“See anything we could use?” Jake asked, glancing over a packed shelf full of various trinkets, doodads, and gizmos. In other words, a shelf full of garbage.

  “No…” Alice replied, voice quiet and muffled by her cloak still drawn tight over her face as she moved throw the maze-like rows of shelves surrounding her. When the duo had first left the alleyway and forced their way back onto the crowded marketplace, every step had been a struggle. She could feel her fears physically manifesting around her, feel them physically threaten to grab hold of her every time she brushed up against a passing Unbroken. Yet the longer she walked, the more people she passed completely uncaring of her existence, the more she realized the truth to Jake's words.

  There were no Unbroken around her. Rather, she was surrounded by people, plain ordinary people. Nothing more and nothing less. What she made of them, and what they made of her, was for her to decide now. The longer she spent out of the alleyway, walking side by side with Jake as they pursued the surrounding stores, talking and laughing amongst each other, the less the panic in her heart seemed to reach her.

  She could still feel the pain carved into her back. Still remember the horrors of the unbroken if she paused to think of it, paused to linger on the past. Yet she had no reason to, no desire to. The past could lay behind her, dead and rotted. She was free, free to carve a future for herself. Free to be just another ordinary person, cast aside the label of Broken.

  “Well… keep looking I guess!” Jake shouted back to her, a few shelves over now, no longer facing her direction. “We still have a few coins left to spend before we turn in for the night…”

  At the start of their day, the two had managed to haggle an exceptional price for a handful of the gems provided to them by the elves. Those that went unsold were repocketed in the bag, broken during their encounter with the voice or simply unvalued here. They’d have to try selling those again on a different world. What they could sell, however, still netted them a tidy profit of six coins, large colored a soft white. Jake, unsure of what metal the coins were made of or how valuable they were, accepted the deal carefully hoping they’d made enough to at least spend the night in an inn somewhere.

  As it turned out, they’d managed to make enough to not only sleep comfortably in an inn, costing a total of three coins in total when accounting for the meal they planned on eating later tonight but also had enough left over to shop for essential supplies. Among those supplies they’d managed to secure a small waterskin, a second backpack for Alice to wear, two new blankets to replace the one lost killing the voice, and second-hand (slightly worn down) clothes. In total this had cost the pair about two and a half coins, spread out amongst various stalls and stores along the main road.

  Each time they’d spend one of their larger coins, they would receive handfuls of change composed of various coins in multitudes of colors and sizes. Exactly what value each coin type had, Jake hadn’t a clue, so the exact amount of money they had left was a mystery to him. He didn’t particularly care though; it wasn’t like the pair was trying to save up. All these coins would be worthless tomorrow morning, so they may as well buy as much as they could now.

  Passing quickly through the rows of shelves, Jake was prepared to write off the random store they’d entered to avoid a sudden influx in the crowds outside when suddenly something caught his eyes. Buried in a bin of miscellaneous items, he carefully picked up a small, old, harp. It was made of what looked like tarnished brass, splotchy and unappealing. Its overall shape was uneven, bent inwards with three weathered strings spanning its frame. Carefully plucking one of these strings, a rather unappealing note met Jake’s ears as he could tell the worn-down harp no longer played in any sort of tune. Still, holding the beat-up chunk of brass and string he couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across his face.

  “Alice! Come here a second!” Silence followed his cry for a second before the rustling of fabric echoed throughout the store. It grew closer and closer marking her approach before she called out standing directly beside him,

  “What’s up?”

  “Here,” He replied, tossing the brass harp towards her, “Give that a try. It’s pretty old so it might not work but it's worth a try, right?”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Curious, Alice lifted the harp close to her face examining its worn down and unimpressive visage before plucking a single cord from its string. It felt as if a bomb had exploded within her as every one of the strings winding throughout her body pulsed in response. Excitement breaking out across her face, she quickly began to strum as much of a melody as she could utilizing the three remaining strings stretched across the frame of the ruined harp. With every movement of her fingers, she could feel energy pulse and dance within her, swaying rhythmically. She was so lost in the feeling of the strings within her, so lost in the joy they brought she almost failed to hear Jake ask about the harp, ask if it did anything.

