2024 July 20th

Chapter: Daily Living pt. 2

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It's been a few days since me and Frank started playing our game. Frank's win streak is embarrassingly higher than mine even when I'm playing as seeker. But as long as I see some improvement on my stealth and strategy then all of Frank's good-natured bragging will be worth it.

Hard to tell if it is helping, but it's only been a week so I shouldn't expect a big improvement yet.

Frank seems to really like the game too which surprised me. Ever since we started that's the only game he plays during free time now.

Other children noticed us playing and wanted to join in on the fun. With the added players, the game became less challenging in some ways but more complicated as well.

With school and lunch done, the six of us invested in the game meet up near the diamond field.

"How are we going to split the teams this time?" Rachel asked, eager to get started. She recently had Mama put her brown hair into double braids that hang over her shoulders. If it was blonde then she would look like the spitting image of Anna from Grace Field.

"I should be the seeker!" Joseph demanded. His brown hair is cut short, the longest part of it is spiked up in the front and that part only measures an inch tall. His pale face is littered with freckles. He would be a good model for one of Norman Rockwell's paintings. His lanky arms and legs remind me of the Four Sporting Boys. He even argues over games like the boys in that painting.

The ten year old has a big ego. Mama and Susan discourage such attitudes, but it seems Joseph fell through the cracks. To be fair, the boy does have talent. He is athletic and is one of the top scorers of the house. His scores are even better than Frank's.

"You've played nothing but seeker since you joined." Frank pointed out, already looking a bit tired of Joseph. Too bad we can't kick him out. He would go tell on us to Mama and that could lead to the game being banned for the day.

"So what? I'm good at it."

"By playing as a seeker every round, you're forcing us to play as a hider more often." Amelie, the second oldest girl in the house explained. She's best friends with Margaret and they normally stick together like two peas in a pod. It's odd to see her here without Margaret, but maybe the elder girl is helping Mama with the babies. She loves cradling and gushing over them.

Amelie is eleven but it won't be much longer until she turns twelve in September. Her long and layered white hair shines as the sunlight bounces off it. Her brown skin gives her hair a nice contrast and her eyes give off a sharp intelligence. Something about her always felt familiar to me, but I could never figure out why. Now that I know I'm stuck in a manga series, I would bet she has something to do with the later plot.

Disconcertingly, I don't remember reading about her at all.

"Well you guys are getting turns on the seeker team, so it shouldn't matter." Joseph argued, his face getting a little red.

"Okay, Okay. You can be a seeker again." Frank gives in, not wanting to deal with a temper tantrum.

"Yes!" Joseph puts his fists in the air as though he's won something.

Amelie rolled her eyes before looking at Frank like he is to blame for Joseph being Joseph. Frank just smiles awkwardly at her, seeming to not know what to say.

Amelie lets out a sigh. "I'm going to be a hider."

"Great. How about the rest of you?" Frank asks me and the others.

"Hiders!" Both Rachel and a nine year old boy named Jun shouted. Like many of the children here, Jun has an Asian ethnicity. His black hair is long in the front and short in the back, with his bangs parting away from his face.

"That means Frank gets to be on my team." Joseph happily exclaimed, no doubt liking having such a skilled player on his side.

"And don't forget little Shirley here." Frank pats my shoulder.

Joseph looks my way, and he doesn't seem impressed in the slightest.

"Yeah um, can she keep up with us dude?" He asks looking back to Frank.

Excuse me? I'm the one who made this game!

"Sure she can and she's really good at thinking on her feet." Frank defended me. I give him a wide smile for it.

"Let's start already. Our free time is ticking by." Amelie took the hands of both Jun and Rachel neither seemed to mind. They know Amelie is going to help them. She always helps out the younger children in games.

"Okay, home is going to be the Bell Tower's door. If one of the hiders can get there and touch the door without us seekers seeing then they win. I'll count to twenty and we'll have our eyes closed so we can't see where you're going. "Frank didn't need to repeat the rules since they're the same as the other days but I guess reminding everyone is good. That leaves no room for argument later if a kid thinks someone broke the rules.

