The Mundial Murders

Chapter 10

     "A few years before you were born, your father and I decided to open up a facility that would help parents with teenagers that refused to behave. We were there to support these parents while the children spent some time in the facility and were fixed. But we quickly realized how troubled the teenagers actually were. There were some that had an outburst or two and were sent there. They were the ones who behaved and were returned home sooner than the others. But others were horrible. They yelled at our staff and the parents before they were sent to Mundial. They would raise their hands and hit their parents, then would hit our staff when they were brought. It was then that we decided to hold out punishments to the teenagers that were physically abuse. As time went on, the punishments had to become tougher. A lot of them got used to the time outs, groundings, and being locked in their rooms." Ernest could not believe what she was hearing. Mundial Manor used to a place that once cared for the kids. They weren't abuse with harsh rules that would lead anyone to break them accidentally. She could not imagine the place being there to help teenagers and not instill fear in them where they were traumatized to misbehave. "We decided that the best thing to do was get rid of any entertainment in their rooms and have the only entertainment be outside their rooms. They were able to socialize with others and have fun. If they were punished, they would be locked inside a boring room until they learned not to break the rules."

        "Were they harsh as they were now? I know that the rules were strict. No talking while eating, no spilling food, no ditching classes, etc. etc." 

        Colette shook her head, "It used to be simple. Respect others. That was the only rule. But it soon had be compiled into more as they started to rebel. The first instance was a boy who tried to escape through their room. He used his blanket and threw it out the window to run away. We caught him and decided to put barricades in the room. Soon, they decided to rebel by trashing the rooms. We needed to find a place where we could place them where they wouldn't do anything to the room or themselves. That's when we built those rooms. The ones that had no furniture and no entertainment. It was perfect! They couldn't trash the room, and they couldn't escape. But long story short, teenagers are little rebels that will do anything to escape authority. And we eventually ended up with the place you see now."

        "Abusive and a place to murder teenagers being teenagers," Ernest angrily hissed at her mom.

       She was taken aback and had to defend herself, "We never wanted it to be that way! It sort of happened as we tried to control them. We had no choice, and it was the only thing we could have thought of. Believe me, there are many troubled teen industries that do worse. Ones that have not been shut down and the people have not been arrested when kids were proven to die there. We never wanted to harm those children, we just needed them to be fixed. To be good. Before they returned home." 

        "And you got what you wanted. Because you did such a good job that it became a famous industry to send children and it helped grow Founstain. Yet, the kids. They were being abused and tortured and you knew it! They tried to speak up but because they were 'troubled' and you fixed them, no one believed them."

        Colette sighed and teared up, "I guess it's why I told you. Because you believe them, and you want to help them be seen."

       Ernest smiled, she felt at peace with all her decisions and the actions that her parents did that would not go unpunished for long. Her mom knew that it was wrong all along and would finally see consequences. Her dad, who was still walking around his office, would see his peace and be punished for his actions. It was all coming together, and it was beautiful. Ernest teared up, 'Justice is beautiful.' "So why did you and dad decide to burn down the manor? You had a part in it, what was it?"

       Colette stayed silent and muttered, "I cannot say."

        It went quiet. Colette stared at the floor, cleaning her eyes of tears every so often. Ernest was left alone with her thoughts as she tried to answer her own question. Why was it her mom and dad decided to kill the kids when the manor alone was working. In a horrible way that traumatized children, but it worked. From what her mom told her, they were losing control of the teens and needed to always fix the harshness of the manor. After abusing children for years, and it still having kids who rebelled that one day where Angelina and the others joined a riot, they needed to produce something worse. "Did you guys want to scare the kids into behaving? Scare the kids with a fire that got out of control and accidentally caused their deaths?"