EIGHT

---..

I slept wrapped in Ryon’s arms, breathing in his sweat and musk as dawn trickled into the barn. We took our time getting dressed, stealing kisses every few moments, and leaning into each other as we walked across the field. Our night smoked out my worries, sending them deep into the pit of my stomach. 

It was only as we ventured from the village I glimpsed the looming fence again, and my heart sank. 

I gripped Ryon’s wrist tight as he maneuvered his brown mare down the road. Every few minutes, I would stop him, kissing him hard to make sure he was real and that I was safe. 

The horse whinnied in frustration after the third stop. 

I wanted to spend all day with Ryon. If I didn’t have work, we might have pulled off into the forest to make love again and never left each other’s side. Sure, Ryon wasn’t a skilled lover like Gisela or Yeshua, but he had loved me with all his heart the previous night. To me, that’s all that mattered. And I wanted to keep that tender touch close to my heart.

As we pulled up to the Capitol building, we made a show of kissing on the steps; it was a promise to ignite change. 

How?

I didn’t know.

Just like I didn’t realize Marietta stood right there, watching us.

As I turned away from Ryon, waving at him one last time before he rode off, I ran straight into her. My face warmed. “Oh! Marietta!”

“I had a suspicion you were with Mr. Barnes.” Marietta smirked.

“Please don’t tell Elodie...” I fidgeted with my dress, brushing a few pieces of straw from my skirt.

“Oh, she already has a hunch. She is not happy.”

“I’m—”

“But I think it is none of her business. You’re a grown, smart young woman. But...” Marietta placed an arm over my shoulder and walked me up the stairs, “you do need a fresh set of clothes. You do not want people spreading rumors. Lucky for you, I have a few extra outfits in my bag that I was taking to the tailor.” 

Grateful, I followed Marietta to her office and retrieved the dress. It was a tad too big for me, but it was far better than wreaking of hay and manure. Captain Oberland didn’t even blink as he walked into his office, focused on rolling tobacco and chewing on the edge of his old cigar. I held my breath as I sat down at my desk. The previous day flooded back; did they discover how I altered the report? They would reprimand me! 

Captain Oberland remained drawn into his work. “Ah, good morning, Doris. Are you feeling better?”

“Oh, um, quite,” I replied as I pulled out my parchment and my pen, listening as the code buzzed through the telegraph machine.

...- —.- .

“VQE,” I muttered to myself. This was a common abbreviation I’d seen before in several reports. It could mean anything, but I also knew what Captain Oberland’s command did. They helped keep the streets of the Capitol clean of criminals…and vagrants.

VQE.

V…as in vagrant? E…as in eradicated?

Was I looking too much into it?

Captain Oberland cut off my train of thought. “Good, good, much has happened! We must get to work at once.” He launched into one of his infamous rambles, “A few women were recently evicted from their homes. Did you hear about that? Well, the Guard has... They relocate... They assisted in their relocation, and these women are no longer homeless. They will be quite happy now. Oh, and also, two men were found robbing a bakery, but after an alter...but to our relief, no one was hurt, and the men returned the goods. They have since left the Capitol. All is busy, but all is well.” 

I brought the ink to the page and eyed Captain Oberland. Lies. They were all lies.

VQE.

Did I know the truth?

I knew more than most.

VQE… Vagrants… eradicated… It could be coincident. The codes might have meant anything.

But the Guard lied. They always lied.

Even my false histories would be more truthful.

So instead, I wrote: 

 

Entry 850-254-01

The Guard has evicted two women from their home and relocated them to the Pit outside of the Capitol to cleanse the streets of who they consider scum. The women did no wrong. 

 

Entry 850-254-02

Two men robbed a bakery to feed their families. An altercation ensued, and the Guard murdered both men.

 

I punctuated my statement, then filed the report away with the other documents. Victors, they say, write history.

Too bad the victors can’t write.

 

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?” Elodie shrieked at me as I arrived home that evening.

As much as I longed to spend all night with Ryon again, it was a necessary evil. I needed fresh clothes, and I was sure Elodie would send the Guard after Ryon if he kept me away much longer.

I swore Elodie was going to explode as I walked in the front door. Her eyes flared, her lips quivered, and her voice sliced through the air. She spent the next hour shouting over my “irresponsibility.”

“You just met the man!” She screamed. “What if he killed you? Or abandoned you in the forest? Or raped you? Come now, Doris!”

I did not reply. 

“I’m absolutely appalled by your behavior! Papa never would have let you stay out so late. Absolutely horrid...pah!” Elodie finished her speech.

I eyed her, holding back my tears and anger with a mere sentence. “Are you finished?”

Elodie glared.

I rose, refusing to break eye contact. “You are not in charge of me, Elodie. I am an adult.”

