Memento Mori

Chapter Twelve

I have spent a long time trying to find the exact location of Prufrock Preparatory School, my only clues being a torn map and the knowledge that it is in the Hinterlands. Upon finding it, I managed to break in and find the Orphan Shack, which is how I know that it is a dismal, disgusting place.

Dried up hay and dead grass was spread on the hard brown floor and four hay bales were scattered around the room, serving as beds. A dirty noticeboard was stuck to one of the walls, with five pins poking out of it. A fly was stuck in a spider's web right in the centre. The walls looked like they could fall down any minute and the roof looked like it could collapse. When I visited, dead bugs stuck to the walls and mice scurried around the hay bales, but I am not quite sure whether this was there when the Quagmires learnt.

As the two triplets entered the Orphan Shack, their faces fell immediately. As they gazed at the sorry excuse of a room, they felt like their first impression of Prufrock Prep hadn't 9th been incorrect. It had been completely, totally, utterly wrong.

"This is our shack?" asked Duncan slowly.

"This is our shack." Isadora confirmed, her voice tight from trying not to cry.

Duncan led down on a hay bale.

"Duncan!" Isadora rushed over to him, grabbed his hand, and pulled him up. "Get off of that filthy thing!"

Duncan eyes went wide as he was pulled up in bed - he had already began to fall asleep. Then, his expression went normal again as hen stared kindly at Isadora.

"The floor is even filthier." he said gently. "Besides, this is our home now."

***

Duncan woke up with a start. At first he wondered where he was, but then felt his tear-streaked face, his messy hair, and the hay beneath his head, and he realised exactly where he was.

He sat up in bed, blinking to get the sleep out of his eyes, and saw that Isadora was still fast asleep, snoring slightly. He decided not to wake her up and crept quietly past, but then realised that his sister would probably want him to wake her up so that they could go to breakfast together.

"Isadora." he whispered. "Isadora."

She simply led on the hay, eyes closed.

"Isadora?" he spoke again, watching his sister as her chest rose up and down. "Issy?"

Isadora shot up. "There's a fire!"

"What?" Duncan furrowed his brow.

Isadora sighed. "I had a bad dream. Sorry."

"I think we're both having bad dreams." Duncan said sadly, and began to tell his sister about a dream he had had. Whether he actually had this bad dream or was simply pretending to comfort his sister I do not know, but I can confirm that both Duncan and Isadora were smiling as they walked out of the shack.

"What do we do first?" asked Isadora. 

"Breakfast, I assume." said Duncan.

"Then, I suppose it would be classes." Isadora guessed.

"Yes, that was what I thought to." Duncan nodded.

"Did Nero say that I had Mr. Remora for classes?" asked Isadora.

Duncan nodded at her. "Yes, and I'm with Mrs. Bass."

"I wonder what the food will be like." said Isadora, and Duncan shuddered.

The food, I'm sorry to tell you, was not nice at all. It was served in gloop, and although there were quite a few options of what to eat, none of them looked nice at all. There was cereal that was soaking wet from being in the bowl of milk for too long. There were pancakes that had only been cooked on one half - the other half was still the mixture. Then, there were plates of toast, some undercooked, some overcooked, with only one or two slices being perfect.

"This is the food?" asked Duncan uncertainly, staring at the disgusting food that I have just described to you.

"I guess so." Isadora swallowed and looked over her shoulder, where she saw Carmelita. Carmelita was enjoying a delicious breakfast of bacon, sausages, hash browns, and toast.

"How come she gets all the nice things?" asked Isadora furiously.

Duncan looked over his shoulder too. "I know! There are other students here that are not orphans. I wonder why it's her specifically."

"Maybe her parents payed for Carmelita to be spoilt and treated wonderfully." Isadora predicted and shrugged.

"That does seem quite likely." Duncan agreed with a nod. "If her parents are anything like their daughter."

The Quagmires stared grimly at the food and reluctantly chose what they 'wanted' to eat. One of the cafeteria workers nodded slowly and served up a huge pile of what they had chosen (cereal for Duncan and toast for Isadora).

"This is disgusting." sighed Isadora sadly as they sat next to each other at a lone table in the corner.

Duncan nodded but said nothing. The two triplets sat in silence, prodding their food with their plastic cutlery, occasionally taking a bite.

"I want to go home." said Isadora at last. "I don't like it here."

"Neither do I, Issy." Duncan said quietly. "But this is our new home."

"You wouldn't understand! It's not like that!" cried Isadora, irritated, although her brother wasn't the reason that she was irritated.

Duncan managed to swallow done the last bit of cereal and placed his hand on Isadora's (who had completely finished her overdone toast) shoulder.

Two tears leaked out of Isadora's eyes, running down her pale face, until they landed on her school jumper. "Being the oldest. Y-you've always been the youngest and you always will be. Because if I die then you w-will be the only chi-child. I miss Quigley because I l-loved him and he was my br-brother."

Duncan nodded understandingly, waiting for his sister to continue.

"But I didn't love him just for that." Isadora wiped her eyes and stopped crying. "I liked him being around because he was the oldest. He would be the one with responsibility. Remember Buddy?"

Duncan nodded with a slight smile, remembering their pet terrier that they had had years ago.

"Well, when Buddy died when we were eight, Quigley was the one comforting us. Now, I have to try and take care of both of us and it's hard."

"You don't have to take care of me." Duncan said slowly, choosing his words carefully. "We can take care of each other."

Isadora sniffed and nodded. A shrill bell rang.

"And that," said Duncan. "will be the bell for classes."