Despite all her efforts, Hetty hadn't been able to see Gideon since Sunday service. We'd been trying to help her, but with no success, which saddened me.
"Gideon has to know that I haven't forgotten about him," Hetty stated later as we all sat on both her and Polly's bed. "And I never will. I have to see him and it has to be tomorrow."
"Hetty," Harriet rolled her eyes. "Tomorrow's just the same as any other day."
"It's not," Hetty assured her, Polly, Mary and I listening intently. "Tomorrow's mine and Gid's borrowed birthday. The anniversary of the day we arrived at Peg's. Every year Jem would make a cake." She had a faraway look in her eyes as she reminisced about her childhood. Then she looked up at us. "I need your help."
"With what?" Polly questioned, always eager to help Hetty.
"I want to celebrate with Gideon, just like we used to," Hetty stated, gaining looks of confusion from all of us. "We're Foundlings, Hetty," Harriet said.
"Thanks for clarifying that Harriet. It's not like we knew that or anything," I muttered, making Mary (who sat next to me) giggle and Harriet glare at me. "We can't have birthday parties," she continued.
"We can if no - one finds out," Hetty stated, as a grin spread across my face.
I was about to say something when the horrid voice of Sheila Ormsby interrupted our conversation. "Guess your fortune Hetty." She walked up to us, holding a fortune teller. "Or do you know it already?" We all turned to face her and her she - mob. "Horrid," she stated looking down. Monica peered over her shoulder, as Elizabeth looked at us, smugly. "Troublemaker. One day Matron'll find out what you really are."
"Doubt it," Hetty replied quickly, looking at me. I smirked and stood, picking up the hairbrush and walking over to the she - mob. "Your turn for the hairbrush, Sheila?" I asked, offering her the hairbrush. As though something had occurred to me, I took the hairbrush back. "Of course not, you've got no hair to brush!" The rest of my friends giggled as she glared at me. "Now who's the troublemaker?" I asked.
"We'll see about that," Sheila spat, turning away and stalking off, her devoted followers on her tail. I turned back to the others and sat down, a smirk still resting on my face.
Hetty stood and I could tell from the look on her face that she was concentrating very hard. "Right," she thought aloud. "We need a place to escape. Just us, Gideon and the boys."
"But Matron's new rule," Polly worried. "She'd have everyone punished."
"We are not escaping," Harriet stated, a firmness behind her words that I hadn't heard before.
"Escape doesn't always mean getting out of here," Hetty clarified.
"I mean, we could escape inside," I agreed, standing up and moving to stand by Hetty at the dorm window. Hetty nodded. "Just as long as Hetty gets to see Gideon without fear being caught," I said confidently. I turned around to look out of the window and, as I did, I saw Hetty's grateful and slightly surprised expression. I sent her a quick smile, before I focused my eyes on the dark exterior of the hospital. My mind was racing as I tried to come up with a way to escape inside the hospital, without being caught by Matron 'Stinking' Bottomly. That was when my eyes spotted the tower and an idea popped into my head. "What we need," I said, slowly, as a small smile crept into my face. "Is a den." I could hear the gasps from the other four as they realised what I had. "Our own secret tower," Hetty murmured. I turned my head to face her and saw that she had a giant grin on her face. I grinned back as Polly muttered. "It's perfect."
"How do we even get up there?" Harriet questioned. The grins slid simultaneously off mine and Hetty's faces and I could tell that we were thinking the same thing. This would be a hard task for us to accomplish.
*********
Next day, we were cleaning outside the cupboard that had Hetty and I had used before to find the boys wing and meet Mathias. I felt a twinge in my chest as I remembered Mathias but I quickly shook it off; telling myself that he would be much happier at Mr Grace's.
Once Matron (who was checking on us) had turned the corner, Hetty put her cleaning rag into her bucket and stood up, turning to face us. "We need to find a way to get to the tower and the best option is to go through the rafters," she said, gesturing towards the door of the cupboard. Harriet stepped forwards, fixing Hetty with an accusatory stare. "We can't all go up to the rafters." We all made noises of confusion. "What if Matron or Nurse Macclesfield comes to check on us and finds us all gone? We'll all get the Tench." At the mention of the Tench, Mary shook. Noticing this, I put my cleaning rag into my bucket and looked up at Hetty. "I'll stay here with Mary," I said confidently. Mary nodded her approval of my statement mutely. Hetty scrutinised us both before beckoning to Polly and Harriet. Polly immediately dumped her rag in the bucket she shared with Harriet, stood up and went to stand by our red - haired friend. Hetty turned her attention to Harriet, who still looked unsure. "Come on Harriet, quickly," she hissed. "Before Matron catches us slacking." Harriet sat back on her heels, obviously unsure of what to do. Quickly, I nudged her with my elbow. she turned to look at me. "Go," I whispered. "Mary and I have got this under control. You know how good I am at lying." I seemed to have convinced her as she quickly stood up and walked over to Hetty. Mary quickly stood up and walked over to the door as the other three quickly began to climb up into the rafters. Soon, all of the noise that we could hear disappeared and we were left in silence. I looked at Mary and smiled at her, reassuring her that everything would be perfectly fine.
A/N
Hey guys
I know I said that I would update by the end of February but I'm doing exams and my workload increased dramatically. Also I had a small case of writers block so I didn't write anything for about 3 weeks after I last updated.
I will try and update by the end of May this time, but no promises. I have a laptop now so it should be easier for me to write.
See y'all whenever I update again,
Grace
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Just A Number ⋆Hetty Feather⋆ (SLOW UPDATES)
FanfictionRaven Smudge is a foundling. She knows nothing about her past. Who her parents are, when she was born, where she was born or what her real name is. She is stuck inside an empty person, frantically searching for a sense of identity. Yet, her life isn...
