The room was small but covered with a large amount of straw, enough to fill the whole room. Sitting on a small patch of straw was Orphan, "Where are the others?" the one who told Joke to guard her was probably oldest.
Still buried under a pile of hay, the twelve year old boy peaked out from under, "Hm? Oh, since the storm stopped they went outside to find food."
Orphan jumped at hearing that they left shelter in this unknown place and in the middle of the night, "Isn't that dangerous?"
The boy stopped moving from under the hay, "Dangerous? Who do you think we are? We've been doing this for years, we're used to it. I'm sure that they'd come in any minute now with food in their arms." his hand stuck out of the chaff to gather more on top his body, "Unless of course they would be the food in someone else's arms." again he started laughing insanely, "It's just a joke!"
Orphan's heart jumped at the thought of it, and it was not the good kind. White was out with them and the thought of him chopped up and sliced into mince mean in some maniac's arms scared her pale, "Okay..."
He stopped making any noise and motioned for her to come closer, "Awww, why aren't you laughing? It's a pretty funny joke." he pouted and seemed upset that she did not feel amused at his small 'joke'.
She lied down right next to where he was buried and frowned, still imagining the brutal things that could happen to White. Orphan decided to leave the idea alone in fear of it actually coming true, "So... your name is Joke, right?"
He giggled from his place and said, "Yep, the funniest joke around these parts. Why do you ask? I told you about it already. Are you thinking about giving me a proper name?" his knowing eyes sparkled from underneath the hay.
He was right, that did occur in her mind, "Yes, how did you know?"
"I could tell from the look of your face. You're just as funny as I am!"
"So... do you want a name?"
Orphan already knew that names were not the fondest thing they had around, and it was all because of the eldest. She wondered why that teen did not even think about names, and instead gave them code names.
If she were to be the one to name the eldest she would surely name her Lucy, because it was by far the most annoying name she could think of.
Joke jumped out of his pile of straw to sit on Orphans lap, "I would love to have a name! But I don't think Oldest would be so happy about it..." she was a bit uncomfortable, he was twelve years old after all. He was already too big to sit on her lap.
Although the storm had stopped, it was still cold, "Don't worry about her, I'll give you one." now what should she name him? "How about... Johnny?" she asked, it suited him.
His eyes sparkled in happiness, "Johnny... Johnny boy!" he sprung from her lap and held out his hand to thin air, "Hello there, my name is Johnny! Johnny the funny!" he turned to give her a hug, "I love my name, thank you so much for giving it to me!"
"You're welcome, Johnny." she returned the hug, making her dress shift.
"Do you want to sleep with me? You are very warm!" the newly named Johnny said.
She followed his request. Johnny buried the both of them under the hay, where she spooned him with her body. Orphan could still hear his silent giggles, probably because of a random joke that he had thought about in his head, "Sweet dreams, Johnny."
The boy snickered, "Johnny... I'm Johnny!" after that, his breathes had evened and his body still. He was finally asleep.
Orphan refused to sleep, she knew that if she did she would wake up again in her apartment. She wanted to stay 'awake' and see what would happen next. If she stopped hugging Johnny, he would probably freeze to death.
It was an hour later when her arm had started to feel numb. Orphan had been hugging Johnny for such a long time that the arm that he was lying down on had fallen asleep. Slowly, she pulled her arm from under the boy.
She started shaking her limb in a means to help the blood circulation, but it still felt as if a thousand pins and needles were stabbing her arms again and again. Feeling desperate, Orphan slammed the appendage on the wooden wall at least three times.
It took her a long time to notice that Silent was standing right next to the door. His mismatching eyes a bit wide and his eyebrows creased, he was wondering what in the world she was trying to do.
Orphan hid her arm behind her back, "What's umm... up, Silent?" the boy was hiding something behind his back, and she could not help but feel that it was a large knife with the silent way he was acting.
He revealed what he was concealing to be a dead rabbit. He gestured for her to follow him, and then turned to exit the room of straw.
She nodded and made a move to follow him, but halted when she remembered Johnny, "Wait, what about him?" she said pointing at said boy.
