Disclaimer: Dick Wolf owns Law and Order SVU and the characters. I only own this idea for the story and the new characters.
Chapter 37: Mayhem
'You'll be sorry.'
Hannah sat in Cragen's office once again, slouched in her chair, with her arms folded and a royally ticked off look on her face. A bunch of adults stood around her, looking down on the little girl. Two of them were social workers.
'Is that a threat, Hannah?' Mrs. Wilcox asked her sharply. 'Because you know how I feel about those…'
'Lady, it's not a threat, it's promise:' and Hannah repeated once again, 'if you put me in that home, you'll be sorry.'
Olivia sighed and rolled her eyes. ACS was being difficult, but Hannah was being even more difficult. Then again, from a nine year old's point of view, it probably made sense to act out.
Captain Cragen took in a deep breath, 'Hannah, you will go and you will behave.' He looked at her intently. 'Now, can this circus be removed from my office? We do have actual work to do.'
Hannah threw the door open and walked out, followed by the two social workers.
'Are you okay?' Elliot asked Hannah.
'I'm fine!' She said, faking cheerfulness, 'but they won't be after tonight.' She pointed to the two women behind her.
'That can only mean one thing.' Fin said from his desk. 'Trouble.'
'Big trouble.' Munch added.
'She'll only make things more difficult for herself.' Elliot sighed.
'She doesn't care. She's pissed.' Fin said.
Olivia went over to her desk and put on her coat. 'How much damage can she do in just one night, right?'
'Ha!' Munch barked a laugh.
They took her to a home in Midtown Manhattan. It was a childrens home in an old house, with almost 40 kids living there. Hannah had been here before and greeted the kids she knew with a mischievous grin.
'Hey, Brooke.' Hannah bent down when a little blonde came running up to her, 'How you doin'?'
She smiled, 'Are you back for good?'
'Nope, just for one night.' Then Hannah leaned closer and whispered. 'I need your help, I need you to say something to all the other kids…'
Hannah put her stuff on her the bed she always slept in, after she'd said goodbye to Olivia. Another kid had the top bunk now, but Hannah kicked her out. They got into a fight over it at first, but Hannah assured her it was only for one night and then they'd never want her back in there again.
Because Hannah had a plan. A complicated and evil plan that had started to form in her mind the second Olivia told her ACS wanted to put her in a home. She said they'd be sorry if they put her in there, she planned on keeping her promise. Mayhem was coming.
Soon all the kids were whispering with anticipation. Brooke had delivered the message, as instructed. Some didn't like Hannah, but all knew of her reputation. And even though they thought Hannah was annoying, they all jumped at the opportunity of chaos.
For the first part of her plan, Hannah walked over to some of the big boys and asked them if they still kept most of the food in the kitchen cupboard with a padlock. Hannah was a little disappointed that none of them had a key, but she told them not to worry; she could open it. They laughed at her and dared her to prove it.
As Hannah picked the lock, with about ten pairs of eyes following her fingers, she told the little kids to make breakfast, even though it was almost 1 in the afternoon. Brooke would stand watch. They cooked the porridge and Hannah told them to save it in a pan and hide it somewhere. All the candy in the cupboard was taken out and when the social workers in the home found an empty storage and a lot of chewing and bubble blowing kids, suddenly none of them remember where they got the candy.
After that, all the kids were on Hannah's side. They helped her take the stuff she needed to her bed, by hiding it under their sweaters and shirts; bottles of honey and syrup, ketchup, flower, jelly, whipped cream and lots of tape.
A sixteen year old girl took Hannah aside and asked her why she was trying to get into so much trouble. 'They'll kill you after all of this. They'll lock you up and throw away the key.'
'No they won't' Hannah said, 'if they can't prove it's me. Of course they'll know it's me, because I said I would, but if they can't prove it; all they can do is regret taking me here when I said I didn't want to.'
The girl grinned. 'I like your style.'
'Just one night of chaos.' Hannah promised, with an evil smirk, 'and it'll be all they'll remember when they hear my name.'
In the living room, Hannah needed to know a few things to make sure all her plans worked out.
'Is today still the day potential foster parents come to visit?' she asked, as the kids pretended to watch TV.
'Yeah.' a lot of kids whispered in reply. 'I hate it when they come…'
'Yeah, it's like they come and see if they wanna buy you!' Another kid said in disgust.
'What about the central heating and the hot water boiler, where's that?' Hannah asked.
'Up in the attic and the boiler is in a storage room. What do ya want with that?' A boy asked.
'Nothing yet, but show me later.' Hannah said.
Then she ordered one kid to steal the markers from the kitchen, another kid to steal the shaving cream from the bathroom and she asked Stella, the sixteen year old girl, to go to the store, because she was allowed out, and buy her some balloons and hot sauce. Now all she needed to know was where the fire alarm was, but she remembered that from before.
Hannah knew she had about twelve hours to cause as much trouble as possible, so after the preparations, she was all set to go at 3 o'clock in the afternoon: right on time for the foster families. She had everything she needed and knew everything she needed to know for her plans.
