Chapter 89: The Double crossing
After three weeks with the refugees, they were starting to slowly warm up to me. It wasn’t much—just small things. When I walked by them they gave brief greetings while they saved me a portion of their food and their angry looks diminished while I struggled with my work. Their skepticism toward me persisted although I had no expectation for full trust at that time. The cold resentment which initially dominated their attitude began to soften after a period of three weeks.
Martha stopped looming over me, trusting me to able to handle cooking duty on my own without messing them up. Lars had also stopped with the snarky remarks, although I suppose it was more of exhaustion than any real softening of attitude and the children also began to warm up to me.
I was starting to feel more at home than I ever did and even most days I looked forward to heading to the camp. Marina seemed to notice that I went out frequently more but she didn’t stop me. I suppose she hope I would be getting into trouble more than ever so Reagan could find something else to be mad about. It would work well in hers and Celeste’s favor.
Deep down, I knew if Reagan found out about this he was going to be pissed, which was even an understatement since I defied his order but as of right now I just couldn’t find it in me to care.
For the first time in a very long time, I felt really comfortable. Like I had found my place and acceptance in the world and the best part, I didn’t even need to hide behind a mask just to do it.
I was busy playing with the kids after a long day of working. We decided to play a catch of game of tag and I was ’It.’ The children laughed as they ran looking for the best spot to hide while I turned my back and counted backwards from ten so afterwards I get to search for them.
"Eight..." I yelled just as a bunch of scattered giggles sounded in the forest where they stayed.
"You know these kids don’t get tired right?"
I turned to look at Heather who was busy carrying a basket filled with fruits which she balanced on her hip. "I know they don’t but if I stop now they will only pester me till I eventually say yes, so it was better to give in to their demands now!"