West Hell

The sweat dries from my face, my body shaking fast to the beat of my heart. I can barely stand anymore, let alone continue to use this shovel. Not even the wind that kicks up the dust grants me reprieve from this heat. The rest of the dogs have already fallen. I’m the last one today. It feels as though my body has fallen asleep without me. Every time this happens, I wonder if I will ever wake up again.

Down on my knees now, shovel at my side, the sound of rattling chains coming closer. I fall over onto the hot ground and stare blankly at the side of the hole we’ve been digging until everything goes black. The pain from being dragged across the ground is bearable compared to the exhaustion and heat.

They do this to us for the prospect of finding clean water. They tell us that once we find it, everything will be ok, that we will get to leave. No one has said it out loud yet, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s thought it. There isn’t clean water anywhere, so finding it will only mean we are stuck here. Still, we dig hoping to find anything.

“Joe! Get up!” A distant voice echoed. The dragging stopped. “Joe!” It shouts again, followed by a sharp pain in my leg.

“Nnnnggghhh!” My eyes spring open as I let out a grunt, attempting to reach for my leg with my chained hands. I take a deep breath and look up to see a tall, thin man dressed in white. With the sun glaring in my eyes, I can’t make out the face.

“Hey, Joe. I heard you were the last one digging today! Congrats! You’ve earned some extra ozes!” His voice sounds familiar.

“Amon?” It couldn’t be.

“That’s right! It’s me, Amon, your big bro back in town!” I haven’t seen him in years. I thought for sure he was dead.

“Amon. How did you manage to make it back here? It’s been –“

“Five years. I know. Don’t worry about how I got back, just be glad to see me.” He pulls his hat down. “You two, pull off his chains and help him inside.” He gestures to the catchers and tosses a couple of tokens to them.

Amon walks into “The Watering Hole,” a bar hastily put together to serve drinks on the Gravel Shore. The catchers remove my chains and help me to my feet and into the bar. Like everyone else, seems all they really care about is oz. As we enter, the coolness from the shade cascades over my body. The catchers take me to Amon’s table.

“Brother,” He grins and flicks his hat up. “I finally have enough oz to pay off your debt and get us out of here.”

My debt? I’m not in debt. He sold me to the Staff after mom died. I’m not in debt, I’m literal property. I wanted to scream that at him, to tell him how much I hated him, to make him understand what the last five years have been like to me. I didn’t, though. I don’t think he realizes I know what he did. He plans on paying for my freedom, so I have no choice but to play nice for now.

“Amon.” I smile. “Your skin is quite pale. I take it you haven’t had to endure the heat quite like I have.”

“No. I have not. I’ve been up north. I worked for a researcher for some time. You know,” he leans in to speak quietly, “water isn’t so hard to come by up there.”

“Every once in a while, we get an out of towner that lost big on a bet. They usually say the same thing. Is it really true?”

“Yep. When the world dried up, the North and South decided to go their separate ways. Down here they went back to their roots - got a bunch of slaves to do all the work for them and collect all the water for themselves. Then, only give out what is needed.” He smiles again. “Up there, though. They innovate. They progress. They took this as a challenge to find a way to solve a problem they should have been working on for years prior.”

“It’s hard to believe any place could actually have enough water for everyone.”

“Well, believe it.” Amon said confidently laughing. I force a smile. All the laughter is gone from me. For years, all the happiness drained out of the wound he inflicted on me, and now he wants to come back and try to bandage it up.

The bar quiets as the Staff walk in. Their annoyed expressions obvious even with their dust masks on. They dress in all black, almost as a way of mocking us. We know they don’t do any work in the heat. The other dogs follow behind them, still in chains. I stand. “You don’t have to do that.” Amon tells me as he stands and tries to stop me. Avoiding him, I take my place in line. The Staff begin handing out oz tokens.

My turn comes up, the Staff Member pulls out my daily pay plus a little extra for being the last one standing. This has been part of my everyday life for 5 years now. So many people have come in, paid off their debts and left, or died from the heat. Still, no one has found water here. As I turn around, Amon motions for me to come back and sit down.

“I had to get my pay, at least. I don’t work for free.”

“I understand, but you are free, now. We can leave this place, and I need to tell you something, but not here.” Amon whispers, looking around the room.

“Ok…” I respond, in confusion.

