Notes

CHAPTER ONE: Gracefield House

The sunshine seemed to illuminate the whole room... "Guys wake up! It's morning!" Ava was always the most exited to start the day each morning, honestly, I don't understand how she has so much energy in the morning. I sighed and got up, started getting ready, most of the kids did, usually the older kids would get really first, and quickly so they had time to help the little ones get ready. I put my hair into a ponytail, "Rose! Can you help me tie my shoes..." I looked down at Ellie, "Of course!" I gave a bright smile, she sat at the edge of a bed and I tied her boots, "And done!" "Thank you!" she hopped off the bed and hugged me before running out into the dinning room. We all got ready and helped the kids before leaving, I saw Lewis on my way there, "Lewis!" I ran towards him and waved, "Rosa, good morning!" I smiled, "Morning! Everyone awake already?" "Of course, I'm guessing Ava woke you all up again?" I laughed sheepishly "Yeah..." "I could hear her enthusiasm, even through these thick walls," was she really THAT loud? That must be why my hearing's getting worse, I wake up to that every morning.. we walked into the dinning hall to see half the kids already took their seats, some talking, some just sitting, some saying good morning to each other, seemed like they had been waiting for the rest of us to arrive, I spotted Father, Brother and Sister, and immediately rushed towards them, "Father! Brother! Sister! Morning!" Sister turned her attention towards me, Father was busy talking to Sal, "Morning Rose, slept well?" I nodded, "Well why don't you sit down, we'll start our prayers in a bit, just need to wait for everyone to be sitting down," "Okay sister!" I ran off to an empty seat next to Angel, "Morning!" He slightly turned his head "Morning, where's Lewis?" "Hm? I thought he'd be here already, I was talking to sister!" I turned my head to look at Sister and saw he was talking to Brother behind Sister, "There," Angel followed my gaze, "What's he talking to Brother for?" "He's probably just saying good morning, you know there's SOME people who have manners," he scoffed and went back to looking at Liam, he seemed sad, "Hey- you okay?" "I just can't believe he's already getting adopted..." yesterday Father announced that Liam was getting put with a new family who chose to take him in, Angel was one of the closest ones to Liam, they were almost like real siblings, like actually blood-related, "Hey it's fine, I'm sure he'll be happy there..." "Of course he will, that's the problem..." I was confused, "How's that a problem don't you want him to be happy?" He looked down at the table, "What if he's too happy, forgets all about us..." I patted his back "That wont happen-" "Angel! Morning!" Lewis sat down next to me, Angel simply replied with "Morning," as Father, Brother, and Sister sat down, "Now, let us all appreciate how all 34 of you are able to life happy lives here.." We all said our prayers and started eating. After eating it was time for testing, "AGE 11. TYPE 1. PLEASE ANSWER EVERY QUESTION WITHIN 10 SECONDS. WE WILL NOW BEGIN." And with that, Brother turned off the lights as we answered every question, a small 'BEEP' could be heard after each answer we wrote, after a few minutes the lights came back on, "I'll be handing back your test scores... Rosalina-" I looked up as soon as I heard my name, "-Angel, and Adrien, and Oliver, you three got excellent scores as expected," Father smiled at the three of us, it was no surprise me and Angel did so great, we were some of the oldest kids in the house, but Adrien was only 8 and Oliver was 5, to think that kids their age would have such good test scores, I don't remember being half as good as them when I was their age... "Rosa! You got a perfect score again! It's amazing!" Sal Smiled, "Thanks, I'm sure you did good too Sal!" "It's not just Rose, Angel and Adrien did well too..." "And Oliver! Even if he's only five he beat most of the older kids!" Whispering could be heard until Sister walked up next to Father "Alright kids, it's free time, let's all head outside, shall we?" All the little kids seemed so exited while most of the older ones were a lot calmer. Avery suggested a game of tag, Lewis was it, Lewis's test scores might not be as good as mine, but I can't compare to him in tag, He beats everyone in a matter of seconds, I've tried hiding, running, anything, but still get caught, the only person able to beat him is Angel, but he doesn't even try, "Alright!" Lewis looked at Angel who got out his pocket watch, Angel looked back at us, "Go," and just like that we all ran off and scattered, Angel handed Lewis the watch and ran into the forest, I climbed a tree and moved from branch to branch, I sat on a branch, in was on a tree close to the house, a few seconds passed, he should be running by now... "Hey," I felt a tap on my shoulder, I fell off the tree landing on my back, "Ow! How'd you get here!" Lewis jumped out of the tree, "I didn't expect that reaction!" He chuckled lightly, "Who are we missing?" "Angel, Adrien, and Keith," "WAIT YOU ALREADY GOT EVERYONE ELSE?!" He just smiled and ran off to find the others, I went back towards the house, almost everyone was gathered outside, Ellie