The Orphanage Rose

Chapter 2

The landlady’s whistle sounds through the building. Cecile leads the triplets to the staircase and beckons us to follow her.

We all know what this means.

Dinner is ready.

 The dining room is packed with people. Only the girls older than 13 are allowed to sit at the tables. All the younger girls have to sit on the floor. The landlady sits at an apart table in the center of the room. The rest of the tables are placed on several spots in the room. At each table, four girls can sit.

I sit at a table with Cecile, Raya and a girl I don’t know. Becky decided to sit at another table, alone.

I glance over my shoulder at the triplets who are playing with each other’s hair in the corner of the room. Then, five girls I have barely seen before walk in with the food. The food mostly contains leftovers from earlier meals, or from the landlady’s meal. Not really good food, sometimes rotten, but it’s something.

During dinner, everyone is forbidden to speak. We need to finish before the landlady does or our meals will be taken away before we can finish. The landlady doesn’t like waiting.

After dinner I walk back to our room, the triplets are following us. At the door to what looks like their room Cecile stops and kneels in front of the triplets.

 ‘’Don’t worry, the pretty girl is safe with us.’’

I smile.

Cute.

The girl with brown hair runs over to me and hugs one of my legs.

‘’Goodnight.’’ She whispers.

I softly pet her head. She lets go of me and runs to her room.

We continue our way to the attic. The attic is the smallest and oldest room. It is reserved for the most annoying girls in the landlady’s eyes.

Of course Becky is placed there, I can understand that. But Cecile? And Raya? Raya doesn’t seem like a bad person, what could she do to annoy the landlady?

‘’Thinking about something?’’ Cecile asks.

‘’Oh, it’s nothing.’’ I try to smile reassuringly.

When we arrive at the attic we see Becky already is there. Her face is twisted in an annoyed grimace.

Cecile frowns but says nothing. I shrug and walk over to the attic window. The city lights shine bright in the dark night sky.

‘’What do you think is out there?’’ I ask Cecile, who suddenly sits next to me.

‘’I don’t know, nor do I know we will ever know,’’ she says sadly.

 ‘’We will,’’ I say. It sounds like a promise but it isn’t. It’s a prediction.

In the middle of the night, I wake up by the sound of someone screaming. I turn my head in the direction of the noise and see nobody is awake. I must’ve imagined it. As I turn my back again, the screaming continues.

I turn around again and open my eyes widely. The noise is coming from downstairs. I don’t hesitate and jump out of my bed, my blankets still stuck around my feet. I quickly untangle them and throw them back on my bed.

I silently  make my way down the stairs. We’re not allowed to leave our room during nighttime, but no matter how the screaming covers all the sounds I make, I still remain silent. The screaming is coming from the room where the triplets sleep in.

I peek in the room and gasp.

How dare she do this.