7;
Ellie carefully made the journey through the right lane of beds, careful not to disturb the various other kids sleeping or resting, and stopped in front of a bed near the end of the middle row. She climbed halfway up its ladder and leaned in quietly to observe the new girl for a second before reaching forward to wake her.
"I'm awake."
The unexpected voice startled her and caused her to tighten her grip on the ladder. "Oh, sorry."
"What is it?"
"Just letting you know dinner's gonna be ready really soon."
"Okay."
Ellie nodded and stepped off the ladder and started back out of the room with a new concern for the girl and her sudden drop in demeanor. She walked through the doors and headed to the dining area.
About ten or so rounded tables were laid out in a seemingly random fashion, each capable of seating four or five each. Most of them were already filled out with other kids ready for dinner to be served. It was dense and required some maneuvering to be able to walk through without shoving or getting stuck.
The layout of the area resembled a buffet, or more realistically a soup kitchen. The kitchen itself was able to be clearly seen from the dining area, but the buffet type line created an artificial wall between the two. Each person would grab a plate from the stack at one end of the line and shuffle themselves sideways to the other, getting served whatever food that was being offered in between.
This was also one the only times of the day that Edgar would be seen outside his office, even if only for a minute. He would generally grab his plate of food and head back into his cave to toil away at his work.
Ellie spotted Sam and Tino sitting at a table near the left end of the room and weaved through a few of the other tables and took a chair next to Sam. She looked over at Tino and gave him an annoyed look which he raised his eyebrows at.
"Hey, thanks by the way for making no effort with the new girl." She turned toward Sam. "And you too. What the hell was up with that question?"
Tino was relaxed and caught off guard by the sudden attack. "Whoa, where's this coming from? If I remember right, you woke me up and shoved some new kid's face into mine. I said hi, and then I went back to sleep. I think that's good enough."
Sam spoke up in retaliation. "What'd I do? I asked her a question. We're all orphans in here, some for different reasons. I just wanted to know."
Ellie rolled her eyes and sighed in frustration. "You really need to figure out what questions are appropriate. Most people aren't gonna want to talk about it to someone they just met."
Sam just brushed it off without much concern. "Some don't care." He looked over Ellie's shoulder. "Speaking of which."
The other two looked over towards the hallway to see Riley slowly making her way over to the dining area, seemingly a little dazed. Ellie waved her over as Sam and Tino watched motionlessly.
She took the empty chair next to Ellie and spoke despondently. "Hey."
"Hey. We were just talking about you actually." She scooted her seat to the side and turned it slightly so she was facing the three of them.
Riley lowered her brow. "About?"
"Just that these two were bei-"
"Come get it!"
Ellie was cut off by Evette's voice which resounded throughout the room. Even if she had decided to keep talking she would never have been heard with the resulting volume increase in the room.
Evette swung the pot of soup like a pendulum onto the counter, took off its lid, and submerged a ladle into it. Her assistant laid out two trays of food, one of spaghetti and sauce and the other of simple mashed potatoes. Neither of which looked like they could sufficiently feed the entire building.
The kids all got up from their tables and lined up at the left end of the room. They each grabbed their plates one at a time and slid down the line getting served the three items and then sitting back down at their seats.
The four of them were one of the last tables to get into line. After sitting back down Riley simply stared at her plate mindlessly while swirling her potatoes with a fork.
"You were about to say something."
Ellie couldn't help but notice her distant stare. "Nothing important, doesn't matter." She took a bite of some of her own food and continued. "So, uh, what do you think of your first day here?"
"Well, the food is better, I guess. The people at my other place didn't give really a shit. You know... the people who I knew for my entire life. The same people who were willing to kick me out almost instantly without a second thought." Her voice became sterner and her grip around her fork tightened.
The other three flashed awkward glances at each other before Tino nervously spoke out. "So… I'm glad the food is better. We have it pretty good here with Evette."
