Cat and Mouse

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Stella! This is mental!" screamed Alberta. Her face was a mask of terror and her eyes wandered everywhere. Her breaths came in deep, raspy sounds that made it look like she'd be running for three hours. I glanced at her, feeling overly culpable, and tried to plaster a smile on my face. It didn't work. As we all swept down the corridors like a gust of wind, the orphanage seemed kind of lonely and deserted in the only way it could be. Silent.

"STELLA! Where are we going?" Jane shouted. God, you'd think they would've worked it out already. Eventually, we found the office from which we had been called from. It was such a relief walking into a vibrant place instead of a dreary, grey office. The girls were still there. I scanned each of them, searching for the girls I wanted. Only one was there.

"DEBORAH! We need you!" I clamoured. As desperate as I was, Deborah was still hesitant. So was everyone else. I was furious. Didn't they understand? Neither did my friends, but that wasn't the point. Out of nowhere, Jasper appeared, his face creased with lines of worry.

"Stell, what's this about?" He asked. "What's going on?"

Here I go, I thought, miserably.

"Who here knows Scarlett Porpika?" I began, with a sick feeling of nausea in my stomach. This wasn't going to be good, I knew it.

"I do!" A girl cried. "She's my cousin and I sleep right next to her in our dormitory!" I twirled round in search of the voice. I soon found it. It belonged to a small girl, who had deep green eyes and stunning blonde hair, and was only around ten. She was one of those girls who you never noticed but as soon as you had noticed them, you could never take your eyes of them. Honestly, she was extraordinary.

"OK, even better. Can you come with us?" I asked. Then added, "And you Deborah" The girl nodded and Deb followed. I led them, with Jasper and the girls, to our dormitory. At first, Jasper refused to step foot into it, however, with a few yanks from me, Al and Jane, he came in. Nothing had changed. Although, this time, all the rooms were spotless and each bed had been made exactly the same. Each person found a bed and sat on it, looking up at me with eager eyes.

"What's your name?" I demanded. The girl looked dazed yet recovered quickly. Smiling, she jumped up and held out her hand.

"Hi. You're Stella, the newbie. My name's Janet. I'm twelve" Janet exclaimed, proudly. Wow. She wasn't ten; she was actually only a few years younger than me! I was surprised.

"Nice to meet you"

"All of you are most definitely confused as to why I've brought you all here today" I declared "Well, I'm sorry- it's not good news"

"Janet, your cousin has been......murdered. I wasn't sure about this when I heard however, it would make perfect sense. Scarlett is dead- I'm sorry" I tried to say it simply but my voice broke somewhere in the middle of it. Janet's face went pale. Then, it went stony.

"What kind of person are you? Lying about people's death!" She spat. "You're sick!" I felt my heart break. She didn't believe me. After all of this, nobody understood. Except my best friend. Alberta noticed my expression and stepped in to cover up for me.

"I'm sorry, Janet. Stella isn't lying. She's gone"

A startling noise broke out.

Stunned, I looked around. Everybody else wore the same expression I did. Confusion. Except one. She did it again and again and only, after an excruciating time, did we all interpret what was going on. Janet was sobbing. Deep sobs that almost echoed in the room. Yet all we did was stand there, gazing on in discomfort. I felt like I was being ripped to shreds by a knife. We all stayed like it for what seemed like days but was only minutes. Anna was the first to move. She hovered over Janet, like a predator planning it's kill, and with a lot of uncertainty, she hugged her tight.