Hey guys, we're in the final stretch. Since I don't want to interrupt the flow of the final chapters with any unnecessary comments, this will be my last a/n for the story. I'll be publishing chapters 40 and 41 at the same time because I feel it's important for there not to be a delay between those two. I'll also be putting up an afterword after the epilogue to convey some of my thoughts about everything (so don't read it before finishing).

See you at the end!

37;

"Ready?" Riley received a nod in response. "Let's go."

After three nights of lying low as to keep suspicion away from them, the fourth was their chosen night of action. Riley stayed up the entire night, fearing she wouldn't be able to wake up in time should she have fallen asleep. It was early, two or so in the morning. The hanging lights in the room have been off for more than a few hours by this point, their usual electrical humming was silent. The only lighting to guide themselves by came from the dim street lights far outside the window.

Riley climbed down the small bunk ladder and landed silently on the balls of her feet next to the edge of Ellie's bed. The two crept through the grid of beds and their snoring orphans and slipped their way out into the entrance area. They slowly opened the door to David's office and took a spot in front of the desk.

"Told you it would be unlocked."

"Good for you. Now start looking."

Riley took the right half of the office, including the desk, and Ellie the left. She ran her hands over the rough textures of books and publications lined up on a bookcase, some of each type dating back decades. Her hands left the bindings and started opening cabinets and drawers, fumbling through a sea of loose paper.

"How the hell am I supposed to find anything in this mess?" Even her whispering seemed booming among the silence.

"I don't know. Just look for anything that isn't so generic it fits in with everything else."

"…great."

Ellie continued searching while Riley had moved to the desk from the bookshelf opposite of Ellie's. The first spot she checked was the upper drawer where she found the notebook the first time. She pushed aside the loose papers and stationary items and looked for it carefully. She scanned the written words of random meaningless and trivial subjects, finding nothing useful among them. She closed the drawer and moved onto the lower three pullout drawers that were much deeper than the first but just as fruitless.

"Shit."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You can't say shit and then say nothing."

"What? No, I mean that I found nothing." She internally groaned. "You?"

"Just some useless books and journal stuff."

"Same. Next?"

"Yeah."

They wound their way around the desk and back out into the entrance area. Riley grabbed the door and slowly shut it, making sure to prevent the handle from clicking as it sprang outwards into the groove in the door frame. They continued on around the corner to the right and tried the kitchen door.

"Of course it's locked."

"Told you."

"Fucking good for you again. What now?"

Ellie looked around for a second before walking back out into the dining area. She disappeared out of view for another second and reappeared with half her body around the corner, gesturing for Riley.

"We can just hop over the counter."

The great area had a strong sense of eeriness about it at night. The always crowded couches and chairs in front of the TV were empty, as were the dozen or so tables in the dining area. The constant noise throughout the day by the other orphans was replaced by an incessant ringing in their ears from the absence of sound.

Riley turned the corner just as Ellie had finished slowly crawling her way over the counter and dropped down onto the other side.

"Move your ass."

"You're enjoying this way too much."

"I'm really fucking nervous actually. Just hurry up."

Riley put her hands on the counter and pushed herself up and crawled across it in the same fashion Ellie had. At the other edge she put her left leg down, but as she swung her right leg from under her to do the same it swiped out to the right and knocked into a tray, sending it clattering onto the floor. The sound reverberated throughout the room as it seemed to bounce off every single surface.

They both immediately froze, the only movement coming from their eyes as they stared at each other in stomach-churning panic. The vibration of their own heartbeats within their ears sounded like a relentless rhythmic earthquake, deafening the world around them. They stared off into the short hallway to the left of the TV area, the sleeping quarters for a single staff member, James, and listened closely for any reactions. They waited an agonizing minute before sighing in relief.

"I think we're okay." Ellie glared over at Riley through the darkness. "You remember that whole thing where we're trying to be quiet?"

Riley grunted and looked away.

"What do you expect to find in a kitchen anyway?"

