Our Caretaker

The Beginning

Hello. My name is Phoniex, and I was given away to a new mother after my old mother went to jail. I didn't have anyone to live with that was relatively close to me because they lived in another state. I have 6 siblings and an evil Caretaker. We all have the same room- we share only one room. The rest are for the guest as our Caretaker said. The rules are simple- simply hard to follow.

1. Speak when spoken to by our Caretaker.
2. Never doze off or day dream whilst speaking or spoken to by our Caretaker.
3. Only come out of your room when our Caretaker rings the bell.
4. Eat all of the food on your plate at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
5. Go to sleep at night time. If our Caretaker sees that your awake or out of bed at night time, you will be punished.

Follow these rules and you will live.

Our Caretaker doesn't want her children to be taken away from her now does she?

We are all confused about why our Caretaker is called that name, but we live with it. We have never seen the outside- well I haven't seen the outside world for some time. Our Caretaker keeps us inside of the house because she likes to drink a lot of juice, and doesn't want cops knowing she has children because we'll be taken away. I know what she means by that. I'm not happy about it either.

Were excited as today, its Friday. On Fridays we play hide and seek because our Caretaker always goes out on Fridays. I ran to the basement and hid behind some boxes. I found... blood. "Its just an animal." I thought, but I just couldn't let go of the urge to find out what it is, but I overcame the thought.

One of my siblings came down to hide as well. I think she hid under a old dusty blanket. I heard her coughing but she soon stopped. I'm concerned. I didn't investigate though.

Our seeker came in running around like a maniac. She found my other sibling, but not me.

I was well hidden. I started to get sleepy so I pinched myself, leaving a mark. I looked down to check if it was a bad mark and saw something... metal. I moved the boxes out of the way to find out it was a trap door. Curiosity filled my head. I knew it would led me to trouble so I covered it.

I was the winner of that hide and seek game, so next round I get to be a hider by default,  because the winners choose what we want to be next game. Our Caretaker came home shortly after I came out of my hiding place. We all scurred to our room. I went to my bed and faked asleep. It wasn't night time but I didn't want our Caretaker to be suspicious that we were all red.

I hid under the covers and actually tried to sleep because I was just dozing off in the basement. I couldn't fall asleep, and I had been trying for the past 15 minutes to.

I know our Caretaker was in the house for a good 10 minutes and our Caretaker would usually come and check up on us every 30 minutes. If our Caretaker didn't, that mean't our Caretaker was asleep. Our Caretaker is a light sleeper so even the tiniest noise around our Caretaker would wake our Caretaker up, our Caretaker would then punish you for it.
 
I fell asleep for what seemed to be only 5 seconds but it was truly 3 hours. It was about 5:00 p.m, and our bedtime was 6:00 p.m. I decided to exercise to make me more sleepy so I could wake up earlier. I was knocked out cold afterwards and woke up at 6:00 am. Perfect amount of sleep.

I started to color in my book I brought with me. Whenever I was given away, I got to keep my coloring book because our Caretaker said it wasn't loud. That was about 2 months ago I was given away.

I drew me outside picking flowers, with my imaginary friend Benjamin. I've had him since I was 4. We've been friends for some time now. Like..7 years. I'm 11, I don't see him as much because I'm growing older. Benjamin helps me with all of my problems, in return of playing with him.

After that, everyone woke up.

Our Caretaker rung the bell and shouted, "Time for breakfast!". We all ran down in a single file line as she said we should. We had eggs, and bacon as usual but it didn't taste right.

It was kind of.. metallic.

"Its nothing", I thought. I continued to eat until my stomach was full, and plate was empty. Our Caretaker grabbed my plate and put in the sink. A roach crawled out of a crack in it, I shuddered in mere disgust. Our house was old, and dirty. Stains were almost everywhere but the guest rooms.

I sat back down at my seat, waiting patiently for the rest to finish and for our Caretaker to ring the bell to dismiss everyone. After 10 minutes, she rang the bell and we all lined up, and went upstairs into our room.

I started back coloring as the others talked to each other. They didn't really talk to me as they were scared. I have stitches on my face, and a scar on my nose from a fire accident. I hated it, but I got used to it.

This usually just repeats everyday, until Friday. We played hide and seek again, I went to the place I went to last time, but I was really curious for what the blood was for. I moved the boxes.. and found.. a.. human..face.

I was disgusted,  and curious for who's face it was. I then tried the trap door. I moved the boxes but I saw a lock. It needed a key.

I put the boxes back because I heard footsteps. I layed down on the floor and wanted to cry. "Our Caretaker must've did this.", I said. I was found because I was breathing too hard though. My brain was a rollercoaster of emotions.