-Chapter 3-

"It's about time that I left. Blair-," Ms. Hemings turned to me, "-have you settled in alright?" I felt my head bob up and down automatically.

She hesitated, "You're sure?"

My head made the same motion as before, "Go on, you've got a fiancé waiting," I pointed to her hand and gave her a small smile.

"Oh," Ms. Hemings blushed, "You noticed that?" She looked down at her hand and blushed an even deeper shade of red. Before I could stop myself I laughed. A short, soft sound that escaped my mouth before I even realized it.

"Well yeah, it's about the size of a marble! Who's the groom?"

"A guy I've been dating for years. His name's Dean," she smiled so brightly that I couldn't help but feel jealous. Ms. Hemings has someone waiting for her, someone that loves her. But I didn't, they were all dead. I mentally shook myself; I shouldn't think about such things.

"I'm happy for you Ms. Hemings," I said, truly meaning it.

"Thank you," she nodded. We were silent for a while and I felt uncomfortable. Not because of the silence, but because I was being stared at. My gaze snapped to the left, someone was watching me from inside the house. I dismissed it; it was probably just Mrs. Tread lurking by the window.

"Blair? Is something wrong," Ms. Hemings asked, concern creasing her forehead.

"Oh, sorry, it's no-," I got that feeling again. Stronger than before and I snapped my head toward the window. This time I got a glimpse of the person behind the curtain, and it wasn't Mrs. Tread.

It was a man.

That's odd. This was an all girls orphanage. There shouldn't have been any guys around here. Not to mention there were no other cars in the driveway but Ms. Hemings'. The curtain fell back just as quickly as it was drawn, leaving me confused.

"Blair," there was a hand on my arm and I jumped. My heel caught on something and I fell backwards. As a response, my hands shot out to soften the fall but with the angle it was no good. Pain spread across my palms and I was sure I had broken my tailbone.

A breath hissed out from between my teeth. I stood up, humiliation making my face burn. Without even looking down, I knew the damage wasn't bad.

"Are you okay?" Ms. Heming's face grew pale when she saw my hands. "You're bleeding."

My hands instinctively folded behind my back. It was obvious that she hated the sight of blood and there was no reason to upset her. "It's nothing Ms. Hemings, don't worry about it," I gave her a tight smile. "You should get going."

The look on her face told it all, she was worried. Her eyebrows scrunched together, causing her forehead to wrinkle between them. "Good-bye Blair," Ms. Hemings got into her small car. "If something happens…let me know."

Only when her car turned the corner did I let my smile drop. I looked down at my palms. They were throbbing in time to another, in some kind of continuous rhythm. Blood trickled slightly down my hand, it was a bit worse than I had thought. Tiny pieces of gravel had edged their way into the fleshy part of my palms.

I began making my way back to the house. Carefully, so I didn't bump the scrapes against anything. Honestly I just wanted to linger outside some more. But I had to rinse out the gravel and stop the bleeding before I did anything else.

When I got to the front door it opened for me. Mrs. Tread reached forward so quickly I almost didn't see her. Her hand clasped around my arm and jerked me inside. The slam of the door rattled around my head. I stood there, in shock.

"Hurry up," She snapped. "You have dish duty. After that you need to make this house shine."

I refused to let her know she intimidated me. Even if only the slightest. My gaze leveled with hers and I jerked my arm free. "Where's the kitchen?"

About an hour later I still wasn't done. The only progress I had made was finally finishing the towering stack of dishes, sweeping, and mopping. Dusting, fixing the window, and taking out the trash was still on my to-do list. I was currently in the process of taking out the trash when someone came up behind me.

Oh joy.

"I see Mrs. Tread didn't waste any time." Kiana stood not even five feet away, her lips curled in a wicked smile. Sighing, I turned toward her.

"Need something Kiana?" I really wasn't in the mood to argue with her. We both know that's what she wanted. So, I simply wouldn't give her the satisfaction of me responding the same way. "I was just taking the trash out."

"But of course, it's your job now."

With my back turned to her, I rolled my eyes. I mean seriously. Just what did I do to make her so hateful toward me? Despite my grinding teeth, I had a question to ask.

"Kiana, can I ask you something?"

She opened her mouth to, for sure, give me a snippy retort but I interrupted her. "Is there a man living here?"

Her mouth snapped closed with an audible crack. When she didn't answer I asked again. "I saw someone looking at me from behind the curtains. Is there?"

Kiana's eye darkened with pain, surprising me back a step. Her knuckles turned white as she clenched her fist. "W-Whatever you do, STAY AWAY FROM THAT DOOR."

And with that she turned and dashed inside the house. I stood there, shocked to the core. I hadn't thought she'd respond that way. I was almost sure she'd snap some kind of unfriendly comment. She had looked me straight in the eye, still with terror. And that scared me.

Something was out of place here, and I needed to know what it was. If I didn't, whatever it was that made Kiana so terrified would continue. Even if she was hateful towards me, no one should be able to make a look like that said, I went back to the kitchen to finish my to-do list. My eyes and ears wide alert for anything strange.