"…yeah." Riley was watching Sam at the edge of her vision staring straight at her, making her more annoyed by the second. "What?"
"Just want to know what you think about us, about the place. How'd you end up here anyway?"
"It's an orphanage. What do you want to hear, huh?" She put her fork down and raised her head to stare back at him. "And why the hell does it matter? I'm only here because I was fucking betrayed by the people I've trusted for ten years. Is that what you want to hear?"
She looked around at the sudden wide-eyed expressions on the other three and realized her sudden outburst, several nearby tables taking an interest as well. She took a couple of deep breaths and slowly pushed her seat away from the table. She left her untouched food behind and walked back to the bedroom with a feeling of a thousand eyes on her back.
"Damn it, Sam." Ellie hopped up from the table and walked quickly after her.
She rounded the corner and made her way down towards the end of the now mostly empty and dark room. As she approached Riley's row she was just barely able to make out an outline on the top bunk.
"Riley?" She waited for a response. "Look, I'm sorry about Sam. Like I said, and as you know, he can be a bit much at times."
"It wasn't him…" Her words trickled off the bed.
Ellie stood uncomfortably with her head tilted upwards toward the figure. "Mind if I come up?"
There was a long enough pause that almost prompted her to leave. "Sure. Whatever."
She climbed the ladder and sat down at the edge of Riley's bed and faced herself towards the door with her feet hanging.
"Look… I'm sorry about what you've been through today. But most of us have gone through something similar, otherwise we probably wouldn't be in here." She looked over to Riley who had her eyes shut. "I'm not gonna preach about how you should cheer up, because honestly, you had a crappy day and you can feel like that." She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what my point is. Just know you're not alone, even if it feels like it."
Riley exhaled deeply. "I hated today. I really did." She shook her head before opening her eyes to look at Ellie. "I was good there, you know? I knew everybody, the area, the schedule. Here… it's the same, just… not."
"You just need some time."
"Probably." She leaned herself up and her expression changed to suspicion. "Why do you care anyway?"
Ellie scrunched her brow. "About what?"
"About me. You literally just met me and you seem concerned. Why?"
"Because… I don't know. Can't I just be concerned about someone else?"
"Not without wanting something, no."
Ellie paused for some time, struggling with understanding her side. "Well that's not me." She looked back toward the door discouraged. "I'm gonna go finish dinner. I'll clean yours up after we're done if you stay here."
She climbed back down the ladder and reached the floor again. "See ya. Maybe."
Riley remained silent which, to Ellie, gave her permission to leave. She walked out of the bedroom and into the dining area where some of the kids were watching her, most averting their gazes. She sat down in her same seat as before, but in her absence Sam had left leaving only Tino.
He was finished with his food as well but waited for her return. "So what's up with the new girl?"
"She's… stressed. I'll talk to her again tomorrow. Pretty sure she's done for the night." She started picking at her food. "Hey, I didn't mean to jump on you earlier."
"No worries. But if it's cool I'm gonna go join Sam."
"Yeah, go. I'll join you in a bit."
Her appetite had dwindled, causing her to be done with the food after finishing only half. She piled hers and Riley's full plate and dropped them into the dirty dish bin. She walked over to the couch and dropped onto it against Tino. They sat and talked for the next several hours, alternating between board games and the TV before getting the warning call from Edgar that lights out time was approaching.
The three of them readied themselves for sleep and split off to each of their beds. Tino and Ellie went off to their shared bed, Tino on top and Ellie on bottom, while Sam went to his. He quietly slid himself onto his bottom bed hoping to avoid any attention from the girl above.
The next two chapters, 8 and 9, are a little shorter like this one. They were initially one long chapter, but I felt it read better to break them up. With that said, I'm going to upload them together for continuity's sake. 10 is essentially a lead-in to 11 which will introduce a very familiar character. Just a heads-up I suppose.
Also, I love you guys. You guys are awesome.