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Alison's Articles; Writings and such
Topic Started: Oct 4 2012, 03:53 AM (772 Views)
Alison Summers ♪
Member Avatar
All Hail the Crimson King
Mayor
Okay so I thought about doing one of those writing challenges...yeah not going to happen. I don't have that much time. I do like to write though and every so often I will get awesome ideas for my characters that just won't leave my mind until I get them down. As I'm constantly in need of a place to put such things I have created this as an area to collect my character related writings. So without further ado let's begin.

[align=center]Table Of contents

At the Altar
On the Moon
Haunted: Part 1 Scars
Haunted: Part 2 The High Cost of Living
Haunted: Part 3 The Aftermath
Haunted: Part 4 Smiles and Lies
Haunted: Part 5 Confession
Haunted: Part 6 Hallowed Psalms, Troubling Words
Haunted: Part 7 Secrets That Must Be Kept
Haunted: Part 8 The Cold and the Broken
Haunted: Part 9 Hell Hath No Fury
Haunted: Part 10 The Avenger Born

[/align]
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Alison Summers ♪
Member Avatar
All Hail the Crimson King
Mayor
[align=center]At the Altar
Feat: Lizzy Goodman, Jill Goodman & Maria Rivera[/align]

The day was finally here. A season ago when we proposed it had seemed like this day was an eternity away. It was a moment she only thought about in her dreams and now the season had passed and here she stood surrounded by her sister and her best friend and was about to walk out there in front of everyone and marry the man of her dreams. She was about to become Mrs. Wes Nibai.

The sheer magnitude of that thought was almost overwhelming. How did people do this? How did they take the first step down that long aisle, at the temple at least it seemed to stretch out into infinity, towards their future? She would be giving everything to him. Everything she had, everything she was and everything that she would be. Could she do that? She supposed it was kind of silly to be asking that question at this point but suddenly all those doubts that had been chased away in the weeks and months since her father’s last visit to the island had come flooding back into her mind. Was she good enough? Could he really love her? Could she let him if he did? All the years of devaluation and questions of self-worth that her father had instilled in her came pouring over her and it was all she could do to just stand there and try not to be washed away.

She knew she loved him, loved him more than anyone she had every known but this was a big step in her life. She was making what would be the most important decision she would ever make. The question was could she pull the trigger? She thought she knew the answer to that but now with this sudden wave of doubt threatening to sweep her off her feet she wasn’t so sure. If only she could have seen him or had a few minutes to talk to him then she was confident Wes could have calmed all those fears but when had she had time? The last few days had been a whirlwind and here she was with no time left.

“How’s it going sis?” Jill asked her bright hazel eyes displaying curiosity and a hint of concern. She had seen something in that way that only two sisters who had spent far too much time together over the years could but she wasn’t sure what it was. Jill had always had that way of noticing something was wrong with her but then again the two had always been very close. Maria saw it too though and spoke up as well. “Lizzy…are you okay? You’re trembling.”

Lizzy hardly heard them but managed a nod in response to their questions. Finally taking a deep breath she composed herself enough to speak without a shake in her voice. “I’m okay.” She said as a truly lovely smile returned to her face. “Just a few shadows…” She stepped towards them and pulled them both into a hug. “…I can hardly even notice them now that it’s time. I love you both. Thank you for being here for me.”

“No prob Liz. What kind of sister would I be if I let you go through this alone?” Jill said with a chuckle. Maria nodded in agreement. “We’re here for you one hundred percent. We want this to be the best day of your life.”

Lizzy stepped back and smiled at the two girls. Who would have ever thought that she would be standing here with them waiting for this moment to begin? It was certainly a surprise to her. It looked like things really did turn out for the best eventually. Sometimes you just had to wait longer than others but in the end life had a way of giving you exactly what you needed even when you didn’t know that you needed it.

The music began and all three of the women turned their heads towards the large double doors of the temple. “Well here we go guys. Let’s get out there and do this thing right.” Jill commented and then shot her sister a wink before heading to the doors and slipping through them. Maria on the other hand hesitated for a moment and gave Lizzy and questioning look. “Do you want me to walk with you?” She asked.

Lizzy thought for a moment and then shook her head no. They would do it the way that they had planned, each one entering separately. That was the right way. “You go on. I’ll be alright.” The wedding organizer she had hired to keep everything running on schedule was motioning Maria forward and there was no time to lose.

Maria began walking in that direction but gave Lizzy one more reassuring smile. “If you aren’t right behind me I’m going to come back here and drag you out.”

“I’ll be there.” Lizzy replied and matched her friend’s smile. Then suddenly she was alone. This was the part that she had been afraid of, the part where she didn’t have any of her anchors around her, the part where she had to make the choice. Stepping up to the doorway to the temple she paused for a moment. She could do this. This was her moment, her day and this was what she wanted.

Taking a deep breath to steady her still trembling body Lizzy allowed her eyes to drift closed for just a moment. In that moment she saw a strong blonde haired boy coming in after a hard day’s work in the field, she saw a smiling purple haired girl skipping up to the front of a farmhouse with a bouquet of freshly picked flowers in her hand and finally the scene shifted to sometime in the distant future. There she saw an elderly couple on the porch of that same farmhouse, the paint job faded with age, sitting in two old wooden rocking chairs. The man’s hair was a dull and faded shade of purple and the woman’s had gone all but the finest white but they still smiled as they set there rocking gently back and forth with an interlocked hand held out between joining them together as they looked off into the distance.

Lizzy opened her eyes with a start and suddenly she realized the music had changed to the wedding march, the doors were open and everyone was looking at her especially the wedding organizer who had an expression of dumbfounded shock on her face. ’Oops…’ Quickly putting on a smile Lizzy stepped out to the music all of her fears forgotten. She had her eyes on only one thing right now, that man from her vision, only his hair wasn’t dull and faded at the moment. He was standing there at the altar and smiling at her. The only thing that was missing from the picture and as she walked down the aisle she thought it was about time to remedy that.
<center><style type="text/css">.who { width: 210px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-top:15px; background-color: #eee; font-family: arial; font-size: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; color: #000000; text-align: center;letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 110%; -moz-transition: all 0.9s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: all 0.9s ease-in-out; -o-transition: all 0.9s ease-in-out; } .who:hover { width: 210px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-top:15px; font-family: arial; font-size: 8px; letter-spacing: 3px; line-height: 110%; color: #000000; background-color: #2266aa; -moz-border-radius: 100%; -webkit-border-radius: 100%; -o-border-radius: 100% }</style><div style="width:400px;height:250px;background-color:#102372;border-radius:25px;"> <div style="width:150px;height:250px;background-image:url(http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/KaliRalter/drwhoDONTBLINK.jpg);float:left;"></div><div style="width:210px;height:210px;float:right;padding:20px;"><div class="who">Better Than Paradise</div><div style="width:100px;height:18px;"></div><div class="who">Summer Meadows Brewery</div><div style="width:100px;height:18px;"></div><div class="who">Sin On Skin Tattoos and Piercings</div><div style="width:100px;height:18px;"></div><div class="who">Alison's Articles</div><div style="width:100px;height:18px;"></div> </div></div></center>
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Alison Summers ♪
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All Hail the Crimson King
Mayor
[align=center]On the Moon
Feat: Zane Kalvalege and Tara Tanaka[/align]

Looking back at in the direction of the carnival the young boy checked to make sure that no one was paying any attention to him. He had told his parents that he would be over by the playground with the other kids but this was a very special night and he couldn’t just stay over here with all the little kids. Besides, he would be back before his mom started looking for him so once he was sure that the coast was clear he backed towards one of the ropes that marked off the fairgrounds, ducked under it and took off at a light jog towards the looming shadow of Lazuli Hill.

The Moon Viewing festival only came around once a year. For one night the moon passed close enough to the Earth that it practically took up the sky. Everyone knew that Feldspar Summit, the highest point on the island, was the best spot to see the moon but of course mom and dad wouldn’t let him go up by himself. That was just going to cramp his style so he had to sneak away, if only for a little bit, and find a spot where the moon was the biggest and brightest. Otherwise he would have to wait an entire year for the moon to come around and that just wasn’t an option.

After the black haired boy was out of sight of the crowd and the sounds of the carnival were fading behind him he slowed and continued to make his way up the path to the summit without a thought of looking back. Strapped to his belt he still carried the bag containing the strange stuffed animal that he had won for the strength testing game. He wasn’t exactly sure what the animal was, it looked like some weird cross between a giraffe and a sheep but he couldn’t be sure. Why they insisted on bringing such strange prizes for the fair games he didn’t know but at least he had gotten to surprise everyone by winning the game and that was reward enough in itself.

He supposed he would find something to do with the animal but he could figure it out later. In any case it didn’t matter because as he crested the top of the summit all thought instantly left his mind. There before him was the most amazing sight he had ever seen. Not only was the moon huge and shining but the stars filled the sky and made everything just so…so… “Wow. This was totally worth it.”

He stood there staring up at the sky, mouth nearly gapping open and it was all he could do to take it all in. He couldn’t tear his eyes away, didn’t want to tear his eyes away and that’s why when another voice spoke up behind him he jump a little in surprise. “You’re in my spot.”

The boy’s head shot around looking for the source of the voice and his eyes immediately fell on what he had missed when he first reached the top of the hill and was distracted by the sky. Sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree looking at him quite spitefully was a skinny black haired girl about his own age. She was wearing a white and blue dress with a red clip in her black hair and a tiny cross like pendant around her neck. Her icy blue eyes stared out at him cold but they caught the twinkling lights in the sky and reflected the sparkles back at him brightly. The boy just stared at her a moment longer before realizing that he had not yet spoken and then finally broke the pad lock that had fallen over his voice. “Your spot? oh…uh…Sorry I didn’t know anyone else was up here. Can I join you?”

“Are you here to look at the stars?” The girl asked her gaze still accusatory but with a slight hint of curiosity as well.

Obviously still not completely over being surprised by the girl on the log the boy nodded and then spoke up again. “uh…Yeah. I kinda came up here to see the moon.” Pausing for a moment he looked around the area and saw that it was quite large. Certainly there was enough room up here for the both of them. “Hey I can leave you alone if you want.”

The girl’s gaze softened and she waved this comment away dismissively. “It’s fine. You can stay so long as you’re here for the sky. “Sitting back on the fallen log the girl turned her attention away from the boy as if he had never arrived and looked back up at the sky watching it silently and intently.

Seeing that she didn’t mind his presence he decided that he would stick around. Walking over to where the girl sat he moved to the opposite end of the log and took a seat himself letting his eyes drift up and join her in her stargazing. A moment of silence passed between them but not wanting things to be weird the boy finally decided to break it. “I’m Zane…What’s your name?” The boy asked putting on what he thought was his most winning smile.

“I’m not telling you.” The girl responded without even glancing in the boy’s direction.

“oh…” Zane said a little deflated. “Why not?” He had been kind of to learn a little more about this mysterious girl who enjoyed looking up at the stars. Where did she come from? Why was she here alone but that wouldn’t work if he couldn’t even get a name out of her. Still the question did have some effect on her because the girl went silent for a long moment as if considering how to answer the question.

“It’s kind of boring.” The girl finally said and nodded to herself as if satisfied with the answer. She hadn’t really expected to be questioned on the issue but that was as good an answer as any and it would have been really neat if her parents had given her a really cool name.

Chuckling to himself the boy smiled and looked back at the stars. “Well it couldn’t be worse than Zane. I mean out of all the names in the world mine has to start with the least used letter in the alphabet.”

“What’s wrong with having a name that starts with a ‘Z’? It makes you unique.” The girl said as a small smile formed on her face. She glanced curiously at the boy from the corner of her eye. Maybe her original assumption about him was wrong. He did seem nice.

Zane however frowned at this statement. He had never really thought about his name in that way. He supposed it could be a good thing but what if he didn’t want to be unique. Being unique was not always the most socially acceptable thing after all. It was almost the same thing as being weird and Zane wasn’t weird. “Well sometimes it’s not much fun to be unique. People can make fun of you.”

“There’s nothing wrong with your name. I think it’s nice. Besides, it’s not that bad being unique. If we were just like everyone else we would still be at the fair and missing out on seeing the moon.”

As the girl spoke Zane found his smile returning. He had never really had anyone compliment him on his name before. It wasn’t really something that he thought about much but he guessed if the girl liked it that was okay with him. She seemed pretty cool for a girl. He would have to see where she went to school. He went to the mainland private schools but hanging out with the girl might be fun if he could. He would have to figure out what her name was eventually though.

“What do you think those stars up there are anyways?” Zane asked. He wanted to continue the conversation but didn’t really know where to take it. He had simply asked the first question that came into his mind not realizing that the girl may have been just as clueless as himself as to what they were and where they all came from.

Surprisingly the girl picked right up on the question as if she was a pro at this and for Zane knew she might be. Whatever the case she spoke up as if she had some experience with the subject “My dad said they're giant burning balls of gas.”

“Are you sure?” Zane said with an incredulous look. “He is probably just making that up.”

A confused expression crossed the girl’s face at this. As far as she knew her dad wouldn’t lie to her about anything. Her dad always told the truth right? “Why would he lie to me?” She asked.

Zane merely nodded and explained. “Because y'know that's what grown-ups do. They make things up. Santa, the Easter Bunny, kangaroos...stuff like that...”

“Oh…” The girl said suddenly understanding what he meant. “That makes sense.” She still wasn’t sure about all those things that Zane mentioned but she guessed it was possible if it was something like that. She would have to be sure to ask her dad when she got in later.

Silence fell between them for a moment as the two kids continued to stare up at the beautiful night sky in amazement. Zane tried to think up another conversation starter but ultimately came up with nothing. This would not prove to be a problem however as the girl soon spoke up with renewed enthusiasm. “Have you ever made a bunny out of the stars?” The black haired girl asked still giving the majority of her attention to the skyline.

Zane had to think about this statement to understand fully what she meant but after a moment he thought he had it. “You mean like a constellation?” He had heard of making things out of clouds but he had never really heard of making constellations. “With other things. I don’t think I’ve ever tried a bunny though.”

The girl nodded apparently not surprised by this in the least and gave a warm smile. “My mom and dad come out stargazing with me sometimes. We have races sometimes to see who can make up the best constellations. Would you like to have a race?”

It wasn’t the kind of race that Zane was normally used to but he didn’t think it was such a bad idea. Besides, the girl seemed to like it and well…he did like seeing her smile. “Sure. We will make the bestest constellation rabbit ever. I’ll count us off and we can start on three.” Eyes already searching the skies Zane took a deep breath and began counting down. “One…Two…Three annnnnnnnnnnnd sta…”

“I see one.” The girl interrupted him clearly pleased with herself. She continued to smile happily to herself as she stared up at the sky. How long would it take for Zane to find it?

Scratching his head Zane’s eyes scanned the sky. Try as he may he was not able to come up with anything or even follow Tara’s gaze to where she was looking. Finally he just decided to ask. If he couldn’t find it he couldn’t find it right? “Where is it? I hardly had time to look.”

“In the sky.” The girl responded in a matter of fact manner as if this should have answered any questions Zane might have had. Finally her curiosity got the best of her. She wanted to see if Zane could find her constellation and she couldn’t wait any longer so after a moment of pause she decided to give the boy a little hint. “Think big…Bigger than all the others.”

Zane looked up, he tried squinting, he tried opening his eyes wide and turning his head sideways but try as he might he could not find the girl’s bunny. It was kind of disappointing really as he could tell she was really excited about it and that she really wanted him to find it but what could he do? “I don’t know.” He said simply but then, just as he was about to give up his eyes suddenly widened in surprise. “Wait a minute…Wait a minute! I see it!!” Just like that a curtain was drawn away from his eyes and everything became clear. He thought he had it.

The girl watched as Zane raised his finger and pointed enthusiastically at the sky. Did he see it? Did he really? The girl wasn’t so sure but she was smiling all the same. He was certainly excited enough so maybe he really had found it in the sky. Still, there was only one way to make sure. “Tell me what you see.” She said simply and continued looking in the direction he was pointing.

“There right? There're the two ears and the head!” Zane said excitedly as he repeatedly jab his finger at the sky.

“What else?” The girl asked, her smile growing bigger by the second.

“And there...There's its two feet!” Zane traced the outline of the rabbit’s feet with his finger. He did have it. This had to be right.

The girl nodded as she saw the outline he traced. She thought he may be on to something but there was still one all important part. “Yes. What else?”

“And...and the moon!!!” Zane stammered hardly able to contain his excitement over finding the girl’s rabbit. “The moon is its big round belly!”

He did see it after all. The girl hadn’t met any kids who had ever been able to find her special rabbit constellation but sure enough Zane had done it. Her smile was big and bright and she nodded happily at him. “That’s right!” She said and for the first time since he had set down she took her eyes away from the sky and looked over at him with that happy expression. “You’re really good at this.”

Zane chuckled and scratched the back of his head to hide his embarrassment. “Well I’m sure it’s not as good as you or your mom and dad can do but once I finally saw it I couldn’t not see it.”

The girl could understand the sentiment. The same thing had happened to her many times before. Once she had actually picked a detail out like that it was hard to let the detail go. Like now when she had just noticed the bag attached to the boy’s belt. It looked like one of the prize bags from the fair and now that she saw it she couldn’t just forget it was there. As naturally curious as she was she just had to find out what it was. “That bag...What's in it?”

Zane glanced down at his belt and saw the prize he had won earlier. “oh, This? It’s a prize I won from the strength game. Did you play that one?” He had almost forgotten about it until now but since the girl reminded him he might as well talk himself up a little right? It wasn’t everyday a kid his age could even lift the hammer let alone actually win the game and it was something that he thought he had a right to be proud of.

“I tried…” The black haired girl said as a slight blush rose on her cheeks. “…I wasn’t very good at it though. What did you get from it?”

Zane thought for a minute but finally decided he really didn’t know what it was. “It’s a…thing.” He said after a moment of hesitation. Up until now he had just passed it off as a cheap prize that the grownups had put up there to get kids to play the game. They probably didn’t even expect anyone to win it. “Well I’m not really sure what it is. It’s some kind of weird stuffed animal I know that much.”

Taking the bag from his belt he untied the string and pulled it open revealing the strange looking toy, a stuffed Alpaca. The girl looked at it for a moment and then glanced back at the boy. “May I see it?” She asked and when Zane nodded and handed it over to her she took it eagerly. She examined it for a few more minutes having never seen anything like it herself and then looked back to Zane with an amused expression. “It looks so strange…I wish I could win one for myself.”

The girl looked as if she would have said more but at that moment a loud voice called out over the area. ZANE!!! Hearing his name and recognizing the voice as his mother’s Zane jumped up from the fallen log and began looking around nervously. “That’s my mom…” He said guiltily. “I should probably get going before she finds me up here. It was nice talking to you though.”

“Here…” The girl said as she made to hand him back the stuffed thing.

Zane glanced at the animal and then shook his head. “You know what? Keep it…It’s yours.”

The girl looked at him suspiciously and then in a disbelieving voice said. “Mine? You’re giving it to me?”

Zane nodded and then put on his most confident smile. “Yeah, I can always get another one. I don't like to brag but I'm pretty beast at that game.”

The girl giggled at the expression. “Thanks…” She said and then hugged the animal tightly to her body. She had never had anyone besides her parents give her a present like this. It made her feel good and as the boy began to turn away she stopped him. “Hey, are you going to be here next year?”

The boy nodded. A year was a long time away but the festival would be back next year and where would he be if not here? Besides, this had been fun and he wanted to see the girl again. “Yup. Will you? Same place, same time?”

The girl nodded “Yes...” She paused for only a moment and then continued hesitantly. “What if you forget or get lost?”

Zane thought about this. It was a legitimate question. He hadn’t really considered it and while he didn’t think he would forget he could understand the girl’s concerns. “Well we can always regroup on the moon, silly.” He said and chuckled. “Right on the rabbit's tummy.” This pleased the girl and she sat back on the log contently until the boy spoke again. “Hey, you never told me your name.”