"Hoping for a key or something. That James guy always has one on him, maybe he has a spare in here. I don't know." She spun back around and started digging through one of the few drawers with Ellie taking a spot next to her to do the same.

"Looks like just a bunch of recipes and inventory shit."

"Food schedule here. Looks like they're serving the same-"

They shut up and turned around quickly when they noticed a small stream of light suddenly crawl out from below the closed door at the far end of the hall. They watched the door nervously, desperately hoping it would stay shut. The turn of a doorknob and the sudden burst of light out into the hallway immediately dashed that hope.

"Fuck. Get down!"

The light from the far room spread itself throughout the entire room, diminishing greatly as it distanced itself from the source but still remaining strong enough to illuminate the kitchen to an uncomfortably bright level. They couldn't stick their heads up over the counter to see without being seen themselves but they could hear the footsteps getting slowly closer.

"What do we do?"

Riley jerked her head left and right looking for something to hide behind. "Uh… there!"

She pointed near the back toward a small gap between the counter and the oven, its top covered by some kind of appliance. The gap was semi-enclosed by thin metal bars stretching in an X shape on both the front and back sides.

They both stayed crouched and hurried towards it. Ellie went in first and squeezed herself as much as she could against the back set of bars. As Riley heard a key being inserted into the kitchen door's lock she carefully crawled over the front set of bars and crammed herself as much as she could against Ellie. At that point all they could do is just stare out at the edge of the island and wait.

The sound of a key gave way to the sound of a handle being twisted and then a door creaking open. The lights flickered on and instinctively caused the girls to pull in their knees even farther against their chests.

The footsteps sounded more like shuffling, and the exhausted groans were distinctly from an younger man. The bottom third of a leg came into view just as they heard the tray sliding along the ground before being picked up and clattered onto the others. The leg stayed in place but swiveled in a complete circle, no doubt its owner looking around.

It soon stopped its rotation and moved out of sight. The kitchen lights were then suddenly extinguished and the door locked. They listened as the tired footsteps retreated far enough away to where the room eventually went silent again and the light coming from the back room went out. They kept their breathing subdued and refused to move for several minutes until they felt safe enough to exit their hiding spot.

Riley, being the last to go in, was first to come back out. She poked her head out slightly and checked to make sure it was completely empty before leaving. Her voice was even quieter than it had been before the incident.

"Clear."

Ellie crawled out after her and stood up to lean against the island. "Holy shit. My heart is beating so fast right now."

"Mine too… how about we don't do that again?"

"We?"

"Alright fine. Me. Sorry. Just come on, there's only a few more drawers to check."

They picked up where they left off, though in a much more heightened state, and continued rummaging through whatever they could find. The majority of what was found was mostly inventory and purchase records.

"There's nothing here, Riley."

"I see that." She sighed as she looked back toward the counter they jumped over earlier. "Alright, last spot."

Riley hopped over first, though much more carefully this time, with Ellie following close behind. They turned to the left and walked straight ahead, passed the office and beds, to the front door. They quietly undid its locks and slipped through into the night. It was cold but the wind was still. They forewent their coats in favor of quieter movement which caused the air to be harsher than usual.

They rubbed their arms as they made their way around to the side of the building with the holes leading to the basement windows.

"Same deal as last time?"

"Yeah, just hurry up."

Riley climbed down the ladder and put her forehead against the glass with her hands cupped around face to help pierce the blackness of the room. She moved left and right, up and down, to see if she could get a hint of anything on the inside but quickly gave up. She pressed her hands against the glass next and pushed upwards to see if she could get it to slide but failed at that too. She climbed back up to where Ellie was impatiently rocking back and forth trying to keep warm.

"Couldn't see anything. The windows are covered or something on the inside. Locked too."

"Not surprising." She thought for a moment before shaking her head. "Come on, next one."

They moved on to the next hole and repeated the same assigned roles. Upon receiving the same outcome as the last they continued on through the rest of them, but each time no different. Locked and covered.

"Well, what now?"

"Can't do anything else tonight, I don't think."

