Into Darkness

[Julia]

Diary

I really didn’t expect that there were so many rules, way more than in the other orphanage. Some of these rules were kind of pointless anyway. Drinking, smoking… where the hell was I supposed to get these things without being allowed to leave this place. It was like a fortress, no one could get inside and no one outside, except if you had the keys to open the door.

The most annoying part was probably that I wasn’t allowed to hold hands with anyone, let alone any kind of physical contact. But since when did any of these rules ever stop me from doing what I wanted. I was already known to be stubborn and careless when it came to following rules, especially in my old orphanage.

Later on, after the class was done, we were sent straight to lunch. I talked a bit more about the rules together with Mellanie, simply to clear up a few things. Eventually we were allowed to be on our own and Mellanie showed me around in the library. She even showed me her favorite place and her book she had mentioned a while ago. It was not exactly my thing, but it was nice to know about her favorite book regardless. After dinner we were sent back to our rooms. Back in my room I was going through the rules again and prepared myself for the next day.

What was I going to do now, though? I surely didn’t forget about the screams the other day. Was I going to hear them again? I couldn’t get it out of my head. I needed clarity, no matter what. So I decided to stay awake and wait for the other orphans to fall asleep before I looked around. An hour later I made my way out of my room after having carefully checked that no one was in the corridor. I wasn’t quite sure where the screams had come from, so I was going to check every room around my vicinity, beginning with the room next to mine. I looked around again to check if anyone was there and opened the door slowly. There was an older woman sleeping on the bed. She didn’t seem to be much different than the other orphans. This was apparently not the source.

However, in the next room, I was luckier. There was no one sleeping on the bed, but the room looked like it had been occupied by someone. This was by far the best guess. I was pretty sure that it was the same orphan that was missing in the canteen today. I looked around some more thoroughly and saw a picture of the orphan. It was a somewhat younger woman, looking happy at the time the picture was made. After more investigation I noticed some slight traces of blood on the floor. I surely wasn’t an expert in those things, so I had no idea for how long the blood was there already. But I didn’t need to be an expert to understand that there was something foul. The only question that was remaining was the whereabouts of the woman. For that I needed a better knowing about the orphanage and its rooms. If she was still alive, I would find her somewhere around. In my further investigations I found the diary of the woman. I merely looked briefly inside it but didn’t check it in detail. This wasn’t the place to read it. I could read it in my room, without being in danger of being caught.

After I was done gathering all the things I needed, I left the room again and closed the door. I looked around again to see if anyone was coming. I startled slightly when I saw a figure coming closer in the distance. Fortunately, the corridor was barely lit and the person probably didn’t notice me, but not for long. My room wasn’t close enough to get in in time and the room of the woman wasn’t safe either, what if the person was going to head there? I had to go somewhere else, and that as soon as possible. There was no time to think about it, so I simply entered the room right on the opposite side of the room I was just in a few seconds ago. My breathing and my heartbeats were drastically increasing. I was scared and nervous, did the person notice me? I was so lost in thoughts that I didn’t even notice in what room I went in. I leaned my ear against the door, mainly to listen to the footsteps. The footsteps were coming closer. Did he notice me after all? I was frightened to death and slowly backed off from the door. Was the woman hurt because she was doing the same thing as me, sneaking around? I was so distracted by my thoughts that I didn’t notice where I was backing off to, eventually bumped against the bed and fell backwards onto it, right onto the person that was sleeping on it.

"Huh- wh- who what??!" A girl’s voice breathed in a near squeal as I bumped against her bed and fell onto her. The sudden touch obviously freaked her out as she wasn't sleeping deeply.
I let out a loud squeal as well when I felt and heard the voice behind me. I froze up and didn't move off her. I knew that the squeals have been heard by the person outside in the corridor, that was out of question. I was desperate and kind of gave up the hope for any rescue. I closed my eyes and was planning to just let it all come over me.
"Shsss... Anne? What are you doing here?" The girl whispered suddenly to me, her obviously having recognized me now, quickly followed by me recognizing her. It was Mellanie.
I didn't reply and kept my eyes closed, especially when the footsteps had stopped right in front of the door, shortly after followed by some knocks against it.
"Miss? Is everything alright in there?" The man asked.
"Yeah... just a little dream." Mellanie replied with a shaken voice as she was nervous as well due to the voice outside that she didn't expect to hear.
"Were you outside just now?" The man asked further, having seen someone after all.
"No... just woke up." She replied slowly.
"But someone entered your room. Who else is inside there? I will come in…" The man said with a clear hint of confusion, opening the door slightly but not enough to see who was inside there.
"Jeff, we need your help here." Another man said with a louder voice, somewhere further away.
"Hmp... go back to sleep, Mellanie." He said and closed the door again, followed by him moving away from the door.
"Okay..." Mellanie only mumbled. She was probably wondering in what mess I got myself into.
"I am so sorry." I said quietly and opened my eyes again after having overheard the conversation between the man and Mellanie.
"Guess they will look through everything." She whispered quietly, meaning that I couldn't hide.
"I-I don't want to leave you..." I said desperately with a frown and turned slowly around to face Mellanie. It was clear that I was still scared as hell and shook in fear; I didn’t bother to hide it.
"You'll be fine... but be honest to them. Don't think they will do much on the first time." She replied with a whisper and soft voice.
"But they don't know who it was." I said and snuggled up on Mellanie, I didn’t want to leave her. I really enjoyed her warmth and closeness. It made me feel so happy and comfortable.
"They might be waiting..." She mumbled, laying her own arm around me and sat up a bit.
"But promise me you'll never sneak out of your room again, okay?"
"I promise. I got what I was looking for anyway." I replied proudly while I took out the diary that I picked up earlier.
"What's that?" Mellanie asked concerned
"It's the diary... of the woman that wasn't present in the canteen today. I was in her room and found it empty as well. On top of that I found some blood on the floor. I bet the screams I have heard came from there." I replied and sat up as well, but stayed close to Mellanie.
"I brought the diary with me in the hope to find out more what happened." I added and opened the diary in the last pages.
"That's private... you shouldn't take that from someone, and what if they find out it's gone?" She asked concerned.
"I... uhm..." I sighed and closed the diary again, looking at Mellanie concerned as well. Maybe she was right…
"You should bring that back." Mellanie sighed, not interested or perhaps simply not wanting to know what was inside.
"Right." I said and got off the bed quickly, sighing softly myself and looked back at Mellanie.
"I am sorry I dragged you into this." I added and walked over to the door.
"Be careful." She mumbled after me.

I left through the door without any further comment and looked carefully around. The corridor was empty again, no one was around. But I didn’t follow Mellanie’s advice to bring back the diary. I kept it for now. I thought I could find some more hints there, something that could help me to get some progress in this case. I slowly sneaked back into my room and made myself comfortable on my bed. I was reading some more in the diary. It was terrible what was written inside.

She was fourteen when she was brought here after having lost her parents in a car accident. Was living for roughly ten years here now and apparently had a secret affair with one of the orphans around here. The last entries tell about her being pregnant and them having found out about it. Even if she was expecting it, she wasn’t able to prepare herself for this. They eventually took her baby. That was the last entry, written a day ago.

So that is what the screams were about. I am just wondering whether she is still alive or not. Perhaps she is in the infirmary of the orphanage. I have to find a way to get there.