This time there was no hesitation on the girl’s part. She turned to him, black hair twirling with her and grinned at him. “I’m Tara. Thanks for sitting with me.”

The boy smiled and was about to speak when his mother’s voice came again. ZANE!!!! That was it he couldn’t wait any longer. Giving the girl one last wave he said, “No problem. I’ll see you around.”, and then turned to run down Lazuli hill. “Coming mom!”

Tara sat back on her log and continued watching the sky still clutching the weird stuffed alpaca, the likes of which she had never seen, to her chest. The smile that she wore as she continued her stargazing did not go away even after she had hoped up from her spot and started the short trip home to the farm below. Hopefully she would see Zane again soon. They could go on some more adventures as the black haired girl certainly knew all the best spots on the island and Zane was right. They always would have the moon.
<center><style type="text/css">.who { width: 210px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-top:15px; background-color: #eee; font-family: arial; font-size: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; color: #000000; text-align: center;letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 110%; -moz-transition: all 0.9s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: all 0.9s ease-in-out; -o-transition: all 0.9s ease-in-out; } .who:hover { width: 210px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-top:15px; font-family: arial; font-size: 8px; letter-spacing: 3px; line-height: 110%; color: #000000; background-color: #2266aa; -moz-border-radius: 100%; -webkit-border-radius: 100%; -o-border-radius: 100% }</style><div style="width:400px;height:250px;background-color:#102372;border-radius:25px;"> <div style="width:150px;height:250px;background-image:url(http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/KaliRalter/drwhoDONTBLINK.jpg);float:left;"></div><div style="width:210px;height:210px;float:right;padding:20px;"><div class="who">Better Than Paradise</div><div style="width:100px;height:18px;"></div><div class="who">Summer Meadows Brewery</div><div style="width:100px;height:18px;"></div><div class="who">Sin On Skin Tattoos and Piercings</div><div style="width:100px;height:18px;"></div><div class="who">Alison's Articles</div><div style="width:100px;height:18px;"></div> </div></div></center>
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Alison Summers ♪
Member Avatar
All Hail the Crimson King
Mayor
[align=center]Haunted Part 1: Scars
Feat: No One: 16 and Alex Alkaev: 18[/align]

“Good hunt today.” The girl known as Amber Vaughn said as she grabbed another leaf wrapped pack of deer meat out of the fire with a stick and began to eat. The hunt in reference had been an all day event and it had indeed been a successful one. Two large deer, one for both of them, three rabbits and a few pheasants had been their reward and now as she and the boy, Alex Alkaev, sat watching the campfire and the remains of their evening meal they couldn’t help but reflect on what they had accomplished. “We’ll have to get an early start carrying the meat if we are going to make it back to town before lunch time tomorrow.”

Alex nodded in response to the girl’s statement but aside from a perfunctory “I know” he gave no sign that he had been listening to what she had been saying. In fact, he had been quiet for most of the day. Granted that wasn’t particularly unusual for the couple on their hunting expeditions but his silence had continued after they had made camp and on through their meal. Amber thought that odd and even worse than that was the distant, far off look in his eyes and the way he had seemed distracted recently.

Finally the girl had enough of dancing around the issue and throwing the leaf wrapping back into the fire spoke in a flash of annoyance rarely seen between the two of them anymore. “Alex, you may think it necessary to keep your own thoughts on whatever has troubled you but I would like to know what it is. We have shared far more than a few secrets before and it’s past time to share this one. You have not been yourself the past few days and I would know what has been on your mind so out with it.” Her voice rang clear with that tone of command that always seemed to creep into her voice when she tired of beating around an issue. It was a tone that spoke leadership and of already seeing far too many of the horrors of this world. It was a tone she didn’t usually get with Alex but it was one that was very difficult to resist nonetheless.

Alex glanced over at her as the tossed wrapping crackled and began to turn black in the heart of the campfire. A momentary look of pain crossed his face at being spoken to so by someone he cared so much about but it quickly passed and was replaced by his normal, hard expression as he realized that she was only speaking out of concern for him. Slowly he turned back to the fire and watched the dancing flames for a moment before continuing. “Amber we’ve known each other for a while now and yet you’ve still never told me much about yourself. I mean you’ve told me about your family, that they were killed and a little about your father but never about what happened between then and now or how you got here. I want to know more about you.”

So that was it, just a simple exchange of information. Amber had expected that it would be coming one day. She had grown too close to Alex and knew that the questions would come eventually. Still, that didn’t make the telling any easier. Now it was her turn to be quiet and for several minutes she sat starring at the fire with an uncommonly worried look on her face. Alex glanced over and seeing it realized that it wasn’t fear of what he might think or concern for the future but just the fact that the telling of tale was looming over her that caused the girl to show such an uncharacteristic emotion. It was this that finally moved him to break the silence. “Look, you’re excused…or absolved…or whatever the hell you need to take that look off your face. I’m sorry.”

Amber ignored him and grabbing one of the canteens they had brought with them for the trip took a long drink tilting her head back and looking up at the stars. She didn’t smile but her cheeks did go a deathly shade of pale as if she had seen a ghost…or thought of a particularly scary one. “There are some things you need to know…” She said. “…and how you judge me will come in time.” With that she fetched a sigh, the deep sigh of someone contemplating some arduous piece of work and then tossed fresh wood on the fire. As the flames flared up driving the shadows back a little ways, she began to talk.
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[align=center]Haunted Part 2: The High Cost of Living[/align]

Sydney Bristow was an orphan and like many orphans before her the existence she led was a sad and lonely one. After the loss of her family, friends and everything that she knew she had spent much time wondering in the woods, from town to town and eventually through city streets. Her father had taught her much about survival and she had considerable talent and skill at making it on her own but the simple fact was that she was a ten year old girl in a world that was much bigger than she had ever anticipated.

Her skill at survival only got her so far and when she met an older boy who, like herself was an orphan living on the streets and who seemed to know a great deal more about the world than she did she didn’t ask any questions when he, Ben Martell, let him tag along with him. As it turned out Ben did know quite a bit about surviving and taught what he knew to Sydney who absorbed it like a sponge as the weeks and months passed she came to trust Ben and look up to him as a mentor and even a brother. It was here though that Sydney’s story becomes much different than that of many orphans because it is here that she was taught another important life lesson in the school of betrayal.

The pair became quite an accomplished pair of pickpockets and it was this skill that would eventually lead to Sydney’s second downfall. The plan was simple. They would work the most crowded streets and Ben, the older and clearly more imaginative of the two, would be the talker, the distraction. He would distract the quarry while Sydney with hands quicker than any mouse would dart in and snatch a wallet or purse and make off with it into the crowd. It had worked a million times but today would be the last.

The quarry was and older man who, by the look of things, was weak, unobservant and past his prime. Still, he seemed to be a fairly well off person who could use with a little loosening in his wallet and thus he became the target of the young pair of thieves. Everything went according to plan with Ben bumping into the man, starting an argument and causing a distraction, Sydney creeping up from behind preparing to grab the man’s wallet and run. Unfortunately the older man was more observant than he seemed and as his hand clamped down on her wrist as it reached for his wallet the situation quickly descended into chaos.

Lt. Stanley Ruiz, as the girl would later come to know the older man, was a police officer who just happened to be running an undercover sting operation trying to bust a local drug ring that had been causing trouble in the area. He did not have time for snot nosed kids especially those who were homeless street urchins who survived by pickpocketing unsuspecting people around town. To make matters worse when Sydney wouldn’t immediately let go of the wallet the police officer twisted the girl’s hand until she cried out with pain and released it. This cry attracted the attention of almost everyone in the area including the criminals in question. The officer’s cover was completely blown and his quarry bolted.

Angered at his failed operation and annoyed at the two young children Lt. Ruiz was not a man to be trifled with. As he picked up the scrap of a girl by the arm Ben ran leaving Sydney behind. The girl on the other hand was not done yet. Acting purely on instinct she drew her father’s blade from its hiding place with her free hand and surprised the officer by cutting a long gash down the side of his arm. It would prove to be enough though and as the policeman let go of the girl she rolled away into the crowd and ran after Ben.

Lt. Ruiz was not the only officer undercover that day however and as he lost the girl he signaled to his team to round up the two street urchins while he nursed his wound. Suddenly the crowd became a minefield of seemingly unassuming civilians who were actually cops trying to capture her. It was hard telling who was out to get her and who wasn’t. She passed a woman pushing a stroller and was nearly grabbed around the waist as the woman stooped to wrap her in a restraining hug, she had to roll through one man’s legs as he turned suddenly at a street crossing and she was nearly kicked in the gut by a man apparently selling papers. She had been trained better than this she knew. Her father would have been angry with her for being so careless and perhaps it was that thought that caused her instincts to kick in. She opened her eyes to see what was really there.

As she calmed her mind things became much clearer. She spotted a man gazing all too intently at a news stand magazine just waiting for her. She was able to dart around the news stand just as the man turned to catch her with a confused expression on his face at her absence. A man up ahead of her was talking, but not really saying anything, on a cellphone. She was able to swiftly change directions and dart the other way just as he moved to intercept her. ’The idiots. It’s like they want me to know what they are doing.’ Sydney thought and before she knew it she had caught up to Ben. She had always been the faster of the two and as the pair ran from the crowded streets down an alley a trail of angry undercover policemen followed them.

Around turns and corners the pair ran but it soon became obvious that they would not be able to outrun their pursuers. “Hey maggot…” The older boy said to grab her attention because Sydney had wisely not given anyone her real name since her family was murdered. “…ladder up ahead.” The boy nodded towards a metal fire escape ladder attached to the side of a building and the Sydney nodded her understanding. They would climb to safety and go over the roof tops if they had to until they lost them.

Together they made a mad dash for the ladder. Ben jumped and being older and taller than the girl grabbed it in midair and began to climb as the first of the policemen following them rounded the corner. Sydney waited impatiently knowing that this would be close. When the boy had climbed up a few more rungs she jump desperately trying to grab the lowest rung and barely caught it with left hand. Struggling and kicking her short legs wildly in the air she found some purchase and pushed herself up first one rung, two, then three. The policemen where right behind them and she knew that no matter how fast she climbed they would never make it. The cops would climb up after them and they would be caught.

“Toss me your knife maggot. I can throw it better than you and we have to keep them from getting to the ladder.” It was Ben and he was somewhere above her. Without thinking Sydney paused long enough to grab her knife with one hand and toss it up to the older boy hilt first. She glanced up to see the boy, who was already on the first level of the escape snatch the blade out of the air and then watched in horror as he slid the blade into his pocket making no attempt to throw it. A wicked smile formed on his face and in a cold voice he said “Sorry kid but you should have been quicker. Now you’ve got to take one for the team.”

As if watching a slow motion film Ben Martell leaned over the railing and with his right leg kicked down at the climbing girl. Sydney heard a loud thud as the boy’s boot hit her squarely in the face and her vision went red. Suddenly she lost her grip on the ladder and as she flailed blindly she fell back. Her last sight before she hit the ground and blacked out from the fall was of the older boy smiling and pulling up the fire escape so no one could follow him. So the girl found the high cost of living in this world. Sometimes you must betray and use those that would be friends to you.
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[align=center]Part 3: The Aftermath[/align]

“So he just left you there.” Alex said more as a statement than a question to which he expected an answer. He could already feel his blood beginning to boil at the thought of her lying there on the ground, hurt and abandoned by someone she had come to trust. If he had been there, if he had known…then again that was foolishness and Amber would have told him so had she been able to read his thoughts but maybe she could, a little, in that special way that only to lovers can and as if to confirm this fact he felt her gently kiss his check.

“Yes.” The brown haired teen finally responded as she moved a little closer to him. Alex put an arm around her and she laid her head down on his shoulder. It felt good there, better than she ever thought possible, and she didn’t mine that he was trying to comfort her. There was still more to tell and if she was going to explain everything…including the hardest thing then she would enjoy this moment while it lasted. Besides, how much more time could they really have like this? Cain was bound to figure out eventually, observant people always did and it was foolish to think otherwise. Still, that threat didn’t seem quite as important now as it probably should have been and maybe that was the real danger of the relationship they were in.

She didn’t have much time to think on this however as Alex still understandably had more questions. “So what happened next?” He asked as he held her tightly. “I assume you were hurt, that you got caught, but what happened to you once the cops caught up to you?” He acted as if he was going to let her speak but suddenly chimed in with something else that had occurred to him. “And if you really did give this Ben guy your knife how did you get it back? I’m guessing you saw him again.”

“You could say that.” Amber said a little reluctantly. Obviously whatever fate waited her young friend wasn’t something she was completely ready to get into yet. “There’s still some time before then. I didn’t meet him again until maybe a year later and by then we were on much different terms. Still, everything has its place and that is a story of another time. For now I can say that you are right about your assumptions, I was hurt from the fall, badly, but worse still I had been caught and was in a lot of trouble.”

The next part of the story Alex could guess. Being an orphan himself he knew something of what happened to kids when they were found to be without parents and could guess what would happen to said kid if they had just caused a lot of trouble like Amber had. “No parents, no family and a trouble maker…There was only one thing for them to do with you wasn’t there”

Amber nodded. “When I came to I felt like something had come loose in my head. Considering the fall I had just taken that was probably closer to the truth than I like to believe. I had a pretty serious concussion from hitting my head in the fall and was completely out of. Luckily I had enough sense…or at that point lack thereof to keep from telling them anything.”

At this point in her story Amber paused long enough to poke and stir up some of the embers in the fire. It had begun burning low and if she was going to tell Alex all of her past leading up to the island then they would need the light and warmth of a little while longer yet. Alex watched her trying to read her cold emotionless expression but he couldn’t. Not even with the light of the stirred up embers and rekindled fire could he tell what she was thinking. It was always that way with her and that worried him. There was something cold and dark inside her that he had never been able to touch. When he had seen it in action he was always glad that it had been on his side but most of the time he just wished it wasn’t there at all. How different could things be without it between them? Pushing the thoughts from his mind he cleared his throat and broke the silence that had fallen. “So they did interrogate you.”

“Eventually. They took it pretty easy on me at first. Most likely they thought I was some fool child who had run away from home but I wasn’t and I certainly didn’t trust them. Where were they when my family was murdered? What were they doing when I had to run from my house for fear of being gunned down where I stood? Nowhere and nothing…” Anger flashed red hot for a moment as she spoke but it quickly cooled as Alex gave her a gentle squeeze. “…They were probably wasting their time chasing no named kids through the streets for stealing just enough money to buy food to eat.” Amber gave a contemptuous chuckle and then got back on topic. “Eventually they got fed up with not getting any results. I was fed up too which didn’t make for a good situation.”

“What did you do?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. Something about the girl’s words made him think that there was more to the story than she was telling him. Amber’s stubbornness was very well known to him and he could only imagine how surprised those cops were to find her quite well prepared for any attempts to intimidate her like some frightened child.

“They took me a large interrogation room. There was a big mirrored wall where they had people listening to my every word. I had become something of a legend around the office with my refusal to tell them anything and I found out later that there had even been a bet going as to whether I would crack or not. They brought in some hot shots, their best interrogators I suppose and proceed to grill me for a few hours. Who was I, what was my name, where was I from, didn’t I know I was in a lot of trouble and I was only making it worse for myself…useless stuff. It got to the point, somewhere after they had been over the same questions two or three times when I just got so board with all the stupidity and began to let my mind wander. I had started glancing over at the mirror. I knew they were watching me. I could just feel them waiting for me to break. It made me so mad and when the lead cop asked why I kept looking away from him I decided I was going to put an end to this charade.”

A rare smirk had begun to form on Amber’s face as she spoke. She had obviously been waiting for this part of the story and wanted to see what kind of reaction she would get out of Alex. “When he asked me why I wasn’t looking at him anymore I simply replied that I needed a break. ‘A break from what?’ He asked. ‘A break from your ugly face.’”

Amber delivered this last line as dead pan and serious as she had when she was a little girl and stopped there. For a moment there was silence and then as her words sank in Alex broke into thunderous laughter. The idea of this little girl stuck in a room with two hostile police officers and her completely embarrassing them was just too much. He knew that Amber was as stubborn as a mule and as mean as a rattlesnake but to sit there and cut her captors down to her size that was really something. “You didn’t.” He said between laughs.

“You know that I did.” She replied as that pleased smirk remained on her face.

“I bet he didn’t like that.”

Amber nodded and as Alex’s laughter died down she continued. “No he didn’t like it at all. In fact, that was the moment he realized that he was wasting his time. The look on his face, he looked like I had slapped him. His partner had been smoking and his cigarette had fallen out of his mouth he was so surprised. I imagine I made a few people behind the glass wall happier as well, those who had bet on me.” Waving her hand to clear the moment away Amber continued with her story. “In any case he got real mad after that. I even thought he might try to hit me for a second but it would have been all over for them then. Instead he just knocked over his chair, kicked it across the room and stormed out. After that they took me away to juvenile hold for a few days until they could figure out what to do with me. I guess they found out that there weren’t many options and since they couldn’t figure out anything else about me they did the only thing they could do.”

Without having to think about it Alex finished the thought for her. “They turned you over to the government’s care.” He had been seeing where this was going for a while now and it had been pretty easy to deduce what happened next. What did you do with a girl who had no past, no parents and no home? You made one for them. It was the only logical thing to do and yet it added another wrinkle into the life of this mysterious girl he loved. “They sent you to and orphanage?”

Amber nodded her head in silent agreement. “Considering my recent activities foster care was out. They wanted to put me in an environment where I had other people and kids to watch over me so it was an orphanage of sorts.” She spoke in a cold emotionless tone that hinted of less than fond memories connected with this part of her life but that didn’t stop her from continuing on. “Coming from the situation I did they thought I might benefit from a more…moral education so they sent me to an orphanage ran by a man named Reverend ‘Smiling’ Joel Oswin.”

She said this name with some degree of disgust being sure to place emphasis on the nickname. Alex looked at her with an equal degree of concern. What had happened that made her hate this man so? He didn’t know but one thing was clear and that was that his girlfriend’s story was far from over yet. “So this guy ended up being number two, right? The second guy you killed?”

Amber nodded again. “I’ll tell you something that I’ve learned. People who can smile easily are either very stupid or very cruel and good at lying. I’ve never smiled easily and I would never consider myself to fall into either of those categories but I’ll give you a guess which one the good reverend was in. I’ll even give you a hint. The only stupid thing he ever did was take me in when they brought me to him.” With that the girl leaned in close to Alex and began another chapter of her life.
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[align=center]Part 4: Smiles and Lies[/align]

The Sunlight Home for Troubled Youth was, like many scripture homes across the country, an orphanage specializing in the care and training of those miscreants, vagrants and trouble makers unfortunate enough to be taken into the care of the state. Here broken and misguided children with nowhere else to go or those who had not gotten into enough trouble to constitute them being sent to Juvenile Detention were brought in hopes that under the care and religious teaching of the home some of these unfortunate souls might be turned into respectable members of society.

From the outside the home looked as if it had been created with children’s building blocks. It had grown and expanded randomly as necessity required and therefore had been built in a hodgepodge of styles with functionality and space management a constant focus in the design. All in all it looked like a pleasant place, painted in bright colors with designs that looked as if they had been made by the children who lived there. When one looked closer however and noticed the bars over the windows and doors and noted that the property was actually enclosed by large stone walls whose tops were lined with barbed wire and small shards of glass stuck in cement then the home lost any resemblance to a child’s toy. Were the sixty rolling acres investigated and the young children in their Sunlight Home uniforms seen working the fields the scene began to look quite penal in nature.

The man who ran the home was a televangelist by the name of Joel Oswin who was the very image of one of the Lord’s good servants. Beneath a full head of longish, wavy white hair the reverend’s face was one that seemed unrealistically youthful as if it was one that had been created through or assisted by much plastic surgery. It was the face of a man who could sell anything, anywhere, to anybody. His clothes, at least those he usually wore, were as white as his hair, white suite, white shoes, white shirt and a loose fitting white scarf that wrapped around his neck. With this outfit he practically shown with a divine glow but then again that was entirely the image he was going for.

