Triple Trouble

Chapter 6 New beginnings

I'm fast asleep when I hear a god awful buzzing noise, I look over at my old brown clock next to my bed. 5am I rush out of the bed getting dressed in my brown old dress, it falls just past the knee, brown sock that reaches half way up my legs. my black dolly shoes that have seen better days, they hurt my feet as they are to small.

I tie my hair in a bun smoothing the stray hairs down, I brush my teeth quickly, I rush to make my bed tucking it all in so it's smooth and neat. I quickly walk to the end of my bed standing to attention, holding my hands Infront of me I wait for Mrs Higgins to walk in.

Mrs Higgins opens my door, she walks over to my bed checking to make sure it was done properly. she nods I sigh in relief, she walks over to me checking my uniform, my hair, how I'm standing. she nods again "I'm very pleased girl. very pleased" she says, "be in the dining room within 5 minutes." she walks out and I finally let out breath I was holding.

I walk to the dining room, I stand behind my chair, I see all the other girls standing behind their chairs too, they all look pale and thin. some had bruising on their faces, other hand welts on their hands. Mrs Higgins comes in looking like Dracula, she doesn't walk she floats. the way she walks looks as if she's gliding across the floor, her deathly pale skin makes her look more like Dracula.

"You may sit" she says nonchalantly, we all quietly sat down. Mrs Higgins started to eat her food we sat patiently waiting for the go ahead, once Mrs Higgins was done she gave us the nod and we began to eat. no words were spoken we all ate in silence, we finished our bland food. to be honest it tasted like cardboard.

Mrs Higgins assigned us jobs to do, I was sent to scrub all the floors. starting from the top working my way down, no mop, just a scrubber and a mental bucket for water and soap. I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor when a girl with dark long hair came over.

"Hello," she said quietly. I just nodded while carrying on with my work. "you don't speak much do you" she declares I don't say anything. "what's your name? mines Amber." I look into Amber's bright blue eyes, "it's Shay" I said. she smiles at me "it's a pretty name" Amber replied.

"How old are you Shay?" I put down the scrubber. "I'm 15" I replied back. "me too" amber says excitedly. I get off the floor my knees red from all the kneeling, "how long have you been here?" amber asks. "just a few weeks" I reply. "it gets easier" amber tells me. I nod not really knowing what to say.

"My mum and dad died in a crash when I was 5, I've been here 10 years." amber tells me with tears in her eyes, "no one comes here to adopt us. we are just Mrs Higgins slaves, she's evil. I saw her once beating one of the smaller girls with her cane, it was horrible. punished for starving, all she took a slice of bread." amber shakes her head "its wrong what that woman does to us."

"I won't let her hurt anyone again." I say bitterly amber looks at me in horror. "you mustn't Shay, she will hurt you." i don't say a word, "I should get back to cleaning." i bend down to start cleaning, amber looks at me once more. she bends down picking up the spare scrubber and helps me.

We both smile at each other and carry on working, once we both finish, we look back at our work smiling. you could eat your meal off of them, the floors were so shiny. I grab the bucket and pour the dirty water on the floor outside. I turn back to see Mrs Higgins looking at me with disgust, "I told you to clean the floors by yourself, and you get that fiend to help you." she shouts at me, she grabs my hair and drags me inside the bucket crashes to the floor.

"Get off me you bitch" I scream. "how dare you call me that, you disgusting child." she slaps me hard across the face dragging me to a room. she throws me in and I run towards her to get out, but she slams the door in my face busting my nose in the process, "you insulant little bitch" she shouts through the door. I bang hard on the door "let me out you witch" I scream. Mrs Higgins shouts at me back telling me to shut it.

I hear the door lock, I slide down the door my nose hurting. I wipe the blood away and start to pray again for my brothers to come, every day I prayed but they don't come, I start to hit my head off the door. the room seems to get darker and darker, i crawl into the corner of the room waiting to be let out.

I don't know how long I've been here there is no light in the room. The windows boarded up it could be hours or days I don't know, I'm so hungry my stomach hurts, no one has come to my door I wait and wait.

I fell asleep when I heard the door unlock. my eyes snap open and I'm pulled to my feet, "get up" Mrs Higgins snarled. she walks out the door and I follow her, I don't say anything the light in the hallway hurts my eyes. Mrs Higgins leads me to my room. she opens the door and pushes me in, I fall down hard on the floor, feeling weak I don't bother getting up. I soon fall into a dreamless sleep.

I woke up to that horrible buzzing again, I don't bother doing my bed considering I never slept in it. I walk lazily to the sink to brush my teeth, I put my hair in a bun again. I smooth down my clothes and I stand at the end of my bed and wait, Mrs Higgins finally comes into my room. she takes a quick look no words spoken she shuts my door.

Some time later in the day Mrs Higgins finally comes back. "you may go for dinner" she says bitterly. "yes ma'am" I say back to her, I follow her out of the room. we enter the dining room I stand behind my chair, we are the only two people in the room. Mrs Higgins sits down "sit girl" she snaps. I do it fast, not knowing if I would be punished again.

Mrs Higgins eats her food, I sit and wait patiently for her to finish. my stomach gurgles, it hurts so much I've never felt pain like this before. clutching onto my stomach I hiss out in pain, mrs Higgins hears me her head snaps up to look at me. "you may eat" I start eating the bland food.

Once we are done, Mrs Higgins has me polishing every silver item in the home. by the time I'm done my finger ache, my back hurts. I walk back into my room laying down on the bed, I fell asleep pretty fast.