Today I was put with Odin, trying out the peacekeeping job. Which in his words meant walking around and occasionally checking in on the others at work, until one screams.

Now we were seated on some rocks in an open space that had a great view of the arena.

'Do you enjoy this job?' I ask looking over at the boy.
'It's fine, not always exciting or hard work, but when something eventually happens it's very thrilling,' he explains.

A job where you don't have to work all the time? Count me in.

'Doesn't it get lonely?' I ask.
'Not really, I see and speak to enough people during a day at work. I do tend to linger longer by the other guys that are alone,' he sighs, 'I mean take a look at Echo for example. Plenty of guys have tried out for that job, but no one ever joined him.'

Echo was in the group that was brought into this prison first about three years ago. I don't know how well I would hold up if I was working alone 5 days a week for three whole years.

'He tends to be pretty down after someone tried out his job, already knowing he tried his best just to be alone again. He was pretty excited about you though.'
'I mean I did have a lot of fun yesterday, but I don't know if it's something for me yet,' I admit.

I look towards the area where the builders are building a new hut, secretly hoping to catch a glimpse of Noa. Odin chuckles when he notices.

'Are the two of you official yet?' He asks, now looking in the same direction as me.
'Since a few days,' I answer truthfully. 'It was bloody time.'

I chuckle as I move my focus away from the builders, now looking at the workshop that belonged to Echo.

'And the two of you?' I ask in return. 'Pff like 3 months after we arrived here,' he responds trying to count the days on his fingers, 'Yet some of the boys don't even realise, we share a hammock!' He continues.

If they share a hammock, that means they're not sleeping inside, but outside with about a third of the others.

'Doesn't sound like a lot of privacy,' I state.
'It's alright,' he shrugs, 'if we want privacy we have his workplace.'
'Are you saying you guys get intima-' 'Stop,' he cuts me off as his cheeks turn red and I laugh.

He playfully shoves me to stop me from laughing at him.

'If you really want to talk about that, I should refer you to Echo, he doesn't have a filter,' he says.

A smirk appears on his face.

'I bet he does want to know details about your private time with Noa in return though,' he adds. 'Not much to say about that.'
'Aren't you guys, you know, doing it for the program?' He asks quietly.

Right..

'Uh well..' 'Don't worry me and Echo, both know you two aren't really going through with it,' he responds with a laugh.

He gets up, now leaning against the rock, turning his head towards me as I stay seated.

'No but seriously, have you guys gone that far yet?' He asks.
'Not yet, but we also don't sleep in separate sleeping bags either anymore.' 'Okay, how does that work?' He asks with a confused look on his face.
'We zipped them together turning it into one big bag,' I explain.

He nods as he turns his focus back towards the arena.

I lay my hand down on my stomach as a few sharp pains shoot across my lower abdomen. I'm probably just hungry since I didn't eat a lot this morning and lunch was just around the corner.

'We should probably continue, check in on some guys before lunch.'

I get up from the rocks as I try to ignore the stomach pains and continue my walk with Odin.

'You, okay? Want to walk in front so I don't go too fast?' He asks.
'Uh yeah, thank you.'

I move in front of the boy taking slow steps ignoring the cramps.

'Wait Grace, you're um bleeding.' 'What where?' I ask as I don't visually notice any blood.
'Down there,' he whispers.

He takes off his jacket and wraps it around my waist covering up the stains.

'Okay um.. you go to the toilet, I'll retrieve some new pants out of your room and run by the medshack to grab some supplies for you,' he pauses, 'Is there someone I could fetch for you? I know you're not allowed to be alone, but I also understand if you don't want anyone else near you right now.'

'Uh..'

I know this is perfectly normal, but I can't help myself to feel ashamed. I'm in an area full of teenage boys and the only other girls are locked away. Who am I supposed to even ask? I bet half of them don't even know what is happening with my body right now, I'm glad they at least didn't wipe this memory away from me.

'I don't want to bother Noa with this,' I respond. 'I could send over Eros with the supplies?' He suggests. 'Uh yeah, that's okay.'

We say our goodbyes for now as I walk towards the toilet area and he sprints towards the medshack.