The Grey Truth: Chapter One
It was the first day for the new recruits. They had all been anticipating their first day of training to become reapers. They all stood around the room, chatting and looking about nervously or excitedly. All but one, the odd one out of the group, this recruit was standing off to the side, silent, filling out papers that weren't related to these courses, but their current, though temporary job.
After a time, the door to the room opened, and two tall men walked in. The recruits stopped what they were doing, put things away, and stood before the men in perfect attention.
One man was dressed in a simple vest, white shirt, and black pants, like most reapers, though, he was also wearing black and red ankle boots, red framed glasses, and a red and black jacket slung off his shoulders, and had long, flowing, bright red hair. The other man was slightly taller, and wore a business suit, and simple glasses with thicker temples which had four decorative stripes cut into them.
"Alright, recruits, I am your instructor, Mister William T. Spears. I am here to train you, to whip you into shape," the suit-clad man stated. His voice was cold and serious, as were his eyes. "Now, due to today being the first day, I will be taking attendance," William said, though before he was able to begin reading off the names, the other man cut him off.
"Will, silly, you forgot to introduce me!" he shouted, more dramatically than needed.
William sighed a bit, and adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose before he spoke. "That is my co-instructor, Grell Sutcliff. If in any case I am unable to be here, Mister Sutcliff will take my place."
Grell smiled, pleased that William had introduced him. He sat on the edge of the desk, allowing William to continue.
William looked at Grell out of the corner of his eye for a short moment, and then proceeded to look through a few papers, finding the student list. "Now, as I was saying, I will be taking attendance. From today on, I will have a list on my desk, it will be your responsibility to check your name off each day," he explained, and proceeded to call out the names on the student list. "Joseph Powers?"
"Here, sir," a blond-haired male stated clearly.
Will checked off the name on the list, "Drew Summers?"
A shorter, black-haired boy answered, "I'm here, sir."
Another check was made, "Wilfred Anderson?"
"Call me Will, sir," a slim, brown-haired student asked, once again, a male, and once again, another check was added.
"Gregory and Fredric Williams?"
Two identical, ginger-haired boys answered, "Right here!"
At that, two more checks were added, and then, William stopped, looking at the list. "Well, that can't be right, Josephine Grey?" he muttered to himself, under his breath, and then called the name, "Josephine Grey?"
Several of the recruits chattered and muttered to themselves, and then a voice was heard.
"Present, sir," the voice called out, a female voice. The voice belonged to the odd one in the group. Josephine Grey was a tall, slim girl with dark brown hair tied tightly into a slightly messy bun, with some of the ends of her hair poking out of it. Her posture was perfect, and her eyes and voice were as stern and cold as William's.
It was at this time that Grell spoke up. "Well, it seems we've got an odd one in the group," he stated, standing and getting closer to the girl.
William also got closer to Josephine. "How on earth did a girl get into this school? I've never, in all my years, seen a girl step foot in here," he said, not expecting what was about to be stated back to him as a response.
"Mr. Spears, I've got as much of a right to be here as anyone else in this room. I would advise you to allow me to show what I've got instead of you simply jumping to conclusions and underestimating my abilities," Josephine said, getting a bit into Williams face, as he was taken aback by the recruit's rant.
"Well, we'll just have to see about that, then," he said, slightly glaring at the female recruit.
After a short silence, Will began to tell the class about the standard rules and expectations of both the school and his own class. By the time he finished, there were just five minutes left in the class time, and William gave this as a time for the recruits to talk with and meet one another. Josephine simply stayed off to the side, filling out a few papers; William noticed this and walked over. "Extra courses?" he asked her, causing Josephine to look up from her work.
"No, sir. It's for one of my supporting jobs," she stated, knowing that she likely surprised William.
"You've got a job? You, a girl? I must say I'm surprised, what sort of job is it?" he asked, pushing his glasses up with the tip of his pointer.
"I work for Junior Hospital Dispatch during the day," the girl replied, adjusting her glasses with the end of her pen.
"Aren't you a bit young for that?"
"I may be young in age, but my skill-set is equal to that of my co-workers."