“You live in my house!”

“Then I’ll move!”

“No, you will not!”

“You’re not my mother!”

“No, I’m your older sister. I want to protect you!” 

“You’re suffocating me!” I shouted. “I’ll find a new place to live if you won’t let me enjoy MY LIFE!” 

She scoffed, “You haven’t any money.”

“I’ve been saving!”

“That will last you a week with a freeloader like Mr. Barnes.”

“You don’t know Ryon! Stop acting like you do!”

“I’ve seen him for years now loitering around the Capitol like some common vagrant! He wants to overthrow the government! The people he hangs out with end up disappearing... I don’t want you to disappear too!” 

“Because the government is corrupt!”

“That is Mr. Barnes talking. Not you! Perhaps I should take you to more services at the Temple...” Elodie trailed off as she spoke.

“No!” I clenched my fists. “You keep saying Ryon is a traitor, but have you ever thought that I agree with him? I’ve seen what upsets him...it upsets me too!”

“Doris—Nanette... use your head!”

“No! Maybe YOU should think for yourself and LOOK AROUND!” 

“Please, I only want what is best for you...” Elodie stepped forward.

“Then leave me alone! I don’t want your opinions! I just want to live my life!”

We glowered at each other for a long moment. 

“Fine,” Elodie broke the standoff. “I will leave you alone. Don’t come to me when you get arrested.”

“Fine!” 

“Fine.”

I huffed, then stormed upstairs and collapsed on my bed. Only the shaking windowpanes broke the thin silence in my room.

Elodie and I erected a wall between us... and it would take more than a simple apology to demolish it.

 

Tap. Tap. Tap. 

I jolted awake to tapping on my window. Ryon waited beneath my window, tossing pebbles against the glass. Excitement flooded through my body, and I held up my hand to tell him to wait. I slipped on my slippers and tiptoed downstairs, creaking open the back door to wave him inside the house.

He greeted me with a passionate kiss. 

“I couldn’t sleep. I missed you.” Ryon mumbled into my hair.

“I’m glad you’re here.” 

We kissed again, then snuck into the kitchen, being careful not to wake Elodie. Rather than heading upstairs, I unlocked the door to the basement and led him downstairs. I hadn’t gone down there much, really, except to retrieve bottles of liquor. But, while I went down there infrequently, Elodie never ventured down the steps.

It would make a perfect hideaway.

I lit a single lantern on the wall. The flame illuminated the rickety wood, highlighting the different colored bottles and old white draped furniture. I pulled a few of the sheets off the furniture to reveal an old bar, a shelf, and a couple of chairs. With the cloth and furniture, we erected a fort, hiding us away from any unsuspecting eyes.

As we lay on the ground, I recanted my altercation with Elodie to him.

“I am so sorry. This is all my fault...” Ryon said. “I would hate to get between you and your sister.”

“It’s not your fault. Elodie has been driving me crazy lately. Really. I wouldn’t have it any other way...” I nuzzled my nose into his shoulder.

“Yeah, but she’s right, Nan. I’m not the best person to hang around. It’s amazing the government hasn’t locked me in the Pit yet with how much I babble!” 

“It doesn’t matter to me. I want to help with this fight.” I stroked his cheek, “It’s my choice to make.”

He kissed me again, and we fell back onto the sheets. We inhaled each other and dove into love, fueled by the rush of being caught and the want to ignite change. Each time we moaned too loud or our giggles grew too excited, we quieted each other with a gentle shush. Ryon touched me with love and respect, letting me teach him how to get me to peak before I satisfied his own needs. 

I rolled off him and exhaled, sighing into him as we snuggled on the floor well into the early morning. Ryon said little as he lay beside me, twisting his fingers through my hair with my head against his chest. When he finally rolled over to face me, he spoke with a sense of curiosity and amazement. “You know what this was?”

“Hm? What what was?”

“This basement?” 

I shook my head. 

“It was a tavern. See the bar, and the shelving there, and the way the ceiling arches? Above must have been the sleeping house, but down here was where the magic happened...” He sat up slightly as he motioned to the fixtures. “Why wouldn’t you keep this place up and running? It’s a prime location! People would flock here. You’d be rich!”

“Marietta isn’t the social type, and Elodie is…well, Elodie,” I giggled. “And it’s not my home.”

“What a missed opportunity. I would love a place like this.” There it was, that spark in his eyes of the farm boy who wanted to exchange his field for city lights.

“We’ll find our own place like this someday,” I replied.

“Nanette...” He stroked my hair back. “You know I have got no money or anything. I’m...I can’t give you glamor or glitz.”

“That doesn’t matter. We can build our own fortress. Together. That’s all I ever want.”