Eden's Gate

PROLOGUE

Kaitlyn had lived in the orphanage her whole life, so when word started to spread that they were doing renovations she, naturally, felt a need to investigate. Someone was changing her home, after all! She had been repeatedly told to not cross the work line, but she needed to know. Mum told her that it was just some work to get the balcony up to code but she honestly had no idea what that meant. She couldn't remember the last time she had been in this area of the school, she probably hasn't been here since kindergarten. As she approached the old play room she stood on her tip toes, moving slowly and patiently to the door. She could hear Mr. Bunker telling one of the kids they needed to play nice.

She squeezed her hands, feeling the soft plush of Mr. Lepus in her right hand. He was a stuffed bunny that Mum said had been left with her when she was deposited on the orphanage's front step. He was about as big as a baby, and was made of white and black horizontal stripes. His ears were so long that they touched the floor when she sat him down for tea, and while his eyes and smile were made entirely out of stitches, they looked constantly kind and calm to her.

She nudged his head into the door, and when no one responded she took one large step across it, and closer towards her goal. She found the rest of the hallway clear, all the way to the balcony door which was blocked off with bright yellow "DO NOT CROSS" tape. Kaitlyn easily walked under it, her small height allowing her to do so without even bending too much. She opened the large oak door to the outside and found that the balcony railing had actually been completely removed. Bare wall and even insulation were visible from the wall, and more importantly, there was something new out here.

A scaffold gantry up against the edge of the balcony, without actually touching it. She took a tentative step onto it, and while it didn't shake she could feel it shift ever so slightly beneath her feet.

She looked around her. From here, she could see the garden, and the part of the school where it turned from the school to the dorms, giving it its large, "L" Shape. Below her were the remnants of the railing, as well what was apparently going to be the new one, though she couldn't tell because it was under a blue tarp, which had also been lightly dusted with a layer of snow.

She heard something. Racing footsteps, heading closer to her. Her eyes widened and she turned to run, and all at once everything fell apart.

Kaitlyn wasn't sure exactly what had happened. Had the scaffolding collapsed under her weight? Had her foot been caught between it and the balcony, causing her to trip and kick it down while sliding off of it? All she knew was that she was now falling through the air, and that the metal tubing that made up the scaffolding was also falling.

Her chin had hit something. Her foot hurt. She reached her arm out to try and grab the balcony, but by the time she came anywhere close to completing the motion it was well out of her reach. Her whole body suddenly went cold, like a shiver was about to run through her but it didn't have time. Even though she couldn't see it, she could feel the ground approaching as she hurtled towards it.

Her legs hit the ground first. Somewhere between her bottom and her calves and it rumbled all throughout her body from there. One of the falling rods smacked her in the head, and then another fell on her arm, bending it in a direction it shouldn't go. Another one hit her in the stomach.

She let out a scream, but it took her a moment to realize that the one in her stomach didn't fall over. It was stuck. It was stuck in her. She looked down, and her eyes went even wider as she saw the mess of blood, torn cloth, and ringed metal that was now where her intestines should be. The shining silver was stained crimson, although there was already red on it. A sticker, reading, "WARNING: DO NOT MAKE SUDDEN MOVEMENTS WHEN ON SCAFFOLD"

She could feel her heart pounding so hard it shook her whole body. Every time it did, more red came out of the hole in her. She could see it coming out of her arm, and she was pretty sure the warm trickling coming from her head was blood too because it also seemed to trickle a bit faster with that thud.