"Alright, then let's get inside and figure it out tomorrow."

Riley nodded in agreement and followed Ellie back around and through the front door into the entrance area. She slowly locked it and cautiously snuck with Ellie through the room of sleeping orphans.

They quietly split to each of their beds and settled into them with a muddled sigh of relief and frustration. Though their nerves were still on edge, the late hour eventually took its toll.

Morning came quickly and Riley's much needed sleep was disrupted by a finger to the forehead.

"My turn to wake you up."

Her eyes opened to a squint to look at the face staring back at her. Though her mind sluggish she still managed to give her a tired smile. "Funny."

"Wasn't sure you'd remember. Move over."

Ellie settled into the void Riley created between herself and the bed's railing. She looked around carefully to be sure they were in the clean before settling her head on the pillow. "So, you think of anything?"

"About what?"

"What do you mean 'about what'? Last night."

"Oh right. No, not yet." She stretched out and yawned. "I just woke up, you know."

"Well get thinking. I want to leave really soon."

"I do too, but why is this on me? Have you thought about it?"

"I have… but other than just breaking the damn things I got nothing."

Riley raised her eyebrows in a sarcastic interest. "You know, that was my idea from before."

"I wasn't serious." She spoke flatly.

"Why not though? We break it, search around really quickly, and then get the hell out of there. It's the last place we have to check, so we'd just leave right after."

Ellie focused distantly and bit her lip. "I swear we had this conversation when we first met."

"I really doubt that."

"Well not literally. When we stole from that store for the first time. I threw out an idea to just steal that bracelet in the window, but I wasn't serious. You said 'why not,' and then we stole it."

An ill-concealed smile spread across Riley's face. "Yeah, I guess so. So does that mean…"

Ellie nodded, though still unsure. "Yeah. I mean, unless you've got something better."

"Not really. Not right now at least."

Riley watched as Ellie's expression suddenly faded away, their situation obviously weighing heavily on her. She tucked Ellie's loose hair behind her ear before resting their heads foreheads together.

"Just one more night here. That's all."

"I know, it's just... I just really want this over with."

"Me too. And it will be. We'll be out of here before this time tomorrow."

"Good."

Riley felt the tension ease a little. "Good." She leaned up and propped herself up against the railing of the bed. "Now, as much as I'd love to stay in bed all day with you, I'd rather not have that Southern freak talk to us again."

The sudden insult forced a mild laugh out of Ellie. "Alright, alright. I'll go. Suppose we should get some breakfast anyway."

"Yeah, probably. Plus it'll be our last here, so that's cool."

"Very." Ellie groaned as she leaned herself up and made her way down the ladder.

They were both already fully dressed for the day since they hadn't bothered to bring any change of clothes for the nights. Ellie put on her shoes on the bottom bunk while waiting for Riley to follow her down and get ready. They headed out of the now mostly empty room and to the now mostly full tables. They grabbed their food and took their spots in the corner.

"Not gonna miss this place."

"Yeah, no shit. Though if we can find something tonight, this place could be okay again."

Ellie scooped a forkful of eggs and a bite of toast into her mouth, taking advantage of the last free food they'll have for a while. "Speaking of which, any thoughts on the whole… breaking thing?"

"Rock no good?"

"Sure, I guess. Seems like it would be loud." She watched as Riley simply smirked at her. "What?"

"We wouldn't just smash the window. Need to be smart about it."

"Is there an art to this that I'm missing?"

"Just a bit. During my homeless stint from the first time around, I picked up a thing or two about breaking glass." She saw Ellie about to word something but cut her off. "Don't ask. Anyway, we just need some duct tape and a blanket."

Ellie sighed while looking back towards her food and then back at Riley. "Would've been good to have known earlier about the tape. Could've looked for some."

"It's fine. Saw some in his drawer in the office."

Ellie stared off into the distance at nothing and let everything sink in once again. "So that's it?"

"That's it."

They gazed at each other for a moment before nodding and finishing their food, wasting away the rest of their day with building nerves and pangs of anxiety.