The adults arrived with big smiles on their faces and talked to a lot of kids. All the kids' social workers were there too and a few psychologists. Today wasn't the day for the kids' real family to visit: Hannah had checked. These were just people none of the kids really liked. As some of the children put on their most angelic faces, a few others sneaked out of sight and up the stairs. They made their way up to the attic, where they opened a window and climbed onto the roof; all on Hannah's instructions. With them, they carried a big box.
Hannah waited downstairs, because she knew they needed time to get ready up there, and made sure a lot of social workers saw her, so they couldn't blame it on her later on. After enough time had passed, Hannah set off the fire alarm without anyone noticing.
Immediately panic broke out and all the adults fled outside. The kids did as well, pretending to be genuinely scared, but once outside, they all moved to the left side of the building.
On the roof, a few laughing kids saw the adults come streaming out of the building, and when they were in perfect view, they dropped their bombs from the box one by one.
The adults screamed as balloons exploded right and left of them, some filled with water, others filled with jelly. The kids hid under the cover of the left side of the building, laughing like crazy at the sight of the jumping parents. Soon, all were wet and covered in green pudding. Brooke almost fell over giggling.
The adults looked up, but couldn't see where the balloons were coming from. The social workers, also covered in goo, yelled out threats and some ran back inside to find the perpetrators. But the kids on the roof had dumped their bombs, made their made to the other side of the roof and climbed down from there, just as Hannah had explained. They joined the other kids on the side of the building and it looked like they'd been standing there all that time.
Hannah grinned at the chaos of screaming ladies, angry social workers and laughing kids: part one of her plan was complete.
Of course, the vibe in the house was a bit tense after that. They'd all been asked a thousand times who'd done it, but none of the kids knew, or so they said. They knew there was more to come and they wouldn't ruin the fun now.
Just before diner, Hannah sat on her bed. A boy named Benji guarded the door, but was actually more interested in what she was doing.
'But what is it for?' Benji asked her again and again.
'You'll see.' Hannah hissed, 'Now make sure no one comes in!'
She hid a tiny object in her hoody and went to the dining table with all the other kids for diner.
They ate macaroni and cheese and that was just perfect. One of the leaders of the house, a tall, dark, and now grumpy man, put the big pan on the table. Hannah threw her fork behind one of the plants and told him she didn't have one.
As he got up, with a frown, to get her one, all of the kids reacted fast as lightning. They gave Hannah the lid of the pan and she quickly taped a device to it. Attached to the device was a short electric wire with another part attached to it. Benji buried this part into the macaroni and before the leader had turned around again, he had put the lid back on the pan.
The kids were all quiet with anticipation as the adults made them say their prayers. They opened their eyes, watched the same man get up and heard the electric wire break as he pulled the lid off the pan. As a reaction, the tiny bomb Hannah had construed went off, and the macaroni and cheese exploded in his face.
All the kids stared at him with their mouths open for a second, when Hannah put part two of this plan in motion.
'FOODFIGHT!' she yelled, and all hell broke loose.
Macaroni, cheese and milk went flying in all directions. Kids screamed and sang at the top of their lungs at the same time. Some even jumped up on the table and all the adults could do was wait until it would stop. It was beautiful.
There were five leaders who actually lived at the house and two extra who helped out. This was important to know exactly. As they did the dishes and were made to clean the kitchen as a punishment, Hannah wasn't done yet. She played Frisbee with the plates and turned over all the buckets of water, flooding the kitchen. She later said she thought it would just go quicker that way. The adults' mood became darker and darker.
Two of the leaders went straight to the showers, to wash off the cheese from the foodfight, while the others watched the kids. Hannah whispered something to Ryan and he showed her to the boiler. It was getting harder and harder to get away without the adults noticing. Hannah told him to wait for about a minute and then turn off the hot water for the entire house.
She crept up the stairs and walked on her toes to the bathroom where they were showering. Bathroom locks were luckily the easiest the pick. She opened the door and on hands and knees moved in the steam. With their clothes in her arms she shut the door again on her way out, without making a sound. After having done so, she threw the clothes from the window and hid in one of the rooms.
She only had to wait for a few seconds, when she heard them both scream. They scrambled out of the shower and shouted in frustration when they found their clothes were missing. Some kids already came up the stairs because they'd heard the noise and the adults followed after them, quickly. You can imagine what happened next…
With a huge smile on her face, Hannah lay in her bed. All was going very well. The next part of her plan hardly needed any encouraging. All the kids were hyped up on candy and after that day and they didn't plan on sleeping. A pillow fight seemed only natural. Of course, the leaders were close to a burnout when the shouting started once again and feathers were flying everywhere. It took them hours to get the kids to settle down, to stop them from jumping on their beds and to return to their own.
But at 3 o'clock in the morning, Hannah woke all the kids up again. She divided them in teams. The little kids took out the pan of porridge again and took it down, quietly. Benji and some other boys took the shaving cream, ketchup and tape, and ran off. Hannah gave Brooke the superglue and warned her again not to get stuck herself! Stella knew where the central heating was regulated, up in the attic, and took off with the flower. Then Hannah took the honey and syrup, the markers and whipped cream. She, Ryan and two other big girls named Christel and Ramila went into the hall.
