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A Mint-Flavored Rebellion [Part 6]
“Dog gone it!” She bellowed, crumpling the paper and throwing it into the floor. She made sure to step on it as she walked past.
She glanced from building to building, and slowly came to a grim realization; they all looked the exact same. It was meant to confuse visitors, no doubt. One blue building would no doubt attract unwanted attention; an entire street was just a tourist attraction.
She thought back to how the city had looked from the harbor. These had been the only blue buildings, she was sure of it. Then, she heard the wailing shouts of a young girl, her accent unfamiliar. “But mum, I want to see this one!”
“Honey, they’re all blue. The nice lady said we couldn’t go in, so we won’t. Let’s not attract attention, now, dear.” Her mother tried to soothe her, and Mint could see her pushing the young girl away out of the corner of her eye.
There’s a guard there, surely that one’s it. She thought as she saw the armored girl with a sword resting on her hip by the door of the building the mother and girl were scurrying away from.
She wove through the crowd of people quickly, not forgetting her mission and all the men and boys that were surely suffering as she dawdled about. The guard let her in with a nod, not even bothering to take a second glance. She noticed that there was no window in the door; nothing to let passerby see in.
Inside was nowhere near as glorious as the outside; it was all cracked linoleum and peeling, puce green paint. There was a splintered wooden bench on one side of the room, and a counter with a bunch of files on the other. A bored and annoyed-looking blond woman sat behind it, a scowl on her face as idly eyed the ring on her pointer finger.
“Hello, ma’am. My name is Minze, and I’m here to serve.” The words came easily; they were the ones slave girls had been taught to say for when their ownership changed. Mint just said them in a deep voice and hoped she looked natural.
The blond-haired woman sighed and handed Mint a leather folder stuffed with documents scripted in elegant cursive.
“Everything you’ll need is in there. Move along, now, why don’t ’cha?” The lady propped her feet up on the desk, leaned back in her chair, and closed her eyes. Min assumed that she could do nothing more there and moved towards the door. She walked away from the busy street into the one beside it, which was filled with houses. She opened up the packet and leaned against the wall of one of them.
Her green eyes darted quickly over the text, trying to pull out what she would be doing for the next while. However, most of them were papers for her new master to fill out, the only paper for her was on top. It had some directions scribbled on it, so she sighed and began to weave through the streets of busy people again, trying to find her destination.
After some backtracking and a lot of detours, she finally found her destination. She had never been in a city this big, and finding a single building was near impossible.
She looked up at the small, shack-like hut, unsure what to expect behind the crumbling brick walls. However, before she could take another step, a strong hand took a firm grip on her shoulder and pulled her into an alley.
She quickly broke the contact and jumped back, ready to fight. However, the teenage boy standing before her held both hands up, palms facing Mint, as if the police had caught him in the middle of a crime.
“Woah there, take it easy. I’m Kent, and I was told you’d be coming to help us out.” He began to smile and stuck out his hand. Mint gave a light-hearted sigh and gave it a firm shake before they dropped their hands back to their sides.
“Minze.”
“Welcome to hell.” Kent joked as he began to walk further into the alley.
“I didn’t know they had a welcoming committee.” Mint smiled as she began to follow Kent down the alley.
“Oh, I’m not the welcoming committee. They aren’t quite as pleasant.” His voice was grave and strained, as if he were trying not to recall a painful memory.”
“Abusive?” She guessed
“Very,” he sighed.
“Well, what else would you expect from a hellish welcoming committee?” Mint added in an attempt to lighten the mood. The grave turn the conversation was taking made her feel on edge.
Kent laughed at this, obviously as eager as she was to get rid of the depressing mood. “You’ll fit in just fine.”
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