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Title: Song of the Melodie
Author: Ivory Core
Chapter 4: Coldrock House for Orphans
Eliora was pushed inside by Miss Perkings so roughly, that she would have tripped unto the cold tile floor.
But she didn't though. But it was incredibly difficult not to slip on the tile because of her shoes being soaked and wet.
Eliora heard the slamming of the door and the hard click of it. Almost like telling Eliora that there was no going back now.
As Miss Perkings busied herself in locking all four heavy locks on the door, Eliora looked around her surroundings.
The main floor was huge. Peach colored tiles erupted across the floors making it shine like the sun. It looked spotless, like great care was given to it so that it looked clean.
Hesitantly Eliora looked down at her feet and noticed that there was a muddy puddle already forming at the bottom of her Mary Jane shoes.
Ah oh.
Eliora looked around for a mat or something where she could dry her shoes. But there wasn't even a 'welcome home' mat anywhere to be seen, not like Eliora expected one of course.
As she looked around though, Eliora noticed that the orphanage looked a lot nicer in the inside then at the outside.
Large, brown, thick drapes covered the windows that were on either side of the door. To the left of the main floor was another huge oak door but with one door instead of two.
Eliora wondered what was behind it. But then she heard the sound of pots and pans clanging, so she guesses that that was the kitchen.
On the other side of the room another oak door was seen, but this one was wide open. Eliora leaned a bit forward so that she could see what was inside.
There were cushioned seats, a large table, and an old piano in the far corner of the room. It was quite pretty though, the room.
"Miss Perkings? What is that room used for?" Eliora asked as she turned around to face Miss Perkings.
Miss Perkings at first didn't know what Eliora was talking about. She was still quite ticked that the child purposely got wet outside.
"What are you talking about Eliora?" She questioned.
Eliora pointed towards the room that was opened.
"That room is for the nightly readings. All the older children will read a chapter of a classic novel chose by Mrs…"
"Miss Perkings, you're late with the child." A cold, thunderous voice echoed.
Eliora turned to the sound and her eyes widened.
At the far end of the room, facing the double doors behind them was a grand staircase with black rugs going down the length of the stairs. After walking up the first six steps it separated to form two different stair cases on either side (one on the left and one on the right).
But before the splitting of the staircase, there was a platform. And on that platform was probably the biggest woman that Eliora had ever seen.
Inwardly Eliora thought that the woman looked like a hippopotamus. Like the hippo from that Disney movie Fantasia, since she watched it with the other kids back at the hospital.
The woman looked like to be in her late thirties or more. Her skin was peach colored and slightly wrinkly. She was wearing a black dress that looked like something someone would wear for a funeral
Her hair too was wrapped up in a tight bun at the back of her head, but instead of white it was a dark brown with slight strands of white in it.
Her eye color was green, but it had a nasty spark within them.
Her neck was quite chubby; to put it plainly she had no neck. The woman herself was huge. Even if it's rude to say that she was, it was the truth.
Eliora wondered if this was Mrs. Stone, and was slightly scared at the thought. Her name alone was enough to give shivers down Elioras spine, but with her eyes and the way she spoke…Eliora wondered if being in an orphanage was going to be easy.
"Mrs. Stone, I'm terribly sorry…" Miss Perkings immediately spoke up.
Yep, that's Mrs. Stone.
Mrs. Stone slowly, and may I say it menacingly, walked down the steps towards Eliora and Miss Perkings.
A thought entered Eliora on what would happen if Mrs. Stone lost her balance and fell down the stairs landing on her fat…
"Is this the child?" Mrs. Stone coldly questioned while looked down at Eliora.
Eliora gulped down her fears and slowly placed her suitcase on the floor before straightening her back and doing a courtesy to Mrs. Stone.
"Please to meet you Mrs. Stone. My name's Eliora. Eliora Melodiana." Eliora softly spoke.
Mrs. Stone looked down at the child and huffed once.
"Speak when spoken to Miss Melodiana." She stated.
Eliora bowed her head, feeling incredibly shamed at the moment. She moved her feet a little while making a small circle in front of her with her left foot.
Big mistake.
"GREAT SCOTS! Miss Perkings, can you not keep your eyes on the child for a moment!" Mrs. Stone shrieked.
"Just look at my floor, its filthy!" She yelled out.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Stone. I'll get it cleaned up." Miss Perkings stuttered.
"Don't bother. Just remove the child's shoes and take her suitcase. I'll take the child to be fitted." Mrs. Stone stated.
Miss Perkings nodded her head and went to grab Elioras suitcase.
"Wait, where are you going with my suitcase?" Eliora asked as Miss Perkings picked up her suitcase.
"Silence!" Mrs. Stone yelled out. "You're suitcase is to be processed. You will get it back at the end of the day." Mrs. Stone explained.
