The House of Love

Ch 4: Mysteries

A page of Mia's little notebook consisted of a list of names. They were as follows:
1. Saul Puckerman
2. Anand Willow
3. John Whinston
4. Kenny Kendall
5. William Finnigan
6. Finn Winslow
7. Fred Marston
8. Arthur Larson
9. Kurt Thomas
10. Kyle Kent
11. Tom Houston
Mia stared at these names for a while and wished with all her heart to remove Tom's name from the list. But she knew that removing his name from the list would not bring Tom back. He was gone. He was gone forever.
These were the names of all the people that had run away from Oliver House orphanage, mysteriously since Mia had come to this place. Mia, being a resident at Oliver House for a long time, has been noticing them.
When she had first arrived here, she was only three, but she remembered everything that had ever happened since then. She never had any friends, so all she could do was to endure Mr. Oliver and his cruel reign, silently, throughout the years.
She even remembered the disappearance of Saul Puckerman, which had happened only a week after her arrival at Oliver House. She remembered Mr. Oliver, screaming at every single child in the dormitory, not unlike that day itself. It had also been a winter morning and it was, as Mia clearly remembered, 15th December. She also remembered that Saul Puckerman had been thirteen at that time. Yes, the same age as Mia and Tom. Just like Tom and Kyle, he had run away mysteriously that night and nobody knew exactly where he went. He never returned. One year after that incident, Mia had found herself in the same dormitory, listening to the same screams of Mr. Oliver about another missing kid of thirteen. This time it was a boy called Anand Willow. After that, it was John Whinston and Kenny Kendall. Mia was probably the only person who had noticed that the disappearances always happened on 15th December every year. That was why she had started keeping a record of it in her notebook. This notebook was her only friend for almost eight years. She had found this while cleaning the storeroom with the other children, when she was only four. This was just before the disappearance of Anand Willow. When Anand went missing, Mia had noticed that it was 15th December again. At first, she thought that it might be a coincidence but, then, she had decided to write down his name along with Saul Puckerman in her notebook. Little did she know that she would find herself adding names to her little list every year after that.
Mia turned that page of her notebook to reveal another list. It was as follows:
1. They were all thirteen.
2. They were all boys.
3. They were all punished.
4. before their disappearance.
5. They all ran away on 15th December.
6. None of them returned.
7. Nobody ever saw them leave.
8. Nobody talks about the disappearances.
This was the page where Mia wrote all the similarities that she had noticed about the disappearances and yes, Mia knew about  Mr. Oliver's punishments. In fact, she had been punished quite a few times by him, as well. She had been here for thirteen years and she knew about almost every way of torture that Mr. Oliver ever used. For example, Mia was first punished when she had mistakenly broken a lamp shade, while cleaning it, when she was five. Mr. Oliver had stapled her fingers, in front of her eyes, after having tied a cloth around her mouth. She also remembered the time when she was caught stealing food from the kitchen, at the age of seven. That time, Mr. Oliver had punished her by poking her entire body with a burning cigarette, for 2 hours straight. She also remembered the time when Mr. Oliver had given her a permanent gift for having woken up too late. She looked at the burnt "Y" that was slightly visible from under her skirt. It was actually a part of the term that had been carved into her right thigh with a burning incense stick. Only she and Mr. Oliver knew what the exact term was. It was "Sleeping Beauty". She still remembered how she had been struggling the entire time and how Mr. Oliver had been giggling as if he was having the fun of his life. This had happened the same day Tom Houston had arrived at Oliver House. She remembered herself, limping out of Mr. Oliver's office and noticing Tom walk in through the gates with a police officer. She even remembered that Tom had smiled at her when he had passed by her. She recalled the dreadful sensation that she had felt when she had watched Tom walk into Mr. Oliver's room for the very first time. She had already known that one day Tom would eventually be punished by him, just like every other child in Oliver House and the very thought made Mia shiver. After that day, Tom had become her only friend at this hellhole, somehow, and she had felt blessed.
But the threat, named Mr. Oliver, was always at the back of her mind.  She knew exactly how people were silenced the moment they walked into his room. She also knew why. Mr. Oliver always made sure that no word about his punishments ever escaped, out of that room. Even though every child in Oliver House had been punished at least once, they never dared to speak about it. Mia never told Tom about these punishments, out of fear of getting him into trouble. But she always made sure that he managed to stay out of Mr. Oliver's sight. Unfortunately, Tom could not help but talk back to Mr. Oliver when he had seen him shout at Mia. She could not have helped him after that because it was already too late. When she had seen Tom after that, his hands were burnt and he wouldn't say anything to her. She understood the reason behind his silence but she never, in a thousand years, could have expected Tom to be the one to disappear that night.
Mia closed her notebook and pulled it close to her chest. She clenched her teeth and looked around. All she saw was a bunch of cowards who had decided sacrifice Tom to Mr. Oliver for some stupid food. She saw them gossiping together and thought to herself that these were the same people who had kept quiet about the disappearances for over a decade.
She walked up to the window again and looked at the bird sitting on the branch, alone, looking here and there for its partner. Mia wiped off the tear that had made its way down her tired face and clutched onto her notebook a little tighter. She knew that she must do something about all this, because she was the only one who dared to care, and to love, in this house of cowards. She knew that a moment doesn't last forever, but her heart knew that some moments turn into memories and those memories are worth dying for.