The Bell Tower's door as the safe spot was new though. It's either been the pitcher's mound or in some cases a tree. Maybe he just wants to change things up a bit to keep the game interesting.

Unlike the front gate, the children can go near the Bell Tower. We just can't go inside.

Mama or Susan goes in there once a day at eight o'clock sharp. They take turns so every other day Mama goes inside and vis versa for Sister Susan. I think they may be sending messages to Headquarters, but I don't know for certain. At Grace Field, Isabella reported to the higher-ups but Sister Krone was never shown doing that. It could be a different rule Glory Bell made so if one is suspicious of the other then she can report it without raising alarm bells for the other woman.

I've looked around the house for secret rooms like the one in Grace Field, but my searches have turned up zilch. Mama has to have some way of contacting her superiors and the Bell Tower is the most likely place to hide a radio.

I cover my eyes with my hands as do Frank and Joseph.

"One, Two, Three," We begin to slowly count. I hear the hiders run away. From the sound of their footsteps, I'm guessing they're going East which is away from the Bell Tower.

Odd.

Why would Amelie take them somewhere farther away? She's smart so I'm sure she must have a plan.

"Nineteen and Twenty! Ready or not here we come!" We shout out, ready to start the hunt.

"You heard them run in the opposite direction of the Tower right?" Frank says, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb.

"Of course." Joseph scuffs. "Amelie just wants us to go that way. I bet she's going to circle around with the two dead weights."

The cheery smile of Frank's turned into a small scowl. If there's one thing that upsets Frank more than anything, it's when someone is being mean to his family even when they're family too. Though he has never met anyone not family, so all the ones to make him angry have been other siblings.

"Joseph, you need to stop trash talking them. What if they overhear you?"

"They're not around." Was Joseph's answer. He said it so nonchalant too, as though it doesn't matter to him if he hurts their feelings.

"If you say anything else like that, I'm going to tell Mom." Frank threatened, causing both me and Joseph to take a pause.

Tattle telling wasn't Frank's style. He always tries to work things out sibling to sibling and not involve Mom or Susan.

Joseph must have been pushing Frank too far lately for him to resort to Mom.

"Fine." Joseph whined, though I could tell he is somewhat fearful Frank will make good on his word.

"Um, should we split up?" I asked, trying to get back to our game planning. "One person can be on guard near the door and the other two can go hunt them." This isn't a new strategy, since we started to form teams the seekers would normally pick a guard for the safe spot.

The two boys stopped their stare down in favor of looking my way.

"That would be the safest thing to do, but the seekers have been doing that plan so much. Amelie will be prepared for it." Frank pointed out.

"But we have been wasting too much time yapping. Amelie might already be close to the Bell Tower. I say shorty here should go guard the door and we go look'en for them." Joseph, surprisingly, agreed with my plan. Though I could have done without the slight insult. I'm three years younger than him, of course I would be shorter.

"Yeah that's true. Okay Shirley go guard the safe spot but be on your toes. You know how good Amelie is at these kinds of games." Frank warned.

"Enough talk let's go." Joseph ran off in the direction we heard Amelia and the younger kids go to. Frank gave a big sigh before following the miscreant.

I took that as my cue to start towards the Bell Tower.

I could already see it in the distance. The tower is over five stories tall, dwarfing the orphanage by comparison. But it's so skinny that I'm sure there wouldn't be enough room for all the house members to fit inside together. It's made out of red brick with green tiles for the roofing. The clock part at the top uses Roman numbers and the hands have an elegant heart shape at the ends. It has clock faces on all four sides, so no matter where you're standing you'll be able to read the time.

As I drew nearer, I could hear more children talking and playing. I'm still in the wooden area, so my line of sight is limited.

I run out from among the trees into an open area with short grass and dirt paths. The children I had heard are now in view. They're all in little groups doing various activities common on playgrounds. Some were playing around with the kickball, others seem to be playing a game of freeze tag, and there's another bunch picking wildflowers.