"Processed?" Eliora softly asked as Miss Perkings took her suitcase.
"Eliora, take off your shoes." Miss Perkings said as she stood in front of her.
Eliora was going to ask why, but at a quick glance towards Mrs. Stone told Eliora that maybe she should just do as she's told.
Eliora sat down on the cold tile floor and unbuckled her shoes and took them off. The second they were off; Miss Perkings took them and walked away to another room with both Elioras suitcase and shoes.
"Come with me Miss Melodiana." Mrs. Stone said as she turned towards the stairs leading up to the second floor.
Eliora quickly got up and slowly walked towards the steps. The reason is because now she was only with her socks on and the tiles were incredibly slippery.
Well, on the way to the stairs Eliora slipped two times and landed not so softly on her bottom. But she bit her lip from crying out and got up again to step unto the first step.
From then on, it was easy to follow Mrs. Stone up the steps. She took the steps leading to right.
"The left staircase leads to the boy's side while the right staircase leads to the girls." Mrs. Stone explained as the walked up the steps.
"There is to be no interactions between boys and girls. They stay in their part of the house, girls stay in theirs." She stated.
All Eliora did was nod her head, but she still stole a glance at the stairway leading to the boys side of the orphanage.
That feeling came over her, the feeling that something was going to happen in the future that would force Eliora to break that rule.
When they reached the end of the stairway, Eliora found herself at the end of a very long corridor. There were wooden doors with one small window at the top. You couldn't really see inside, like you weren't suppose to.
"These rooms lead to your classes depending on your academic level. Your classes will start promptly at 8:00 in the morning sharp and end at 3:30 in the afternoon or longer. It depends on how well you do your work.
No tardiness is allowed. If so, they will be dealt with in the harshest manner." Mrs. Stone coldly stated.
Eliora almost chocked as she gulped down in fear at this statement coming from Mrs. Stone.
They walked down the corridor, occasionally Eliora would hear other children on the other side of the door, reciting their multiplications tables or spelling out words.
At the end of the corridor there was another stair case, but this one was made out of iron and it spiraled upward towards the next floor.
Eliora looked up in awe at the sight of the stairs spiraling upwards.
"Come along Miss Melodiana, don't dawdle." Mrs. Stone said as she climbed the stairs.
Eliora followed Mrs. Stone up the stairs. But they didn't stop at the third, fourth, or fifth floor. By the time they reached the sixth floor, Mrs. Stone was slightly swooning on her feet and gripping the handle of the iron brace of the stairs as she climbed.
Eliora on the other hand was not affected at all by the climbing of the stairs.
When they finally reached the sixth floor, Mrs. Stone was huffing and puffing like she ran a marathon.
I guess she never walked up these stairs before.
"This…is…the girls dormitory…floor." Mrs. Stone said between gulps of air. "It is here where you will sleep."
Mrs. Stone then lead Eliora down the corridor. This corridor was incredibly longer than the other ones, almost like it ran the entire length of the orphanage.
"The boy's dormitories are below." Mrs. Stone stated.
As they walked down the corridor, they passed one very old looking door without a doorknob.
"Why doesn't that door have a doorknob?" Eliora suddenly asked while pointing towards the door.
Mrs. Stone's back immediately went straight. She then slowly turned to face Eliora. Eliora immediately gulped at the look she was giving her.
"What leads up there is none of your concern. It would be wise Miss Melodiana that you keep your nose in you study books were it belongs." Mrs. Stone threatened.
"Yes M'am." Eliora whispered.
Mrs. Stone turned away from Eliora and resumed walking down the corridor.
Before Eliora followed her though, she stared at the door leading to a place that Eliora knew she would one day enter.
To save a life…
Eliora suddenly shook her head at that thought. She didn't know where it came from. But it felt real, like she somehow knew it was going to happen.
But Eliora shook her thoughts away and ran to catch up to Mrs. Stone who had begun to slow down in her walking as she reached a double oak door.
"This is the dormitory to the girls of your age and older. Girls from five to fifteen sleep in here. Older girls sleep down the hall." Mrs. Stone explained.
She then wrapped her hands around the handle to both doors and sharply pulled the doors wide open.
Immediately a hush fell over the few children who were inside the room. The second they saw who it was, they immediately ran to the foot of their beds and straightened themselves up like little soldiers.
"Good afternoon Mrs. Stone." They all said in unison.
Mrs. Stone walked in, followed closely by Eliora. Mrs. Stone didn't say good morning to the girls as she passed by them, but by looking at the relief faces of the girls as she passed them, Eliora figured that they didn't mind at all.
As Eliora passed them, they all kept their eyes on her long before she passed them. They were all wearing identical sick-colored brown dresses with a black belt wrapped around the middle.