Joel smiled a lot, so much so that ‘Smiling’ Joel became his nickname and in that smile was a charisma that could move mountains. However, from the moment that the girl met the reverend that smile unnerved her. While it may have looked good on TV and been very good at making him money the girl had always thought there was a malicious cruelty behind that smile. He hid it well but the girl who was brought in as next lost soul needing guidance on one stormy summer’s night could tell that this man of God was, in actuality, cold and crazy within.

However, as the girl rode up to the large central building she knew none of this. The works of televangelist and preachers had never interested her and in her mind this was only a temporary lodging until she could escape back into the world. She had no intention of being caught again and certainly didn’t think they could hold her here long enough for her to get comfortable but at that time she knew nothing about the home or the twisted, demented man who ran. She would learn though. Over the next three months as she waited behind locked and carefully guarded doors she would learn very well.

Her first experience with Smiling Joel was on the day she arrived at the home in the back of a state police car. She was met on the front porch of the home as wind and rain blew around her by the smiling man resplendent in his all white uniform. With his fine, powdery white hair lifting in the wind and shining like a bright beacon in the light of the large doorway he was the very image of righteousness, a holy man on a quest to save the world, touched by God. That image of the man lasted until the officer escorting her to the home left and then the demon came out.

“A name, a name…” The reverend began as the trooper car rolled away. “…Might I have a name from you young lady? You will be staying with us for quite a while so let’s have out with it. Then we can take care of all the formalities.” Placing a hand with a grip like iron on her shoulder he led the girl out of the storm and into the warm, pleasantly decorated foyer of the Sunlight home. Inside boys and girls of various ages ranging from twelve to seventeen stopped what they were doing and came to look at the new arrival.

Not once during her capture, interrogation and eventual transfer had the girl given a name. She wasn’t stupid and she knew that she had to be careful. Now, as she was asked the question again, she knew she had to give an answer to this man. Fortunately she had been lying about her name so long she did it almost without thinking. “Catherine” was the name she gave being the first thing that popped into her mind. It would be the name she would use for the rest of her time at the home even though she wasn’t expecting to be here long.

Oswin’s eyes flashed with intelligence and he smiled a charming, winning smile that the girl was sure had been used thousands of times before. “I don’t suppose I could convince you to give us your real name now could I?” The man in white watched carefully as the girl simply shrugged and then patted her on the back. “Very well we will let you keep that name for now but you will tell me eventually. They always tell. Confession is good for the soul after all. Now you do possess a last name I imagine.”

“Parker.” Came Catherine’s short reply and this sent the good reverend into a fit of the giggles. He moved smoothly away from her, executed a little spinning turn to face her and then spread his arms out before him like he was inviting the girl to take a look around the building for the first time.

“Ah yes.” He said in a soft, soothing and overly clam voice. “Ms. Parker. Now tell me, have you been a bad girl? Have you been a very bad little girl? Surely you have in your time on the road. Vandalism, theft…or perhaps something more serious like drugs? Surely there’s something and I assure you it will go better for you if you come clean now.” The reverend glowered at the girl expecting an answer but the only one the girl gave was a short and slightly irritated ‘No’.

At this the expectant look immediately turned to one of anger. Oswin gave a disappointed sigh and continued. “I see we will have some work to do on you Ms. Parker. I’m sure that you have been quite busy during your time as a vagrant but never fear the blood of the Lord can cover a multitude of sins, praise God. For now though we must get you registered and get you out of those horrid street clothes. One of our beliefs here at the Sunlight Home is that the soldiers of the Lord march best when they march in uniform. So in the areas of both clothing and discipline I assure you that you will be very well served.”

Leading Catherine through the foyer, the other children falling back as they went, the pair came two a large wooden table with an open book sitting on top. The two boys behind the table instantly sat up straight and the girl took silent stock of them. The first was a large, pimply faced boy who sat huddled protectively over the book eyeing the girl suspiciously as he awaited instructions. The second however was much different. It was this boy that Catherine spent most of her short time examining. The boy was short and lean. In the girl’s opinion he would not survive long in a fight but in his face was a cruel malevolence that let her know he was more than he seemed. Both boys wore name tags of the type worn on military uniforms. On the tag of the first boy Baast was printed in clearly legible font. On the tag of the other boy, the one that the girl watched carefully, was the name Singer.

“Ms. Parker this is Raymond Baast and Sonny Singer. They are two of our overseers here at the Sunlight Home and I’m sure that they will take very good care of you. For now however I must see to the evening’s sermon so I will leave you in the care of these two fine gentlemen.” Turning his attention to the boys behind the table Oswin fixed them with a stern stare. “Registration and then take her up to the laundry for a uniform.” He commanded in a hard tone before his voice finally softened back to normality. “And please make sure Ms. Parker is settled in properly will you boys?”

“Yes sir, reverend Oswin. We will make sure this one is taken care of.” The boy named Singer replied and then smiled as he watched the reverend turn to go. That smile didn’t fade until the reverend was out of sight at which point he turned back to Catherine with a cold, hard scowl of contempt. “Pay attention snot face.” He said angrily once the room was clear and the other children had gone back to their places. The boy named Baast pushed the ledger book towards the girl and Singer continued with his explanation. “You’ll have to sign in. Print on the top line and sign on the bottom.”

‘Catherine Parker’ The girl printed on the top line and then scrawled something roughly similar to that on the bottom. When you lived on the road as long as she had you got used to writing false names. Apparently this was satisfactory as the boy named Baast pulled the book away and spoke up. “Now you are a ward of the state and that’s what you’ll be for the next thirty days unless you decide to stay longer.”

“Decide to stay?” The girl questioned unbelievingly. She couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to stay in this concentration camp for any longer than they had too and she knew that she had no intention of doing any such thing herself. The boys however had a much different opinion and the one named Singer was intent on expressing that to the girl now.

Unprovoked rage bubbled up instantly in the smaller boy turning his face the color of an autumn leaf with the fury of it. The change was so unexpected, so instantaneous that even the girl with her normally calm nature had to take a step back from it. “Yes, you retard. It may surprise your cow’s brain to know but the Sunlight Home is a good place, a lot better than any you’ve ever been in I’m sure, and if I ever her you ragging it I’m going to beat the shit out of you. You’re going to stay because you aint got no choice but to respect the home. Now do you understand cunt!?”

Regaining her stoic composure Catherine stood up to face the boy with a cold, penetrating gaze. “Yeah I understand.” She said impassively and then watched as the boy’s anger vanished as quickly as it had flashed into existence. It was then that she realized that the, oh so reverend Oswin had sowed his seeds incredibly well. She wasn’t just dealing with one insanely cruel man rather she was dealing with his entire cruel and brain washed army.

“Good.” Singer replied and turned his attention, as calmly as if nothing had happened, to rattling off a set of instructions. “Your day begins at five in the morning when we have chapel then it’s field work until seven and back for breakfast in the dining hall. We go back to the field until twelve when we get lunch and bible readings. Everybody gets a crack at this so you better start thinking about what you’re going to read. None of that sexy stuff from the Song of Songs either unless you want to find out what the word discipline means. More work after lunch. Sundays are spent in the chapel. If you turn out right and do as you’re told things will go easy for you here. Cause any trouble though and you’ll find out real quick why things run so smoothly here. In any case we’ve got thirty days to turn you around and make you see how dirty and filthy and diseased your life really was before you came here and this is where we start, right now exactly. Now empty out your pockets!”

Singer slammed a fist down onto the table indicating the spot where he wanted her possessions laid. Catherine looked at it for a moment and then glanced up to speak. “I don’t have anything.” It was a true enough statement. The only thing that she really valued and been her father’s knife and the fury that she felt with its loss still burned within her. She didn’t have much money and the only clothes she owned were the ones she wore but this answer was apparently not what the angry, older boy wanted to hear.

“Turn them out! I want to see them right now!” The anger was back red and hot and aimed at the girl who dared stand up to someone in his position. The girl was unfazed this time but that seemed to make him even angrier. Silently Catherine shrugged and began to empty out the meager contents of her pockets, a small matchbook, a few coins amounting to forty six cents and some lent. Before this last item she closed her fingers around the one thing she actually intended to keep, a silver key to an abandoned apartment complex that a certain backstabbing boy often frequented but other than that this was all she had.

“What is this?” Singer said in an accusing tone.

“What does it look like stupid?” It was the wrong thing to say. Catherine watched as Singers face began to contract and saw what was going to happen the second before he raised his hand and slapped her stingingly across the side of her face. She just watched and let it happen.

“I want the stuff you’re trying to hide! That item you just palmed, hand it over now or I’m going to rip your fucking face off!” Glaring at the boy as he spoke the girl raised a fisted palm. Singer and Baast leaned closer expecting something valuable, drugs, a weapon, anything that would warrant the girl taking such care with the item. When Catherine opened her palm to reveal the simple, nondescript key it was almost as if the air had been let out of a balloon to see the way they deflated.

A few moments passed in silence. Some snickers from watching kids were the only sounds that broke it. This didn’t last long however as another stinging slap, this one harder enough to rock the girl’s face to one side and leave a bruise, explode across her cheek and Catherine felt herself grabbed by her shirt and dragged forward. Stars sprang up in her vision and she heard Singer’s voice come to her in a whisper that was only meant for her. “You made me look like an idiot just now and no one makes me look like an idiot.”

Shoving her back the girl stumbled and regained her balance. Her cold green eyes focused boring holes into the boy’s soul but she said nothing, did nothing. A wolf knew how to be careful and wait her time and that’s what this little wolf was doing now. “You hurt me and I hurt you twice as bad. You hurt me in front of Reverend Oswin and I’ll hurt you four times as bad. You got that bitch?”

“Yeah,” The girl said coldly. She wasn’t going to give him the pleasure of seeing her rub the sore cheek that was already beginning to swell. “I got it. Now weren’t we supposed to get some clothes?”

Singer whirled around and marched off towards a stair case leading up to the second level of the building. For a moment the girl just stood there watching the boy’s thin and intense back climb the stairs. ’You too.’ She said to herself. ’You and Oswin both…someday.’ Then she followed.
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[align=center]Part 5: Confession[/align]

After getting her clothes Catherine was lead up to the girl’s dormitory floor where no attempt had been made at disguising the true nature of the Sunlight Home. Here a long, narrow hallway extended out in front her. Row after row of plain metal doors with inset eye level windows marched down the hall. To Catherine the scene before her looked like a prison and the likeness, she would find, did not stop there.

Singer walked the girl down the hall stopping at the end to stand in front of a door which he unlocked with a key he kept on a ring around his belt. “On their first day nobody works. You’ll start the full schedule tomorrow so get in there and read your bibles or something until five. I’ll come back and let you out in time for the confession period so change into the Sunlight clothes while you’re here.”

The girl stared at him disbelievingly, her mind not willing to actually comprehend what she had just heard. “You mean you’re going to just lock me in there until five?” Catherine asked.

That hidden rage that never truly seemed to go away flashed. “What do you want me to do, hold your hand?” Sonny said angrily. “Look, if you were a voluntary I could let you walk around or something but since you’re a ward of the state brought in from a local police department you’re one step up from a convicted criminal. Maybe in thirty days you’ll be a voluntary if you’re lucky but until then get in your room and start behaving like a human being created in God’s image and not like an animal!”

The girl raised an eyebrow. “What happens to all my stuff?”

Singer sighed and slapped a hand to his forehead. “You little creep do you actually think we would be interested in anything you had?” Catherine kept herself from answering and with another sigh the boy continued. “Fine. We keep it downstairs in the reverend’s office in a folder with your name on it. Now get in there. I’ve got work to do.”

Catherine went in and Singer slammed the door behind her. When he did the single light in the room automatically came on revealing a windowless cube with a small metal bed bolted to the floor, a smaller wooden desk and chair, nothing more. On the white wall yellow tap marks showed where pictures had been put up by the room’s previous occupant. As she examined her surroundings the cover of the small window in the door slid open to reveal Singer’s grinning face. “Be good now.” He said before slamming the cover back into place. Then he was gone.

As she stood there finally alone for the first time in what seemed like years one thought occurred to her and repeated itself over and over with sharp clarity. She couldn’t stay here. She was in trouble, a lot of it and she had to get out of here as soon as possible. It wouldn’t be as easy as she had originally thought but she would do it. She just needed to start right away. For now though she was stuck and she wasn’t doing herself any good by just standing here so she walked over to her bed. Laying down she closed her eyes visualizing Singer and Oswin and what she would do to them when she got her chance.

A few hours later Catherine was woken by the sound of a blaring siren. So loud was the noise and so deep had been her rest that when she jumped from the bed she nearly hit her head on the low hanging ceiling. Outside her room she could hear the opening of doors and shuffling of feet. A deep, harsh voice, it could have been Raymond Baast, called “Out for confession!” down the hall and slowly other voices took up the chant until it sounded like some weird football cheer.

Dimly Catherine became aware that she had never changed into the Sunlight Home uniform and that realization along with the sound of opening doors coming down the hall sobered her mind quickly. Rushing over to where she had dropped it by the door Catherine practically ripped off her ragged, torn blue jeans and old t-shirt that made her look more like a boy than any girl who had ever lived on earth and set about a quick fire attempt to get ready.

She knew that her door would be opening any minute and while surely new comers were allowed some slip ups in their first few days here she thought that her chances to escape were best if she blended in as completely as possible. Slipping into the plaid pleated skirt and shrugging on the crisp white blouse she began hastily fastening the buttons. She was just pulling up the knee length stockings and slipping into the black loafers thinking how extraordinarily ridiculous she looked in the getup when her door swung open and she was greeted with the scabby and poxed face of Raymond Baast.

“Out for confession fresh meat!” Not wanting to test her luck just yet the girl hoped up from her cot and joined the milling crowd of girls, considerably less in number than that of the boys, as they walked down towards the chapel which was in the basement.

The chapel was a large windowless room that was decorated more finely than any other room the girl had yet seen. Rows of pews sat lined in front of a large stage with a grand looking pulpit and a large, ornately carved wooden cross in the background. Bright stage lights shown down glaringly onto the stage where the good reverend would no doubt spin his yards about sins, forgiveness and how we would all be a lot happier if we would just get in line and drink the divine kool-aid he had prepared.

Catherine was the last to enter this room but this time her presence had gone unnoticed. Baast and Singer had apparently found some other poor soul to torment and they now stood around a tall and obviously very scared girl pushing her and making lewd gestures that Catherine was sure they hadn’t learned from any bible classes.

“You learned to talk yet bitch?” Singer yelled at the girl who was trembling like a leaf caught in a strong wind. “I bet I could give her something to open up her mouth.” The girl, who Catherine would later come to know as Amber Whited, just stood there and took the abuse from the boys without saying a word and the Catherine gritted her teeth as she filed into the pews with the other kids. She was beginning to get fed up with the reverend’s enforcers.

“You’d like that wouldn’t you.” Baast asked. “Come on, come on. Speak up dummy.” The girl stayed silent but fortunately was spared any more humiliation when a chime signaling the start of confession sounded. The boys scowled at the girl with promises to return and headed down front to stand before the group of assembled kids. The girl came and stood by Catherine who glanced up at her before shifting her gaze back to the stage.

Catherine was more worried about confession than she let on. Lying in her bed before she drifted asleep she had noticed a round, black something stuck to the ceiling in one corner of her room. At first she had thought it to be some beetle or other bug stuck in a spider’s web. It did turn out to be a bug but not the organic kind. It was a small, old fashioned microphone with a cord that snaked through a hole in the plaster. There had been no real effort made to conceal it, just the watchful eyes and ears of Smiling Joel looking down on them.

After the scene with the older girl Catherine had expected this activity to go in much the same way with the bullies leaning over you and making you talk. They would try to get her to admit that she had used drugs on the road, that she had broken into people’s houses and stole while on the road, that she had spit on old ladies, eaten babies and after a hard day’s work called down curses upon God while on the road. If she hadn’t done any of these things they would keep after her until she admitted she had. They would try to break her. This however, was not the case. The most disturbing thing she would find out about confession was the eagerness with which the other kids admitted their wrong doings.

She looked around the room at all the faces bright with anticipation. She had thought it might be diner they were all looking forward too as she certainly knew she was after spending so long on the road eating very little and some nights nothing at all but then Smiling Joel entered the room and all the eager faces turned into expressions of gratitude. Apparently it had not been diner they were looking forward to after all.

“Sit down children, sit down.” Reverend Joel said as he sat down on stage in a chair pulled up by Baast. The children did and for the most part stared up at the man worshipfully. There were a few sneering faces here and there, the girl named Amber was one, and that was encouraging. At least not everyone’s head had been blown by what was going on here...but then again the majority had and wide open by the look of things. “Mr. Baast, would you please start us off with a prayer?”

Raymond Baast did. He prayed quickly and mechanically. It was like listening to dial a pray recorded by a dyslexic speed addict. After asking God to favor them in the days and weeks ahead, to forgive them their trespasses and to help them to become better people Baast rattled off “InJesusnameamen” and sat down.

“Thank you Ray.” Reverend Oswin said and he took a moment to look around the assembly. He was at his most charming tonight. The sterile, well hidden craziness that the girl had seen earlier was almost gone. “Let us have a dozen confessions please, no more. After that we will break for a quick meal before our evening devotional.” Turning to the other boy on stage the reverend fixed him with a warm smile and said “Will you lead us Sonny?”

Sonny Singer, an expression of ludicrous piety on his face, took Baast’s place. “Thank you reverend Oswin.” He said and then turned to look at the other children. “Confession, who will start?” There was a rustle in the crowd and then hands began to go up, two, six, nine of them. Singer glanced over these for a moment and then seemingly picked one at random. “Melvin Reeves!”

The boy named Melvin stood up ringing his hands in front of him. “I stole ten bucks from my momma’s purse last year!” He said in a screechy, high pitched voice. “I took it down to the arcade and turned it into quarters and played all kinds of video games until it was all gone. That was money she had put away on the gas bill and that’s why for a while they turned off our heat.” Melvin blinked around at the crowd and then as if on an afterthought he added. “And my brother got sick with pneumonia and had to go to the hospital because I stole that money…That’s my confession.” Melvin Reeves sat back down.

Smiling Joel said. “Can Melvin be forgiven?” In unison the assembly replied ‘Melvin can be forgiven.’

“Can anyone here forgive him children?”

‘No one here.’

“Who can forgive him children?”

‘God through the power of his only begotten Son, Jesus.’

“Will you pray to Jesus to intercede on your behalf?” The reverend asked Melvin and with a nervous and shaky tremor of his body Melvin nodded. Glancing over at the boy Catherine noticed that Melvin Reeves was weeping. “And the next time your momma comes are you going to tell your momma that you sinned against her, your brother and against the face of your heavenly Father and that you’re just the sorriest boy that ever there was?”

“Sure am gonna.” The boy said and Smiling Joel turned his bright, shinning face back to Sonny giving him a nod to continue. Sonny Singer did and before confession was over at six o’clock almost everyone except Catherine Parker and Amber Whited had their hands up in hopes to confess some sin to the assembly. Several of them admitted to petty theft, other told of stealing alcohol and drinking until they threw up, there were also several tales of drugs. Singer called on them but it was Smiling Joel Oswin that they looked to for approval as they told and told…and told.

’He’s got them liking their sins.’ Catherine thought, troubled. ’They love him, they desperately want his approval and I guess the only get it if they confess. Some of these sad sacks probably make their sins up.’ Smells of the meal being prepared upstairs in the dining hall began to get stronger and the girl realized that he was using the promise of food to drive them on. She wondered to herself if any of them would get to eat unless the requested confession quota was filled. Fortunately she wouldn’t have to find out…today.