The dark child turned his head to catch a glimpse of Johnny's slumbering figure, and resumed walking. Was he saying that he would be alright?
A bit unsure about leaving Johnny alone in the room, Orphan followed after him. What she felt about Silent was a little uncertain, he was strange. Perhaps he was a mute.
They arrived in the lobby. The others were trying to start a fire in the middle of the room, "Wait, that's not safe, is it?" they could let the whole house catch on fire.
The oldest switched her gaze from the baby fire to her direction and glared, "Of course it's safe. The floor is wet and cold, if we were to start a fire with this coal that we found in that cellar we won't have to worry about the floor burning... we just have to burn it above it to keep the fire from dying." she resumed fanning the fire, still annoyed that Orphan was with them.
Second chuckled and patted his sister's head, "No need to be so harsh, oldest, you know how she had no choice but to end up in here."
"Yeah, well, couldn't she have pop up in the village or something so that they could take care of her?"
White was there, he was not only holding one rabbit but two, "Look, look, look, I caught two fluffy animals, one for me and one for you!" he said handing her one cold and lifeless body.
Orphan was disturbed with how she was holding a being that no longer had life inside its puny body, it reminded her how humans were such fragile people, "Th-thank you White..." she looked around the children and noticed that she counted only five, she knew that Sarcastic was sleeping in the other room but other than him there was someone else missing, "Are we missing someone?"
Eldest ignored her question while Second waved his hand to get Orphan's attention, "Yeah, we're missing Joke. Wasn't he supposed to be guarding you?" Joke was no longer Johnny's true name though.
The boy who led her back into the room with the carpet came up to Second to tug his sleeve gently, to whisper into his ear. Although Orphan did not hear the exact words that Silent had told second, it was clear that he was not a mute.
Sitting down on the floor Second sighed, "Why didn't you wake him up, Silent? I've caught him some food." Silent looked down and went back to the room he had found both Johnny and Orphan.
Orphan should not have followed Silent out the room without Johnny. There might have been a chance where they would leave him to sleep, and eat all of the food. He would starve to death if he woke up. It was a good thing that second sent silent to wake him up.
Energetic and cute, White handed Orphan a sharp knife, "Orphan, I want to teach you how to skin rabbit!" he had already skinned his and was waiting for Orphan to do hers.
As White taught her how to get rid of the rabbit's skin, Orphan's thoughts went back to how she was able to get inside such realistic dreams. Usually, when she had a dream it was quite rare but now she was having them every time she slept, and even the same thing over and over again.
Orphan could never remember how her old dreams ended or how they even started, she would just go through them and forget the second she woke up. With this dream she would wake up as if it had really happened, and go back to sleep continuing their journey.
Maybe she should go to a mental hospital or perhaps a therapist to discuss about her dream. These children were strange and unorthodox, she wondered how they even ended up in her dream because she was pretty sure that she hadn't met them before.
She wondered who else was missing from the group. She scanned the room to see but realized she wouldn't even be able to recognize who was gone.
She sighed and continued skinning the rabbit, no longer fazed by how the blood slowly drooped down the body, "Orphan, are you okay?" White asked looking up at her with his innocent sparkling eyes.
Getting rid of the last patch of skin, her rabbit was now able to get cooked, "Yes." her hands were bloody when she handed Second the rabbit, he and Eldest got ready to roast the food, "How did you kids get here in the first place?" she asked out of curiosity.
"Curious aren't you?" Coocoo's petite voice said, "I can answer that question!" the cute Asian looking girl glanced at Second, as if asking his permission to answer, his reply was a small wave signaling that she could, "I got here a year ago when I was eight!" was she Chinese? Or perhaps Japanese... Orphan couldn't tell.
Orphan nodded, and looked for some ice to wash her hands with. The room had become warmer since the fire had started, and the ice forming around the area had started to melt.
Eldest was somehow grumpy this hour as she cooked the rabbits, "Why don't you guys stop talking with each other and help us cook this food?" she grumbled. They had already stopped talking.
Out of all the children she had met so far, the eldest was her least favorite child. Orphan wondered why she always acted this way, maybe it was because of her presence.