None of these children are my targets, so I went straight towards the Bell Tower. I couldn't get in front of the door. The rules say I have to be some distance away from the safe spot so the hiders have a chance of sneaking past me. So instead, my guarding station is next to one of the house's walls. Here I have a clear visual on the door and the house can somewhat hide me from certain angles. Plus it's far enough away where I'm not breaking the rule.

Now you would think the hiders would have no way of winning. I mean, I just have to see them. I don't need to tag them or get within a certain distance of them to take them out of the game. But the thing is, Amelia is the queen of stealth, and she knows how to think outside the box

Seriously, some days I think her life goal is to become a ninja when she grows up.

Standing guard, I slowly move my eyes around the playground, but the door is always within my line of sight.

The children don't notice me, or maybe they don't care enough to see why I'm just standing around. I'm not the most popular child here thanks to my shyness and insistence on being left alone.

Waiting around like this becomes boring fast and time seems to slow down. If I wasn't staring at a clock tower then I would think ten minutes have already past but in reality it's been three.

Is this really the best use of my limited time? When it was just me and Frank, I felt like I was training but this feels like wasting time. Probably should switch to the hiding team next round. At least then I'll get experience escaping my pursuers.

My eyes go over the groups of children to make sure my targets aren't hiding within their ranks. Amelie did that before and won the round. But Amelie would be the easiest to spot in a group of children. Since she's one of the older ones, she's taler than most of the children. Her white hair is also a dead giveaway if you're looking for it in a crowd. No other child here has hair as white as hers. Amelie also doesn't use the same trick twice so I doubt she'll hide that way. Jun and Rachel would be more difficult to see, so Amelie might instruct them to use that tactic and she'll find some other way to get to the door.

"Shirley, what are you doing?"

I jump and jerk my head around.

Mama is standing right beside me.

When did she get there? I didn't hear her steps. I must have been too distracted looking at the children and didn't pay enough attention to my own surroundings.

"Um, I'm watching the door." I point to the Bell Tower.

"Whatever for?" She asks, bending down so we're at eye level. She looks concerned, as though she found me hurt or crying. She is also using That voice. The one for when she acts worried for a child's wellbeing. I'm not injured or crying, so I do not have the faintiest idea why she's acting like this.

"To make sure none of the hiders get to it." I explain, of course leaving out a lot of details. Mama is used to children not explaining things well, so I'm sure she'll understand it's a game.

I want to know why she decided to talk to me, but I can't just ask about it. That'll just make me sound suspicious.

Sure maybe it is a little weird for a child to just be standing when it's play time, but I'm known as the loner kid for a reason. I don't normally play outdoor games. I just started playing with Frank and the others for the exercise, so I'll be prepared to run away when the time is right. If anything it's abnormal for me to be out here and not inside reading.

Why would Mama be concerned I'm by myself?

She looks over to where I was pointing and gets a look of realization.

"Oh, I'm sorry Shirley. They've already made it there." She says, genuinely sounding remorseful.

Shit!

I look over and sure enough there they were, all three of them, smiling and looking at me and Mama.

…...Did she get Mama to distract me?

What a dirty tactic! Amelie do you have no honor!

Amelie even had the guile to give a wave.

"Mama did they tell you to talk to me?" I ask, needing conformation.

She gives a guilty smile. "Amelie told me you looked sad and asked me to check on you. I didn't know you were playing a game with them."

"Shirley! How could you let them get past?" Joseph shrieked in the distance.

Great. Now I must deal with the king of sore losers.

Joseph and Frank run up to us. They're slightly panting and with how red Joseph's face looks you would think he just finish a 10k marathon. If you've ever played one game with the boy and he lost then you would know it's not exhaustion that's making his skin redden. Of course Frank doesn't look upset over the loss.

"They got Mama to distract me." I explain, shifting the blame unto the woman. Joseph can't yell at our caregiver after all.

"Mom!" He whined. I half expected him to stamp his foot to complete the look of a five year old. Although, I do have to admit that I'm also a bit upset Amelia would use Mom in a game of all things. It feels like she broke some unspoken sibling rule.