As the last confession was given reverend Oswin offered a short prayer and then went to stand in the doorway to the chapel hall as the children filed out. As Catherine Parker passed he closed a hand in that iron grip around one of the girl’s wrists. “Who are you?” His eyes burned into her seeming to demand her confession and for a moment the girl was tempted to tell him that yes, she had been on the road for the last two years, yes, she had stolen and robbed to survive and that yes, she had even killed a man but the moment passed without the girl saying anything. “You’re hiding something for me Ms. Parker. What you have done, where you have been and who you are. Confess…”

The girl regarded him unemotionally for a moment and then spoke. “I’ve already told you who I am. I’ve done nothing wrong.” Joel Oswin giggled and the girl suddenly knew that in his own mind the man was jigging and dancing and cracking a bull whip.

“So has been the story of every sinner since the dawn of man. Sinners lie though and so do you I think. What was it that brought you to my home Catherine?”

Patience never being one of her strong traits Catherine was beginning to lose it now. “I’ve told you-“

“Yes, yes, you’re very innocent.” Oswin giggled. “The very picture of the sacrificial lamb, pure and white.” The girl shook out of the man’s grip. “I never forget a lie Catherine. I never forget and I always find out the truth.” His eyes flicked over her and then returned to her face. “Enjoy your diner Ms. Parker. Your real life here begins tomorrow.” The reverend began walking towards the stairs but once he was half way there he turned back to the girl. “I never forget when I’ve been lied to and I will find you out. The process can be easy or hard but the decision is up to you.”

Coldly the girl thought. ’No you won’t you idiot. I’ll be long gone before you ever get th-“ Something slammed into her chest hard and the girl was sent stumbling out of the chapel spinning her arms to regain her balance. She fell back hitting her head on the concrete floor and looked up through a shower of stars. When she was able to sit up she saw Singer and Baast standing together grinning. Behind them the older girl from earlier, Amber, was looking at the boys with an alarmed expression and something about her tensed down posture told Catherine that the girl was not as much of a defenseless dummy as the boys thought.

Following Catherine’s gaze the boys spotted the tall girl and seemed to notice it too. Ray Baast squared up like he was looking for a fight and turned his anger on this freakishly tall girl who had apparently begun to think too much of herself. “Go ahead dummy.” Basst said laughing a little. “You think you can do anything to stop us? Go on and try something if you want. I always like a good warm up before diner.”

Singer laid a hand on Baast’s shoulder and shook his head. “Not that one.” He said. “She’s already gone. The new kid is the one we have to focus on. Break her and she’ll be exactly like all the others.” He looked down at Catherine, hands on his knees like an adult bending to scold a very small child and whispered. “And we will break you Ms. Catherine Parker. You better believe it.”

Quite fed up with all this the girl looked up at the boy and deliberately said. “Piss off you bullying asshole.” Singer recoiled as if slapped, a flush rising bright and red on his cheeks. With a growl Ray Baast stepped forward but Singer grabbed his arm and shook his head. A look seemed to pass between them and that look seemed to say ‘Not now, later.’ Catherine got to her feet. “You need to watch out for me.” She said to them both and although Baast just glowered Sonny Singer looked almost scared. He had seen something in Catherine’s face that was both strong and forbidding, something that had not been there almost two years ago when a much younger girl had fled the murder scene of her family.

“You’ll get yours in time Parker.” Singer said and with that turned and pulled Baast away with him. Catherine looked over at Amber who was now looking at her with an expression of respect and gave a silent nod. The girl smiled back weakly but said nothing in response. The two had seemed to have come to an understanding in that moment. While they may have been very different they were both on the outside of this little community and without sharing a word they realized this.

Glancing around Catherine realized that they were the only ones left in the chapel area and something told her that the staff of whatever passed for the dining hall would not be too keen on having to serve two girls who were lagging considerably behind the rest of the crowd. “Let’s get something to eat.” Catherine said and the older girl nodded her consent. Turning, the two girls made their way to the stairs and began to climb. Catherine wasn’t sure but she may have found the help she would need to get out of this place. She would just have to tread carefully until she was sure.
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[align=center]Part 6: Hallowed Psalms, Troubling Words[/align]

In the dining hall Catherine got a plate of baked beans, two cheap red hotdogs, a little cup of prepackaged pineapples and a small carton of milk marked donated commodities. In all honesty the food was not all that bad especially for one who had been eating irregularly at best. Not only that but she noticed others were being served generously enough when they asked for seconds. This was not all together surprising however. If word got out that the good reverend was starving his children Catherine didn’t think that it would take someone long to close in and bring a stop to all this business. Since she thought Joel Oswin would not want something like that on his record it was conceivable that he would provide the children with their basic needs.

For Catherine though, diner that evening was more for the purpose of information gathering than anything else. If the Sunlight Home was playing itself off as a legitimate boarding school or orphanage that meant that the state would certainly send out inspectors to see if hospitable living conditions were being provided for the children under its care. Bars and locks on the upstairs windows and doors? Sure that was just a precaution, a security measure. Bars and locks in the kitchen? Catherine didn’t think so. This being the case when the young girl took a seat at one of the long school cafeteria style tables and spent more time examining her surroundings than she did stuffing her face.

The mess hall was fairly mundane looking. White walls and marble tile floors gave it a clean appearance. There were no security cameras or listening devices that Catherine could see but that didn’t mean they weren’t there of course. She sat and ate alone at the table until she was joined by the Amber girl from earlier. The two said nothing as they ate but for the most part Catherine was glad she had found someone who, like herself, was on the outsides of this little community. Granted she didn’t trust the other girl but at least she didn’t distrust her and in a place like this that was the best you could ask for.

Following the brief thirty minutes allocated for diner time the children rose, formed lines and began clearing the table. Catherine along with Amber took their plates in through the kitchen to be washed. As she did she kept her eyes wide open. The kitchen was small and old fashioned. An old conveyor belt dishwasher manned by two boys and a girl under the supervision of a large, broad shouldered man in cook’s whites cranked and wheezed laboriously as other children piled on their plates.

“Reggie the cook.” Catherine heard the girl beside her whisper and gave the man a quick glance as she took in the rest of the room. And unfiltered cigarette was pasted to the man’s lip and that identified him in her mind as a possible ally. She doubted seriously if Smiling Joel would let any of his own people get away with smoking cigarettes. There was a frame hung on the wall stating that this kitchen had been rated acceptable under conditions set forth by the state and no, there were no bars on the frosted glass windows.

The cook took an appraising look at the new girl, peeled his cigarette off his lower lip and tossed it into one of the kitchen sinks. “New fish huh?” The man asked with a grin. “Well you’ll be old fish soon enough. The fish get old real quick here in the Sunlight Home don’t they Sonny?” The good humored grin turned on the person of Sonny Singer and instantly became a grin of insolence.

It was quite obvious that Singer did not know how to cope with such a smile. He look confused and unsure. He was just a kid again devoid of any kind of power or authority that the reverend had given him here. “You know you’re not supposed to talk to the kids Reggie.” He said trying to muster up some semblance of courage.

“Well…”Reggie replied with a derisive laugh. “…you can just cram it up your ass any time you can’t roll it down the street or kick it in the air buckaroo. You know that don’t ya?”

Singer looked at him lips first trembling, then writhing and then pushing together hard. He suddenly turned around rage and embarrassment on his face. “Night chapel!” He yelled. “Get those tables cleared and then everyone get down stairs! We’re late! Night chapel!” Off Sonny went stomping out of the kitchen and shouting orders. The girl watched him go as she cleared her plate. Her face was set in its usually expression of impassive watchfulness but in her heart she was smiling. She liked this cook.

After clearing the mess hall the children lined up and trooped back down stairs to the chapel hall. Not much had changed since she had been here not more than an hour before. The stage lights had been turned on full blast however, making the enclosed underground room stuffy with heat. Catherine also noticed as she filed into one of the rows of pews followed by Amber that sound and video equipment around the room was now manned leaving her to conclude that tonight’s sermon would be for more than just the current audience.

A small door to the left of the podium opened and Smiling Joel stepped out on stage. He was dressed in white from head to toe and Catherine saw expressions ranging from excitement to those of exultation from the other children. The reverend, his face glowing with good health, approached the huge Bible laid out in front of the microphone and began to turn the pages as if lost in the deepest concentration. The crowd of children began to quiet and as Oswin looked up and fastened his cloudy, exultant and utterly insane eyes on his congregation the girl noticed a young boy sitting in a glass enclosed sound booth flick a switch. It was time to begin.

“Fret not thyself because of evil doers.” Said Smiling Joel. His voice was low, musical and thoughtful. “Neither be thou envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil for evil doers shall be cut off but those that wait upon the Lord they shall inherit His land.” Smiling Joel closed the book. “May God…” He said. “…add His blessing to the reading of His word.”

Reverend Oswin looked down at his hands for a long, long time. Then he looked up again and in Catherine’s mind she saw all the fire and intensity and cruel, cruel insanity that she had seen when she first met the man. Smiling Joel studied his young congregation intently and earnestly. Their faces looked back at him the majority of which were fixed in an expression of jubilant expectation. “What does it mean children? Do you understand Psalm 37? Do you understand this lovely, lovely Psalm?”

‘No,’ the faces seemed to say in answer. ‘Not too much. Only got as far as the fifth grade. Been on the road, been in trouble, never got much learning. Tell me, tell me, please tell me!’

Suddenly, shockingly Oswin shrieked into the microphone. “IT MEANS DON’T SWEAT IT!!!” Catherine glanced up as Amber recoiled almost as if stuck by the piercing sound over the loud speakers. The girl wouldn’t have a chance to recover however as Oswin continued. “You understand that don’t you children? You’ve all heard that one haven’t you?”

“Yeah!” Someone shouted from a place behind Catherine.

“Oh yeah!” Oswin echoed, beaming with his traditional grin. “Don’t sweat it. Negative perspiration. Those are some good words aren’t they children? This psalm has some gooooooooood words. Oh yeah!” More shouts, almost cheers echoed exultantly from around the small chapel. These seemed to come at random as the other kids got into the message that was being presented. “This psalm says that you don’t have to worry about the evil-doers. No sweat! Oh yeah! It says that you don’t have to worry about the workers of sin and iniquity. Negative perspiration! This psalm here says that if you’re gonna walk the Lord and talk the Lord, everything’s going to be so cool! Do you understand that children? Do you have an understanding ear for that?”

“Yeeeeeeeeeah!” Cried Sonny Singer who was sitting on the reverend’s left. “Hallelujah!” Raymond Baast added from the reverend’s right. More cries of ‘Amen’, ‘Praise the Lord’, and ‘Thank ya God’ came from the crowd as the room seemed to stir and writhe with building religious fever.

Smiling Joel took the microphone expertly from its stand on the podium and began to walk back and forth on the stage with almost nervous rapidity. He sometimes did a dancing little half step in his plain white leather shoes. He was in a fever of self-righteous Godhead testimony. “No! You don’t have to fear. Oh no! You don’t have to fear that kid who wants to show you dirty book pictures, you don’t have to fear that druggie who says just one toke on one joint’s not going to hurt ya and you’ll be a sissy if you don’t take it. Aw no! Cause when you’ve got the Lord you’re gonna walk with the Lord, am I right?”

“Yeah!”

“And when you’ve got the Lord you’re gonna talk to the Lord, am I right?”

“YEAH!”

“I can’t hear you am I right?!?”

“YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH!” They screamed it out many of them rocking back and forth in a frenzy.

“If I’m right say ‘Hallelujah!’”

“Hallelujah!”

“If I’m right say ‘Oh yeah!’”

“OH YEAH!” They rocked back and forth. Catherine and Amber were rocked with them, helplessly. In a moments glance Catherine saw that some of the other children were actually weeping.

“Now tell me this.” Oswin said looking toward them warmly and confidentially. “Is there any place for the evil-doer in the Sunlight Home huh? What do you think?”

“No sir!” Cried out Baast and Singer in unison.

Smiling Joel nodded and continued as he approached the podium again. “That’s right.” He gave the microphone a quick, professional flick to clear the cord out from under his feet and then slipped it back into its holder. “That’s the ticket. No room here for tattle tale liars and workers of iniquity, say ‘Hallelujah.’” The crowd of children responded in kind and Oswin nodded. “Amen! The Lord says, in the book of Isaiah He says it, that if you lean on the Lord that you’re gonna mount up, oh yeah, with wings of eagles and your strength will be the strength of ten and I say to you children that the Sunlight Home is a nest for eagles. Can you say ‘Oh yeah’?”

“OH YEAH!” As the cries of the crowd died away there was another pause. Smiling Joel gripped the edges of the podium, head down as if in prayer, flowing white hair hanging down in trained waves. When he spoke again his voice was low and brooding. He did not look up so all was deathly quiet as the children set forward in an attempt to listen. “But we have enemies…” This was little more than a whisper but the microphone picked it up none the less. The children sighed. Raymond Baast looked around the crowd scathingly trying to find anyone who had not yet reached the fever pitch level. His eyes met Catherine’s and they seemed to say ‘Yes, you are the enemy. You are the enemy and just wait until you see what I’m going to do to you.’

The reverend looked up and now his insane eyes seemed to be filled with tears. “Yes we have enemies.” He repeated. “Twice now the state and government officials have tried to shut me down. Do you know what? The radical socialist leaders of our country can barely stand to think of me down here teaching my children to love Jesus and the good old USA. It makes them mad. And do you want to know something children? Do you want to know a deep old dark secret?” Many practically fell out of their chairs in an attempt to lean closer. They had to know, had to hear what the reverend had to tell them. “We don’t just make them mad…We make them scared!”

“Halleljah!”

“Oh yeah!”

“Amen!”

In an instant Smiling Joel had grabbed the microphone again and he was off, up and down the stage. “We scare em. Oh yeah! We scare em so much that they have to have another drink or another joint or another hit from whatever drug they are addicted to because even God hating, radical, socialist like them can smell righteousness and the love of God and when they smell that they can smell the fire and brimstone that is waiting for them at the end of this life and they don’t like that, oh no! So they send down a few extra inspectors to plant some garbage under the counters or to let a few cockroaches loose in the flour. They start a lot of vile rumors about how my children are beaten. Are you beaten?!”

“NO!!!!” They roared indignantly and Catherine was surprised to see many of the very children whom she had seen cowering in fear at the passage of Baast and Singer shouting it out all the louder.

“Well they sent down some smart news reporters from some smart, radical, socialist news show.” Smiling Joel cried in disgust. “They came down here and said ‘Okay. Who are we supposed to do the hatchet job on? We’ve done hundreds already, we’re experts at smearing the righteous, just give us some drugs and alcohol, some ill-gotten money and well get to work’ but we fooled them didn’t we children?” There was rumbling agreement among the crowd even though Catherine wasn’t sure if many of them even knew what they were agreeing to anymore.

“They didn’t find no one chained to a beam in the barn did they? They didn’t find any children in straightjackets like they heard down in town from some of those public school jackals did they? They didn’t find any children who had their finger nails pulled or all their hair shaved off or nothing like that. All they found was a few children who said they got spanked and they did get spanked, oh yeah. They were spanked and I testify on that myself before the throne of the almighty God because the book says if you spare that rod that you’re gonna spoil that child and if you believe that children then you give me hallelujah.”

“Hallelujah!”

“That’s right. You know what they found? They found happy children, they found healthy children and they found children who were willing to walk the Lord and talk the Lord and that scared them worse than anything. Oh can you say ‘Hallelujah’?!?” They could. “Can you say ‘Oh yeah’?!?” They could do that too.

Smiling Joel slowed and came back to the podium. “The Lord protects those that love him and He’s not going to see a bunch of drug pushing, socialist loving radicals take away this resting place for tired, confused children. Oh there were a few of our number who told tattle tale lies to those so called news reporters. I heard them, I know, and while the boys and girls who were slinging that mud were too cowardly to show their faces on the screen I knew, oh yeah, I knew those voices. You see when you’ve fed a child, when you’ve held their heads in comfort while they cry for their parents in the night well I guess you know their voices. Those children are gone now. God may forgive them, I hope He does, oh yeah, but Smiling Joel Oswin is just a man.” He hung his head to show what a shameful thing this was but when he raised it again Catherine saw that his eyes were still hot with fury. “Smiling Joel Oswin cannot forgive them so Smiling Joel Oswin set them out on the road again. They have been sent out into the land but there they shall not be fed. There even the trees may eat them up like the beasts that walk in the night.”

There was suddenly a terrified silence in the room. Looking around Catherine noticed that even the face of Sonny Singer had gone pale. After a moment Oswin continued. “The book says that God sent Kane out to the east of Eden into the land of Nod. Being cast out onto the road is a lot like that children. You have a safe haven…here.” The reverend surveyed them grimly. “But if you weaken…if you lie…then woe unto you. Hell awaits the back slider just as it awaits the man who slides into it on purpose. REMEMBER children! Remember…” The phrase lingered in the air for a moment the fear of the uncertain punishment growing with each passing second. As the phrase and the fever died away the reverend concluded. “Let us pray.”
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[align=center]Part 7: Secrets That Must Be Kept[/align]

The days at the home flew by as Catherine soon realized they would. It was hard to find time to explore and plan escape attempts when you were worked to your breaking point each day, watched like a hawk and hardly given any time to yourself but she had never been one to let anything stand in the way of something she wanted and more than anything right now Catherine wanted to be away from this weird prison she had fallen into.

Catherine and the girl that she had met on her first day at the home, Amber Whited, struck up a friendship of sorts. As it turned out Amber actually inhabited the room across the hall from hers and while neither girl was particularly chatty, you couldn’t afford to be chatty in the Sunlight Home, they did understand each other and formed an alliance of sorts. They soon found out that not all the children at the home were drinking Oswin’s Kool-Aid when a sixteen year old boy named Tom Andrews started hanging around them as well. The boy was sarcastic, loud and talked too much for his own good but he had no love for the reverend and since that characteristic was hard to find around the home Catherine allowed for his presence.

In less than a week she had decided that getting out of the Sunlight Home would be a very difficult task indeed. The security at the home turned out to be tighter than she had anticipated. There were other overseers and prefects that watched over the children and not all of them were as easy to spot as Sonny Singer and Raymond Baast. After seeing more than one kid dragged from their room kicking and screaming and taken to ‘the box’, a large, metal, coffin-like structure that stood behind the main house, Catherine decided that Smiling Joel had placed some cleverly concealed spies among their number. She still thought her best bet would be an escape through the kitchen but as it turned out she never got a chance to test that theory. In fact, she wasn’t even the first to attempt escape. That honor went to none other than Tom Andrews.

The day Tom decided to make his escape attempt had started like any other. Catherine, Amber and Tom had been performing their daily detail of clearing out an area of land at the edge of Oswin’s property known to the long timers as Far Field for the planting of next season’s crops. The work was slow and laborious and mostly consisted of digging rocks and other potential plow snares from the ground and carrying them to the road to be picked up and hauled off by one of the home’s two rusted out pickup trucks.

When it happened, it happened fast. At one moment Catherine was listening to Tom’s same old cynical, useless ramblings as she lugged rocks from the field. At the next the boy was sprinting across the murky, muddy field heading towards the tree line and where Oswin’s property ended. Up until he had gone for it he had shown no signs of doing anything of the sort and the fact that he did surprised even Catherine.

She had taken a moment to look up to see where she was going and to see if Sonny Singer was around. Sonny had apparently made it his life’s mission to torment the group but her most of all because out of all of them she seemed to be the least affected by it. The majority of this was of the minor nuisance variety. Her feet had been stepped on, she had been tripped, and her plate had been knocked out of her hand at dinner time. All these things Catherine bore with uncharacteristic patience if only for the simple fact that something told her Sonny was holding back. She didn’t know why but thought that it was because Smiling Joel had taken an interest in her. She didn’t want to believe this but it made sense. Singer was holding off because Smiling Joel had told him to and that was the biggest reason to get out of here in a hurry that there was.

The girl turned to check on Amber. Catherine had already decided that when she went the tall girl would come with her. Having seen the abuse that the older girl experienced on a daily basis which sometimes was even worse than her own she had no intention of leaving Amber behind. The girl was shy, ungainly because of her height and the constant target of twisted and perverted jokes that the overseers played on her. That the girl had a somewhat troubled mental state Catherine wasn’t sure but she suspected it and she supposed she took pity on that. They would leave here together or not at all. That was that.

