Notes

CHAPTER THREE: Spread The Word


Angel walked into the library not long after I did, "Hey..." he sat down next to me, "So, about the plan-"

"Actually, I think I found out something..."

"Like?" I sighed, "Remember how Sal got lost and Father found her?" I expected him to find out before me, or at least have some kind of theory, but instead I was the one explaining it, or so I thought.

"You think there's tracking devices right?" My eyes widened, "H-how-"

"Lewis told me he wasn't able to find Sal, neither was Ellie, when you were up on the wall I kept an eye on the others, I saw Ellie crying and Father checked his pocket watch then calmly walked into the forest, I went back and made sure he didn't get close to the wall, when you got down, it was time to get back, Father had already found Ellie," he figured out THAT much in such a short amount of time?! "So you knew?!"

"I don't know where it is, but now we know it exists, the problems we have right now are the trackers, the plan, and Sal,"

"Sal? How is she a problem? She's the reason we know-"

"And she'll be what gives us away, she's been acting gloomy all week, if it goes on Father's gonna find out that we know about this, and we'll never get out of here with everyone, do you want that to happen?"

"O-of course I don't, but we don't know anything, like- how we're gonna climb the wall- WITH EVERYONE, you said we needed rope but where are we gonna find it?! We need to know where the trackers are and how to break them, and we have to safely get to the bridge, we have to leave with food, and water, and everything, you of all people should know this,"

"We can MAKE the rope,"

"Right, with what?" I know Angel is smart but I was seriously doubting him, we don't have rope, how are we even supposed to make one? "I don't know, bedsheets? Tablecloth? Something,"

"That's- actually surprisingly smart..." he glared at me, "We need to know when the next 'adoption' will be... I have a good plan,"

"Alright, tell me," I only came up with this plan after seeing the bridge, and I think we might escape.

"Listen, first, we need the rope, in the middle of the night we can all sneak out to the wall, climb up the wall using the rope, and go to the bridge, and then cross, we'll gather what we need, including food and water, we'll also need other things like- weapons, maybe a compass, the problem is we need rope, we need to tell them, we need to get ready, we have to leave before the next shipment and-" I took a second to breathe "-We don't know what's out there, if there's humans or not..."

"You think those people who killed Liam aren't human?"

"No, I KNOW they aren't human," he looked at me confused, "What? How would you know?"

I took a deep breath, "I've known about the house, even before Sal found out, Father knows that I know, I can cover up for you and the others during the escape plan, I've been his ally for 5 years now, he trusts me,"

His eyes widened, "How? Since when-"

"Since before Cedric's adoption, he and Riley told me, I promised them that someday I'd escape with all our family, so that's exactly what we're going to do,"

"So what do you know?" I took a small pause.

"Those 'people' are actually flesh-eating demons, they eat us for, I don't know really, survival maybe? I know only as much as Riley and Cedric knew, shipments are often every 2 months, if it's ever later or earlier then they might be waiting for an 11 year old's birthday."

I took a deep breath, "We need rope, food, water, weapons maybe, and I'll stall the caretakers,"

He nodded, "We also need to know where the trackers are, and how to get rid of them, we should head back, before we get caught by Father, like you said, 'we can't risk making a scene and getting caught'."

I nodded and we headed back to our rooms, I opened the door slowly, making sure no one wakes up.

I didn't want to go to sleep, last time I did I had a nightmare, a horrible one, I don't wanna see them die again, even if it's just in a dream, but I can't raise suspicion, so I went to sleep that night and surprisingly I didn't remember having any nightmares, actually I don't think I had a dream either that night, I just slept.

The mornings never changed, Ava woke us all up, the older kids got ready and helped the younger ones, we'd go eat, wash the dishes, take the test, and then we'd have free time for the rest of the day before doing chores and going to bed, right now it was free time, and the kids were playing tag.

Me and Angel were waiting for it to finish so we could talk to Lewis, and we both agreed to keep quiet about me being Father's ally for a while. After, I'd say about 10 minutes Ava won the game catching everyone.

"Lewis!" We ran towards him, "Hey, you guys wanna play?" We shook our heads, "We need to talk, it's important,"

Lewis wasn't as smart as us, but he was still smart, more than most of the other kids, and above everything else he was our best friend, we grew up together, we had to tell him, we ran over the fence and he reluctantly followed, thinking about how Father would always tell us to not go over the fence, we ran over to the wall and stopped at the end.

"A wall?" I nodded, "You think that's bad? Wait until you see the cliff on the other side, it's to keep us from leaving,"

"Keep us from leaving? Look- you're overthinking, this is an orphanage after all, we live here until we get adopted-"

"THIS ISN'T AN ORPHANAGE, WE DON'T GET ADOPTED- WE GET-" Angel cut himself off sharply, "We get what?" Angel clearly didn't want to talk about it so I explained.

"Remember when Sal went to the gate...?" He nodded, "We went after her, she was crying when we found her, she told us Liam was..." My voice trailed off, I didn't want to have to say it, I should be used to it, I've known for years, and yet still, "Dead," Angel deadpanned, Lewis's eyes widened, "What- no..."

"This isn't an orphanage... they kill us, we still don't know why, but we know a few things... like how we're not orphans, and this isn't an orphanage, how Father, Brother and even Sister are in on this, how we don't really get 'adopted', they have trackers on us so they don't loose us... and there's no escape... or so that's what they want us to think,"

We had to lie about a few things, like, the demons, and all to cover up that I've known for 5 years.

Angel already knew my plan but Lewis was confused, "Actually Angel, you might wanna listen, I didn't mention everyone's assigned roles in the plan,"

"Assigned roles?"

"Yeah, who helps with what, to speed up the process, for example-"

I looked at Lewis, "You, Lewis, are good with tech right? We need you to dig deeper into the trackers,"

I looked at Angel, "I'm gonna need you to find a way to make the rope. As for me-"

I pointed to myself, "I'll be spying on Father, Brother, and Sister to find out more information, about both, the truth, and the next shipment. Angel the rest you know, Lewis you might wanna listen, I never got to tell you the plan. Alright so-"

I got a stick and drew in the soil with it, I drew a map of the house, more than the house actually, the other houses and even the bridge and the cliff, "Alright, so beyond the wall is a cliff, my plan is to go here-"

I pointed to the bridge on the map with my stick, "This is the only way out, a bridge, like I told Angel, 'we can't risk making a scene and getting caught', that's why we're gonna sneak out at midnight, we'll use the rope to climb the wall, we'll take everything we need and everyone will go with us, and we'll head for the bridge, they'll only know we're gone in the morning, we'll be far away by that time, the only problems are, we need rope, we need to get rid of the trackers, and we need to tell everyone so they can come with us,"

Lewis was pretty impressed that I of all people came up with a plan like that in only a few days. "Alright but, about telling everyone, there's more problems, you really think the youngest ones will be able to handle it? Don't forget we also have BABIES on our hands here, we might only be able to take kids of a certain age and higher, we might also want to tell them after we're able to find out more about all of this, and we should start by telling the older kids first... like Ava for example."

I nodded in agreement, he wasn't wrong, traveling with babies would slow our pace, and telling the older kids first is the best we can do for now.

"Alright, but, we need to know, are you really willing to help us- and before you answer I'll just let you know, whatever your answer is, we'll still take you with us, we can't let anyone else die..."

He smiled, "Of course I'll help, I'll help you both with the plan, and I'll play my part trying to destroy the trackers before our escape, no matter what... we'll get out of here..."