"Sorry, Sorry I had no idea it was a game. Amelia asked me to check on Shirley." She pats my shoulder when she said my name. I don't flinch away from her touch even though I wanted to. It's still hard to think she walks children to their death and still manages to always be smiling. But I've known something was up with this place for two years and have plenty of practice suppressing my natural reactions.

The hiders decided to come over and join this delightful conversation.

"We won!" Jun shouted, doing a cute victory wiggle dance.

"Only because you cheated." Joseph accused, earning a glare from Amelie.

"We broke no rule."

"You got someone not a part of the game to help you."

"Children stop arguing." Mama commanded, making both children advert their eyes downwards like dogs when their owner is giving them a scolding. Mom waits a second to see if they'll say something but when neither try to defend themselves, she sighs.

"Amelie, although it was a clever idea, I do not appreciate being used against my children."

"Ha, see. Mom agrees that was cheating." Joseph points at Amelie, acting as though he won. But the rest of us know Mom is going to scold Joseph too. How the boy didn't realize this, I'm not sure. He has lived here under Mom's care for ten years and should know she doesn't take sides when children argue over something so stupid.

"I didn't say it was cheating." Mom corrected him causing the boy to sputter out more protests of how it wasn't fair.

"B-but, they shouldn't have gotten you to help! How could we win when they get you to stop our lookout." Mom lets him ramble on for a little longer even though he just keeps repeating what he said but with different words.

None of us other children interfere. Looking at Amelia, I can tell she wants to argue with him some more but she's holding her tongue and letting Joseph dig his own grave. Jun and Rachel are getting uncomfortable. They're fidgeting with their hands and are slowly shifting to hide behind Amelia. And Frank seems done with the whole thing. His arms are crossed and he is staring at Joseph with a blank look. It's as though he's watching a boring movie but has to wait the whole thing out before leaving the theater with his friends.

The noise of children playing slowly stops as everyone near us notices the arguing. I'm starting to feel secondhand embarrassment for Joseph. He is one of the oldest children here and yet all the younger children around us can see how bratty he is acting.

"Joseph, you need to stop. You're old enough to not be throwing a fit." Mom chides, putting her hands on her hips. If he would shut up and apologies then Mama might leave and we can play another few rounds. Though after this I don't think Jun or Rachel will be wanting to continue playing with him for a while.

"It's not fair!" He shouts, stamping his foot. Tiers begin building up in his eyes and his breathing is getting faster. His face has gotten so red that his freckles have blended in with his skin.

Mama has had enough.

"Joseph I think you need to spend some alone time in your bedroom to calm down." She grabs Josephs hand. He tries at first to pull away but Mama has an iron grip that no child can break.

He is having a full blown breakdown at this point as Mama leads him inside the house.

There's now an awkward silents. None of us seem to know what to say. The other children nearby go back to their games, though I can hear some of them whisper about what just happened.

"Um, can we play another round?" I ask though I think I already know the answer.

"I'm done playing for today. Sorry Shirley." Amelia says and walks off into the house. Probably going to find Margaret and vent about Joseph.

Jun and Rachel also didn't want to stick around and go join some other children in their game of playing pretend knights.

That leaves Frank.

"Frank?" I say. If he doesn't want to play then I'm not sure what else to do for exercise. Guess I could just run around to build up my endurance, but Mama would notice and ask questions.

He still has that blank look. He didn't say a word during that fiasco and his silents is getting me worried.

"Maybe we should do something else." Frank suggests.

"What do you want to do?" It's fine if he doesn't want to play the game again but I do still need to continue my training in some way.

I glance over at the clock tower and see it's only thirty minutes past one o'clock. Our free outside time ends at four o'clock.

"Well, sometimes I just like to climb trees and boulders in the woods and pretend I'm a warrior running to go save people." He rubs the back of his neck. "I know it's silly but's really fun. I'll show you all the best trees to climb." He promises, looking at me almost pleadingly.