Today the tall girl was struggling with a small pile of rocks trying to roll them to a nearby truck. As Catherine glanced around she noticed that a small crowd of boys had also gathered a little ways off and were watching the two of them as they worked with grins on their faces. When Catherine caught one of their number’s attention, he winked at her and the girl scowled back angrily. “I think you’ve got some admirers over there.” Said Tom with a cynical grin.

“Stuff it.” Catherine responded and she went back to work.

Tom however continued. “I bet some of those guys would like to stuff it. I’ll tell you what, Amber could improve her position here real quick if she…” A deadly glance from Catherine made Tom come up short. However, even the threat of imminent death did not stop the boy’s tongue. Nothing ever seemed too. “You know you’ve gotten pretty popular around here lately yourself. Pretty soon…” Tom paused again and that he would stop talking was so odd that Catherine glanced up to see what was wrong. The boy abruptly dropped the rock he had been carrying, glanced around the area to insure no one was looking and then turned back to Catherine. “And now my darling it has been a terribly boring party and I really must be going.” Tom made kissing noises at Catherine and then with no other warning he bolted.

He did indeed catch the guards napping, at least to a certain extent. No one was around and Tom got a good head start before a startled cry went up. “Hey. Hey! Someone’s taking off.” Catherine watched after the boy and despite knowing that this would make her own attempt all the more difficult she couldn’t help but wish him well. Sonny and a few other boys fired up the pickup trucks and the race was on. As Tom disappeared into the tree line with the group of overseers in hot pursuit Catherine even thought that he might make it. It wouldn’t be until later that she found out she was wrong.

The children assembled that night for confession just like they always did but confession was canceled. One of the other prefects named Matt Warrick marched in, announced the news, told everyone they could have an hour of fellowship before diner and then marched back out. Catherine thought that under the disguise of authority Matt looked scared and she had surprisingly not heard anything about Tom Andrews.

Catherine looked around the room and thought grimly that if this was fellowship one with another she would have hated to see what it was like if Warrick had told them to have a quiet hour. They set around the long chapel room looking at their hands, picking at scabs and biting their nails. All of the children save for Catherine and Amber shared a common look, junkies robbed of a fix. They wanted to hear confessions, even more they wanted to make confessions.

No one mentioned Tom Andrews. It was like Tom with his cynical statements and crude jokes had never existed. ’They killed him.’ Catherine thought. ’He’s not here because they caught him and killed him and everyone here knows it. They are just too afraid to say anything.’ The children were all drinking Smiling Joel’s Kool-Aid. There were no questions anymore just dumb compliance.

Catherine took in the tired, blank faces around her and thought how they would brighten if Joel Oswin came striding into the chapel right now. If the man came in and told them all to drink cyanide they would do it. Then they would hold Catherine and Amber down and pour it down their throats. Why? If for no other reason because they were all crazy and getting crazier the longer they listened to that insane man with the wicked smile.

Tom had told her this much and more. He had told her that he had been committed to the Sunlight Home by his parents. They were born again Christians who fell down on their knees any time someone from the 700 club began to say a prayer and neither of them understood Tom who was cut from an entirely different mold.

To them their troublesome, often rebellious son was some kind of socialistic, radical, heathen mutant. When he ran away from home and eventually ended up at the Sunlight Home after being caught by the police his parents came down and instantly fell in love with Smiling Joel. Suddenly here was the answer to all of their problems. The good reverend would turn their child to the Lord. The good reverend would teach him to be a respectable member of society. The good reverend would get him out of their hands and off the streets.

“They saw that story on the Sunlight Home on Sunday Report.” Tom had told Catherine one day while they worked out in the fields. “They wrote me a letter that said God would punish heathen liars in a lake of fire. I wrote them back, Reggie in the kitchen he smuggled the letter out. I wrote them and said that if God really punished sinners like they were saying then I hoped good old Smiling Joe could find a hazmat suit in the other world because he was lying about what goes on here faster than a horse could trot. Everything they said on Sunday Report, the rumors about the straightjackets, the story about kids locked up in the box and tied up in the barn, it was true Cat. They couldn’t catch him though. He may be a whack job but he’s a smart whack job.”

Catherine regarded him impassively over the rock she was lifting. “Those reporters are usually pretty good about catching people red handed.”

Tom chuckled and threw another rock onto the pile. “Oh don’t get me wrong he was scared. He got real shrill and squeaky and let me tell you the week before those inspectors got here was a living hell but he knew, somehow he know and he was prepared. Had us clean the place up real nice, Baast, the bastard, stashed the jackets in a hidden safe in the attic and he made us fill the box with hay. When the inspectors got here he was all sunshine and roses but you better hope you aren’t around when those inspector folks come again. It wasn’t good. That was the week he kicked Betty Woodard down the stairs from the second floor because he caught her with a Spiderman comic. Betty was out cold for three hours and she couldn’t figure out where she was when she woke up.”

Tom laughed a hurt laugh and continued. “Know what my folks did Cat? They sent Smiling Joel a copy of my letter, for my own good my pop said and guess what? It’s Tom’s turn in the box this time courtesy of my own folks.” The hurt laugh came again. “And I’ll tell you what. He wasn’t lying in chapel. The kids who talked to Sunday Report all disappeared. He knew who they were just like he always knows when the inspection crews are coming. He always knows.” They had disappeared just like Tom had disappeared now and that thought hung in Catherine’s mind now.

Catherine believed the boy’s words. How could she not? She had seen too much. The good reverend had a great set up here. His shows played all over the country, the kids worked the field and any donations and income were untaxed by the government. This weird prison that she found herself in was a license to print money and Joel Oswin didn’t look like he had any intention of stopping any time soon.

Such was the run of Catherine’s thoughts when hard fingers closed over her shoulder. Suddenly the girl was turned around and met the ugly, pimply minefield of Raymond Baast’s face. “Me and the reverend were in town when they brought your troublemaker friend into the hospital.” He said. His grip grew tighter on her neck at first uncomfortably and then painful. Catherine winced in agony but refused to give him the pleasure of vocalizing the excruciating feeling. “Reverend got the news in a text message. Tom looked like he had gotten caught in a meat grinder. It’s going to be a while before they put him back together again.”

’He’s not talking to me.’ The girl realized. ’He’s talking to everyone, making an example. We’re supposed to get the message that Tom is still alive.’ Struggling against the grip Catherine forced out a strangled message despite the feeling that her airways were closing. “You’re a liar…” She said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. “Tom’s…” Baast hit her. Catherine went sprawling on the floor and boys and girls of various ages scattered away from her.

There was a cry of pure rage. Catherine looked up through her daze and shook her head in an effort to clear it. What she saw was the tall form of Amber Whited standing over her protectively blocking Baast from view. His voice could still be heard though and it came to Catherine’s ears now as she struggled to her feet. “So the dumb bitch finally wants some action huh?” He said as he began to grin. “Bout time if you ask me. Maybe a little beating will help make you a little more agreeable.”

The tall girl didn’t respond. Catherine saw in her eyes a cold and penetrating glare. It was not a pleasant sight and as she continued to try and regain her senses she watched helplessly as Raymond Baast moved to meet the only thing left that passed for a friend in this hell hole. Chairs scrapped across the floor as kids moved away from the action forming a circle around the two. “What’s going o…” The voice of Sonny Singer came from the door way buthere was no need to finish his sentence. He could see his answer right in front of him. Smiling he pulled the door shut and leaned against the wall.

Catherine switched her gaze back to Amber and Baast. “Amber, no! This is my fight.” She coughed out but whether it had come out clearly or whether Amber just didn’t hear she couldn’t tell. Whatever the case the tall girl didn’t heed her warning. Amber launched herself at the big boy with all the fury of an enraged harpy, her fingers out like talons before her. The movement was so quick, so different from the girl’s normally complacent attitude that Catherine hardly had time to notice it through the stars she was seeing and Baast was taken completely by surprise.

Before he had time to react Amber was on him spitting and slashing with her fingernails. The first swipe took Raymond straight across the face cutting three long gashes from the top right side down and missing his eye by mere inches. The crowd of kids gasped as the full impact of what was going on hit home and they shrank away. Suddenly Baast was falling back and what had looked like a sure victory on his part had been turned completely around.

Raymond tried to regain his balance but the shrieking dervish of Amber Whited advanced on him relentlessly. The boy tripped, he stumbled and suddenly Amber was on top of him on the ground hitting him and digging into him with her nails. The boy’s already ugly face was quickly becoming a mass of bloody, matted tissue and his once confident challenges had turned into shrieks of terror. “You shouldn’t have hurt her you bastard!” Amber cried. “Oh your Bible this and your Bible that but you are nothing but an evil, power hungry monster that hides behind false righteousness. Never, never, NEVER hurt my friend again!”

Baast was screaming and weeping. Amber was still on top of him in an unrelenting assault. “Stop it Amber. Now is not the time.” Catherine said as she stumbled to her feet and tried to make her way over. The younger girl looked around swiftly and saw that Sonny was gone and the door was open. There was no telling how long ago Singer had left but she had no doubt as to who he was going to get.

All of the kids were on their feet now. They had drawn away from Amber as far as they could their faces awed and fearful and still the scene continued in the center of the room with Baast on the ground blood streaming from cuts and gouges in his face as the taller girl ripped and struck at him.

Catherine tried to regain control of the situation again. “That’s enough I said!” Looking around again she saw that people were crowding back into the doorway. Sonny, Warrick and three other big guys. Smiling Joel was there too with a small black case like a glasses case in one hand. Catherine turned to close the distance between her and Amber but even through the stars that still dotted her vision she saw that she wouldn’t make it in time.

“Hold her!” Oswin yelled. “Somebody hold her for Jesus sake!” He was opening the black case as Sonny, Warrick and other boys rushed forward to drag Amber off of Baast. The big boys pulled her back and pinned her to the wall. They all looked afraid of Amber like she was some kind of demon possessed monster but they were finally able to hold her down between the five of them. “Hold her.” Oswin repeated taking a long hypodermic needle from the case. “Hold her praise Jesus.”

“You don’t need that.” Catherine said and glanced over at Amber who had stopped her struggling and was suddenly looking very frightened. Oswin pushed Catherine aside in his attempt to get to the taller girl and there was good muscle in the push that sent her reeling again. Belatedly Amber began struggling again but they were six and that was too many. “Cat!” She yelled as her eyes darted around the room. “Cat! CAT!”

“Hold her praise God.” Oswin whispered. His lips drew back from his teeth and he plunged the hypodermic into Amber’s arm. The girl went rigid and then threw her head back in a scream. ’Kill you, you bastard.’ Catherine thought incoherently. ’Kill you, kill you, kill you!’ Amber struggled and thrashed. Oswin stood back watching coldly. A minute or two later Amber’s thrashes began to slow and then she slumped.

Fuming with rage Catherine tried to launch herself at mass of overseers holding the tall girl down and saw Sonny swing a fist directly into Amber’s face. Blood began to pour from the girl’s nose and dripped onto her ruffled Sunlight uniform. Hands held Catherine back. She looked around and saw the frightened faces of the boys and girls of the home. “I want her in the box.” Oswin said as Amber’s knees finally buckled. He looked slowly around to Catherine and fixed her with a cold glare. “Unless…Perhaps you’d like to tell me your name and what you’re so intent on hiding Ms. Parker.”

Catherine stood, looking down at her feet and saying nothing. Her eyes burned with red hot hate but she kept her mouth shut. “The box then.” Oswin said. “You may feel differently after she begins to…vocalize Ms. Parker.” The reverend turned and strode out followed by the boys carrying the limp form of Amber.

The tall girl was screaming in the morning when the children got up for morning chapel. Smiling Joel’s eyes seemed to dwell on Catherine’s pale, hard face throughout the entire service. ‘Perhaps now Ms. Parker.’ They seemed to say. ’Amber…I can’t tell them. People are looking for me, hunting me…I can’t.’ Catherine thought but even those thoughts didn’t comfort her.

Amber was still screaming when the children were divided into groups and sent out for their daily field work. As she passed the box Catherine had to suppress an urge to jam her hands over her ears. Those screams, those sobs…that claustrophobia was only one of the tall girl’s dark fears Catherine hadn’t known but by those sounds she could easily guess.

Suddenly Sonny Singer was there by her shoulder and whispered in her ear. “The reverend is in his office waiting to take your confession right now snot face.” He said. “Oswin told me to tell you that he will let the dummy out of the box the minute you tell him what he wants to know.” Sonny’s voice was poison, his face, dangerous.

Another scream from the box and Catherine turned on the boy with a glare. “I can’t tell him what he wants to know.” Her cold expression was a look of death and it caused Sonny to take a few steps backwards his face dismayed and scared. He tripped over his feet and almost fell.

“Alright!” He said in a stammer that was close to a whine. “Alright…alright forget it.” His thin face grew arrogant again. “The reverend said that if you refused I should tell you that your friend is screaming for you. Do you get it?”

“I know who she’s screaming for.” She said unemotionally and turned from the boy to board one of the home’s trucks. Amber was screaming for someone to do something, someone to rescue her but that rescue could never come…at least not yet.

The screams continued until noon when Amber fell strangely silent. Catherine realized at once that Oswin had ordered the girl taken out of the box before her screams of fear and pain attracted the wrong sort of attention. After what had happened to Tom he wouldn’t want any attention at all focused on the home.

When the work crews returned the door on the box was opened and it stood empty. Upstairs in the room across from her own Catherine found Amber sitting on her bunk in a kind of daze. The tall girl smiled weakly at Catherine as she entered the room and said “How’s your head Cat? The bruise looks better.” Her eyes held a distant, far off look that Catherine didn’t like. The girl looked pale, diminished, weak.

Catherine sighed. “That was stupid you know.” They were harsh words but the young girl’s voice held none of its usual hardness which meant they were coming with good intentions. “I’m sorry I didn’t stop them but I can’t tell them who I am. I just can’t.”

The older girl on the bed smiled again and hushed Catherine. “I know Cat…I know…It’s okay. I just didn’t want them hurting you.”

Catherine nodded but waved the statement away. “It’s not something you’ll have to worry about any more.” She said gravely. “We can’t stay here any longer. I’ve been working on a way to get us out of here. It will take a while to get everything ready but we’ve got to try it and the sooner the better. We’re breaking out of here.
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[align=center]Part 8: The Cold and the Broken[/align]

Another week in the Sunlight Home began. On Monday reverend Oswin asked the children to say a prayer of thanks for the conversion of their brother Thomas Andrews. Tom had made a decision for Christ while recuperating in the county hospital Oswin said, his smile radiant. Tom had made a call to his parents and let them know he wanted to be a soul winner for the Lord. His parents had come to pick him up that very day. He would not be returning to the home after all. ’Dead and buried under some field more like.’ Catherine thought to this.

Tuesday was too rainy for field work. All the children were allowed to stay in their rooms and sleep or read. All of them that was except for Catherine and Amber. For the two girls the period of harassment had begun. Amber was lugging load after load of trash from the barn and shed out to the road in the driving rain. Catherine had been set to work cleaning toilets and the kitchen. It was on this particular work detail that she began to make plans for their escape.

One day while cleaning the stoves in the large kitchen she ran into Reggie the cook. She remembered Tom had told her that Reggie sometimes did favors for the kids like smuggling out letters or leaving a door unlocked if he liked you. She had never had any bad experience with the man so she thought that she would at least give him a shot to see if he would help her out.

The cook’s whites the man wore were almost a dull grey from filth and age. When Catherine spoke his name in a whisper that was barely heard over the coughing and wheezing of the old dishwasher the man looked up and turned a blood shot gaze on her. Cheap whiskey was on his breath. “You better get out of here new fish. They are coming down on you pretty hard now.”

’Tell me something I don’t know.’ She thought as she glanced towards the antique dishwasher that coughed and sputtered like a dying man. The sound would cover their conversation which was good. She was risking a beating by even looking at the cook but considering the situation a beating was the least of her worries at the moment. “I need to get out of here with the other girl, Amber.” She began without wasting any time. “How much would it take for you to turn your head while the two of us slipped out the back door?”

“More than you could pay me even if you could get your hands on what they took from you when they brought you here buddy girl.” Reggie said sorrowfully. His words were hard but he looked at Catherine with sympathetic kindness. Yes, it was true that she didn’t have anything to give him even before she got here but still that look gave the girl a little hope.

“I’ll give you an IOU.” She countered.

“Coming from anyone in this den of thieves and drug addicts that’s almost funny kid. Piss on your IOU.”

Catherine frowned but decided not to let the subject end there. She may not have been able to pay him now but she always paid her debts, eventually. Turning all of her attention on the man her voice filled with a tone of command that was completely unheard of in someone of her age. Catherine came from a proud family and even robbed of her loved ones she still held on to that pride. “My IOU would be good and I think you know it.” Catherine said coolly. “Give me an address and one day I will repay you. How much? Would ten be enough for you to look the other way?”

“Not ten, not twenty…not even a hundred.” The man now looked at her with a sadness that made the hope she had felt earlier melt away. It was that look that told her just how badly she and Amber were caught. “Look I’ve done it before. Sometimes for five…sometimes believe it or not for free but these bastards…” He raised a fist at the green tiled walls and lowered his head in shame.

“Then why not?” The girl questioned hoping to get some closure on the issue.

“Because I’m scared kid. It’s not Singer or Baast or any of the overseers.” Reggie replied spitefully. “It’s him…He’s the one I’m afraid of. Oswin? He’s a devil from hell.” He hesitated and then added. “Look I’ll tell you something I haven’t told anyone else. One week I went down to his office. I don’t usually go down there but he was late giving me my paycheck and…well I had to see a man. I needed my money in a hurry you know? Anyways I see him go down the hall and into his office so I followed him. I went over and knocked on the door and it swung open a bit because it didn’t completely close. You know what I saw kid?” His voice had lowered steadily as he told the story until Catherine could barely hear him over the thump and whine of the dishwasher. At the same time his eyes had widened like those of a child reliving a scary dream. “The room was empty but as I looked closer I saw that there was a small door cut out of the wall where I know that there wasn’t none before. Coming from the door I could hear horrible screams…kid’s screams. It was right after that Sunday Report thing and I…well I don’t know where that door went buddy girl but I’ll tell you what I think. I think he’s a devil from hell and I think he took some kind of weird fucking stairway down to report to HQ.” Reggie said finally. “I’d like to help you kid but I can’t. There aint enough money in Fort Knox for me to cross the smiling man.”

With one more desperate attempt Catherine tried to reason with the man. “And what if the same thing that happened to Tom Andrews happens to us? Can you live with that on your conscious?” It was a long shot but it was all she had left. Reggie cared about what happened to kids, the good ones at least, that was for certain but if he wasn’t willing to help then where did that get him?

There was a silence as the cook turned this over in his mind. The only sound was the dishwashing machine sputtering and coughing as if at any moment it could explode. Finally Reggie spoke up again. “I sometimes do repairs around the place. Hell, I’ve kept that old dishwasher going longer than anyone’s had a right to. I’ll go into the girl’s bathroom on the first floor like the sink’s on the fritz or something. I’ll leave the window unlocked. That’s the best I can do.” It wasn’t much but it was something. “Now go on and get outta here. Maybe they won’t notice you’re gone.” Catherine left the kitchen feeling a little uplifted by this but high spirits didn’t keep long in the Sunlight Home as the girl was just beginning to realize.

Raymond Baast returned on Wednesday his face looking something like that of the Mummy’s from the old horror movies. The anger and malevolence that seemed to be boy’s only state of mind was still there though and had only grown more intense towards Catherine and Amber since his injuries. “Doctor says it will be weeks before I can get the bandages off.” He said as he confronted Catherine in the home’s lobby one day. “You and that bitch have got a lot to answer for Parker.”

