Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75388 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75388 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Asha sits up as I enter, her hair messy, a scowl on her face. Her cheeks look suspiciously wet and she sniffs as she glares at me. She says something in alien that is probably along the lines of “Did you not see the screen?”
“Yeah, I ignored your screen,” I say in English, dropping to my bed. “And I know you know English, and you know I don’t know sa-khui, so don’t even start with me.” I pick up one of the crispy cakes and hold it out to her. “Hungry?”
“No,” she says in a sullen voice. She holds a wad of clothing to her chest and lies back down. “I want to be left alone.”
“I want to be home and eating a Happy Meal, but we don’t always get what we want.” Man, these cakes are so not great. I mean, I’m going to eat both of them, but I’m definitely going to be thinking of Happy Meals the entire time.
“Do you not have somewhere else to go?” Asha snaps at me.
“God, I wish.” I shake my head and polish off the last of my cake before picking hers up. “This is where we come to be depressed, right? So I thought I’d join you in your wallowing.”
She hugs the clothing—it looks like a man’s tunic—to her chest and frowns at me. “What are you depressed about?”
My nose runs with every bite, but I devour her cake anyhow. “Oh, any number of things. But if you’re talking about today, my sister’s going on a field trip with her new hubby and I’m too fat and out of shape to go.”
She snorts. “The walk will do you good.”
“Thank you, Richard Simmons,” I say dryly. “Besides, it’s all couples going and I don’t belong there.” Loneliness washes over me like a wave, and I suddenly feel as tired and beat-down by the world as Asha looks. I crawl into my bed and lie on my belly, staring at nothing. “This place sucks,” I say after a few minutes of silence. “I’m miserable.”
And I am. I feel like weeping, because I’m alone and forgotten and I don’t even have a soul-sucking job to distract me.
“So do something,” Asha tells me, and she sounds irritated. “Do not just whine in my direction.”
“That’s rich—motivational support from you.”
“You are angry because your sister does not need you. Anyone can see that.” She shoves at her blankets, adjusting them, and then pulls them over her again, huddling underneath.
“It’s amazing you can see anything considering you never leave your bed,” I snark back at her, but she’s right. I’m flailing without my sister. Who am I if I’m not Lila’s protector? All of who I was back on Earth has been stripped away, and while Lila was gone, I clung to her presence as an anchor. I told myself that when Lila got back, things would be better. We’d find our way together.
Except Lila got back and she no longer needed me.
“So what do you do when everything is terrible?” I ask Asha.
“I am going to lie in bed,” she says in a terse voice. “You will have to think of something else, because I do not want company. Find another place to hide. This one is mine.”
Dude. She’s harsh. “I thought we were supposed to be roomies.”
“No one asked me if I wanted a companion.”
Well, she’s got a point there. I roll onto my side and ignore her, trying out the whole ‘wallowing’ thing. I have to admit, it’s pretty damn boring. I’m used to doing things throughout the day, not hiding. This isn’t going to work for me. I roll onto my back and stare at the ceiling, and then I look over at Asha again. “So you’re basically telling me I need a hobby and that you already have the market cornered on ‘moping’ and I need to find something else.”
“Something of that nature.” Her voice is dull, tired. “Find something to amuse you.”
“Like what?”
She sighs heavily, as if the very act of answering me is exhausting. “The rest of the tribe helps each other. There is cooking, and gathering, and tanning…” Her voice catches and she takes a deep breath before continuing. “And there are kits to watch over while the others are out hunting.”
Oh. Hunting. I’m intrigued. I imagine myself with a bow and arrow, like Liz. She’s a badass. I’d like to be a badass, too. “You know what? I think you might be right, Asha.”
“Good. Now go away.”
3
HASSEN
From my vantage point up on a snowy cliff, I watch as Taushen wrestles to pull one of his nets out of the water in the valley below. He grabs a handful of the net, tugs, and then bobs and slips on the muddy banks. I stifle my laughter. How much sah-sah did Taushen drink last night? I saw him and Hemalo splitting one of the skins while sitting around a fire. At least he’s alert enough to have remembered to toss the soap-berries into the water before pulling his nets, or there would be fang-fish chewing on his boots right now. He picks himself up off the slushy ground and rubs his forehead. And tugs again.