"Ah that's so cool. Let's go to the best climbing tree." I shout gleefully.

Working on parkour would be fantastic.

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"Thank you everyone. You all did a wonderful job sweeping the floors today. They are so shiny; I can see my own reflection." Sister Susan praises us, as we hand over the brooms and mops to her so she can put them in the hallway closet. She has a white bandanna on her head so her hair would be out of the way as she cleaned. Some of the other children are also wearing identical bandannas. Since my hair is so short, I don't bother with one.

The orphanage is a big place, but with so many children eager to help, a good chunk of the cleaning can be done within one hour. Mama and Susan do some extra chores around the house like scrubbing the stove and taking all the garbage to the Gate. Though I'm pretty sure they take those chores because it could be dangerous for the children or a potential escape risk.

Mama splits us up into teams to be more efficient. Susan supervises some groups while Mama helps the other groups. The really young children who can't help take a nap during this time.

"Glad to help." Margaret says, other children parrot her soon after.

I stifle down a yawn.

Spending over two hours running around the woods and trying to keep up with Frank took a lot out of me. But it was so worth it.

Frank gave a bunch of great advice on climbing trees like how to spot the rotting branches and how to keep momentum.

"Alright, that's everything. Now let's go study." Susan announces, earning some groans from children. She continues to hold that wide smile as though she didn't hear the children's unenthusiastic response.

The grandfather clock rings, signaling it's just turned six o'clock. We finished just in time then. At this time, the children are taken to the library to do their homework and study.

The lower your test scores then the more homework you get. If you do really well on your tests then Mama doesn't give any work. I think Grace Field had a similar rule, but I can't recall Emma or her friends talking about homework.

Can it even be called homework if we're homeschooled? Well I guess technically all our work can be called homework.

My grades are high enough for Mama to not give me extra work, but I follow the others to the library anyways.

The other children from Mama's groups are also heading to the library, so more children join our little parade up the stairs. I can see Mama walking ahead of the group. Mama always joins us during our studies, so any children struggling can ask for help.

Wonder why she doesn't ask Susan to switch places with her every once in a while. Personally, I would get tired of having to tutor dozens of children every day. Maybe since she is in charge of the house, she is more liable for us if we score poorly. If my life depended on children doing good on tests then I would most certainly be the one teaching and not handing the task off to someone else.

Few children get high enough marks to avoid homework. So over half of the house comes to the library and take a seat at one of the tables. Some have to set on the hardwood floor since there isn't enough chairs.

Margaret is already helping Ty on his math sheet. She is one of the few who aren't given homework. She likes to help Mama tutor the younger ones. Amelie is sitting right next to them, but unfortunately her grades are just low enough to earn a little extra work.

Frank doesn't normally have homework either, but he still comes up to read. He has been working on getting through this fantasy novel that's over six hundred pages for the past week. He's sitting on the floor cross legged with the book in his lap. Mama doesn't let us take up chairs or table space if we aren't doing homework during study time. We don't have to stay in the library if we have no work, but with most of the children here it can get lonely and boring fast in the other parts of the orphanage. So Frank likes to come up here to read during study time.

I make my way to the fiction shelves and browse through the selection.

With Mama in seeing distance, I take my time reading the titles, trying to not look like I'm looking for something specific.

I'm not looking for a book to read to entertain myself.

No instead I'm looking for books that have a certain owl.

"Adventures of Ugo" and a book about mythology are the important ones. They had messages in morse code, hints on how to survive outside and one acted as a key for unlocking that device Krone had given the children. They were published in 2015; an important detail Norman, Ray and Emma talked about since that meant the farms would have been in existence for thirty years.

It's 2024 so the books have already been published.

But I haven't been able to find "Adventures of Ugo".

At first I thought Mister Minerva sent different books to different Farms to better hide the fact they have secret messages. In that case, I can still find the right books by finding the Owl in them.

But none of the books I've looked through have the Owl and I have been looking every day since I got out of the infirmary.

I pull a random book off the shelf. It's a mystery novel about children finding some missing gems. I flip to the copyright page.