"Not gonna say anything, 'Orphan'?" Oldest said pointing a knife at her, "It's not even your real name!"
"Orphan's not your name...?" White asked looking at her with his mouth filled with meat, "What's your name?"
Second handed Orphan her own share of the meat, and she began to dig in, "Yes I know, Orphan is not my real name." should she tell them her real name, "You guys all have code names, why can't I?"
Oldest gave a spiteful laugh, "Then how do you suppose we can trust you?" the knife was still aimed in her direction.
"Wow, wow, calm down Eldest, you're going overboard again..." Second said lowering the sharp weapon, "What do you have against Orphan? She's just like us."
Giving White her cooked rabbit, she left the room, "I'm going to sleep..." Orphan gave them a wave goodbye and went out in search for a comfortable room, she needed to go back to the room of straw.
Arriving, she saw that Johnny had not left his spot under the hay. He was still snoring away in peace. Orphan climbed in with him and resumed their previous position with her spooning him, if she was warmer she would be able to 'sleep' faster. Where was Silent? Wasn't he told to wake the twelve year old boy up?
Orphans eyes began to feel heavy and she knew that it was time for her to wake up.
Looking at her clock she realized it was still midnight, she had slept at nine and was in her dream for only three hours. She was sure that if she was to go back to sleep she would end up in that dream again, but she didn't want to face them after leaving just like that. The CEO found it unfair how she could not control her own dream, if she could she would've made the eldest and their surroundings much nicer.
Unable to go back to sleep, Orphan spent the whole night awake cleaning up her home. In the morning she did her usual routine and arrived in the office, but this time no breaking in the middle of the road to find White who didn't even exist.
Mr. Allen, her boss, was already in the work office, "You don't look so well, Secretary." he asked, it didn't sound as if there was any concern in his voice, "You have bags under your eyes and your skin has gotten paler, have you been getting enough sleep?" Perhaps he did care, after all, he was able to observe that much.
Orphan grabbed a nearby mirror and observed her appearance, Mr. Allen was indeed spot on, "It's nothing, Sir. No need to worry." her image did not look like that of a healthy person's. She looked at Mr. D and noticed that he too was not looking well, "Sir, perhaps you should take medicine or a day off." she started to pack his things inside his bag, "You've been focusing too much on your job, you won't get to live long that way."
He stared at the black bag hanging from Orphan's fingertips, "I'm fine, there's no need for me to go back home."
Orphan did not want to take no for an answer. A bit overbearing, she said, "The reason why you hired me was so I could help you, I am not helping you if I'm just leaving you vulnerable to sickness." she tugged his hand and forced him to hold the bag, hoping that he would consider having some rest.
Out of nowhere, her boss fell from his seat and onto the floor. He was having a seizure. Not again. Quickly, Orphan got to his side, "Sir!" Mr. Allen had a history. When he was an orphan he did not go into an orphanage, he was raised in the streets. It was said that in there he was abused by the random thugs and used as a lab rat for their experimental drugs.
This had happened once before when one of the employees complained to him in person how he had not gotten a promotion, he had rudely grabbed his arm and gave him a little shove. It was during the first month that Orphan had started working for him and the first time that she had witnessed a panic attack.
This time, she was prepared because she always kept a syringe and his medicine in her purse. Quickly, she took the medicine out of her bag and took a hold of her boss.
Syringe ready, Orphan waited for the right moment to inject the fluid inside his veins and the perfect time was now. Gently stabbing the needle in his forearm's vein, Orphan brought him down to lie down on the carpet floor.
Mr. Allen had stopped moving, it was a good thing, and it meant that he was in a peaceful sleep. Orphan made a relieved facial expression, this was the first time she had done this. It was a success.
The secretary sighed and combed her hair with her fingers, "This is tough..." Orphan had took a short class in the hospital in order to help Mr. D, "That was so sudden..." she looked down on her employer's silent form, "I'm so sorry, Mr. Allen."
Slinging his other arm around her shoulder, Orphan carried him onto a nearby couch for him to rest in. Seriously, in all her years she had never met a man so broken as her boss, but it made her more motivated to work for him.
"Again, I'm sorry..."
ns 15.158.61.51da2