They all wore black shoes, some being too small or too big for the feet of the children. Some of the little children had ribbons in their hair, while others had their hair wrapped up in a bun.
The girl's dormitory was a large room, with twenty beds lining the walls side by side. The foot of the beds was facing the clear pathway that Eliora and Mrs. Stone were walking on.
At the very end of the room there were two glass doors leading to a small balcony. It was the balcony that Eliora saw outside of the orphanage.
White curtains flapped gently as the wind from outside entered the room. When the breeze went over Eliora, she had the strong urge to just let go.
Let go of what, Eliora didn't know. But the feeling was so strong that Eliora felt herself being weightless.
If it wasn't for Mrs. Stone sudden voice speaking, Eliora would have noticed that she was no longer touching the floor.
Her feet were exactly half an inch above the ground. But when she heard Mrs. Stone, Eliora snapped out of her reverie and went back down…none the wiser on what she had just done.
"Angelina." Mrs. Stone suddenly called out.
A thirteen year old girl with shoulder length blond hair looked up at the mention of her name.
"Yes M'am?" She asked, her voice sounded rough.
Eliora looked at Angelina, and noticed that she wasn't looking at them. Her light brown eyes looked straight ahead instead of looking at Mrs. Stone.
That's when it clicked to Eliora. Angelina was blind.
"Make sure that Miss Melodiana gets fitted into her uniform. Afterwards, I want you to explain to her duties as an orphan here at Coldrock." Mrs. Stone informed.
"Then bring her down to the first floor." With that Mrs. Stone turned and left the girl's dormitory, the door shutting behind her.
The minute Mrs. Stone left, all the girls let out a breath of air like they had been holding it. After that, they all went back to whatever they were doing before Mrs. Stone and Eliora entered.
What seemed odd to Eliora was that all the girls seemed to ignore her. They passed by her like she wasn't there, some even elbowed her if she was in the way.
Eliora turned toward Angelina who was standing where she was before. Eliora slowly walked towards Angelina and smiled up at her, even though she knew that she could not see her.
"Hi." Eliora spoke up.
Angelina jumped at the sound of Elioras voice being so close to her, but quickly calmed herself.
"Hello." She replied. "What's your name?"
"Eliora Melodiana." Eliora replied.
"That's a pretty name. Mine's Angelina. I'm the oldest in this dormitory, so I guess you could say I'm in charge when Mrs. Stone leaves." She explained.
"You mean Mrs. Hippo?" Eliora jokily stated.
Immediately a hush fell over the room. All the girls had their mouths open in shock and where all looking at Eliora like she had sprouted two heads or something.
Even Angelina and a horror struck look on her face.
"Don't say that Eliora. Things like that will get you a straight ticket into the Sweat box." Angelina said while nervously looking around, like almost expecting Mrs. Stone to pop out of nowhere.
"What's the sweat box?" Eliora asked.
"Becky?" Angelina called.
A little girl, looking to be in the ages of five or six, walked up to Angelina. When she was near she tapped Angelina's arm.
"Please show Eliora the sweat box." Angelina requested.
Becky nodded her head and grabbed Elioras hand and started to pull her towards the balcony. Eliora followed suite and walked unto the balcony.
The breeze felt real good right now…so good that it felt like all Eliora had to do was open up her arms to be one with the wind…
But Eliora snapped out of it by the gentle tugging on her arm caused by Becky. Eliora turned to Becky, who was pointed down to the ground below.
Eliora leaned over the railing and looked down. There were no trees or any kind of green seen. Apart from a paved area, there was nothing that would say anything about a sweat box.
Then that's when Eliora saw it. It wasn't really a box, or at least from above it didn't look like a box.
From above it looked like cellar opening, with a double door hinge. The rest seemed to be buried deep into the ground. There was a large metal lock that linked the two handles to the cellar closed.
Above, the suns rays was directly hitting unto the cellar and the ground surrounding it. Probably making that cellar incredibly hot in the afternoon.
"Is that the sweat box?" Eliora asked as she pointed
But Becky wasn't there. Eliora turned around to see that Becky had went back to hide behind Angelina.
"Angelina, is that the sweat box? That cellar looking place. That's dangerous." Eliora said with fear rising in her voice.
And as Eliora looked at each of the girls, she knew in her heart that each one had entered that unspeakable thing.
Hearing the fear in Eliora's voice, Angelina spoke up.
"Don't be afraid, Eliora. Just do as you're told, and what ever you do…don't make Mrs. Stone angry." Angelina warned.
She then turned to her right and slowly walked towards a bed that was next to the balcony.
"This will be your bed. Everyday we get clean sheets and pillows. Your uniform is on the bed." Angelina explained.
"The bathrooms are down the hall and to your left. You can change there. Afterwards, I'll take you downstairs."