It was published in 1998. So, twenty-six years old. No Owl anywhere.

None of the books are ones I remember in my past life. There's no Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Dairy of a Wimpy Kid, Warrior Cats, Berenstain Bears, or any other popular children book series I read in my first childhood. I had thought the series might not have been children's' favorites anymore or maybe some of them became too controversial. J.K. Rowling had said certain things that had made some people demand her books be pulled from schools after all. Now that I know I'm in a different universe it's most likely those series don't exist here.

Before my search, I hadn't paid attention to how old the books are in the library. But after going through hundreds of copyright pages looking for an owl, I found the newest books were published in 2005.

So either, A) Minerva only sent Grace Field the books and not Glory Bell. In which case, I would be screwed.

Or, the one I'm hoping to be the case, B) He is going to send the books in the future and I will just have to wait until then.

B would make sense. The Farm may give new books every few years to replace the old worn out ones. I don't have clear memories living here before I was four years old, but in the three years I do remember the orphanage hasn't gotten any new books.

We've gotten new toys and necessary supplies, but not books.

I put the book back on the shelf from where I pulled it out and continue looking through different books I haven't checked.

After the tenth book, I decide to be a little bold.

"Mama?" I grab the bottom of her black dress, getting her to turn around to look at me. She had been observing Rachel working, but wasn't helping so I wasn't being rude by pulling her attention away from the girl.

"Yes dear." She said, giving a gentle smile. Her voice was lower than normal. The library is peacefully quiet even with all these children in here. Mama made sure the children were not loud during study time, so she also made a point of speaking with a quiet voice.

"Will we ever get new books?" I ask. It should be an innocent enough question.

She makes a humming sound while putting her index finger on her chin, giving a thoughtful expression.

"Well, we can't afford new books. But every few years we are given donated books to replace ones that have become too worn out and faded." She explained. "Why do you ask?" She didn't ask in an accusatory tone, but I still feel like being interrogated.

"I've read a lot of the books and want more different ones." My adult mind wants to better explain myself, but at the same time I know I need to dumb down my speech.

"Oh well maybe in another year or so we'll get books you've never read before Shirley." She says and it brings a genuine smile to my face. She wouldn't be giving a possible timeframe if it wasn't true. Children will remember what she says and if she repeats the same lie every time then they will catch on that it's been years and not one new book has come. She could have said she doesn't know when new books will come to be safe later on if the child asks again. She must have at least an idea of when the orphanage gets new books, or maybe she even knows the exact date such material gets shipped to us.

"Okay, thanks Mama." I say before heading back to the shelves to find a book to read. Five minutes later, I settle on one about mermaids and lay down next to Frank on the floor.

As I begin reading the first chapter, my mind wonders to Minerva's books and when they'll get here. Hopefully, in another year or two, I'll get ahold of the books and find the key to the shelter. That'll be enough time to get stronger and plan an escape.

Frank, Margaret, and Amelie could even still be around for it and I can bring them too.

But I can't save everyone so I need to figure out who to trust with the house's secret and if they can survive getting to the bunker.

My good mood slowly turns sour as I think through the possible children I can save and the ones I cannot.

Do I do what Emma did and bring everyone five years and older? Or should I set the age higher to be safer? Five-year-olds can't run fast or for very long. As Joseph said earlier, (and I am loathe to admit he is right about this) they would be dead weight for us older children.

I'm startled out of my thoughts by Frank's hand on my shoulder.

"You okay?" He whispers, leaning close to my face. "You look a little sad."

"Yeah, the story just has a sad beginning." I lied. I haven't even finished the first page of the book.

"Alright." Frank doesn't look convinced but doesn't push the matter. He goes back to reading his book and I do the same with my own.


Notes: Thanks everyone for favoriting and following my story. I especially like the reviews.

I've been thinking about the plot and after reading that light novel, I've decided to change some things. I'm going to rewrite some parts of the prologue to better fit what I have in mind. So in the next month or so I'll pull down the current prologue and replace it with the updated one.