William simply nodded, just as the bell rang to dismiss the classes. "I expect you all to arrive on time tomorrow morning," he called after the students as they left the room. After most of the recruits had left, William stopped the only one remaining, Josephine. "I've got my eye on you, Ms. Grey," he told her coldly.
"I'll be keeping that in mind, sir," Josephine replied. She checked her pocket-watch, and quickly left.
"Well, Will, what do you think of that?" Grell asked from his seat on the desk. William turned to face him.
"Get off the desk, Sutcliff. And as response to your question, I'm not sure. It seems that girl has more to her than she's letting on," he said, as an evident look of thought spread across his features.
"Oo, I think it's the perfect time to do some investigating!" Grell exclaimed.
William remained stoic, speaking calmly. "As do I, Sutcliff, as do I," at that, he and Grell began to try to form a plan.
Meanwhile, while Grell and William were making plans, Josephine was rushing into the Hospital Dispatch office, nearly running over her boss. "Josephine, what is going on? You're never running this late," he said to her, knowing that she was never late for work.
"It's nothing, sir, just got held up a bit at the academy is all," she told him, taking out the papers she had been filling out. "I took the liberty of completing these in my spare time last night," she said as she hurried off.
When Josephine reached her office, she slumped at the door, just as one of her co-workers was passing by. "Josephine, are you okay? You look kind of tired," he said to her, concerned.
"I'm fine, just trying to balance a busy schedule, you know how it is," Josephine replied, though she knew that her co-worker wouldn't understand. He simply nodded and walked away, leaving Josephine to go into her office and try to get to work.
Though, later that day, Josephine's boss came to check in on her, but when she didn't answer his knock, he let himself into her office, and saw Josephine, slumped in her chair at her desk, asleep. This was becoming more and more common with Josephine, and he just couldn't understand why. He was even thinking of giving her some time off to rest, there had to be something going on, he just couldn't tell what, and he wouldn't imagine the truth of the matter. Josephine's boss sighed, and gently shook the girl's shoulder. "Josephine, wake up," he softly urged, causing Josephine to stir and wake quickly. "You fell asleep again," he told her, and Josephine sighed. "You need to get some rest, Josephine, I think you should take a few days off."
"I need to make rent this month," Josephine replied.
"You'll be on paid leave," her boss told her.
Josephine sighed, knowing that her boss didn't lie about things like this. She had known that this day would come at some point. That she would be told to take some time off from work to relax. She had known that she would be put on paid leave if she fell asleep again at work, she just hadn't known when. "I'll consider it," she said finally, only earning a disapproving look from her boss.
"No, Josephine. You said you would consider it last month, and you didn't take the time. You are going to take the time off. Two weeks, got it?" he sternly told her, earning an aggravated sigh from her. Though, reluctantly, she nodded.
"Fine, I'll take the time off, but I'm not going to like it, you know that," she said. And indeed, her boss knew she would hate not coming into work, though he knew she needed the time off more than anything at the moment. Josephine gathered her things, and was about to grab the files she had been working on, when her bosses hand stopped her, she simply rolled her eyes and stood, straightening herself up a bit. "I'll see you in a couple weeks, then," she said, and left, going back to her small apartment in the rough part of the city.
As Josephine entered the building, she was jostled by the other tenants as she always was. The girl had grown used to it, and didn't pay the comments or the pokes and prods much mind. She simply walked up the stairs to her third floor apartment and unlocked the several locks guarding her door, and stumbled inside, exhausted.
"Well, seems I've got a couple of weeks to 'rest', though, not going to do much of that, got to get ready for work, and I've got to study…" Josephine said to herself, as she went over to the closet.
Josephine's closet and apartment were scarcely furnished or filled. The apartment had come with the furniture left behind by the previous occupant, and it smelled of the smoke of cigarettes. She had a few books, and a clock, and some fairly old pictures, small, simple things, though that was all. In her closet, Josephine simply had a couple of suits, which she had cheaply bought and tailored to her size, some copies of her recruit uniform, and three, identical, knee length dresses, white tights, a pair of black, strapped shoes, a white apron, and white ribbon.
She took one of the dresses from the hanger, as well as the apron, shoes, tights, and ribbon, and changed into them, tying her hair back with the white ribbon, leaving a strand framing the right side of her face. The slim girl slipped into the tights and the dress, and strapped on the shoes. Finally, she tied on the apron, the bow perfectly tied, resting on the small of her back.