“You aiming to have the same thing happen to you again?” Catherine asked him but she knew she would have to be careful around the boy. It was not just a desire for revenge she saw underneath the bandages but a desire to commit murder. This only intensified her anxiousness to leave this place. Things were getting too dangerous around the Sunlight Home and every instinct she had told her that it had to be soon. For now though it seemed the fear of the tall girl and her own unpredictable nature seemed to hold the darkness at bay.

That night after confession Catherine and Amber returned to their rooms to find both of their beds dripping wet and reeking of urine. Catherine turned to look down the hall and saw Sonny, Warrick and a big lug just known to her only as Vincent standing there grinning. “Guess we got the wrong rooms snot face.” Sonny said. “Thought they had to be toilets considering the turds we always see floating around in there.”

Vincent roared with laughter at this. Catherine stared at them for a long moment and the big boy stopped laughing. “Who you looking at turd?” He said nervously. “Want your nose broke off?” The girl turned away from them without responding and looked around to find that Amber had been so tired she had already fallen asleep in her wet bed with her clothes on. The girl’s face was gaunt and shiny. It was an invalid’s face.

’Leave her alone then.’ Catherine thought wearily. ’If she’s that tired let her sleep in it.’ Her father’s voice came to her then cold and hard. ’No! You will not leave her alone in that fouled bed. You will not!’ The sudden command shot through her like a slap to the face causing Catherine to tiredly go over to Amber, shake her half awake and get her off of the wet, stinking mattress. They fell asleep curled together on the floor.

At 4:00 in the morning the door to the room flew open and Sonny and Raymond marched in. They yanked Catherine up and half carried, half dragged her down to Smiling Joel’s office. Oswin was sitting with his feet up on the corner of his desk. He was fully dressed in spite of the hour. Behind him there was a picture of Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee as his disciples gawked in wonder.

There was a heavy keychain attached to Smiling Joel’s belt loop that held, what Catherine could only assume, every key to every lock in the Sunlight Home. He played with these as he spoke. “You haven’t given us a single confession since you got her Catherine.” Oswin said, his tone one of mild reproof. “Confession is good for the soul. Without confession we cannot be saved. We must all confess before our brothers and our savior.”

“I’ll keep it between me and my savior if it’s all the same to you.” Catherine said evenly and despite her disorientation she could not help relishing the expression of fury that spread over Oswin’s normally calm face.

“IT’S NOT ALL THE SAME TO ME!” Oswin screamed and pain exploded in Catherine’s kidneys driving her to her knees.

“You want to watch what you say to reverend Oswin snot face.” Sonny Singer said. “Some of us around here stand up for him.”

“God bless you for your trust and your love Sonny.” Oswin said gravely and turned his attention to Catherine again. “Get up child.” Catherine managed to struggle to her feet holding on to the edge of Oswin’s expensive hardwood desk. “Now what’s your real name?”

“Catherine Parker.” The girl responded flatly. She saw Oswin nod imperceptively and tried to turn but had no way to go. Fresh pain exploded in her kidneys. She screamed and went down again knocking the fading bruise on her head against the edge of Oswin’s desk.

“Where are you from you lying, impudent, devil spawn of a girl?”

“Timbuktu!” Pain exploded in the middle of her left thigh. Catherine curled into a fetal position on the plain wooden floor of the office huddled with her knees against her chest.

“Get her up.” Sonny and Raymond pulled the girl to her feet and Oswin took out a zippo lighter. He flicked the wheel producing a big yellow flame and brought the flame slowly towards Catherine’s face. Nine inches, she could smell the reek of lighter fluid. Six inches, now she could feel heat. Three inches, another inch or maybe just half that and discomfort would turn to pain. The girl watched the flame as long as she could but noticed also that Smiling Joel’s eyes were hazy and happy, his lips were on the verge of a smile. “What is so important that you are hiding it from me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Catherine gasped as the flame moved closer. Her eyes were beginning to water and she could feel her skin searing. She tried to pull her head back but Raymond Baast caught it and pushed it forward eliciting an involuntary cry of pain. She couldn’t help herself.

“Tell me!” Oswin screamed as cruel hatred gleamed in his eyes. “Last chance! Confess!”

’Tell him!’ Her mind yelled at her and part of her wanted to. Not because she was hurt, not because she was scared…but because confession was good for the soul. However, even as this thought occurred to her she remembered the death of her father, the death of her family, the fear and pain and hatred and the thirsty, unquenchable desire for revenge and above all she remembered her father’s face and that tough voice asking her if she was going to spill her guts to such as these when she had been born to so much more. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know!!!”

Pain exploded in her lower stomach as Baast punched her there sending her to the floor again. Thankfully she heard the zippo click closed above her. “I mean to have it out of you Catherine.” Said Oswin somewhere above her. “Tomorrow night it will be your friend down here and with her I won’t hold back. I can assure you of that. Something to think about until then.”

There wouldn’t be a tomorrow night though. Catherine had already come to that conclusion. The game was up and if the only option was to run then running it would be…if Reggie could get that window open. “Take her back to her room.” The reverend said in disgust and she felt herself being lifted between the two older boys and half carried, half drug back to the dormitory level of the home where she was dump ungraciously in her room.

She didn’t get much sleep the rest of that night but she did work out their plan as she laid there with soft tears running down her cheek. It would have to be perfectly timed. Being ready to go was all well and good but if they were caught then all the pain, all the anguish of the reverend’s inquisition would likely be a pleasant dream compared to what Smiling Joel had in store for them.

The next morning she carefully explained to Amber what they would do. After breakfast Amber would go into the bathroom across from the common room. She would go into the first stall. If no one noticed that she was gone then Catherine would come in and they would slip through the window that Reggie had hopefully unlocked for them. If Catherine didn’t follow her after five minutes something was wrong and Amber was to exit the bathroom and go about their daily schedule. They would try again another time.

That whole morning Catherine was too excited to want breakfast but she thought she might attract attention by not eating so she shoveled in eggs and potatoes that tasted like dirt and even managed a nearly burnt piece of bacon. As they finished she and Amber took their plates out to the kitchen like normal. Reggie was nowhere in sight but that wasn’t necessarily a bad sign. Besides, it was a fact that the girls couldn’t worry about right now. ’Just stick to the plan.’ Catherine told herself.

After breakfast the children were allowed to go back to the common room while Sonny, Baast and Warrick got their rosters for the day. Everyone sat around looking blank. Nick Peterman, one of the prefects set to watch the common room, had a fresh copy of the magazine the home printed and he thumbed through it idly glancing up every once in a while to look at the other kids. Amber gave a questioning look to Catherine who nodded. The tall girl got up and lumbered from the room. Nick glanced up, saw Amber go into the bathroom across the hall and then went back to his magazine.

Catherine counted to sixty and then just to be sure she counted to sixty again. They were the longest two minutes of her life. She knew that she couldn’t worry that Sonny and Baast would come back into the room and order everyone out to the trucks but she wanted to get into the bathroom before that happened. Nick wasn’t stupid though. If Catherine followed too closely the boy might suspect something so she waited.

At last the girl got up and made her way across the room. The bathroom was not that far away but to Catherine it could have been a mile. Still, she walked trying to avoid looking suspicious but then Nick glanced up. “Where are you going snot face?”

“Bathroom.” Catherine said plainly.

“They’ll be down stairs in a minute.” Nick nodded towards the direction that Sonny, Baast and Warrick would come from with the day’s assignments. “Better hold it and water Far Field.”

The idea was ludicrous enough so Catherine didn’t have to work hard to put on the cold ‘are you serious’ stare that she gave him. “I’m a girl.” Was all she said but apparently the look and the blunt statement were enough to drive the point home to the boy.

“Fine, fine.” Nick said with a sigh. “Go on then. Don’t just stand there and whine about it.” He looked back at his magazine and Catherine took this as her que to step across the hall to the bathroom.

Inside Amber was in the first stall as they had discussed. Apart from her the bathroom was empty and that was good. The tall girl looked up as Catherine opened the stall door and spoke. “Cat I’m scared.”

Catherine nodded. “I’m scared too.” She admitted in her bland, humorless tone. That voice didn’t sound like it ever got scared or even felt any emotion at all but the girl under it was not foolish enough to mistake emotional control from immunity to fear. “Sometimes though it’s a very bad idea to show that you’re scared. This is one of those times.” Pausing for a moment the girl nodded to the high window at the end of the bathroom. She couldn’t be for sure but the latch did look like it was up. “Come on I need you to give me a boost.”

Walking over to the wall the two girls looked up. Even with her uncommon height Amber couldn’t see over the edge of the privacy window and that meant they would have to help each other. “I’ll go first and get the window open.” Catherine said. “Once I’m through I’ll turn back and pull you up.”

Nodding Amber cupped her hands and brought them low enough for Catherine to put a foot into. Gratefully the girl was still light and slight of figure. Even for the weakened Amber the younger girl would not be too much trouble to lift. Using the wall and the help of the taller girl Catherine was able to guide herself up to the window sill which she grabbed with ease. Pulling herself up as much as she could she looked at the latch. It was unlocked. Reggie had come through.

“Hold on a second.” She said and then carefully pulled the window open letting in a cool gust of air. It would be a tight fit even for Catherine who had no fat to spare but she thought it would work. It had to work. As silently as a mouse the girl scurried up the wall and pulled herself through the narrow window. As the first breeze hit her face and the realization that it was a breeze she wouldn’t have to perform back breaking work to sank home she stretched and enjoyed her first moment of semi freedom.

Amber’s voice brought her back to reality. “Cat!” She gasped out in a whisper that was probably a bit too loud. “Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!” Turning around quickly Catherine brought her face back to the window and looked down at Amber. Now came the hard part.

“I’m here. Just give me your hand.” Squeezing half back into the window Catherine leaned down stretching her arms as far as they would go. Amber reached up and grabbed them easily. “You’re going to have to help yourself some. Use the wall to push yourself up while I pull.” The tall girl nodded and Catherine began to pull. It wasn’t an easy task and at first she thought that maybe she wouldn’t be able to help the tall girl at all but slowly Amber did begin to rise and as she did her feet pushed against the wall for purchase.

“Good.” Catherine strained. “We’re going to…” It was all she got out. The door to the bathroom slammed open with a bang. Catherine lost her grip on one of Amber’s hands and the tall girl nearly fell back to the floor before she was able to bring the free hand to clamp firmly on Amber’s wrist and hold her steady.

In stepped Warrick and he said three contemptuous words. “You little whores!” He rushed in, grabbed Amber by her dangling legs and dragged the girl back into the bathroom. Even at her best Catherine wouldn’t have been able to stop him. She lost her grip and nearly fell back off the window sill to the exterior of the home. From back inside the bathroom she heard Amber cry out in pain as she came crashing to the floor.

Catherine glanced around. She was free. If she ran for it now there was a good chance that with the commotion inside the bathroom she would have more than enough time to get away…but Amber. Looking back through the window she saw the girl laying on the ground crying. Warrick was on top of her and pointing up at the window. Other kids were beginning to crowd the door to see what was going on.

It took only a moment but Catherine made her decision and she made it for good. She was a wolf and she didn’t leave her pack behind. If they couldn’t escape then she would go down fighting. She would make her father proud of her.

She knelt and launched herself back through the window aiming directly for Warrick. She tackled the boy and the two went rolling off of Amber and across the slick bathroom floor. She had the advantage, she had surprise on her side. Rolling on top of the boy she got a superior position and gave him a good hard knee to the groin. This produced the desired effect as Warrick immediately curled into a ball holding himself. Catherine had a moment to take satisfaction in this and then she felt two hands close around the collar of her shirt and lift her up roughly. She was met with the face of Sonny Singer wearing a wicked grin.

“You little bitch. I’m go…” That was as far as he got. Ever since she had been brought here Sonny Singer had been in Catherine’s face. Sonny Singer with his sly face that wanted to look just like Smiling Joel’s face and as soon as it could. Sonny Singer who had coined the endearing term snot face. Sonny Singer whose idea it had undoubtedly been to pee on their beds.

Catherine pistoned her fist out, not wildly in the all or nothing manner of Raymond Baast but driving strong and smooth from the elbow. Her fist connected hard with Sonny’s nose. There was an audible crunch. Catherine felt a moment of satisfaction so perfect it was sublime. Here was what she wanted all along. Freedom was one thing but this is what she had been born for. “There!” Catherine said as a grin spread over her face. “We’re not doing that bad Amber. You tore up one’s face and I broke one’s nose.”

Sonny stumbled backwards screaming, blood spouting from his fingers. Catherine stood her ground and fell into a fighting stance with her fists up and ready to defend herself. She shot a glance towards Amber and saw the girl slowly pushing herself up. “I told you to watch out for me Sonny and now you see why.”

“Ray!” Sonny screamed as he glanced around wildly. “Ray! Warrick! Somebody!”

“You sound scared Sonny.” Catherine said. “I don’t know why…” and then something that felt like a train drove into the back of her neck pushing her forward into one of the mirrors over the sinks. If it had been glass it would have shattered and cut her badly but all the mirrors here were of polished steel. No suicides in the Sunlight Home. Catherine was able to get an arm up to cushion the impact a little but she still felt woozy as she turned around and saw Raymond Baast’s bandaged face staring back at her.

“I told you I was going to get my piece of you snot face. I’m glad I finally got my chance.”

“You…”She said groggily. Suddenly Catherine realized that Raymond meant to do her more harm than just a blow to the head. He was going to kill her if he got the chance. She decided right then that she wouldn’t give him that chance. When he began to advance on her she gripped the side of the sink and shot both of her legs out in a powerful drop kick. They caught Baast squarely in the chest and sent him reeling back into an open stall. The large boy set down in the toilet with a splash looking stunned.

Others were bursting into the bathroom now as Amber got to her feet and shook away the spots in her vision. Her hair hung in her face. Sonny was advancing on her, one hand still clasped to his bleeding nose obviously meaning to kick the girl back down. “Yeah you go ahead and touch her Sonny.” Catherine said softly and the boy cringed away. She caught one of Amber’s arms and helped her stand.

The two girls backed away from their attackers, Sonny, Warrick, Nick and some other big guys. Baast was coming out of the stall he had been kicked in. “They were trying to escape.” Sonny said through a voice that sounded stuffy and strange.

Catherine and Amber continued until their backs met cold tile. There was nowhere else to run. Catherine let go of Amber who slumped dazed and pitiful and mustered up a challenge even though she could see where this was heading. “Alright come on!” She said. “Who’s first?”

“You going to take us all on?” Nick asked.

“If I have to I will. I have nothing to lose now. Come on!” At this there was a flicker of unease on Nick’s face, an expression of outright fear on Sonny’s. They stopped. The boys actually stopped and that made Catherine smile. They stood there staring at her with the unease of men looking at a wild dog that can be brought down but that will probably bite someone badly first. Unfortunately they would never get the chance to see.

“Stand aside children.” A powerful, mellow voice said and the boys moved aside with expressions of relief. It was reverend Oswin. He would know how to handle this. As he approached the cornered girls Catherine noticed he was holding the black hypodermic case. Oswin looked at them and sighed. “Do you know what happened to Jonah when he tried to run from the Lord Ms. Parker? God drug him back by force.” The girl bared her teeth at him and looked ready for a fight. She was through playing this game.

Oswin sighed again as if this was no more than he had expected. “It’s a fact I suppose. All children are bad.” The reverend opened the case and removed the long needle. “I suppose some of this evil is my own fault.” He handed the case to Sonny and filled the hypo. “I have never been one for forcing my children to confess but without confession there can be no decision for Christ and with no decision for Christ evil continues to grow. While I regret it I think the time to ask has ended and the time to demand in God’s name has come. Boys? Hold them.”

The boys surged forward at his command like trained dogs. Catherine got in one blow at Nick and then her hands were grabbed and pinned. She looked across at Amber and saw the girl finally beginning to struggle as the boys fell on her but it was no use. Oswin practically danced into Amber’s blindside and the needle flashed and plunged. The girl cried out and tried to get away but the boys held her firmly. Soon she slumped as the chemicals did their work.

“If you hurt her you bastard I’ll…”

Catherine’s protest was cut short by a gentle shushing sound from Oswin. “Ms. Catherine Parker. There’s no need for all that.” Oswin approached and before she could do anything she felt the needle sting her upper arm. “Just be quiet now. We’re going to get a little sunlight in your soul and maybe then we’ll see how you like the prodigal son’s ‘far country’. Can you say Hallelujah?” That one word followed her down into darkness. Hallelujah…
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Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Alison Summers ♪
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All Hail the Crimson King
Mayor
[align=center]Part 9: Hell Hath No Fury[/align]

Catherine was awake quiet a long time before they knew she was awake but she became aware of who she was, her situation and what had happened only in parts. She was in a way like the solider who sat dazed and confused after surviving a long term assault from an artillery barrage. Her arm throbbed from where Oswin had punched the hypodermic into it. Her head ached so badly that her brain seemed to pulse inside her skull. She was horribly thirsty.

After an indeterminable amount of time she climbed a step up the ladder of awareness when she tried to touch the hurt place on her upper right arm with her left hand. She couldn’t do it and the reason she couldn’t do it was that her arms were somehow wrapped around herself. It was not a pleasant feeling. In addition to this she could smell mold and the air here had a cold, wet feel against her face. She wasn’t inside the home any more, at least no place that she had ever been to. It was then, although she had been looking at it for several minutes through slitted eyes that she figured out that she was wearing a white canvas straightjacket. She stirred a little and both the pain in her head and the throb in her arm made her moan. She couldn’t help it.

Raymond Baast: “She’s waking up.”

Joel Oswin: “No she’s not. I gave her a shot large enough to paralyze an alligator. She’ll be out until nine tonight at the earliest. She’s just dreaming a little.” The reverend paused for a moment and then continued. “Ray I want you to go up and check on Amber. Before diner let her out and bring her down here. I want her to be present for this particular confession. Sonny you stay with me and help me do the book work.”

Baast: “It sure sounded like she was waking up.”

Oswin: “Go on Ray. I would prefer to get this done as soon as possible so that we can fix this little annoyance of ours for good.”

’Oh Amber they put you back in the box.’ Catherine mourned. ’…I’m sorry. This is all my fault.’ The girl heard Raymond give a quick ‘Yes sir’ and then listened as the boy lumbered away. She did not, as yet, dare to look up.

Locked in the double bolted metal coffin-like box Amber had screamed the day away. Claustrophobia and the stress of the past weeks had left her somewhat unhinged and the fact that she had beat her fists bloody against the metal walls only served to deteriorate her fragile mental state even more. She knew, somewhere in the back of her mind that she wouldn’t be able to beat her way out. She also knew that they wouldn’t let her out just because she was screaming but she couldn’t help it. She had been pressed too hard for too long and she was starting to crack.

After Baast left there were office sounds, chairs being moved, a jingle of the keys on Smiling Joel’s belt and a file cabinet running open and then closed. “Ableson, two hundred fourteen and thirteen cents.” There was the sound of someone typing on a keyboard. “Clark, sixty two dollars and thirty cents.” More typing. Catherine decided she could take a chance and cautiously looked up to take in her surroundings.

She saw Oswin and Singer sitting together on the far side of the room behind a metal desk. Sonny was typing away at a computer as Oswin gave him set after set of figures from what were apparently outside backers for the home. In front of Smiling Joel was a ledger, a long steel file box and an untidy stack of envelopes. As he read off the names and amounts Oswin slipped the envelopes into the file box with those that had already been recorded.

Catherine noticed that there were other things of interest on the metal desk as well. Two folders, one marked Catherine Parker the other Amber Jane Whited. The third thing was Smiling Joel’s set of keys. From the keys Catherine’s eyes moved to take in the rest of the room. She had indeed been taking to an area that she had never been before. She was in some kind of cellar. The walls were built of plain, unadorned brick and the floor was cold, grey cement. The room was illuminated by a dim row of phosphorescent lights along the ceiling. These flickered sporadically creating eerie shadows. She rolled her head to the left and took in what was the room’s only exit, a dark stairway going up. Perhaps she had been taken to Reggie the cook’s hell.

