Breeder

Erica (2)

Third Pov

As the days went by, Erica made more and more of a structure to the children's schedules. Subjects other than music were introduced to them as well. Not only that, but she also began to teach the kids musical cryptography and morse code- as a secret, of course.

Monday: TagTuesday: MusicWednesday: DancingThursday: Self-Protection Combat/Tactics (for older kids) - young kids play amongst themselves or napFriday: Read and DiscussSaturday: Sewing (for older kids), others play tag - young kids play amongst themselves or napSunday: Drawing/Art

Luckily enough, Isabella didn't know musical cryptography. But since there was a high chance the Isabella knew morse code, Erica made a little twist to the basic structure so that Isabella wouldn't be able to understand it without prior knowledge.

"Where would we ever use musical cryptography or morse code?" Gilda asked quietly, wondering the reason why Erica made such a fuss over the two topics.

"Where wouldn't you use it? You could share messages with each other, and you'd be making music. You could play the message on piano, and no one would know what you're saying!!" Erica answered, a sly smirk on her lips.

"Yeah!! The four of us have already been exchanging codes- I mean music!!" Emma cut in excitedly.

"Erica, where did you learn all this stuff?" Don asked for the umpteenth time, sending Erica playful but suspicious looks.

It had already been three months since Erica's arrival. Through the three months, Erica brought an amazing amount of change to the orphanage. The main trio had gained a new member to become a group of four. She took part and led so many different activities throughout the day. And at this point in life, Erica had become so deeply engraved into the kids' lives that a day without her was practically unthinkable.

Erica organized the Litany Test Review in the morning and extracurricular activities in the afternoon paired with "training". Every day, the kids would follow her around as they would to Isabella, asking her about things they learned or was going to learn later that day.

If there was one thing that Erica wasn't allowed to do, it would be cooking. Ever since the stabbing incident with Norman in the kitchen on her first day, Erica had been banned from the kitchen and hadn't stepped foot inside since.

It was a room that Norman found himself frequenting more and more often in order to have some proper alone time- and organize his thought about Erica.

He'd felt the gentle but firm fingers of his first crush heading towards Emma. But now, he wasn't so sure. He found his heart and mind beginning to think more and more about Erica- the smart, beautiful, somewhat weird and sociopathic female.

And it terrified him.

Despite her well-mannered and intelligent nature, Erica was far from what you would call a typical human child. She was scarily detached from human emotions- sure, she felt them and displayed traces of the emotions herself, but that didn't mean that she could understand how others felt. She had close to no empathy and sympathy.

FLASHBACK

"Mama, will Kelly be okay?" Phil asked, his large blue eyes wet with tears.

Kelly was one of the newborns that had been sent into the Grace Field Orphanage last month. Unfortunately, the rather weak baby had caught a fever and was on the edge of death. There was no known cure for the fever, which targeted newborns like Kelly.

"I'll try my best to make her better, Phil. Now, take your siblings and let Kelly rest with Mama." Isabella spoke, soothing the nervous children and getting them away from the sick baby.

After the younger children had left, it was the Golden Squad's turn to visit the baby. Norman was forced to stand by the door for his own safety since he also had a weak body. Ray stared at the flushed baby with a pitiful look, sadness plastered all over his features. Emma kept asking Isabella if Kelly would be able to get better- she'd seen a few babies die of the fever and didn't want Kelly to be one of them.

"The small human won't survive past tonight," Erica spoke, her navy-blue eyes cold and void of emotion.

"Wha-!! Don't say that!!" Emma protested.

The room filled with tension as Erica stepped closer to the sick baby, her slim hand approaching the baby. Ray broke the tension by grabbing Erica's wrist, preventing her from getting any closer to the baby.

"What are you doing?"

~~~ /// ~~~ \\\ ~~~

2.4 pages, 766 words