At night time, Anna lay on her bed in the same room as Amy, she'd had quite an exciting day with the family that she wished it wouldn't come to an end. From milking cows to cooking dishes that she had never seen in her life, from chasing the sheep to yelling at the chicken to be quiet.
Living on a farm was quite an experience, but after all of that, Anna was still unhappy. As she lay on her bed on the left side of the dimly lit room, her thoughts drifted back to earth, and to Jack.
The memories brought tears to her eyes, and she wished that they would just go away and let her be. The messages she saw on his phone were contrary to his promise to her, the unborn child that he fended for, neglecting the family that he had.
Anna sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes, she didn't want to cry about this anymore, but her eyes seemed to have sprung a leak that wasn't going to be fixed until she quit thinking about it.
She glanced at Amy, sound asleep with the braids that she made earlier and let out a faint smile. Upon the realisation that the readers might pick up on her emotions as the plot progresses, Anna chooses to buckle up.
"What time is it?" She inquired.
[ 8:12 pm ]
"Alright, I have to get going."
She wiped the tears off her eyes once again and slowly got out of bed. Amy wasn't a deep sleeper so any slight noise would wake her up. And Anna can't afford to let anyone find out that she snuck out of the house.
She tiptoed to the door and suddenly remembers that it makes a loud squeak when it opened.
"Oh shit," she muttered.
"I need oil or something."
[ Do you want to purchase some oil from the system's store?]
"Nope," Anna shook her head from side to side. She wasn't uneducated and knew quite well that the lamps they used in these times needed oil in order to keep burning.
So without further Ado, Anna walked up to the lamp on the table next to the window, lifted it and blew out the fire with air from her lungs.
"Oops, bad idea." She uttered when everywhere went dark and she couldn't even tell what was in front of her. This is not one of those rooms that she was used to and could navigate in the dark, one wrong move and she'd bump into something that'll wake Amy up.
"Okay, now where is that matchstick?" she took a deep breath and blindly searched for the match stick by moving with her palm over the table. And as soon as she touched it, Anna gently dropped the lamp and stuck one of the matchstick.
And as soon as the lamp was lit, she stole a glance at Amy once again, before returning to the door. With the lamp was still on, Anna poured out a little bit of oil into a spoon and poured a little unto both of the hinges that fastened the door to its frame.
"Let's hope it works," she muttered and slowly pushed the door open. Not a squeak or a sound was heard as Anna got out of the room, into the living room and out of the house. She was carful not a make any noise, using the lamp to illuminate her path.
"Oh my God!" She heaved a sigh of relief. This reminded her younger self, trying to sneak out but getting caught.
[ + 20 Exp ]
"System, I heard you say I can purchase stuff from your store, but from the status, I did not see any currency."
[ The system doesn't use currency, you can purchase anything from the store using time.]
"Huh?"
[ For example, if you had requested an oil, a certain amount of time will be deducted from the time given to you to complete your task. Let's say 24 hours is deducted, you'll have 6 days to complete your task other than seven. ]
"I think I get it." Anna sighed.
She couldn't help but thank the moon for being so bright, and her mother for making it so easy to accomplish this task that she snuck out for.
Earlier, she had gone to the village market with her Rossi and she had shown her the place where the dancers meet to rehearse. And Anna was very good at remembering a location and even the path to get there. So all she did was follow the trail until she started to hear the sound of music coming from the arena that her mother pointed to.
She stood behind the trees that surrounded the arena and watched ladies dance like her dance to the rhythm of the drum. It was beautiful to watch them dance without skipping a beat like they were one with the music, but Anna had to think of how to approach them without looking stupid or confused.
Looking around, she noticed a few other people at the other end of the arena, they were neither dancing nor dressed as dancers so she could only conclude that they were spectators.
"May God help me not to step on a snake today," she prayed, and began walking through the bushes, she wanted to make it to the other end to stand along with the spectators.
But as soon as something crawled over her legs, Anna couldn't resist the urge to jump out of her hiding and run into the arena where she bumped into the dancers.
"So much for not making a fool out of myself." She sighed.
"I'm so sorry," she quickly apologized and tried to walk out of the scene with her head low, but one of the ladies stopped her
"Don't feel bad," she said with a warm smile,
"It happened to me before."
"Haha, I can never forget that day," the other laughed, and Anna was amazed by how cheerful and friendly they were even after she disrupted their practice.
"You look like a dancer," said the lady
"you've got the face…
"And the hips."
"Love, you will make all the men drool."
"Come on," the girl who had spoken earlier grabbed her by the hand and took her to the centre,
"Hey, Jonah!" She called out to the lead drummer,
"Give her the simple bonga-bonga let us see what she's got."
"I… I…
"Don't be shy," the girl cut her off, before joining the others behind so that Anna would be in the spotlight.
"Dance!" their voices echoed, but Anna didn't know what to do. All these while, she had forgotten what a terrible dancer she was.