“Michaels, seventy six dollars even.” Oswin sighed as he slipped the last envelope into the file box and closed his ledger. “Apparently Raymond was right. I believe our dear friend Ms. Catherine Parker has awakened.” He got up, came around the desk and approached the girl. His mad eyes glittered. He reached into his pocket and came out with his lighter, the sight of which made Catherine’s heart sink. “Only…your name isn’t Catherine Parker at all is it?”

Catherine debated with herself. She had kept the secret of who she was and who was hunting her ever since she had run from her home on the day her family was murdered. If she told Oswin what he wanted to know she might save herself some pain but what would that mean for her in the long run. If he found out who she was he would find out that she was more valuable to him than a simple prisoner. If he discovered that she would not put it past him to turn her over to the Conclave for some kind of reward and that was what made her decision for her. “I’ve told you I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Smiling Joel tittered and flicked open the lighter revealing the blackened wheel and the dark wick. “I told you I would have it out of you and I intend to. You’ve been hiding something ever since you came here and there has to be a reason why.” He brought the lighter dangerously close to the girl’s face and struck a light. “Confession is so very good for the soul.” He whispered.

For Reggie the cook the day had started very badly. Not only had he woken up with a pounding headache after not being able to sleep at all the night before but he had heard that the girl who had tried to bribe him the other day had been caught trying to sneak out with her friend. He could only imagine what horrors laid in store for the two but he knew that the older girl, Amber, had been taken to the box that he was supposed to believe was a hay drying shed, some fat chance. She had been there all day. Her screams and pounding had echoed through the kitchen aggravating his headache and setting his nerves on edge. Gratefully the girl had calmed down and that had allowed him to concentrate on the diner he was preparing but now as he stood in front of his large double oven waiting for the fifteen turkey pies he had prepared to come out Reggie was thinking.

How long would it take the reverend to figure out that the bathroom window had been unlocked for the girls when they got there? How long after that would it take for him to get suspicious? Then how long would it be for him to remember who he had given a set of maintenance keys to? The answer was not long. Not very long at all. ’And those kids…How long can I keep lying to myself about what goes on here.’

The sound of approaching feet broke his train of thought and Reggie whirled around to see Raymond Baast approaching from the dining area. Looking at the boy’s bandaged face he thought of the rumors that he had heard about the mauling the kid had received at the hands of that girl Amber. Surely they were all rumors, they had to be. A big, angry kid like Baast would have mutilated the girl…wouldn’t he?

This thought made Reggie shoot a nervous glance towards the metal box in the yard as he watched the boy walk out of the kitchen through the back door. ’Does he have to bring the kid through here? Does he have to make me see?’ The cook sighed but a few minutes later he had his answer when the boy reentered from outside with the girl marching in front of him.

Even for a hard man like Reggie the sight of Amber brought a chill to his back. The girl looked like a something out of a horror movie. Her hands were raw and bloody, her long hair which was tangled and matted hung down over her face obscuring it from view. Needless to say the sight did nothing to calm the doubts that he was having. If anything it made him nervous. “Baast!” Reggie barked at the boy as he passed. Baast practically jumped and turned around to face the cook. “Who the hell told you to come in my kitchen?”

“I don’t have to answer to you cook but if you must know the reverend told me to get this girl and bring her down to his office.” Raymond Baast said with a hateful glare in his eyes. This was no Sonny Singer that Reggie was talking too. Baast with his wrapped face was mean and spiteful to the core and he didn’t care what some low ranking employee of the home said to him.

Reggie was not one to be intimidated by the boy’s anger however and so he growled back at the boy in answer. “I’m sure he did. How ‘bout the next time he tells some little chicken shit like you to do his dirty work for him you go in and out through the main entrance. Now get the hell out.” The cook turned back to his ovens and to his brooding. He didn’t glance behind him but could feel Baast’s eyes burning into him before the boy turned and marched out of the kitchen with Amber. In the exchange neither saw the girl quickly reach over and grab one of the long serrated cutting knives that had been laid for use preparing the evening meal and slip it under the sleeve of her uniform shirt.

As the kids left Reggie suddenly got the feeling that he needed to head home early this evening, like right now. He felt the approach of black work, very black work and he wanted to be as far away from this place as he could get when it happened. Forget the turkey pies. The image of Amber had shaken him to the core and it was because of that image that he removed the cooking apron he was wearing, threw it on the counter and started out of the room before anyone could find him. By the time he got to his car he was running.

Down in Oswin’s secret room the lighter flame danced back and forth in front of Catherine’s eyes. “Now Catherine I have a few questions for you and you are going to answer them.” The reverend said. “There will be no more playing this time Ms. Parker. I am done with the games.” Even as he spoke the look on his face belied this statement. His eager grin made him look like he was enjoying this very much. Catherine thought that to him this was all a game. “Now let’s begin and you better start talking fast. Your real name isn’t Parker is it? Bristow! It’s Bristow isn’t it? Sydney Bristow?”

Catherine blinked. For a moment she was struck speechless. How had he known? If Joel Oswin had discovered who she was then she had been horribly underestimating him this whole time. He had known more than she gave him credit for and that may have been her fatal mistake. Quickly though she forced the thought out of her mind and made herself answer the question. She couldn’t let things slip away now. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The flame came closer. “What is the Conclave?”

“The what?” The girl answered trying not to show her relief that Oswin didn’t know everything yet. She supposed it was possible to follow her back trail but if he found out who she was being hunted by then it was probably all over.

Her relief didn’t last long however as the reverend’s normally calm, cool nature snapped in the next instant. “THE CONCLAVE! THE CONCALVE!!!” Oswin shrieked. “WHO ARE THEY? WHAT DO THEY WANT FROM YOU.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking…” Pain exploded across the right side of her face sending her head rocking to the side. A strange metallic taste came into her mouth and as she slowly came back to herself she realized it was blood. As her head slowly came back up to look at the reverend she could already tell that her bottom lip was beginning to swell.

“Sonny!” The reverend screamed. “Unlace her right hand. Hold it out to me.” Sonny Singer bent over Catherine’s shoulder and did something. A moment later he was pulling her hand away from the small of her back. It was tingling with pins and needles as blood rushed back into it. Catherine tried to struggle, to at least put up a fight but it was useless, Sonny held her hand out. “Now spread her fingers open.” Sonny pulled the girl’s pinky and ring finger in different directions. A moment later Oswin had applied the zippo’s flame to the webbing between the fingers. The pain was excruciating. It bolted up her left arm until it felt like it filled her whole body. The smell, the horrible smell was the worst, herself burning.

After a few moments Oswin removed the flame and Catherine sank back in teary, throbbing, agony. A black, bubbling blistered patch the size of a quarter stood out on the back of her right hand. “Devils scream when they begin to come out. Oh yes indeed they do, don’t they Sonny?”

“Yes praise God!” Sonny hissed in an excited whisper. He was grinning. Fine beads of sweat stood out on his fore head and Catherine could tell that he was enjoying this. If she started talking now she thought the boy would be very disappointed.

“Oh yes. I know the secrets of both impudent hell spawn girls and devils.” Oswin tittered and then leaned forward until his face was inches from Catherine’s face. “Now Catherine. How long have you been on the run? What is the Conclave? What do they want with you? How badly do they want you? We’ll start with those.”

“I…don’t know…” Catherine said in a strained and shaky voice. From her screams she thought that she had nearly screamed herself hoarse. “…what you’re talking about.”

Oswin bared his teeth in a grin. “Sonny…” He said. “We’re going to get Sunlight in this girl’s soul yet. Lace up her right arm and unlace her left.” The reverend opened his lighter again and waited for the boy to do it as his thumb rested lightly on the striker wheel ready to strike. Fortunately, it was at that moment that Amber and Raymond Baast began to descend the stairs. “Ah…” Oswin paused mid strike as a delighted grin lighted his face. “I believe your dear friend Ms. Whited has finally arrived. Do you think she would like to share in your torment Catherine? I think she would.”

Pain twisted her heart as Catherine saw the tall girl and the bandaged and wounded face of Raymond Baast come into view. Amber was going to be tortured for this man’s sadistic pleasure and it was all because of her, all because she couldn’t play the reverend’s twisted game. Looking at her now Amber seemed weak and defeated. The life appeared to have gone out of her eyes but as Catherine looked closer she saw something was there, something that told her that Amber was still in there but was perhaps just waiting for the right moment to come out.

Upstairs in the kitchen things were getting very hot. The turkey pies that had been left by Reggie were burning. Black smoke poured from the row of double ovens in a thick cloud. Had this occurred in any other part of the house then perhaps fire alarms would have picked up on the smoke and broadcast their warning throughout the home. However, having always been vigilant in watching the kitchen himself Reggie had removed the fire alarms from his portion of reverend Oswin’s kingdom long ago. Had Smiling Joel known this it is likely that he would have fired the man on the spot but the good reverend, as it turned out, did not know everything.

As the intense heat of the oven built it began a chain reaction causing a small pot of cooking grease discarded from the evening’s meal to bubble and smoke. The superheated oven and grease ignited and soon a kitchen fire was burning intensely. The pot of grease bubbled and popped sending liquid fire raining down around the kitchen and causing the fire to spread to dish towels, napkins and any other exposed flammable substances. The fire surged and grew until it threatened an old dishwasher, an old dishwasher that had been toyed with and jury rigged to function far longer than it should have been, an old dishwasher that by now was bound to have some faulty wiring.

“Now Catherine I want you to take a look at where your sins and lies have gotten your friend.” Oswin said as he brushed the tangled dark hair away and raised Amber’s pale and drawn face. There was no emotion in it. “I invite you to look at the hands beaten bloody and raw because you refuse to talk. Look at how pitiful this daughter of God has become…all because of you. Would you like for me to see if Amber knows anything? I’m sure her stubborn streak doesn’t run as deeply as yours but I would hate to see what would happened if she were not able to put up with the same kind of stress that you yourself have. After all it looks like there’s not much left to Ms. Amber Whited.”

Catherine stared at the scene before her stone faced. Her freed left hand that was still being held down by Sonny’s grasp clenched into a fist so tight that she could feel the nails of her fingers digging into her palm. This was not supposed to happen. This was not how things were supposed to end. If she could just get her hand free she could put up some kind of fight and at least do something.

“I’m positive that you would like to insure that no accidents happen to your friend.” Joel said soothingly. “All it would take would be for you to tell me what you know.” Catherine glared at the man. Somehow she knew that even if she told the reverend what he wanted that Amber would still not make it out of here alive but that didn’t make things easier. Could she watch another person die because of her own actions? Could she willingly sacrifice another’s life to save her own? Her blood went cold with her decision as Oswin raised the lighter towards Amber’s face. “Your last chance girl.”

Catherine went on staring coldly at the evil man before her. She opened her mouth to speak but as she did the Sunlight Home was rocked by an explosion that was felt even down in the reverend’s secret room. The blast sent Joel and his boys stumbling but as they steadied themselves the girl could notice an expression of particular fear on the face of Sonny Singer. “Reverend Oswin?” he asked unsure of what was going on.

“Shut up!” The reverend snapped in response and Sonny recoiled as if he had been slapped. As Catherine watched the man walked over to a button on the wall and pressed it. “Peterman, Warrick…someone, what’s going on up there?” He hissed into the speaker and waited.

For a minute there was nothing. The room that had moments before echoed with Catherine’s screams fell completely silent as they waited for an answer. Finally the voice of Nick Peterman crackled to life in response through a speaker in the ceiling. “Reverend Oswin! Reverend Oswin! There’s a fire. I don’t…” The screams of other children cut off the rest of Peterman’s sentence but he soon came back clearly over the speaker. “…The kitchen. The old dishwasher caught fire and exploded.”

At this Oswin started. “What? Exploded?!? How?”

There was a moment’s pause where the speaker broadcasted the noise of commotion upstairs things falling, kids running. When Peterman came back on his voice sounded shaky and panicky. He sounded as if he hadn’t even heard the reverend. “We called the fire department and police. They’re on the way. Should be here soon.” More screams. “W…What do we do sir?” Oswin twitched visibly but didn’t answer.

Instead the reverend switched off the speaker and went to the metal desk. From it he took an old .45 pistol which he held out to Sonny. For the first time the reverend Smiling Joel Oswin looked scared and baffled. Coming from upstairs there were dim shattering and crashing sounds, much scurrying and moving around was probably going on as the children, who had most likely never been faced with this kind of situation panicked without the guidance of their leader. Sonny and Baast glanced up looking like bomb shelter occupants listening to the sounds of explosions above.

Shoving the pistol into Sonny’s numb hands Oswin turned back to Catherine grinning. The corners of his lips twitched irregularly as if strings were attached to them, strings that were being pulled by a puppeteer who wasn’t particularly good at his job. “You’re thinking that this is your chance aren’t you?” The reverend nodded as if Catherine had answered. “You’re thinking that I’m caught. The police will get here and it will be all over. You won’t be so lucky.” He hissed.

Sonny, who looked at the gun that had been forced into his hand like he wasn’t entirely sure what it was glanced up and Oswin looking for some kind of instruction or command. “W…would you like me to go up and check it out sir?”

“You’re not going anywhere Sonny! Stay here!” Sonny winched again.

Joel Oswin’s mental state seemed to be deteriorating very quickly. To Catherine he looked like someone close to entering the freak out zone. He had begun to move jerkily and his voice had risen in pitch. It was the closest the girl had ever seen the man coming to completely losing control and even though it scared her somewhat she thought that she could use it to her advantage. The feeling had come back into her arm and with Sonny preoccupied…maybe. “What’s the matter reverend you look a little nervous.” She said hoping to add fuel to the fire.

Sonny turned and rocked her with a fist to the face. “You better watch the way you talk snot face. You just better watch it.”

Catherine looked back up at him a bruise already starting to rise on her face but she was smiling. “You look nervous too Sonny and you Raymond.”

“SHUT HER UP!” Oswin suddenly screamed. “CAN’T YOU DO ANYTHING? DO I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING AROUND HERE MYSELF!?!?!” Responding to this Sonny slapped her again, much harder this time. Catherine’s nose began to bleed but the cruel smile that played on her face did not go away. Amber was very still and very forgotten.

The speaker system crackled into life again. There was a lot of background noise now but it was Peterman again. This time his voice was edged with a note of fear. “Reverend Oswin I…I can hear sirens.”

“What!?!” Oswin was practically in a panic now. “How many? WHERE ARE HEY COMING FROM?!?”

There was a pause before Peterman spoke again. “A lot. I…I can’t tell how many but they’re definitely coming here.” Another pause as the sounds of panic echoed from upstairs. “Reverend Oswin…The flames are too bad. We can’t…we can’t put them out. I’m going to get everyone ou…” A pop and a shriek of static signaled that the line of communication had gone dead probably broken by the chaos upstairs.

Oswin’s nerve broke then. Catherine saw it happen. He stood indecisive for a moment and then wiped his mouth delicately with the side of his hand. ’It isn’t what’s happening upstairs.’ The girl thought. ’It isn’t the sirens either. He knows that he is almost caught. He sees everything he has made crumbling around him. We might have a chance.’

Oswin looked back to Sonny and the pistol. “I haven’t time to deal with the police or whatever else might be going on upstairs right now.” He said more calmly than his nervous ticks and jerks suggested. “The important thing is that the police never find out what has been going on here.” He turned his attention to Catherine in her straight jacket. “Nick, get her out of that thing and then I want you to burn it. Make sure it’s gone too. Sonny, you keep this gun on our good friend Ms. Parker. I’ll go up, get the car and pull it around. You can come out when you hear the horn.”

“What about Peterman and Warrick?” Sonny questioned.

“huh…Oh Yes, yes Nick and Andy too of course.” Oswin stammered and Catherine thought ’He’s running out on you, you idiots. He’s running out on you and you’re too stupid to notice. You would go on sitting down here for ten years waiting for him to ‘pull the car around’ so long as the food held out.’ Sonny, his face flushing with new importance turned and pointed the gun at Catherine holding her in its sights. Oswin spoke up again. “If she tries to move shoot her.”

Fumbling with his keys Oswin selected one and began his way up the stairs at a brisk pace. Baast came over and began to remove the girl’s straightjacket. Catherine listened to Oswin’s fading steps counting the distance as they went. By the time Baast had gotten both of her arms out of the heavy canvas jacket and slipped it over her head the footsteps had faded into nothing. Raymond turned to go get rid of the jacket and Catherine decided that the time had come to take her chance. It was now or never.

“He’s not going to take you with him you know.” The girl said suddenly. “Neither of you.” The sound of her voice surprised even her. It was even and unafraid.

“Shut up snot face.” Sonny said his voice still strained by his broken nose.

There was a digital clock on the metal desk. Catherine’s eyes shifted to it and she continued. “How long do you think it takes to pull a car around especially when that person is in a hurry? Four minutes? Five? Don’t hold your breath until you hear him honk that horn Sonny. Oswin will be long gone before he remembers telling you that. If he remembers at all that is.”

Sonny moved the gun to aim steadily at Catherine’s face. “Next thing she says Ray…break her nose.”

“You’ve been left. It’s going bad here and he could smell it. He’s getting out and he has left you to take the fall. The cops are coming, Oswin is gone and when they get here they are going to see the two of you standing over the smoking corpse of a girl.” She paused and amended. “A smoking corpse of a girl with a broken nose.”

“That’s it, hit her Ray.” Sonny commanded and Raymond Baast dropped the straight jacket and turned to advance on her. The boy balled up his fist, drew it back and for a second she wondered if she had underestimated these boys just as she had Oswin. Just then however, the boy paused as if uncertain.

That would be as closest that Raymond Baast ever came to hitting her again as the air was suddenly split with a blood curdling shriek. Catherine glanced around Baast just in time to see the horror that was Amber Whited hurl herself at the boy standing over her. She had drawn the knife that she had picked up in the kitchen and there could be only one result of this full force attack.

The boy never had time to react. The knife sank home into Baast’s back and he screamed as a dark red spot began to form on the front of the boy’s white turtle neck shirt. Catherine rolled from the chair and an instant latter Amber’s full weight fell into the writhing boy and drove him into the spot Catherine had just vacated. Glancing up Catherine saw Sonny raise the gun. “Amber he’s going to…”

Sonny pulled the trigger on the old .45 twice. The reports were deafening in the enclosed space. The two bullets tore into the tall girl and Catherine saw huge ragged, bloody holes rip from the girl’s body as the bullets exited. The paths of both bullets were deflected as they hit Amber’s ribs and one shot up and shattered a hanging light sending sparks everywhere and casting the corner of the room where Catherine, Amber and Nick were into shadows.

“AMBER!” Even in the shadowy darkness Catherine could see Amber’s body slump into a very awkward position but the horror didn’t stop there. Laughing hysterically Sonny Singer kept his gun trained and fired again. He held the gun in both hands and his arms jerked with the recoil. He fired again and again as bullets tore holes in the body of what was once her friend.

Catherine’s vision went red. She sprang from her position on the floor and grabbed the digital clock from the metal desk. It was simply the first thing she could reach. Hurling herself forward as quick as a snake the girl brought the digital clock down on the back of Sonny’s head with all the strength her left arm could muster just as Sonny began to turn around. Plastic crunched. Sonny whirled around trying to bring the gun up and Catherine brought the remains of the clock around in a rising arc that ended at Sonny’s mouth. The boy’s lips drew back in a death’s head grin and as the clock connected there was a brittle crunching sound as his teeth broke. His finger twitched the trigger of the gun again and the bullet went between his feet.

It was the last shot he was able to fire. Sonny flew against the wall his grip on the gun loosening. Catherine leaped after him not giving him a moment to recover. She laid into him knocking him to the floor and bringing the shattered clock down on him again and again until the boy stopped moving. It was then that she slumped back sweating and panting.

For a moment everything went into a grey haze. When Catherine finally came to herself she was straddling the inert form of the thing that had been Sonny Singer. Her fingers were red and sticky with blood, the same blood that she was sure covered most of her Sunlight Home uniform, and she still held the shattered remains of the clock tightly in her left hand. Trembling she released her death grip letting the clock clatter to the floor and got up.