With that Angelina walked off with Becky in hand, leaving Eliora to her thoughts.
Absentmindedly, Eliora clutched her chest and felt the medallion underneath. It felt warm underneath her touch, giving her peace of mind and spirit.
What she didn't know was that one of the girls had been watching her, and she saw Eliora clutch something at her chest.
Eliora walked towards her bed and picked up the brown dress. To be frank it looked ugly, but Eliora shrugged her shoulders and bundled the dress up so that she could carry it to the bathroom.
Eliora left the dormitory and followed the instructions of Angelina. She walked down the hall to the bathroom, unknowing that she was being followed.
When Eliora made it to the bathroom, she walked towards one of the showers and pulled the curtain so that it covered the little the unit she was in.
When Eliora took off her dress, immediately her medallion gave off a strong purple glow that brightened the cubicle unit she was in. Eliora tried to cover the medallion so that the light wasn't so bright, but it shined though the openings.
So Eliora quickly draped the brown uniform over her head. The light from the medallion still glowed, but not as brightly as before.
With that done, Eliora pulled her hair over the collar of the dress and straighten it out. She then brought the black belt out and wrapped it around herself.
The dress was a little big, but the belt helped…a little though.
When Eliora was fully dressed, she carefully folded her butterfly dress and picked it up.
Then she opened the curtains of the shower, and was not prepared for body that was standing right in front of her.
Eliora looked up at the person who was blocking her way.
"We are not allowed to keep jewelry. It's one of the rules." The girl thickly stated.
Her eyes looked like cat's eyes, yellow and all. Her hair was a burgundy color that was braided in the back. She had a wicked grin on her face, her teeth crooked.
The girl brought her hand out, palm up, and brought it to Eliora.
"Hand it over." She spoke.
Instantly, Eliora gripped her medallion and took a step back. "It was my mothers. I can't part with it." Eliora explained.
"You can't part with it?" The girl mockingly mimicked. "That's too bad, because no one is allowed to have anything that would bring jealously to the rest of the orphans." The girl explained.
"I'm doing this for your own good." Suddenly she reached out and grabbed the chain to Elioras medallion.
Now what happened next was at the moment unexplainable. To Eliora, it was like time slowed down.
The girl reached out to take the medallion, Eliora screaming for her to stop. But that was not really what she said.
Eliora meant to say stop, but what came out of her mouth was not understood as stop. Heck, it wasn't even understood as English.
Eliora heard the words fly out of her mouth before she could take them back. They were ancient words, filled with dialect and meaning with every syllable that was spoken.
The girl screamed as she was forcibly thrown back by an invisible force that sent off a loud bang across the room and probably all over the orphanage. Eliora stood absolutely still in shock as she watched the girl being thrown back to the wall.
Her back collided with the wall in so much force that an indention appeared on the wall as the girl slid down unconscious.
When the girl slumped to the ground and fell to her side, Eliora was beyond panic.
In her mind, Eliora thought that it couldn't get any worse then this.
Just then the doors to the bathroom burst open and in hurried Mrs. Stone, Miss Perkings, Angelina, and half of the girls.
Eliora stood there, wishing at that moment she could just disappear into nothing.
Everyone, except Angelina, looked towards the fallen girl and back to Eliora. All completely confused at what had happened.
Mrs. Stone turned towards Eliora; her face looking like it was going to pop. She quickly walked up to Eliora and immediately gripped Elioras arm.
Her grip was tight, and Eliora had to bite her lip to keep from crying.
"I don't know what you have just done Mrs. Melodiana. But I do know that you just earned yourself two hours in the Sweat Box." Mrs. Stone said with fury.
She then sharply pulled Eliora towards the doors and down the hall. Everyone watched as Mrs. Stone and Eliora disappeared down the stairs. Some of the kids were having shocked faces while others were having a look of amazement.
As Mrs. Stone pulled Eliora down the stairs and outside towards the sweat box, Eliora thought about the days events.
My first day at Coldrock, and it already started off with a bang…
Another chapter for you all! It's a bit longer then the others, but that's because I wanted to finish with the tour of Coldrock…among other things.
Since no one had reviewed. There's nothing to report.
Just know that I thank all those who read my story. Even if you don't leave a review, I still thank you.
Eliora – WHAT! That's it! You're just going to leave me there with Mrs. Hippo!
Me - Sorry Eliora, but I have to leave something for the next chapter.
Eliora – But she's going to take me to the sweat box! You are so evil! (Pouts)
Me – Oh Eliora, don't be that way. I promise that I will make it up to. You have my word.
Eliora – Ok, but you better make it up. Or I'll make you fly across the room like I did to that girl.
Me – (whispers to myself) Yeah riiiight…
Eliora – I HEARD THAT!