Mute | A New Beginning

Chapter 10

When Arlo next woke up, there was absolutely no light peaking through the curtains. She figured it was still either very early in the morning or extremely late at night, either way, she was wide awake.

Her first order of business as a now fully conscious being was to dutifully remove her pyjama pants, not liking the way the fabric was touching her skin a little too tightly. Once this was done, she felt much more relaxed, now finally able to move her legs around without the pant legs twisting uncomfortably.

The girl felt a little unsettled, waking up and not being at the orphanage. She felt out of place, not knowing what to do or where to go.

After sitting there for what felt like hours, simply staring at the crack in the door which revealed the light coming from the hallway, the little girl finally worked up the courage to make her way off the bed. Although she did this rather quickly and ungracefully, fearing the monsters that might be lurking in the darkness underneath the bed.

Once Arlo had reached the doorway, she braved a glance back at the darkness, shivering slightly at the image of several monsters writhing over each other that her mind so graciously showed her.

The child was grateful that Scarlett had made sure that she was familiar with her surroundings, so she knew where she would end up when she approached a door down the hallway, close to her own. Thankfully the door wasn't completely closed, and it made no sound when she gently shoved it open more, letting the hallway light illuminate the contents of the room.

The layout of Scarlett's bedroom was different to the one that she was currently supposed to be sleeping in. Instead of the head of the bed being against the wall to the right of the door, Scarlett's was on the wall directly opposite the door, but not in line with it. Because of this, Arlo could see the shape of Scarlett's body lying in her bed, looking peaceful and comfy as she slept.

Immediately, guilt began to build up inside of Arlo's little chest. She didn't feel like the right thing to do was to wake the woman up, disturbing Scarlett's rest for the sake of her own sleeping patterns being a little unconventional. With this in mind, she turned back around, facing the seemingly vast hallway that led to the stairs and a variety of other rooms on the top floor. Instantly she ruled out going downstairs, deeming the descent as far too dark for her liking, and with the darkness everywhere, she wouldn't know where the monsters could be lurking. This only left the upstairs to explore.

As she made her way down the corridor, she noticed that not all the room doors were closed, some were left wide open. This made it a whole lot easier to peek inside and scan the area. Most of the other rooms were boring to the girl, and by most, it was more like all of them were. Arlo stumbled across one other bedroom; this one however was directly across from Scarlett's bedroom. She also found a bathroom, recognising it to be the same one she had used to get ready for bed. There was also a room with a desk in it, surrounded by a couple of chairs, although she didn't stay too long near this one as the hallway light was struggling to reach over there, covering the room with an awfully menacing shadow.

Deciding that she was done with the exploration section of her night, she padded across the wooden floorboards towards her bed. It was now that she felt another pang of guilt spread across her whole body, realising that she had left her two best friends to fend for themselves in this room alone.

In an attempt to pass some time, the child began to play with her two friends, although mainly the dinosaur, acting out intricate scenes with complex dialogues all spoken in her thoughts. Tonight's Douglas Adventure had the stuffie climbing up the unforgivingly steep slope of Mount Comforter, which must not be underestimated because of its deceiving moniker. Currently, the dino was trekking through a particularly snowy patch and was finding himself sinking to greater depths every time he tried to take a step in the right direction. This proved to be quite disheartening for the poor guy, and he was overwhelmed by the feeling of failure and hopelessness, fearing that he would never make it to the top, where a family was waiting with open arms to embrace him lovingly.