The Night We Met

Part I: Chapter VIII

    The silhouette-spilled forest lay glowing at midnight. Showers of meteors strike the rings of Earth from the atmosphere of madness. An outline of darkness combines within the horizon of Earth and into the falls of the glowing crystals amidst the never-ending abyss of nothingness and sorrow.

    An echo roars throughout the caverns of crystal light and beacon, a heartbroken hummingbird chimes a good night's rest. Twigs strike the floor and the dirt sways heavily. Weight of the world on the balance of chaos and order runs crookedly in the cracks of fate.

    A fire in the forest glimmers. Nine footfalls fell all so suddenly... in the midst of great nightlight. Smoke gathers towards Earth's core, a wall of scorching blaze shoots in the sky as a warning call to the trusted.

Nothing.

No person, no thing, no creature comes to help. A strike of tinted guilt stabs the children from behind. They were lured into the enemies territory. They trusted them. Why didn't they see it? Why were they blindly trusting the people that accepted them... the people who had to take care of them.

This world wouldn't be the same without this. This precious thing, plated in gold. In mountains of treasure and hills of diamonds.

Money.

The next day was rough for Elizabeth and the others. Blizzards struck the rural area in the morning, but fire flamed in the spilled canvas of night. Miss Jericho tasked Elizabeth and the others to tidy up the orphanage. Merlin thought it was suspicious with her asking this, hence Miss Jericho has never asked them to do chores around the house.

"Everybody, today we have to clean the orphanage. We will have some visitors coming in today, so please contribute with the assistance," Miss Jericho explains.

Confused murmurs fill the room with the smoke of tension and suspense.

"But, we've never done that before. What do we even do?" Ban asks, irritated with subtitles on his face.

"Uh, Elizabeth can help you! I'm sure that her family taught her how to clean her room, isn't that correct, Elizabeth?" Miss Jericho backs herself up.

    I nod silently, sensing something wrong in the air. Even though I've never really been in this orphanage for that long, I can literally feel that there's something wrong in the wavelength. This pattern is changing, and I absolutely know that nobody, nobody here in this orphanage, likes it.

    "Ban and King, you mop the floors in rooms 10-20; Diane and Elaine, you organise the bookshelves in the libraries; Merlin, you dust the walls of each room; Escanor, you decide to throw away stuff starting from your room; Meliodas, Liz and I will mop the floors in rooms 21-30 and the lounge room," I read the note Miss Jericho gave me.

    "Ugh, that is such big of a workload!" Diane whines.

    "This is just child labour at this point!" Ban moans, flinging his arms in the air.

"Ban has got a point! I can't believe Miss Purplehead would even force us to do this!" Liz crosses her arms.

"Then, let's start now. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish," I explain. They all looked at each other and nodded.

    The moon rose from its slumber, as the children finished dusting cobwebs and mopping dehydrated floors into sparkling interiors. The children laid down on the lounge, tired from the 'chores' they have done. The only one with enough energy to open their eyes was Elizabeth, who didn't want to disrupt the others' beauty rest upon the silky, white moonlight.

    Disorted voices echoed throughout the hallways of the orphanage. Beeps from the orphanage's phone rattled throughout the walls. The oak walls reflected pictures of a house — which looks like the oprhanage — on sale. Children silhouettes popped up on the wall, as a computer mouse clicked and clacked on the photos.

    Curious, Elizabeth quietly tiptoed on the floorboards and took a peek from the room. Miss Jericho and the other maidens were standing around the huge computer. One of the other maidens turned around, making sure no one was there. Elizabeth flipped her head quickly, calming down her breathing and trying to comprehend everything she saw.

    Recorded voices of children, children Elizabeth had no clue there names were, echoed and complimented the orphanage. There were some celebration shouts and even confetti poppers that were placed in the video.

    Elizabeth turned her head again. She tried getting a closer look on the computer.

    The Best Orphanage For Sale! + Includes Orphans!!

    The heading made Elizabeth jump. The red banner reflected in her pupils, casting a fear of trade and return via the orphanage. Were they doing this all for... money? All this care, all this joy... for... money? For sales? For extra fame and honour?

    Or... were they doing this for... murder?