Tales of the Travellers

2

Charms sat in the factory doing the work she was given. Due to her little outburst with that new kid this morning, she was demanded to mend twelve extra pairs of leather shoes and make five more wallets. This was in the afternoon, so the probability of her getting dinner was growing low.

But she didn't care, the odds that she would've even gotten anything good was slim. It wasn't that kids took her food or anything, it was the chef of the orphanage may as well have made shit stew with how disgusting the thing was.

She would rather starve than trust that stuff to remain in her system.

Her fingers were a little tender from the pins pricking her fingers, but it was bearable, it was routine. 

She wasn't alone in this however. The keepers of the orphanage gave punishment for some cruel things from forgetting to pick up a marble to inadequate mending or chimney sweeping, one child once got in trouble for being too big to fit up a chimney.

So the room was littered with other children while an older orphan watched to make sure they were doing the task at hand.

Charms sat near the back of the factory so that nobody would be forced to sit next to her and so she wouldn't have to endure a conversation with some of the chattier orphans.

She lingered with her work long into the night to the point where even the older orphans grew tired of watching her, and chose the risk of sleeping. Soon she was alone by candlelight, and she was happiest at that time.

But the warm glow of the candle was not her only company, as soon the heavy sound of the door echoed but nobody came into the room.

Charms lifted her head, but the door loomed in darkness and whatever else was in it followed suit. "Hello?" Charms called after a moment. She grabbed the golden handle of her candlestick and lifted it up to try and get a better perimeter of the factory room. But all that was in her sights were over-used sewing machines and wooden bench tops across the room.

She looked at her basket of mended clothes she had done. She only had one more thing to mend before she could leave the room, but whatever that was must've still been in the room. Curiosity got the best of her as she walked down the aisles of the benchtops. "Hello?" she called out again as the darkness ran away from her candle light.

Nothing seemed to be in the room.

She approached the door and saw it was ajar. Did the wind just blow it?

She searched by hand for the light switch and attempted to light up the whole room at once, but they clicked and faulted. She sighed, just remembering that the lights recently burnt out and nobody was bothered to replace them.

She stood before the door and looked down the long room. The windows were open, but it was a cloudy night, so not much natural light aided her. She held the light as high as she could and called out again. "Who's there? Show yourself you eavesdropping twats," she yelled out to the darkness.

In return she heard a slight hissing noise. "Bloody cat..." Charms mumbled as she started walking forwards, feral cats weren't uncommon around here. But now that she knew what it was, she wanted to get rid of it. She didn't want some wild cat stalking her factory station.

She put the candle on the ground and laid down so she could look under the benches. "Here you stupid cat..." she cooed as she started crawling along the ground looking for it.

A loud bang echoed in the darkness, making Charms' whole being jump with awareness. "What was that...?" she breathed as she grabbed the candle and stood up. She pressed her lips together as she walked to the door and pushed it open. The halls were dark and somewhat cold.