DEAPECTRUMS
001. LAND OF EXILE

Outside the rain started to fall. Isbell hasn't come home yet. It's two hours past the time he usually comes home. Jatnera and I waited in a dark, damp hut with starving stomachs. Seven-year-old Jatnera continued to say that his stomach was hungry.

Every time he whines for food it feels like I want to hit him but his eyes that always look like a cat in love make me not have the heart. I took the initiative to go to the hotel where Isbell works. It's possible that today Isbell picked up another pack of rice so he couldn't get home as quickly as he normally would.

Without an umbrella I left my shelter hut for ten years tracing the increasingly heavy rain. If I knew I was going to rain I wouldn't have to take a shower, I thought. Bathing in this place is very difficult because the water is not easy to get. Because it is very difficult to get it.

Added every year in Deapectrum luxury buildings increase in number. Those of us who do not have money will not be able to afford it therefore we have to go to a waterfall that is ten kilos away from here. To bathe in the river it must be done in hiding because it could be the bad guys see you and surely they will do bad things to you.

I continued to walk the path without any illumination. In order not to look bad, it was very nice but walking in this dark place made it difficult for me to walk and the sticky ground like glue made my steps very heavy.

Almost every street in Deapectrum is still filled with unkempt trees. The trees made me more fortunate to be able to walk while hiding so that no one would see a ten-year-old walking at night like today.

If only criminals came and arrested me, I would definitely be sold and made into a slave without pay. A lifetime of working without any more rights applicable to me. Sometimes I also hear from some people that criminals might make the people they catch as their food. That's very bad but that's how life is in this dump.

I don't know when my life will be in this place, or maybe I will live here to the death. If that happens I'd rather my life wouldn't be long because if Isbell hadn't been around I might have better die.

A car can be seen from a distance approaching me. Immediately I took refuge in a towering pine tree to hide. Six cars passed by without anyone seeing me. But suddenly the seventh car window was opened by a boy as it passed by me. The boy looked at me but I wasn't sure if he was looking at me because there was no expression on his face.

It seems true that he did not see me because I was a little girl hiding behind a tree and it was very dark. Ten fancy cars passed me. I let out a sigh of relief because no one noticed my existence on this path.

They must be a conglomerate that owns one of the luxury buildings in Deapectrum. And it looks like they're headed for Pond Jae, the hotel where Isbell was a slave. I felt envious of that boy, his age must not be much different from mine.

Maybe two or three years older than me. But our lives are very different. If I had been that boy I would not have starved every day and would not have had to live in fear like I am today.

The rain started to fall as I continued on my way. The distance from where I live to Pond Jae is about two hours if you walk. I've been almost half the way.

At the end of the road from this corner there is a magnificent building decorated with colorful lights. The place is filled with people only at night. Women dressed in sparkling clothes and colorful makeup always welcome the men with a friendly smile.

Isbell always forbidding me to cross in front of that building. Isbell said it would be very bad if I got caught by the owner of the building because I would definitely be made like the slave women there. I still didn't understand what the place was doing until a kid like me wasn't told anything about it.

There is no school or study here but Isbell who used to be a teacher before being thrown away to this place taught me to read. A large inscription made with colorful lights read Bordil House.

With an inaudible step I passed through the building like a shadow. Isbell used to praise me because my light steps were almost inaudible even he dubbed me like a shadow and I liked his nickname.

I continued walking without caring about the rain that was falling so heavily. The shirt and pants of the material I was wearing were drenched in the rain which had not diminished in intensity since.

I'll be at Pond Jae's hotel soon. After passing through the swamps up ahead there I'll be there soon. I prefer this swamp road because it will be faster although it will be very difficult for sure, but Isbell always chose this road to arrive faster. The magnificent Pond Jae Hotel has been seen from where I am.

I passed through swamps filled with walnutt trees. The situation without lights is scary but I have never been afraid of supernatural figures, which I am more afraid of are bad people who can come at any time.

When a large pit I could pass by with my distant leap, my feet stopped moving when I saw a frail thin figure lying on the wet ground in the rain. For a moment I was silent to the figure.

I recognized who the person who was currently lying weakly at a distance of ten meters from where I was standing, he was Isbell. Without a second thought I ran up to him with a feeling of worry.

"Grandma do you hear me?" I asked while shaking his weak body.

I wish Isbell would answer me but he doesn't move. His lips were already turning blue and his body was shivering with coldness. He must have been lying here long enough. I looked to the right and left to find a place to shelter. A large walnutt tree with bushy leaves looks good enough for shade. On the sidelines of Isbell tree trunks can avoid the rain.

"Sir, I'll take you to a shady place." I said but still no response.

With all my might I lifted Isbell up onto my back and limped down to bring Isbell up near the walnutt tree.

Several times I almost slipped due to the slippery soil conditions fortunately I could balance my body and hold on to the trees around me.

Isbell's thin body was no heavier than the water I often took to drink the three of us. Maybe it's because I'm used to carrying heavy loads so I can carry Isbell on my back. I carefully lowered Isbell when I got under the walnutt tree.

After that I took five banana tree leaves. I wiped the rainwater on the leaves with my shirt and wrapped Isbell until her crumpled body was wrapped in banana leaves. For a moment I thought about what I should do again.

"Bee," call Isbell who finally wakes up. I approached. "Black packet, take that black packet... It ate you both." With a stammer Isbell speaks.

I looked towards where Isbell fell. A black bag of plastic was lying there. I immediately rushed to pick up the black package and saw the contents. Two packs of rice just like usual that Isbell brought home. I'm back to rushing to Isbell.

"You go home first, Jatnera must be starving. I'll be here until it rains." Isbell looked at me.

"But the condition of the grandmother is not good. I'll stay here." My answer.

"Don't think of me, Jatnera must be crying by now. Go home I'll be fine." With great difficulty Isbell tried to make his voice out. "You know that fig tree that's close to home?"

"Yes. What's up?" I don't know what Isbell meant.

"South under the tree is my box which I buried. Can you dig it up now and come back to give me the box?" Isbell looked so begging.

"Grandma just sleep here, I'll be back soon." My answer.

Isbell smiled as if his condition was fine.

After confirming the banana leaves that covered Isbell's body I immediately rushed over with the black bag that was our dinner.

Somehow the journey back home was easier than the trip. Unknowingly I who kept running had arrived in front of the hut that we had occupied for a long time three. There was only one room without windows in the hut. I was silent to my house for a moment with mixed thoughts.

How do I bring Isbell home and was Isbell okay when I stayed?

...@racing_al.aska...