," the man said as he began to grind against my body.
"Please, stop!" I begged.
"Where's the fun in that?" He said as he began to slowly lick my neck.
I continuously tried to push him away from me, but my fragile body was no match. "Stop fighting against me." He ordered, pulling my head towards him to kiss my mouth.
I protested by groaning into his mouth and swinging my head back and forth. I pushed my hands into his face trying to fight back or at least stun him to give me time to run away.
"I said stop fighting me." He pinned my hands up against the wall as he put a leg in between mine.
I closed my eyes. I could feel a tear beginning to slip out.
BAM.
I was released. My pint up arms dropped to my sides as I heard a loud fall and a grunt. I opened my eyes and saw the dirty blonde haired man known as Farlan, and coming up behind him? His quiet, angry short friend known as Levi.
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