"Well, off to work," she said to herself, and put on her only coat, which by now was well worn from several years of being worn in all kinds of weather. At this, she set out, keeping her coat wrapped fairly tightly around her. On her way out, she was once again prodded with questions and comments, some innocent, some as suggestive and/or seductive as they get. Josephine simply ignored most of them, though to a few, she gave some witty retort, one earning her a good slap to the right cheek. What had this mattered to her? It was an overly common occurrence, though, surprisingly, this time around, it bothered her, she just couldn't understand why. There was no time to worry about that now, as she headed to work, knowing in her heart that she would find out why this time, the injury she received all too often, a simple slap to the cheek, had bothered her so much as to nearly cry as she walked the familiar route to her other job, knowing she would once again be working into the late hours of the night.
As Josephine entered the diner near the center of town, the manager, whom was also the chef, came storming out of the kitchen, spatula in hand. Josephine remembered the last time she had been late, and the smarting sting of the result. She had tried not to come in late, though, as she looked at her pocket-watch, she realized that she was, in fact, about fifteen minutes late for work.
The chef was obviously not amused with his most-liked waitress being late. He intended to somehow put a stop to it; he simply needed to smack some sense into the girl. He didn't even know why she was so well liked. The other waiters were just fine, they were kind and polite, and seemingly never got frustrated with a problem customer. Then, it hit him, Josephine was a girl, and though females were rare, they were not non-existent, and this was why everyone liked her. Women were naturally understanding, and the customers felt that Josephine understood them more than any of the other waiters. This was probably why he kept her around.
"You're late again, Grey," the chef told Josephine as she took off her jacket and hung it up on the hook. "You are well aware of what I told you would happen if you were this late again you'd get it, now you know where to go," he said, and Josephine sighed, hanging her head a bit in shame as she walked out to the back room, which was far enough away from the main dining area that the customers wouldn't be able to hear what was going on. Josephine knew what was coming, and was mentally bracing herself for that familiar feeling of the wooden spoon, and the smarting sting of the chef's belt on her backside. "Now, over the creates," the chef told her, and Josephine hesitantly complied.
Josephine prepared herself as she felt the skirt of her dress get pulled up over her rear and tucked under the ties of her apron. After several moments, it came; the first strike was delivered with a sickening smack. The sting was painful, though bearable, even if she bit her lip to be able to get through the painful smacks. The strikes kept coming for what seemed like hours until they finally stopped. By now, Josephine's eyes were brimming with tears, and she was trying to keep herself together, though the punishment was not yet over. Josephine felt her tights and underwear getting pulled down to her knees, and the sound of the chef taking off his belt. The girl knew what was coming to her, and she bit her lip, knowing she was expected not to make a sound during this.
"Twenty-five strokes, Grey, that's what you're getting," the chef told her, as he struck her with his belt. The strokes kept coming, each stronger and more painful than the last, and Josephine knew it would be cut close to her limit, the punishments always were. Though, she knew she wasn't the only one to get this, several of the waiters also got the same treatment if they came in late for work, so she knew that they wouldn't judge her if she came out with her cheeks streaked with tears. Before too long, the final stroke of the belt hit her, and the chef finally spoke. "That's it, Grey, next time, it'll be thirty, remember that. I expect you out there in ten minutes, no more than that," he said, and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Now alone, Josephine finally allowed the tears to freely fall. She remembered the first time this had happened, but tried not to remember too much of it. After about five minutes, Josephine straightened out her clothes, and did her best to pull herself together. She grabbed the small order pad and pen by the door, and walked out to start working. The hours went by, with the normal customers coming in for lunch or coffee or tea, and Josephine barely paid any mind to many of them. Josephine thought that nothing would really happen, that she would go through her shift until eleven thirty that night without anything notable arising, though, she found that later that day, this wouldn't turn out correct.
((A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I'm not posting much recently, but a few things came up over the holidays, including some major writer's block, so, yeah. I'm back now, and trying to pick up my stories! BTW, this is my first story for Black Butler, tell me how you like it so far!))