The Road to Harlem

2. Welcome to The Refuge!

Trigger warning: Mentions of beating

Hello, this is your lovely author here and for those of you who were confused. The child that Muriel's mom was pregnant with did not survive when she died. Also, Muriel is 9 and Patrick/Finch is 10. Thank you all for reading! Love you all!!

The carriage door swung open. "Get out!" yelled a man. We scrambled out of the carriage and onto the street. When I looked up, I saw what I assumed was the refuge, a building that looked like an old mansion. Some red paint peeling off around the corners, but overall kind of inviting. From behind us, two men grabbed our wrists and we were dragged inside. Immediately the smell of vermin hit me when I stepped inside. We walked down a dark hallway with the lights flickering, and Patrick was dragged away from me into a room. Shortly after, I ended up in a room with a bunch of other girls wearing white nightgowns. The man released me and threw a nightgown at me. "Wear this!" he yelled. He started to leave, but then turned around and looked at me with a slight smile, "Welcome to the Refuge!" he said sarcastically and walked away, chuckling to himself. I looked around at all the other girls. They were staring at me like I was some strange creature. The girls were all different ages, some my age, and some older. Most of the girls were around my age. Most of the girls looked miserable, tired, and malnourished. They started whispering to each other and the seemingly oldest one spoke up. "What's your name?" she asked,

"I'm Muriel."

"Ok Muriel, the first thing you wanna know about this place is that this is basically jail." she paused, "I'm Mattie by the way."

"Basically jail, so I'm gonna stay here forever?" I murmured. One of the other girls who looked around my age came over and wrapped her arms around me. The tears streamed down my face. Would I ever be able to see Patrick again? What am I gonna do? What is Daddy gonna do? I don't know if he ever actually loved me, but how is he gonna provide for himself? Will he die if we abandon him? I let out a sob as I buried my head into the girl's shoulder.

A bell rang that shook the walls of the building. I jumped up, wiped the tears from my face and quickly changed into the nightgown. The man opened the door and I followed the girls as they quickly filed out of the room. We walked into a room that looked like a cafeteria. A bunch of tables scattered around the room, and a table with a big bowl with something in it. The kids started lining up on one side of the table, and I followed. There must be about three-hundred kids here. The man behind the table was scooping something gray into the kid's bowls. After I got my food, I went and sat in a corner with the other girls because there wasn't enough room at the few tables that were there. I looked back at the table and the line started to turn around and sit on the floor around the room. "Why aren't they getting any?" I asked Mattie.

"Oh, they ran out. It happens a lot." she said, disappointed. I took a bite of the food I was served. It tasted like whatever it used to be had gone bad a long time ago, but I forced myself to eat all of it because I didn't know how much I was gonna eat here.

When we went back to the bunk rooms, two of the girls on a less crowded bunk told me that I could sleep with them. I was happy because there was a window next to the bunk. I always loved to see New York at night. All the buildings were dark, the stars as the only source of light. I felt so bad for the girls living here. They have had to live here for so long and put up with these conditions. I already hate it here. After our meal, when they instructed us to get up, some kids didn't, and a man hit them with his cane until they did. All the girls in my room had so many bruises all over their bodies. What did these kids ever do to deserve this? What will my life be like here?