She walked over to the shadowy corner. The entire struggle in the basement room had taken what, five minutes maybe? There was no way to tell. If the build really was burning, if police and fire crews really were coming then she needed to get out of here but she would not, would not, leave this girl that had given so much without at least paying her respects. Amber had performed acts of heroism that Catherine would never fully know but she did know that this simple, troubled girl had been the closest thing to a friend that she had perhaps ever had.

Standing there gazing down at the girl’s body Catherine rolled it over and off of the body of Raymond Baast. With a little effort she arranged the girl in a respectful posture and closed the cold dead eyes. There were no heroic words, no tears and nothing to mark the girl’s passing like might be in some Hollywood movie. Catherine had seen death far too many times before and it all looked the same. The only thing that remained for her was a cold emptiness, a void in her soul that grew deeper and darker with each life she had lost and the thought that the only thing that could fill that void was the blood of those that had done this to her. With this last respect paid Catherine retrieved Amber's knife, pocketed the apartment key from the folder labeled with her name and turned to dashed for the stairway.
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[align=center]Part 10: The Avenger Born[/align]

Amber sighed and poked at the fire, absently stirring up the embers and sending sparks flying into the air. The fire, which had died low during her story, suddenly roared into life pushing the shadows back once more and casting its warm glow on the two inhabitants of the small camp. For a long moment she sat there in silence watching those flames as they jumped and danced over the wood. She was remembering another fire that had burned on a night long ago, the fire that had changed her life.

She felt as if she had been talking for years. It couldn’t have been that long of course, she could tell by the sky that they still had a few hours of darkness left, but she supposed when a story weighed this heavily on you it was hard to give voice to it. She hadn’t meant to talk as long as she had and certainly hadn’t expected to say some of the things that she did but once the story had begun it was impossible to stop it from pouring out of her. She had told secrets that she had held onto for years but even now once it was out in the open she didn’t feel a sense of relief. Perhaps that was because there was still something of the story to tell.

The silence continued for a long time. Both simply set wondering what the other was thinking and absorbing all that had been said. Amber knew that her story might very well change his opinion of her and thought she was prepared for that, when you had lost so many people in your life loneliness was something that you got used to, but even still she found that she didn’t want to lose him. The problem however was this, she was leading a divided life and the two halves, her life with Alex and her life as an assassin, always seemed to be at war with each other. She was reminded of this each time she had to leave again and the worst part was that she didn’t know if the two halves could ever be reconciled or if she even wanted them to be.

Finally Alex broke the silence by asking the question that hung in the air between them. “Your story didn’t end there. What happened next? What happened to Oswin?” There it was. This was the part of the story that she had feared the most. Up until this point she had killed out of self-defense and self-preservation. Even the brutal attack on the boy Singer had been a simple case of kill or be killed but that was all about to come to an end. The next part of her story was the true beginning because it was the part that had started her down the path to vengeance.

“Revenge is a sweet and seductive pleasure.” Amber began. “You go your whole life being told that revenge isn’t the answer, that it doesn’t solve anything and that it can only lead to more violence but those ideas are all lies. Revenge, true revenge that brings about a close to all things is…euphoric.” Sighing the girl stared into the heart of the fire and continued. “Up until now you have known me as the victim but after Amber I became what I am today. I am not the hero of the story. I do not save people and I do not bring about a good end to things. This is something you need to understand about me Alex, I’m a killer, cold, hard and unfeeling. This is where that all began.”

Reaching over Alex cupped a hand under her chin and raised her head towards him for a kiss. It was soft and sweet, one meant to give comfort but the girl found none there, nor did she find any in the words that came next. “Haven’t you figured out I already know that about you?” He asked and pulled her a little closer almost protectively.

“No.” Amber said absently. “No, you haven’t…not yet.” She returned her attention to the fire without that lingering little smile that she usually got when he kissed her. Instead her eyes gave off an empty, haunted look as if staring into those flames would somehow conjure up the demons that followed her from the past. “I ran but it wasn’t to save my life from the fire that was threatening to consume the building...” With a look of resignation she continued. “Maybe if that trip up the stairs hadn’t been so long, maybe if I had seen how truly desperate the situation had become before I had that time to think it would have been different but by the time I had reached the top of the stairs and the long hall that led from Oswin’s study to the Sunlight Home my mind was made up. Joel Oswin had to die.”

Alex listened intently as his girlfriend calmly spoke about killing a man. Amber tried to keep her two lives separate. She rarely talked about her missions always saying that she saw it as a job and nothing more. He knew that she had killed before, many times since this one man but to think that such rage and hatred could be inside one person, especially one so young, it was an idea that always surprised him. Sure he had experienced that in some degree. He had been called upon to protect his sister and Amber before. He had even killed a man in the name of this goal but to commit cold and callous murder? Could he ever truly understand that side of her? He wasn’t sure. “How did you catch up to him? He would have had a lead on you by the time you got around to giving chase.”

Amber nodded as if she had expected this question. “I knew it was a slim chance but I was prepared to hunt him down if I had to. Fortunately I wouldn’t need too. You see men like Oswin can’t just run when their world begins to descend into chaos. They have invested too much, it becomes a comfort to them. They have their trappings just the same as anyone else and when they have spent so long making their world into exactly what they wanted they can’t just let it go. Much like the emperor Nero during the fire of Rome, when crazy men like Oswin begin to see their hopes and dreams blacken and turn to ash before their eyes usually they are there, watching, laughing and perhaps throwing a little wood on the fire. At no point do they think that they will be caught and in the end that is their downfall.”

There was a pause as Amber let this image sink in and then she continued. “When I got to the top of the stairs and came into Oswin’s office I immediately noticed that I might have a chance of catching him. He had stopped there you see and it was obvious that he had spent some time gathering a few things. The office was in disarray which was uncommon for a man with Oswin’s strict sense of organization and a picture of Jesus Christ walking on the water that normally hung on the wall had been thrown aside to reveal a safe. I assumed he had a stash of money that he had gone for and that alone would have at least taken him a few minutes. It wasn’t much, he still could have been anywhere, but it was enough to make me press on.”

Falling silent for a moment Amber again got caught up in the dancing flames of their small campfire. She didn’t really want to tell the next part of her story but knew that she must. Still the flames held a certain mesmerizing power about them tonight especially considering the setting of this particular moment in her life. Then she hadn’t wasted much time on the fire. She had been unconcerned with the heat, the smoke and the cries of children who were still trying to escape. Looking back on it now it all set a very grim back drop for the black deed that she had committed.

“I didn’t stop to really look at anything that night.” She said finally as she decided to continue. “What Oswin did, his money, I had no concern for that. Besides, even with him taking the time to stop in his office I still had ground to make up so I ran on.”

“How did you find him?” Alex asked and in doing so temporarily broke the flow of the story. “He still could have gone anywhere. He could have been long gone and you could have died.”

Amber blinked at him not sure how she should take his statements. If anything he should have known by now that she was not someone who spent much time paralyzed by fear, doubt or indecision. The thought of her own personal safety, at least at that moment, was completely forgotten. “At that point I didn’t particularly care. I was running purely on instinct and my instincts told me there was still a chance. In any case I didn’t die so it doesn’t matter.”

At this last part Alex scoffed. It would have mattered a great deal if he had never met her, at least in his mind. Amber shrugged off his concern though and continued. “As for how I found him I simply picked the place that I felt he would most likely make for. He was a man wanting a quick escape, not just from the fire but from the authorities, so I went to the garage. The home had its trucks but Oswin had a car of his own, nice one too. I had seen it before when I was working around the home and figured he wouldn’t leave it behind so that’s where I went. The trip from his office wasn’t pretty. Everything was burning, kids were running everywhere, some were trapped and above it all there were my instincts telling me to hurry. I don’t think I recognized it at the time but in the back of my mind I knew that I didn’t have long before the fire claimed the building and everyone left in it.”

“So you ran through a burning building with people trapped inside it just to catch this man?” Alex asked with growing concern over the direction the story was taking. “I’m guessing you found him and when you did…”

“Yes.” Amber said as she looked down at her feet. “Yes, I found him. He was in the garage loading up his car for his escape. I called out to him and I must have surprised him because when he spun on me the look on his face was that of a man who had seen a ghost. It felt good to catch him off guard like that, one final victory.” A grim smile played across the girl’s face and then she continued. “I don’t remember the conversation we had, there was so much going on. In any case it was brief.”

Alex nodded. “I know how you get when you are angry. I can only imagine what the exchange was like. You probably called him out in that no nonsense voice you get when you are mad.” The boy smiled a little at this trying to bring a little levity to the situation but Amber had never had a great sense of humor even under the best of circumstances. Faced with the remainder of the story now she simply shrugged, not wanting to hurt his feelings and continued.

“It was brief because I didn’t wait before attacking him. I didn’t give him time to talk, I had heard more than enough of his brand of talking and I did not waste time on it. I simply fell on him like a storm, no mercy. If you remember, I had picked up the kitchen knife when I left the cellar but Oswin was not one to go down without a fight. He did what any cornered man would do and fought back with whatever he could find which just so happened to be a tire iron that had fallen close to the flames and was glowing hot. Using the tool he was able to keep me at enough of a distance. I took several blows, I’ve still got a pretty good burn mark on my hip if you want to see, but Joel Oswin’s luck was finally going to run out on that evening. My impatience at being stuck in that place, my anger at having been treated like I had been for so long and my rage at losing Amber fueled my attack and what I didn’t have in strength or training I made up for in speed and blind determination.”

“He never had a chance did he?” Alex said as he returned to the seriousness at hand. Amber merely shook her head in confirmation.

“As crazy as he was Oswin wasn’t a fighter. He was cruel and wicked and knew how to torture and lie but he wasn’t a fighter. That’s what the boys like Baast were for. No, he put up a good fight but once I got in close it was all over. We fought as the building burned and buckled around us. Part of the ceiling caved in behind us and it distracted him for just a moment. He miscalculated and swung his weapon hard and high. That was his mistake. The momentum of the weapon took him off balance. I rolled under the attack and came up with a quick slash to his hamstring that brought him to his knees. As he knelt there, like a man in prayer oddly enough, I grabbed that perfect white hair he was so proud of and pulled back hard getting a cry of paint that I’m not ashamed to say I enjoyed.”

Looking up from the ground Amber turned her attention on the boy beside her and stared into his eyes. This was the most important part, his reaction. How would Alex take the knowledge that she had killed this man not for a wounded sense of honor, because she was in danger or because it was her job but for plain, dark and bloody revenge? “I didn’t question him or wait for him to speak. Too much had happened for me to care. In one swift motion I drew the blade across his neck and it was over. I waited until his death spasms had ended but didn’t stick around long after that. The situation was dangerous and I didn’t want to risk being caught by the local police again.”

They set in silence for a long time after this Amber examining the face of her love who might have been the only person in the world whose opinion she really cared about. Alex said nothing but in the silence she thought she got an answer of sorts. He did not understand this part of her, probably never would, the only question that remained was would he resent her for it or hold it against her somehow and for that only time would tell.

Turning her gaze back to the ground she continued. “After I left the home I was on my own. I didn’t trust, didn’t let anyone close. I struck out towards the city as I still had business there and I heard along the way that the Oswin story had blown up pretty big. The signs were all there for someone willing to look. Children brutally killed inside a strange hidden torture room, Oswin himself killed in the apparent act of escape and then of course there was the box with the results of Amber’s stay there. It was absolute chaos and it took Oswin’s followers completely by surprise. A few kids made it out but not many. All in all it was a public disaster and they never did find the whole truth.”

The silence continued between them for a moment longer. It was a lot to take in and Amber knew that but telling Alex about her bloody past, how she became what she was today, was a tell that was long overdue. Some stories needed to be told especially to the one that you loved and if she was going to continue her relationship with Alex he was going to have to accept what she was and what she had done. The fact that these things weighed on her own conscious was another matter entirely. She had come to grips with who she was long ago and she didn’t particularly believe in morality.

“At least you made it out. That was a pretty rough experience for anyone to go through.” Alex said as he stirred and finally broke the silence that had been hanging between them. It was a better reaction than Amber could have hoped for but it was one that she didn’t completely trust. He had more to say and she knew it. “There is one thing that has been troubling me though and I want you to answer me this truthfully even if it’s something you don’t want to tell me.”

“I will do my best to be truthful with you as I always have Alex.”

Satisfied with that the boy nodded and continued. “Your friend, Amber. You took your name in memory of her when you got here, I’ve got that, but earlier you said there was a point in your final interrogation when Oswin was about to hurt Amber. He would have killed her that time, you know that, but he gave you the chance to save her. You were about to say something when the explosion hit but after that you didn’t have to so my question is this. Were you going to save her? Would you given Oswin the information he wanted if it would have saved your friend’s life?”

Amber frowned and pulled her knees up to her chest. This was exactly what she had expected and she knew that she couldn’t be dishonest with him at this point. Whatever he might think of her and whatever that might cause him to do she had to let him form his own opinion. “No, not even if it would have saved her. Know that at that point Oswin’s mind was set. Even if I had told him he still would have killed us but no, at that point I wouldn’t have spoken up to save her.”

Alex considered this silently. It broke Amber’s heart to see it because she hadn’t missed the question underneath the question. If she wouldn’t save her friend what would happen to him or for that matter Mary if trouble from Amber’s life ever bled over into their own. The silence was too much for her and while she had never been one to be bothered much by a quiet moment she found that on this particular occasion she just wanted Alex to hold her again and to tell her that everything was going to be alright. It was a lot to ask for though and there was nothing that she could say to convince him she was worth the trouble.

Finally her calm broke. Hands that had rarely shook in her life began to tremble and it was all Amber could do to sit and watch those two things that had shed so much blood as the tears came. “Do you see now why I didn’t want to pull you into this when we were younger? I am a monster Alex. Everything I touch, everyone I know, it all comes to the same end. I never had a friend that I didn’t kill, never had a loved one that isn’t dust in the wind. You deserve better.”

She continued to stare at her killers hands through her blurry vision. She had never cried in front of Alex before, in fact she couldn’t remember the last time she had cried at all because it had been so long but now her eyes swam with tears. Pain and guilt that she had held in check was released as she let her guard down, finally destroying the last long standing barrier between them.

So deep was her distress that she completely missed the boy’s reaction when he finally did respond. If she had seen it she would have been surprised to notice Alex shaking his head ‘no’ to everything. “You didn’t kill her Amber. That wasn’t your fault. You were placed in an extraordinary circumstance and I can’t say with honesty that I would have done any differently in your place.” He said as he reached for her trembling hands. Amber didn’t want him to take them though and as she saw the movement she jerked away not content to just let the matter go.

“That’s too easy Alex. Some sins cannot be shaken, some responsibilities cannot be shaken. Yes, there wasn’t much I could do in that situation but I can’t put off all the responsibility on my circumstances as much as I might like to.” She held her hands out for him to see. “These hands are the hands of a killer Alex and that’s not going to change. There will always be blood on these hands.”

He closed in on her again and Amber tried to turn away but this time he grabbed her by the shoulders and in her emotionally weakened state she let him hold her. Suddenly she felt him kiss her cheek. He had done this several times on both sides of her face before she finally realized what he was doing. He was kissing her tears away. The thought served to calm her a little and as she regained control of herself Alex turned her to look into his eyes.

“I will be the one who decides what I do and do not deserve. You say that you aren’t worthy because of this path that you are on, that you can’t change but I think you already have. Do you think that you would willingly let any harm come to me or Mary? After everything we’ve been through would you allow anyone to track you back here and put us in danger?”

Amber was a little surprised by the questions, by this whole turn of events in fact, but she didn’t have to think about her answer. She looked up into his eyes and when she spoke she did so without hesitation. “No, of course I wouldn’t. You and Mary have become a family to me and I would do anything I could to protect you both.”

Alex smiled at her and held her hands in his own until they steadied. “Then what’s the problem? Clearly you have learned the importance of the people in your life and even though you may have made some bad choices you are not the heartless monster that you make yourself out to be. You wouldn’t have told me all of this if you were. So yes, you’ve done some pretty bad things in the name of survival but to say that merely being around you is somehow dangerous to me is ridiculous.”

Amber wiped her remaining tears away and looked back at Alex with haunted eyes. “You’re right in a sense. There was a part of me that hadn’t spoken in a good many years…I thought it was dead but you are right. I have learned to love and trust again. The bottom line however, is this: I get my friends killed and that’s not something I think I could even risk doing again. Not with Mary and especially not with you. I’m…” She paused for a moment and looked down at her feet. When she looked back up she tried to continue but couldn’t. “…Nevermind. I don’t have the words but for the first time since I turned and fled from my family’s murders so many years ago I think I may have found something that is more important to me than revenge. Let’s leave it at that.”

Alex nodded. “Alright I guess I can respect that but you are still missing something. You said that you had learned to love again and that’s good but you can’t just take all the responsibility for this relationship on yourself. You can’t become a part of someone’s life and then just take that all away again because you are running a little low on willpower or dedication. If you are so dedicated to tracking down your family’s killers then show that same dedication to me. Don’t think you can give it all up in the name of protecting me.”

“Willpower and dedication are good words.” Amber said. “But there is another word, a bad one, that means the same thing. That word is ‘obsession’. Is that not what my quest for revenge is?”

Alex shrugged this off with an impatient twitch of his shoulder. “There are some things that are beyond your control, you know that. What you don’t realize is that I’m a part of this now too just assuredly as you are yourself. Amber I have killed for you and besides, you are missing the biggest part. You can’t remove me from the equation. Even if you wanted me to leave you, which I don’t think you really do, I wouldn’t go. I’m going to stick with you whether you like it or not and whatever comes we will deal with it in our own time.”

Sighing as she took this all in Amber nodded her silent agreement. The things that she had told had weighed on her heavily for years and even now she didn’t think that her ghosts would leave her alone. A person did not simply get over the things that she had done. Yet in that maybe there was an answer. She had spent so much time thinking that she was just mindlessly pursuing her own goals but Alex was right, her outlook had changed. It had happened so slowly and in such small increments that she hadn’t even recognized the change herself but it was there and that gave her hope.

“Thank you Alex.” Amber said steadily and turned her hand around to hold his. She glanced up at the sky and marked the time. She wasn’t sure how long she had been talking but she felt exhausted and emotionally drained from the reliving of memories that she thought she had left behind. There was more to tell but for now at least she was done up and if they were to get any hunting done at all they at least needed some sleep. “There’s more to tell but for now we should probably get some sleep. This night has been difficult for me.”

Alex followed Amber’s gaze up to the sky and noticed that dawn would be approaching soon. “You’re right and we can still catch a few winks before daylight.” Reaching up to stroke her hair he gave her a concerned look. “Are you going to be okay?”

Amber nodded. Her face had hardened into its normal stern set almost as if by muscle memory. Gone were the insecurities and tears, the defenses were back in place and the assassin had regained control. “Good because I’m not going anywhere.” The boy said in response and then turning her face to his Alex kissed her gently. “Come on let’s get to bed.”

Getting up to douse the fire Alex took a moment to stretch, his bones cracking as he did so. They had been sitting there in front of the fire for some time and it took a moment for him to get feeling back in his legs. Amber joined him without saying word. Her slightly haunted eyes belied the hard set of her face. She had been through a lot tonight and it was likely to leave a lasting impact on her but for now at least she had passed the ghosts that haunted her. They still followed her, they would likely never stop but for the time being she was one step ahead and now that she knew that Alex still loved her she planned to remain that way.

Helping Alex with the fire they worked to secure their camp and prepared to catch a few quick winks before waking early and continuing their hunting trip. Amber brought out a large sleeping bag and soon they were settling in, cuddled together in each other’s arms. Within minutes Alex was asleep and as Amber listened to his soft, contented snores she discovered that she had found at least one place where she could find peace. Right here in Alex Alkaev’s arms.
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