𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙖・tpn

04・gate

♪( 'θ｀)ノ warning- nothing!
—
・3rd pov

The library carried an abandoned silence, only the sound of paper scratching against the surface of the hard cover book and the subtle clicking of wooden chess pieces being knocked on the board was only ever heard in the library.

The two children who inhabited the space enjoyed the silence as it was comforting rather than awkward, after all they were only ever the main occupants of Grace Field's library.

Daily afternoons were like this for the kids, most would go outside playing outdoor mini games while others would rather reside at their sheltered orphanage, Willow and Ray weren't an exception to this.

Before the girl could knock out another chessman, she was suddenly stopped by the sound of two familiar children bursting through the door with a large grin on one of their faces.

"Ray, Willow!" Emma beamed, pulling the two by her arms, "Let's go out and explore, stop sticking your nose in chess and books!"

"Huh? But I was about to-"

"Come on!"

She grabbed Willow and an aggravated Ray, pulling them all the way outside with Norman following the three by his side. It was only awhile after when Emma finally let the two go and converse as they walked towards the gate encircling the orphanage.

To the redhead and albino, they never knew the reason why Isabella would warn them about going out the gate or fence, thus listening to her and creating weirdly odd theories in their brains to cater to their ideas.

However, for the two ravenettes they both knew the truth. Though, Ray didn't know the fact that Willow knew, she reasonably knew absolutely everything. I mean, she wouldn't be an avid Promise Neverland manga reader if she didn't know anything, right?

Emma's childlike hands softly grasped the metal of the gate, looking through the hall of brick walls surrounding the entrance of the so-called "outside".

"What is this?" She asked.

"It's a gate," Ray answered, "It connects the inside and outside."

"Outside, huh?" Emma rhetorically asked, "We've never been outside, have we?"

"That's because we've been here ever since we were born," Norman added in.

Willow crossed her arms against her chest, "Mom always tells us, doesn't she? 'Never go near the gate—'"

"'— or fence in the back of the forest because it's dangerous,'" Emma finished, receiving a nod in approval from the other.

"That's obviously a lie," Ray scoffed.

"Really...?" Emma wandered off, "Hey, Ray. What do you want to do if you go outside?"

"I don't know, what about you?"

"I want to ride a giraffe!" she cheered as she threw her arms back.

"That's a really big dream, aren't giraffes supposed to be tall?" Willow asked, "I doubt you'd be able to climb it."

Emma nodded embarassingly while Ray rolled his eyes, "Good luck with that."

The dandelion-eyed girl punched his shoulders playfully, "Stop being such a stick in the mud, it's going to happen one day."

Ray silently winced at both the pressure of her punch and the words she spoke out, 'One day, huh?'

Just like Emma, Norman used one of his hands to lightly grip onto the bar of metal in front of him, "I wonder... I wonder what this gate is protecting us from."