"Keep up or we'll all be punished."
Outside it's ancient stone walls, the camp was surrounded by lush green fields. As the fields turned up into cliffs, goats could be seen navigating the treacherous terrain. Further down the hills, several small towns could be seen, surrounding the clear blue waters of the Satpara Lake. On the surrounding fields, shepherds were tending to their herds.
Olivia ignored the view, and just tried to concentrate on the march. It was early morning, the sun barely up the horizon, and the mountain air felt chilly. But just trying to keep up was making Olivia and the other girls boil under all the layers they were wearing. It was clear that the leader of the pack had done the route, and was quicker and sure footed. The rest of the girls were out of shape and struggling to keep up. They didn't even have the breath to talk to each other.
After what seemed like an eternity they arrived back to the walls of the camp. Olivia's face was red, perspiration running down her brow. She was exhausted, as did the other girls, even the leader. Azra and some of the other assistants were near the camp's entrance, waiting. She quickly took Olivia back to her room.
There on her bed, was a change of the woolen underwear she was wearing. Azra removed Olivia's abaya and hanged it on a hook on the wall. Taking a key from a pocket hidden away in the folds of her own abaya, Azra unlocked the padlock keeping Olivia's "fat suit" in place. Sliding down the zipper, Olivia stepped out of her boots and heavy blue down suit.
"Take off your underwear."
Olivia removed her sweat soaked underwear. Olivia sighed in relief as she felt the refreshing cool air. But the respite lasted little, Azra brought a second set of underwear, including the wool socks and long gloves, and ordered Olivia to put it on. Azra produced a new pair of boots , just as heavy and hot as the pair she had been wearing, but at least dry on the inside and not soaked in sweat. While Olivia was donning the fresh underwear, Azra was wiping the inside of the fat suit with a wet wipe. In less that 10 minutes, including a very short bathroom break, Olivia was fully locked again in the blue fat suit again. With the clock of the padlock, her sigh of relief soon changed to a dim sob, as she felt the heavy, hot, and cumbersome layers of her clothing begin to smother her again. Azra finished by fastening Olivia's abaya.
"You have done good. Keep out of trouble and it will be easier." Azra tried to comfort Olivia. "Breakfast is next, come with me."
Olivia was brought to the dining hall. In the hall there were two long tables, with each seating space separated from the adjacent spaces by tall walls. Olivia was brought to one of these booths and ordered to seat down. In front of her, her simple breakfast was already served. It was composed of tasteless oatmeal and half and apple. A glass of water completed her "meal". On finishing her meal, Ms. Gadai was next to her.
"Olivia, I'm glad to see you're behaving. Things will be a lot easier for you this way. Now, besides your daily exercise routine, you are also expected to help with day to day duties. You have been assigned to help in the kitchen. You will be helping with dishes. For obvious reasons the food prep area is separate and kept locked. Now come."
Olivia was guided to the dish washing area, where plenty of dirty pots and dishes were already stacked. Olivia was ordered to put on a yellow rubber apron and thick matching rubber gloves to protect her abaya, and to start washing the dishes. It took a long time for Olivia to work through all of the dishes. Midway through her chore the room began to warm up as next door they began to cook lunch. Olivia's hands, clad in three layers of gloves, were hard to control, making the washing the dishes much more complicated. After almost two hours, she had finished. She was sweating profusely and was happy to remove the apron and gloves. She could feel her sweat pooling inside her hot winter boots.
Azra came looking for her.
"Good job, you'll have some free time until lunch."
"Can I go to my room and take these things off?"
"I'm afraid that is forbidden. Free time is taken in the common area, you can read or rest. But talking is not allowed."
"Uff, I feel like ripping this thing off."
"Please Miss, that is strictly forbidden and Ms. Gadai will punish you."
"This place is too hot!"
"You're actually lucky. Most girls like this assignment. They say it's much more comfortable than working in the laundry room."
With a shrug, Olivia finished the conversation, and Azra started leading Olivia.
The common area was a large room with some chairs and comfortable looking sofas. Three girls were slumped in the sofas, looking half asleep. A fourth girl sat in a chair, reading a book. All of the girls looked similarly dressed to Olivia, including the voluminous outline of the down suit under the plain black river. Olivia sat in one of sofas and in no time was fast asleep from the exhaustion of the new routine. She was woken from her slumber by Azra, and taken to the mess hall for a very bland lunch. Olivia did not show much surprise when Azra hauled her to the kitchen to do the dishes for the lunch rush. However, she was quite surprised when Azra informed her that after doing her chore, she was going on her afternoon march. Olivia hadn't even finished removing her rubber apron and gloves when Azra was pulling her along to start her march.
The afternoon march went on along the same route. However, it felt much harder for Olivia. She was already very tired from her day, and had just spent close to two hours on her feet washing dishes. Her underclothing was soaked in sweat even before she began marching. The sun was still up and it was warmer outside. Or at least that's how Olivia felt, locked inside the oppressive abaya, thick down suit, and the woolen undergarments.
Olivia was driven to exhaustion, nearly collapsing from the torturous march. After the march, Olivia was glad to be allowed to change her underwear once again. The day finished with an unremarkable dinner, very similar to lunch. After dinner Olivia was also expected to do the dishes. Even though it was her third time today, it didn't get any easier for her. She was still hot, tired, and had problems using her hands with all three layers of gloves.
By the time she was allowed to go to bed, Olivia was crying feeling helpless and trapped. She was just happy to be out of that horrendous contraption, which she wouldn't even wear on the coldest day of winter. The second day followed the exact same routine. By the bed time on Olivia's second day at the camp, she was crying feeling helpless and trapped, but thinking about what to do.