Several hours go by and the sun begins its descent on the gravel shore, orange rays just barely peeking through the cracks in the building. Amon and I have just been catching up the entire time. Well, I’ve been learning more about his life… nothing really changes in mine. Though, we did have some common acquaintances. Those that lost bets and wound up digging beside me.

“Even with the advancements in harvesting and creating water, they still don’t really understand what caused the world to dry up in the first place.” Amon admitted. Growing up, he always loved solving puzzles, so it doesn’t surprise me that he is continuing to try to solve problems.

“Time to close up!” The barkeep yells out, essentially telling us to beat it.

“I’ve got a room for the night if you want to crash with me. We can head out first thing tomorrow.” Amon smiled.

“Head out where?”

“Up North. I’ve got a place to live there. You’re welcome to join me.”

“Amon…”

“Yeah?”

“Why would I go anywhere with you?” As difficult as it was to actually say, like a fantasy you’ve had but are always too nervous to try, I had dreamt of this moment for a long time. I decided to let my anger take control and lash out. “Do you really think I don’t know why I’ve been stuck here for 5 years? Working every day in this damned heat – in this godforsaken town!? I saw you that day.” Amon’s face transforms from the happy-go-lucky look he had to one of confusion and sadness as I stand there yelling at him. “The day you left me here. I saw you take coins from the Staff as you were leaving. Immediately after, they came for me and every single day of my life I have been digging. I dig until I pass out. Every. Day. For Five. Damned. Years.” Amon’s eyes drop. “Look at me! Look at me and tell me you didn’t sell me into slavery!”

“I would never!” Amon shouts, his brow furled and eyes water. “You may have seen me that day, but that is certainly not what happened! As I was coming to tell you goodbye, I was stopped by a member of the Staff. He gave me coins and told me it was left to me from our father, and that he would give you your share as well! Just as I was turning towards you, the whistle for the train went off and I had to leave. Word got around to me that you wound up in debt and were enslaved due to it, so I started saving everything I could to come get you.”

“When you left, the Staff came straight to me and said, ‘He’s paid for his freedom with your enslavement.’ Explain that!”

“I would never. I swear to you, Joe. I would never do something like that to you.” A moment passes, tears form in Amon’s eyes and run down his face. “Look.” He opens his shirt to reveal a golden heart-shaped locket. “Look at this,” he begs, “this was mom’s. This is the only thing I have left of her and it is the most important thing in the world to me. Here, open it.” He tosses the locket to me.

When I first began my enslavement, I would cry every night. Expecting every day that Amon would come back and get me, but he never did. The memory of him leaving would dig further and further into my thoughts that soon it was the only memory I had left of him. It was like a dam in my thoughts, holding everything else back so that all I could feel was angry, empty, and worthless.

Everyday, I would work to the point of passing out. The first few times it happened scared me. Soon, it became the new normal and eventually I would begin to envy the ones who never woke back up. Regardless of what led them to their grave, at least their time was up. I couldn’t just give in, though. This confrontation, seeing my brother again, this is what I have lived for… and yet…

Opening the locket was like an explosion going off at the dam, as memories flooded my mind from our childhood together. The pictures in the locket were of Amon and I when were little. Tears roll down my cheeks as I fall to my knees sobbing. Amon comes close and wraps his arms around me, holding me. I can’t stop crying. All these years I had hated him, and all at once I feel like such a little kid again.

“What took you so long to come for me?” The words manage to escape my mouth through the crying.

“I told you, I had to save up, but it wasn’t until recently that I had heard about this. If I had known from the beginning, I would have been back sooner. When a year had passed and I never heard back from you, I assumed you hated me for leaving. I wrote to you so many times.”

“I never got a letter from you. After you left, it was like all trace of you had left as well!” My tears begin to dry.

“I sent letters to our father… I even heard back from him a couple of times, so I’m certain he got them!” Our father?

“You know our father?”

“I heard about him on the train ride North and was able to verify his identity. I wasn’t sure where to send a letter to get to you, but he was still living around here, so I figured he would tell you.”

“I had no idea he lived around here. I didn’t even think he was still alive.” The words of the Staff resonate ‘He’s paid for his freedom with your enslavement.’ A new anger builds inside me. “It was him, Amon.”

“What do you mean?” Amon asks, puzzled.

“He’s paid for his freedom with your enslavement. Our father paid for your freedom with my enslavement.”