All the adults had their own bedroom and Ramila went in them one by one. She was like a ghost, so quiet and they never even noticed she was there. With the stolen goods in her arms, she winked at Hannah and climbed up on roof for the second time that day.
The other three then went in the bedrooms again and sprayed the honey and syrup all over the leaders. They covered their beds, but not their faces, so they wouldn't wake them up. Hannah was scared they would notice when she started drawing a moustache on their faces, but they all kept on sleeping. They sprayed the whipped cream in their hair and stifled their laughs at the funny sight.
Then they tiptoed back out and went back to their own bunk beds. In the kids' rooms, all the other waited, never even thinking about sleep. Hannah nodded to let them know everything had worked. Together they waited for all the other kids to come back from their missions as well. It had worked, the house was still silent and the adults hadn't noticed a thing.
Everyone whished Hannah good luck when she slipped out of her room, one last time. She rushed down the stairs and in the hall she saw, to her satisfaction, the silhouette of a body taped on the floor already, with a few ketchup stains here and there. She opened the front door to the house and made sure it didn't make a sound, not yet. Hannah took in a deep breath and screamed her best horror movie inspired scream and then slammed the door shut. Hiding out in the living room, she waited. Adults are so predictable.
The leaders of the homes woke up with a shock when they heard the little girl's scream pierce the night. They shot up in their beds and disgust crept over them when they found themselves glued to the bed. Sticky substances covered them and honey dripped all over their fingers as they tried to throw the covers off. Then of course, they felt at their heads in fear and found their hands digging into white cream. Some of the women screamed in horror and the kids high-fived each other in satisfaction.
The leaders were responsible for whatever kid was screaming and their panic won over their disgust. They sprinted down the stairs towards their front door and jumped back at what they thought was a body. A closer look proved it to be nothing more than tape and when they could see no child there, they knew they had to go and look outside. But when they slipped their feet into their shoes, another wave of disgust washed over them. A cold substance that almost felt like porridge washed over and between their toes and it stuck to their bare feet as they pulled them out again, groaning. By then, they had figured out that there probably was no kid outside, but that they were the victims of yet another prank.
The hollered angrily at all the kids to wake up and get out of bed. The prankster would be severely punished! Hannah giggled in the dark and went up to her room via the other stairs. Tired after everything that had happened that day, the adults hoisted themselves up the stairs by holding onto the banisters. With a sigh, they pulled back their hands, because even the banisters were covered in shaving cream. Great, just what they needed to make this night even worse.
Of course, the kids had absolutely no idea who could have done this. No one said a word and all failed at holding back their laughter at the sight of the ghosts covered in honey. As the leaders took yet another shower, the kids were sent to bed, with the promise of more punishment.
'I hope you all don't mind getting punished later on.' Hannah said apologetically, a little while later, 'If it gets too bad, tell them it was me. I'll be long gone by then.'
'Are you kidding me?' Stella called out, 'This was totally worth it! Did you see their faces.'
All the kids started laughing. This had been one of the best nights of their lives, actually.
'When do you have to leave?' Benji asked Hannah.
'They'll probably take me away tomorrow. They know it was me.'
'Too bad.' He sighed.
'Don't worry,' Hannah winked, 'I still have some ideas for breakfast left.'
The next morning they got hauled out of bed at 7, as part of their punishment. The kids went down in their pajamas, groggily at first, but they all cheered up when they saw the chaos they had caused. The fake dead body looked amazingly scary, shaving cream covered the walls and the shoes overflowing with porridge made everyone giggle. Brooke smiled with pride at the shoes glued to the kitchen door and Hannah padded her on the back in respect.
Just as planned, it was boiling hot inside the kitchen, because Stella had turned up the heating. It was almost hard to breathe, so hot and damp. The adults didn't even care anymore, they knew it was Hannah and wanted her gone. Unsuspectingly, they turned on the ceiling fan to get rid on some of the heat, and within seconds the entire kitchen was white with flower.
Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler walked up to the home where Hannah was put up for the night, when they noticed something was wrong. Normally they would have picked up on this due to their trained police instincts, but today it was hard to miss really. The first thing the saw was the underwear, flapping in the breeze on the flagpole. When they came closer to the door, they heard kids shouting like wild Indians inside. A big A with a circle around it, the sign for anarchy, was sprayed on the door. Elliot smelled at the white substance for a second.
'Shaving cream.' he concluded.
The social workers yelled at the kids and walked off with their own breakfast, not bothering anymore. Being sleep deprived made them even crankier. The kids followed them closely with their looks, as they lifted the fork to their mouths. It never really got old to hear them scream. Hannah winked at the other kids, and quickly threw her bottle of hot sauce out the window.
It was safe to say, the social workers had broken. Operation Mayhem was complete.
Lol, well, what did you think of Hannah's revenge?