36;

As with the outside, the interior was exactly as how they remembered it. Though being in a familiar place didn't come close to settling any nerves.

Ellie began breathing quickly again after entering the dreaded building and Riley, too, had a racing pulse that was getting stronger and faster with each step away from the entrance.

As they approached the officer door they looked at each other without a word, silently agreed, and stepped past its threshold into visibility.

They walked single file into the office and stopped in front of the wooden desk they've come to fear seeing again. It was just as messy as they remembered, littered with scattered papers and other random items. Though what lay behind it set them at ease, if only for a moment. An empty chair.

Ellie eyed the room up and down already on the search for anything. "Do we just wait here or what?"

"Shit, I don't know."

Riley nervously took a couple steps towards the door before being forced to take an awkward half-step backwards. But with that step her heart stopped and her stomach sank.

A tall man in a rather casual outfit and a head full of gray and black hair took a couple of steps into the office, his face deep into a clipboard he was carrying with him. He realized that he wasn't paying attention and almost knocked into someone as he entered.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse-" He took his eyes off the board and turned them upwards to see something he had never expected to see again, his eyebrows rising as high as they could go in recognition. "Riley…Ellie…"

"You remember us..."

"Of course. How could I not? It's not every day I get decried as to being a… well, I'm sure you remember as well as I do." He dropped his board onto his desk and walked around it and sat in his chair. He placed his hands onto it and leaned forward. "Speaking of which, I would like you two to leave. Immediately. You have no business being here."

"David, please hear us out. We just want to talk."

"And why would I want to hear what you have to say? Especially after what you already have?"

"Because we're here to apologize."

An expression of interest crossed his face. He paused for a moment, sighed, and leaned back against his chair. He crossed his arms and waited for them to continue. "I'm listening."

As part of their plan Riley was going to speak first. She knew her lines and tried to appear and sound as sincere as her nerves would allow.

"We've been on our own for quite a while now and recently things have started to get bad for us. Like really bad, actually. So… we started talking about why we left in the first place... and we came to the realization that we were wrong. It was stupid to leave. I was just angry is all."

"About?"

Riley tried to breathe out her tension. Every word from David, even a single one, sent a twinge of pain through her entire body.

"Keeping me in the basement. I may still not agree with what you did, but that's not to say it wasn't warranted. And to be honest, I was kind of a bitch."

David scrutinized her and her words, his face about as emotionally void as possible. He turned to Ellie quickly. "Ellie, what about you? Were you angry?"

The question not being a part of the plan was briefly disorienting. "I... yes. Riley is my best friend. If something upsets her, it upsets me."

"I see. But I doubt the main reason you left with Riley was because she was upset. You yourself said some pretty horrid things before leaving. Rather specific things. Care to explain them away?"

"I did, you're right. Like we said, we talked about everything, and the truth is we don't know what we saw that night. Considering what you did to Riley was disciplinary, we can only assume it was the same for Tino... even though we still don't agree. In the slightest. But regardless, we should've talked to you first before doing and saying what we did."

"Yes. I agree with that." His eyes flickered between the both of them. "I assume you're not here just to apologize though. Why are you here?"

Riley took over again for the response. "Because we're tired. We can't do it anymore. We're still living on the streets and we barely make enough money to even feed ourselves. We wanted to try and stick it out, to see if we could make it. But it's obvious we can't."

"Please. We really need somewhere to sleep that isn't an alley or a bench, and food that isn't other peoples' leftovers." Ellie tried to add in an emotional factor, something that she had no idea if he would be able to respond to.

David remained quiet for a minute and mulled it over, the silence setting both girls on edge. "So, let me get this straight. After these many months on your own, a position you put yourselves in mind you, you've come back to make amends and request to be a part of the orphanage again? Is that about right?"

Their hearts were beating in their ears by this point. They nodded their heads at his question and anxiously waited for his decision. The decision that ultimately decided if their ride back would come to an end almost instantly or not.