ran up to me, "Rosa! You got caught?!" I giggled slightly, "Yeah.." Not to long after Adrien and Keith showed up, but the game was still going. Minutes passes and we started many conversations waiting for Angel, soon we saw him walking back with Lewis, Oliver ran towards them "No way! You got caught again?" Angel help up the watch "Actually, time's up," all the kids gasped and ran towards Angel, mostly praising him and saying he should teach them to be as fast as him, Lewis walked back, "He sure is popular, huh?" "Well he's the only one who can beat you, must be the fastest person in the world.." Lewis chuckled. We played a few more rounds of tag before the bell rung and we went inside, we gathered up at the front door to say our goodbyes to Liam, "As you know, Liam here has been chosen by a family, he'll be leaving today, I know it's sudden and I'm sorry but we'll give you time to say your goodbyes before we leave," all the little kids ran towards him and said goodbye, most cried, I could see Angel holding back tears, "Shouldn't you say something?" He nodded and went towards Liam, Liam smiled, you could see tears at the corner of his eyes, "I guess I'm leaving, huh?" He hugged Angel and not long after Father said he had to go, "I'll miss you all, I promise to write to you!" Father turned towards Sister, "Sister, walk him to the gate..." Sister nodded and grabbed Liam's hand "Come on now, we can't be late," Liam nodded, waved, and soon he was gone. We, the older kids, got brooms and mops and all, as the oldest kids, we had chores, a lot, and one of them was cleaning the house, usually after play time, like today, Ellie suddenly ran up to us "ROSA! ANGEL! LEWIS!!!" I turned towards her "What is it Ellie?" "IT'S SAL!! She- she went towards the gate! She didn't want Liam to leave! She might be lost! I-it's so dark outside and-" She started crying, Lewis pat her head, "I'll stay here with Ellie, go find Sal-" he looked over to Ava "Ava, find Father or Brother and let them know," Ava nodded, dropped the broom and hurried off to find Father, we ran out the door through the forest, "SAL!" I yelled repeatedly but no response, we got close to the gate and Sal ran back to us crying, "SAL?! Why are you crying are you okay?!" She ran towards us and immediately hugged me, "Liam... h-he-" she just kept crying, we brought her back to the house, she reluctantly followed, we went upstairs to the room, instantly her knees gave in, she fell and started crying, "I SAW HIM! HE... HE WAS... THERE..." She screamed in between sobs, "Sal... I know you miss him but he'll be happy with his new fa-" "You don't... u-understand... Liam's not... he's not-" I could barely make out what she was saying in between sobs, we waited until she calmed down, we brought her water and all, "He was... dead..." tears were streaming down her face but she was calmer, I believed her, because Sal wouldn't make up things about us, her family, especially not Liam, Sal is honest, and after I saw her cry, I knew this was not acting, Angel hugged her, his eyes wide open, "I-I saw his-his corpse... lying there-" you could see the tears fall, we brought her over to my bed and let her sit down, "I hid and I saw.... I saw weird guys... they- they had these... masks, and-" she started sobbing again "Sister-" my eyes widened "Is Sister okay-" "She talked... to them- she-she let them kill-" she kept sobbing, I couldn't believe it, Sister Iris let those- those people- no, not people- those monsters, she let them kill Liam? "She said... something about..." Sal took a deep breath "A shipment.. she mentioned... Ali" "Alyssa?!" I looked at Angel, "Angel, you don't think-" he hugged Sal tightly "-Ali's next..." We calmed down, soon all the kids had to go to sleep, but I couldn't sleep at all, I stayed up for a few minutes before drifting off to sleep... I woke up in a dark hall, I could hear happy voices cheering and laughing in the dinning room, it's morning? I must have been dreaming about last night, I went towards the dinning room, stopping at the door when suddenly loud screaming was heard, and then it went silent, I slowly opened the door, and went inside, I saw everyone dead, their bodies all laying across the tables, at the end of a table Sister held a knife covered in their blood as a dark figure I couldn't see stood next to her, someone came up behind me, and put his hands on my shoulders "Rosalina... our finest product..." I recognized that voice... Father, I turned around quickly, my breath hitched, Brother was next to him, "We've been waiting for you.." they smiled, I saw Father raise a knife and everything went black, I woke up in cold sweat, breathing heavily, I saw Ellie sitting on my bed gently patting the covers over me "Rosa! It's time for breakfast! Let's go!" Ellie got off my bed and ran out the room, everyone was there, alive, changing, some older kids helped the younger ones, that was- a dream? No- a nightmare... so it was real, Sal's screams, the tears, as she told us about her encounter with- of course it was real... "Rose, come on, we'll be late!" Avery ran out and I started changing, 'I don't know how' I thought to myself, 'But I have to get us out of here, somehow, someway, someday...

I WILL GET US OUT OF HERE'