  “This…” she said, voice shaky with wonder and excitement, “This is it! We need this, we need to buy this thing!”

  “Really?” Jake said, surprised as he took the harp back from her, examining it closely. It looked utterly unremarkable, downright shoddy. It truly belonged in this store filled to the brim with useless knickknacks and broken bits of trash. But looking into Alice’s eyes, seeing the excitement that radiated from her, he didn’t dare question her further about it. If she was so confident about the harp, who was he to question her?

  “Alright then, we should have enough for it. I mean, the thing is practically falling apart. Let's buy the harp and get out of here, alright?” Alice nodded along, eyes still locked onto the harp. She struggled to not snatch it back from him. Struggled to let him pay for it. Struggled as he haggled with the store owner who was trying to demand three full coins for it. At last, stepping out of the store onto the main road the harp was handed back to her. As Jake glared over his shoulder, staring daggers at the store owner, Alice strummed the harp strings again and felt her body pulse and dance in response.

  She’d never felt like this before. She’d felt something similar to it earlier with the flute, a mere taste compared to this. It felt like she was complete now. Like a limb she’d been born without had finally grown in, strong and healthy. As she held the harp, spellbound by it despite all its blemishes, she turned around to face Jake, a massive smile across her face.

  “Thanks, Greenie!” She announced, clutching the harp tightly to her chest.

  “Would you stop calling me that already?” He said in response, tone exasperated and defeated. He’d ignored it for a while when she stood trembling in terror on the verge of another panic attack. But now that she stood before him beaming, the perfect picture of happiness, he felt it was time to push the issue again.

  “No can do,” she said with a laugh as she began to run down the street forcing her way through the crowd, “You didn’t play the flute, now you're stuck with it!”

  “What are you...would you wait up!” He called back, clearly annoyed as he struggled to follow after her. Yet she couldn’t stop, couldn’t wait for him. This feeling coursing through her, this energy, this completeness. It pulled her forward through the streets with a laugh while Jake followed behind, yelling mock complaints to her, all the while struggling to keep the annoyance in his voice.

  “Why’d you waste the last of our money on that?” Alice asked, sitting on the edge of the inn’s bed. It was rather soft, the mattress and blankets were plump and warm.

  “Why not buy them? We needed to spend the cash, didn’t we? Plus, now if we rip our clothes we can sew them back together,” Jake countered, pocketing the bundle of string and the needle he’d purchased with the remainder of their spending cash into his bag.

  “Do you even know how to sew?”

  “Well no, but still…”

  “We could have bought some food! Vegetables, fruits, meat! MEAT! I mean, who knows where we’ll…”

  “NO!” Jake shouted, interrupting her and causing her to fall backward in shock, sinking the bed below her. “No… no food. Buying food would have been a bad idea, it would just spoil after all, yeah?” he asked, subconsciously rubbing his left leg.

  “Sure…” Alice said, glancing over at him from where she lay sprawled out on the bed, “Whatever you say…” That reaction didn’t seem normal. She wasn’t quite sure what had him on edge but she doubted it was a pleasant story. But before she had time to pry further, she let out a rather large yawn. Pressed flat into the bed now, she felt her exhaustion begin to take hold as she started to drift off to sleep.

  “You… you going to get to sleep anytime soon?” She asked Jake, struggling now to keep her eyes open.

  “No, you go ahead, I’m gonna sort through all the stuff we bought. His back was turned to her now, so she couldn’t see his face anymore.

  “Suit yourself…” she replied, forcing her body deeper into the warm confines of the bed. "I never knew a bed could be… so relaxing…” Within minutes, she had fallen asleep, her breathing soft and relaxed behind Jake. He turned around after a while, a slight smile on his face. He was glad to see her so relaxed, so happy, especially after her struggles earlier this morning.

  Yet he couldn’t allow himself the same luxury. Couldn’t allow himself the same joy a bed might bring him. Instead, he sat in a rough wooden chair that faced the entrance to their room. Unmoving and unflinching, he sat throughout the night, revolver clutched in his hand. Unable to let his guard down in the comfortable warmth of the inn. Never again.