“Alright, you kinda remind me of my mom!” Jake uttered with difficulty, he swiftly avoided her eye contact but Julie was still able to caught a glimpse of his flushed red ears.
The declaration made her livid. Excuse me, how old is he ? She couldn’t possibly have a child this big, right?
“How old are you,kid? I can’t possibly have kid your age ,bah! Why are you living alone?”
Her gaze softened a little, thinking about a teenager her little brother’s age living alone without any support. The old society sure was tough !
Upon hearing her remark Jake jumped up in anger “I’m not a kid, I am 17 and already a full fledged adult”
She could tell my his attitude that if she called him kid one more time, he would stomp away.
“Alright, I will stop calling you kids. How about we introduce ourself properly this time?I am Julie, 29 years old and I cam from a far away place that has summer all year round” she introduced her self softly with a warm smile on her face.
Jake looked at her with curiosity in his eyes, summer all year round. She must had been a slave from the south as he thought.
“I am Jake,17 years old. And to answer your question, my parents went missing in the war 12 years ago so I am alone.”
“You need to be careful this hunter village is very small and people are prone to judge someone who has different looks”
Julie listen to his earnest warning with a delighted heart, seemingly he opened up to her more. After living for 29 years especially as an accountant who handled people’s money affair she became good at judging people’s character.
Jake was surely a kind person, he might seem hard and full of edges on the outside but like a miniature porcupine, he was soft and cuddly.
“Tomorrow, I will be going to town and sell the games we hunted today. After that I plan to get a job in town so I wont be back here again, you can live here if you want”
The boy said that as he got up from the chair and walked away to his room.
Julie was lost in thought, not because of the breaking news from Jake but where should she sleep tonight?. The old style house’s floor was made from mud and stone so the kitchen floor was off limit.
Julie looked trough all the doors in the house and heaved a sigh of relief when she found a storage room laid with wooden planks. Storage room it was, at least she had roof over her head.
She laid down, her brain had been working hard for the whole day when her head hit the floor she immediately fell into deep sleep.
She dreamt of a dark and cold place the path wall surrounded by iron bars , like walking along a corridor of a prison. the sound of water droplets dripping on the floor made the atmosphere even more eerie.
“Mama ” she heard the sound coming from up ahead. Her instinct screamed for her to run away but her feet kept moving forward like it was her calling.
When she arrived at the last prison cell she found nothing but an empty cell covered in dust and blood smeared on the wall but the whispering voice is still weeping, calling for it’s mama with a broken heart.
“Where are you?” Julie asked, her voice trembling. She felt unexplainable anxiousness and sadness in her heart.
“Mama” the voice kept calling.
Julie looked around anxiously the prison cell was covered in dried blood, scratched marks on the wall. At the first glance the marks looked random but after awhile she saw a sign, the deeper the wall went, the more condensed the marks were.
Julie had her hands in the bars, tried he best to look as further as possible inside.unfortunately the cells was old and the iron bar was weaken as time got the best of it. Before she knew it her leaning body fumbled the ground produced a loud bang.
Julie struggled to get up,dragging her pained body and followed along the wall.
She walked and walked for what felt like a short eternity until she found the source of that small voice.
There was a small pile of bone on the floor with a small child trying to feed something that looked like a lump of dirt to that bone,to her surprise the voice was not calling to her.
In the deserted corner of this damped prison cell, the small body of this child was clad in worn and torn piece of cloth, his pale ivory skin coupled with his golden blond hair gave Julie and ethereal feeling. She suddenly had the urge to see if his eyes were the colour of sapphire like all those angel in the old paints or not.
One thing Julie could tell at this point in time was if this world is a fantasy novel this boy would most likely be one of the main characters, either the protagonist or the main antagonist, with all these cliché origin story.
‘ Well, I guess I am not the protagonist of this world’ Julie thought to herself sarcastically.
Although she knew this scene was not her destiny she couldn’t help but felt her heart ached for the child.
She crunched down beside the child, her big and strong hand patted on his soft golden hair lightly.
“Kid, if one day you can move on from this situation. Come look for Auntie Julie, I will raise you well”
The little kid tilted his head upward “Auntie Julie” he followed her word, his small voice and shy behavior plugged her heart string.
“Unn! Aunt Julie, I live in Rein Kingdom”
When Julie got a glimpse of his deep purple eyes she felt like something was being sucked out of her body, she was beside herself with fear and anxiousness but had no idea how to run away from it she decided to embrace the boy in her arms as Julie felt her body getting weaker and weaker and her consciousness was drifting away.
The next morning Julie woke up before sun rose.
She was busy in the kitchen looking for something to eat. Extreme hunger was the first thing she felt when she rose from her makeshift bed, perhaps the dream last night was the product if her exhausted mind and wild imagination.
She found some staled bread in additional from the beef jerky and beans from yesterday but de cider not to use the bread, she did not know any good recipe with bread she could cook with the ingredients she had on hands anyway.
After wiped her body clean with some wet cloths she began cooking.
She cut a small piece from the beef jerky she too the part with the most fat and render the fat out on the stove. Then she cooked some rice mixed with beans.
Today breakfast will be stirred fried rice with the meet from beef jerky.
When Jake walked out of his room his nose smelled something he had not experienced for the longest time,someone was cooking in the kitchen, someone was cooking for him.
The teenager halted his foot just outside of the kitchen in fear that the busy shadow in the kitchen would vanish and leave behind,just like his parents.
“Jake, you up?” Though his footsteps were quiet, Julie somehow felt his presence in the air.
Her sturdy body turned around with a bright smile hung on her face, her cheeks glowing red from the heat.
Jake was taken aback, the scene before him somehow felt so natural. Her big smile gave him a sense of security.
“Mmm” he answered nonchalantly despite the itching feeling in his chest.
“Jake,do you know where can I get some eggs?”
No fried rice dish could be completed without egg. Julie wanted to have a proper meal with lot of nutrients since she felt super weak this morning.
Jake gave her a slight nod and started walking to the front door.
“Bring some for yourself as well!” Julie yelled as the boy walked away.
Little Peach's Palace 