Drowning our troubles [Tom]
Aug 29, 2016 9:31:17 GMT -5
Post by kousei ♚ on Aug 29, 2016 9:31:17 GMT -5
c l a i r e
Even though I'm supposed to be cheap labour, I find myself wondering if I can be anything more. No matter what conclusion I come to, I figure I'm too tired to even bother with any sort of change.
My eyes feel as heavy as lead, my fingers are limp and my arms dangle at my sides. The need to close my eyes is stronger than the pull of gravity itself. It's clear that I need to sleep; I suppose that's what I get for working nearly the whole day non-stop today, twenty four hours and I even insisted that I stayed the last twelve. Faces drifted and blurred in and out, people clocking in and clocking our and then going home to their families. The small tinge of envy was bitter but quickly forgotten, I wasn't allowed to complain. I shouldn't be surprised, I brought this upon myself.
When the twenty fourth hour hits I feel like a sack of bricks has been lifted from my chest. My eyes fly open and I exhale deeply. The Peacekeepers let me go without question because they know I'll be back tomorrow, and the day after that and the day after that. At this point it's a cycle of labour and it won't break until I collapse to the ground and don't get back up. I quickly strip off my work clothes and throw on proper clothes after taking a quick shower.
Before long, I'm making my way down the street and I'm still unable to tell if I'm about to collapse from exhaustion or if I'll collapse and just not get back up. Honestly, what's the difference between being tired and dying?
Isolated, I'm as sturdy as rock in this seemingly endless walk. Despite the darkness threatening the swallow the district whole, the air is surprisingly hot and heavy. The heat is staggering, all I can do is hang my head and breath slowly and deeply as if that'll bring some sort of relief. I feel nothing, numb to it all. I'm numb to it all because I don't exist as a human with nerves, sinew and bone; I exist as another piece of cheap labour to load the oil and shift the barrels. I suppose that would explain why I can't collapse from exhaustion, I may as well be a machine.
But it's all worth it isn't it? Somehow by doing this I'm being selfless, being a good person by working myself to the point of collapse for her. It will all work it, it has to.
My movement is practically automatic, one foot in front of the other. It's as if I lost the capacity to think a long time ago, reduced to mechanical movements and forced twists and turns. "I need a drink." I grunt to myself, stating the obvious. I haven't had anything of the sort in months, never found the time. How can I find the time when I'm trying to save a life? Draining my own life to give to someone else, that's a good enough reason I'm sure.
Without thinking, I turn. Footsteps lightly sound against the dull concrete for what seems like an age before I find myself at the doorstep of the all too familiar bar. Once upon a time me and my school friends would sneak here and the bartender would assume we were old enough to drink and serve us. Peacekeepers didn't care, they had better things to be worrying about. Once upon a time, I didn't have a care in the world because responsibility was a foreign concept to me. Once upon a time, I didn't use this bar as a shelter from myself.
Memories of forever are quickly faded into obscurity when I step inside and step up to the bar with the bar tender cleaning the surface. Surprisingly, the bar is raucous and bustling with people and behind the bar, there's a television showing a recap of the previous games. I can't help but grimace (again) when I see Justice Fray damn right nearly decapitate the boy from here with his axe. Some things I would rather not revisit. And no matter what anyone tells me, watching some kid getting torn apart by a career's axe isn't worth recapping; no wonder people get so drunk.
"I'll just have a shot."
I can't afford to damage myself by getting too drunk. I'm still a piece of cheap labour after all.