Eighteen

I turned eighteen today, which means someone from the Church is going to my parents' house to take me. However, as I am not there, my parents will have to come up with some excuse ... they will probably be punished. I have to ask Nora if she knows what might happen. She doesn't even know that I'm eighteen today.

Sitting on the sofa in the living room, I was waiting for Nora to go down to the restaurant. I was not used to the house. It was enormous and very filled with furniture. But it was nice. It was something new.

Every day after leaving work, Nora takes me to the bookstore and continues to teach me how to read. I already know some things and, I kind of understood how specific machines work. Apparently, the energy has been around for a long time, only that we "poor people" are not worthy of such luxury.

"Are you ready?"

It was Nora's voice. I turned to the stairs.

"I always arrive early. You are the one who is always late."

She approaches me with an annoyed look. She brings her hand to the left side of my face, grabs my ear, and starts pulling.

"A lady has to be well-groomed, unlike you, don't you think?"

She starts to pull harder.

"Y-yes, you are absolutely right. I'm sorry."

"Good thing we understand each other perfectly, now open the door for me and let's go to the market."

Nora taught me that when a man walks with a lady, he must give her the arm to hold. I can understand that. What I don't understand is why I use an umbrella when it's not raining.

"Why are you using an umbrella? In the book, it said it was for rain."

"Hahaha, this is a parasol. It protects from the sun and is elegant."

"..."

I still didn't understand.

"Nora, I have something to ask you."

"If it's stupid, you better not even ask. The market is just around the street."

I stopped and looked at her.

"I turned 18 today ... the Church will go to my parents' house. They will look for me."

She stopped and turned to me.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I didn't know how and when to tell you."

She smiled at me, which made me confused because it was a serious matter.

"You don't have to worry, you're lucky. As I said, this year is the church festival. They will only pick you up for the year. So your parents are fine."

After saying that, she started walking again.

I didn't know what to say. I was relieved. I had one less problem to worry about.

Upon arriving at the market, we met a lady. She was a beautiful lady, had blond hair, blue eyes, and was dressed up like Nora.

"Salvor, this lady is my sister. Rachel, this is Salvor."

She stretched out her arm, thank god Nora had taught me some etiquette. I took her hand and kissed it.

"It is a great pleasure to meet Nora's sister."

She smiled at me but didn't speak.

"We can go."

Said Nora.

We went towards a warehouse, when I got to the gate I looked up, and there was a sign that said, "Drefor church is with you". Apparently, all food distributed to this city was controlled by the Church. We entered the warehouse, there were huge refrigerators with the Church's mark, a cross in the shape of leaves and crossed swords. Some of the refrigerators contained Nora's name, and there were workers, they opened them, there were vegetables, meat, fish etc.

"These four refrigerators are from the Nora family. You need to know this Salvor, so next week you can come here alone."

"I understand."

While there were people putting everything on a cart, I went for a walk around the warehouse.

Just by looking at the outside, I can see that these people have more money than all of us. I have a lot of work ahead of me, at least I have an ally, who I can trust.

"Salvor! Where are you?"

"I'm here, Nora. Shall we go to the restaurant?"

"Hmhm, on your first day, you will receive someone special who is connected to the priest. Try to look normal if she starts asking a lot of questions, come and talk to me."

" "She" "?

"Yes, it's the priest's daughter. She is three years older than you. However, she is not as friendly as you are. She is not a girl who expresses her emotions too much for other people."

"I see... I will try to be formal."

The priest's daughter must probably hate people like me. If I managed to talk to her, maybe I could have more information about the Church.

Better not. I don't want to have any problems with Nora.

"Nora?"

"What Salvor?"

"Why doesn't your sister speak?"

"My father said that she could never speak again. Let's say that if she spoke, my mother would be punished."

"...What did she do?"

"That's something that you will discover for yourself."

"..I understand."

It seems that even the children themselves are severely punished, she appeared to be very kind.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, Nora took my right shoulder. She hugged me and said.

"I believe in you Salvor. I hope you have a lot of fun while you're here. At the same time, I will help you with everything I can, however.. if it is something between the families or the priest. I will not be able to do anything Salvor."

"I understand Nora, thanks for everything. "

It is good to have someone like that, and I hope that one day Nora can meet my parents.