A smile that would've been nearly impossible to force after such a tense conversation graced his face. "Fine. I'll give you a second chance. What kind of caretaker would I be if I denied orphans in need? But if you start any trouble, any at all, know that I won't hesitate to send you back out onto the street."

The girls breathed a momentary sigh of relief and forced their own half-smiles, though less successfully as his. "Understood. And thank you. We really appreciate it."

"Of course." He eyed their backpacks. "Is that all you have?"

"It is."

He nodded, saying nothing more on the matter. "I imagine you two are exhausted."

"Beyond."

David dug into his pile of papers and then shifted his search into the drawer in his desk. He pulled out a small binder and flipped it open in front of them. "Your original beds have long since been reassigned. I can put you in… 24 for now." He shut it and looked back up at them. "Anything else?"

"You've already helped a ton by giving us another chance, we don't need anything else. Thank you again."

"You're welcome." The girls immediately took the opportunity to hustle out of his office and toward the bed area but were stopped just before they could exit the room. "Welcome back to Gateway. Please try and behave yourselves."

The two nodded and again flashed him painfully forced smiles. Riley led the freckled girl out and into the room across from the office. They passed the doorway and cut to the side and out of David's view.

Ellie leaned against the inside wall with her hands over the edges of her face trying to slow her breathing. Riley chose to slide her hands through her hair as a stress reliever. After composing herself again she let out an empty scoff of disbelief.

"Holy shit." She let her head fall back against the wall and tilted it toward Ellie. "You alright?"

"You think he bought it?"

"I doubt it."

Ellie shook her head. "What about the whole 'behave yourselves' thing? The way he said it was… off."

Riley moved away from the door and next to Ellie to avoid being overheard. "The way he says everything is 'off' because he's a fucking psychopath."

"True." She glanced over at the door. "Come on, let's move away from here."

They walked, once again after months, through a row of beds to their new assigned number: bed 24. Ellie fell on it like a stone and landed flat on her stomach. Riley sat herself on the edge with her feet hanging over the side and kept watch on the door.

Apart from having a new number, the bedroom changed little. Some of the old gray lockers were beginning to be replaced by newer beige ones and the window coverings seem to have been replaced with a lighter fabric as well.

Riley spoke without breaking her view of the door. "You tired?"

"Incredibly. I've gotten no sleep the last couple of nights. Not even on the bus."

"Then just rest here for a bit. I'll walk around and figure out the place."

"…okay." She twisted over and rested her arm over her eyes. "Just be careful."

"I will."

Riley walked past the first corner that splits off toward the kitchen and was greeted with a view of the majority of the orphanage. The entertainment area had the same TV and couches, the couches of which certainly looked more abused, and the eating area also looked like it had before, including the same absence of Evette. James, who seemed to have a personal connection with David, still held his position behind the serving counter in the kitchen.

She cautiously wandered through the building, making sure not to make eye contact with anyone nor bring attention to herself in any way. She did, however, carefully observe them as they went about their day, soon coming to the disheartening realization that she recognized no one.

She walked back to and down the hallway that ultimately led to the basement door. She swiveled her head several times looking for David or James and, after spotting neither, quickly jiggled the handle. Not surprisingly she found it still locked.

She headed back out of the hallway and toward the bedroom after finishing her basic scouting of the building. Upon passing by David's office she accidentally peered inside and regretfully made eye contact with the man behind the desk. She nervously forced a smile of which he returned quickly. A wave of uneasiness shot through her after she made it back into the bedroom and out of his line of sight.

The room was consistently inhabited with at least some orphans of all ages throughout the day. Riley was anxious to be among them for a while as she fell into bed next to Ellie.

Ellie responded with a groan to the disturbance but quickly adapted. "How'd it go?"

"Pretty much all the same. James is still back there, but I didn't see Evette's assistant. The door to the basement is locked. No surprise there." She let out a sigh. "It's weird though."

"What?"

"Kids grow up in these places, you know? They can live their entire early lives here. Most do. Yet I didn't recognize a single one of them out there. We could've come back in like five years and chances are we would see a few of the same faces. But nothing. Not one."

