Whispers After Dark

Chapter 10

 "Mrs. Chamberlain, can I go to the bathroom?" I asked sweetly. It was easy trying to suck up to adults. Moving from orphanages every couple of months, I would always have to be on my best behavior to get the adults to keep us. Maybe they saw right through it and it held no effect to their decision to make us their children.

"Of course Charlie. You know where 'tis?" Her tone was high, and her head leaned forward, to hear my quiet voice with more volume. She held a small smile that contained compassion and empathy.

I nodded and walked past her. I didn't have to go to the bathroom. It was a decoy to get to the office. To do that, I needed to get rid of Mrs. Chamberlain's watchful eye first.

I walked towards the bathroom at first. If she was watching me, I had to make it look like I was going to do what I said. The bathroom was in the opposite direction of the office. I walked faster to turn the corner. Waiting a couple of seconds behind the wall, I snuck a peek to make sure she wasn't watching me. Her back was turned towards me, and her head held high, observing the splendid scenery up in the sky. She seemed lost in thought, in her own mind, where the children playing didn't disturb her.

No, I couldn't get distracted here. I ran past the hallway to the dining hall, hiding myself once again beneath the wall. The large windows on the side of the orphanage house could easily expose my lurking around unattended. Crouching out of sight, I walked slowly to the office doors. Looking at the end of the hallway, I could see the entrance to the room where the drugs were made. An eerie feeling overcame my body and shivers ran down my spine.

Loud echoing footsteps put me in a panic. I didn't have time to think of an excuse for why I was caught snooping around the office. I looked around for a place to hide. Thinking fast, I dashed behind the wall to a corridor and crouched low again. Mrs. Chamberlain walked past me, her eyes set forward. She knocked on the office door three times. Nobody walked out. She knocked again two times. Again, there was no movement from inside. Knocking two times once more, Mr. Chamberlain opened the door. They had a secret knocking code. Maybe it was to prevent opening the door to a child or an unwelcoming visitor.

"We need to talk about yesterday." Mrs. Chamberlain's voice was loud and clear. I was too scared to look around the corner to see her expression and body language but I could imagine her arms crossed, standing tall to avoid Mr. Chamberlain to control the situation.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Last night, Charlie's stitching was slow and sloppy. He's normally a lot faster than me, but he could barely finish on par with me." Peeking my head around the corner slightly, I could see her looking around for intruders. "Something is wrong."

Mr. Chamberlain sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "He just wasn't in the right mindset. The event with his sister must've shaken him. Make sure nothing happens to her from now on."

"We need to be more careful, Gordon," Mrs. Chamberlain replied somberly. She had started shaking her left leg now.

"You're telling me that?" Mr. Chamberlain chuckled, reminding her that the mistake yesterday was solely her fault. "Charlie is valuable. We can't lose his skills."

An awkward silence followed. I was a bit flustered that they wanted me here. That they needed me. It was short-lived when I remembered that it was my skills to pack the powder in a fish and conceal it that I was precious to them.

"Where's Charlie right now?" Mr. Chamberlain asked.

"In the bathroom," she replied, pointing in the direction of where I was supposed to be.

"I'll check to make sure he won't find out," Mr. Chamberlain sighed. His droopy frame walked past me, and I covered my mouth to restrict any noise I was going to make. My breathing felt heavy and I was beginning to panic. "Go back and watch the children."

Mrs. Chamberlain followed his orders obediently. I waited for the two to leave out of sight. For safe measures, I waited a couple of seconds to calm myself. I was too far in. I had to continue with my plan. His office had to contain some clues.

I peeked around the corner to make sure they wouldn't see me and bolted towards the door. Luckily, he had left it unlocked. Rushing inside, the folders on the right side were my best bet to find any clues. Taking each one out one by one, none were labeled. It was a race against time.

It took several files to find something useful. The fourth folder contained a profile of each child ever at the orphanage. I flipped to the back to find the most recent children enlisted and Emily and my name were the newest. Did the orphanage pick children? Were Emily and I chosen? I scanned through the profiles to find a pattern. Race, ethnicity, and medical history, all varied. I put the folder back and got to work searching for the next one. It contained medical records. There wouldn't be much to look at until I noticed every child had a prescription for Librium. Including me. I memorized the name and then moved on.

I took a gamble and moved towards Mr. Chamberlain's desk. I could hear the laughing and screaming of excited children outside. The girls sat near the office with their backs to Mr. Chamberlain's view from inside. No one knew that less than fifty meters away, I was finding out the secrets behind the orphanage after dark.

His drawers to the desk were jammed. Pulling harder only made me scared they were going to break. The bottom right drawer opened easily as if it was the only one that was used. Inside bore more files. I didn't have much time. Mr. Chamberlain would notice my disappearance any second now, and I wouldn't have any time to cover my tracks.

The file read Shipments. The thick file was filled with orders, dating back to a year ago. Beside each date, it read the cost of the order and the name. Benzoylmethylecgonine. In brackets, the word cocaine was printed. I read it several times to memorize it.

Footsteps closed in closer to the door. I threw the file into its respective drawer and shut it. Looking around, I had to make sure there were traces I had ever been in there. Taking one last look to make sure everything was the way it had been when I got there, I unlocked the window and pushed it up. The desk settled there showed that it had not been open in a while. Forcing my head through the gap, I was barely able to fit in. I wiggled my body through just in time for the door to be opened.

The escape was acceptable but the landing was inadequate. Picking my face up from the grass, Mr. Chamberlain had surely noticed I wasn't in the bathroom at this point. I crawled over to get out of the view from his window.

I did it. My hands couldn't stop shaking. It wasn't cold but shivers ran down my body. For safe precautions, I couldn't go back to my original spot. If Mrs. Chamberlain was on the porch, she would see me return to my place, knowing I had gone somewhere when they didn't find me in the bathroom.

Crunching the leaves underneath my shoes, the gossiping girls turned around, each one giving me a disgusted look. Their mouths turned into a frown and their eyes darted from my head to toe, they were passing judgment on me. My heart looked like it was going to beat right out of my chest. The girls were the least of my worries right now. I wasn't exhausted by the constant watching to make sure someone wasn't looking at me was tiring. How many more secrets did this orphanage keep covered? I continued to find a seat to enjoy the rest of the physical activity. It had been tiring snooping around. I sat down beside a girl shunned by the older group.