"You think that means…"

"I don't know. But it's all the more reason to get out of here as soon as we can."

Riley lied down completely and settled in against Ellie hoping to get some rest in.

The sun, already near the end of its journey below the horizon, cast an extensive and complex array of shadows throughout the bedroom which were caused by the few dozen metal bed frames against the windows. The shadows were a dark and appealing contrast to the otherwise orange hue that saturated the room. Soon night had fallen and all that lit the room was the string of lights that were still crudely hung down the one row of beds.

Though the sound of footsteps getting closer to their bed pulled Ellie from her sleep, she kept her eyes closed until eventually the footsteps stopped just next to her. At her eye level all she could see was a belt buckle and the glinting off of its metal. She quickly scanned upwards to see the rest of the imposing figure.

"Shit! Oh, you scared me." Her sudden noise and jerking woke Riley to react the same.

"You may not know this, but the children here are not allowed to sleep in the same bed. That includes you two now."

"But we always-"

"Please sleep in your own beds from here on."

Ellie was hesitant to agree but knew they needed to be on good terms with David. "Sure, okay. Sorry."

He slightly nodded his head and smiled. "It's fine. Dinner is going to be served shortly."

They watched as he swiveled himself around and proceeded out of the room. Ellie put a hand over her heart and Riley rolled onto her back and stared at the bottom of the upper mattress.

Ellie spoke flatly after reaching an unhappy realization. "He's keeping tabs on us."

Riley groaned from behind her. "Seems that way, doesn't it? Not surprised to be honest."

"He didn't see you snooping around did he?"

"No. I don't think so at least. I kept checking." Riley lied quietly while letting thoughts run through her head. "Maybe we should lay low for a bit. If we don't do anything suspicious maybe he'll stop watching us."

"How long's a bit?"

"I don't know, a few days? Look, I don't want to stay here any longer than we have to either. But I'd rather do it right than rush it." She rubbed Ellie's shoulder before shuffling her way out of bed and off the opposite side. "Let's get some food."

"Hope it's not poisoned."

Riley's eyes widened. "Fuck you, why would you say that?"

Ellie grunted as she pushed herself out of bed and stood to join Riley. "Chill, it was a joke."

"Not here it isn't."

They both walked out of the dimly lit room and anxiously turned the corner to the kitchen to see what awaited them. They made their way through the staggered tables and grabbed a couple of plates from the stack and joined in behind the rest of the orphans. As they inched closer they could see the offerings of some mush, biscuits, chicken, and a gravy-looking side dish.

As their place in line moved them in front of the food trays, they made direct eye contact with James. He paused, gave them a thorough and confused judging, and proceeded to plop a couple of the substances onto their plates. The assistant Riley didn't see before was next to him helping, though he didn't seem to recognize them. He gave them the other couple of items before turning his attention to next person in line.

They took their plates and sat at a table nearest the wall. Ellie herself scanned the faces throughout the room and came to the same conclusion as Riley in that she recognized no one. She had lived at Gateway for much longer than her and to not know a single face was unsettling.

She looked over at Riley who was poking at the food with her fork. "Seriously? There's nothing in it."

"Yeah, seriously. And you don't know that." After a sufficient amount of studying she hesitantly began eating. "Tastes like shit."

"I could really go for some of Marlene's cooking instead."

"Well, yeah."

They shared a quickly fading smile and finished off their food. The dropped off their plates and ignored the rest of the other kids wandering around and headed straight back for their bed. They both sat in silence for some time on the bottom bunk, just staring out at the movements within the room.

"Just a few days..." Ellie spoke quietly, unintentionally being heard.

"Just a few."

Ellie yawned which set off Riley to do the same. "I think I'm done for the night."

"Same. See you in the morning… I guess."

"This is insane."

"It really is… night, Ellie."

"Night."

They quickly kissed before Riley split off to the upper bunk and covered herself in the blanket. They both lay in bed and stared out into the darkness in disbelief while listening to the symphony of breathing and coughing of the others surrounding them until eventually everything went silent.