Notes

CHAPTER TWO: Truth And Lies

We all got changed and rushed to the dinning hall. I noticed Sal crying as Father tried calming her down, 'this isn't good', I ran up to them and kneeled down close to Sal's height, "Sal what's wrong?"

Father turned his head to me, "Brother, please take care of Sal," he said, though eyes never left mine, "Rosa, why don't we talk?" I slowly nodded my head and got up, we went outside the dinning room into the hall.

"I heard from Ava and Lewis, Sal ran to the gate, and you followed her?"

'What do I say? Should I lie? I doubt Sister would do that behind his back, he has to know, I have to lie then!' I shook my head "No- it's not like that, Ellie told us Sal had left and me and Angel went to find her, so she wouldn't get lost-"

"Did she reach the gate?" I was sweating a little, nervous, but I didn't show it, I made it seem like I was just concerned about Sal, I was so glad that I read all those books about acting, "No, she got lost in the forest, she was crying because she was so scared... she was so glad we found her, she said she didn't know how she was gonna get back.. I'm sorry we broke the rules, but Sal's our sister, we couldn't let her go out all alone, especially at night..."

I looked down, suddenly my shoes seemed very interesting, Father sighed, "Alright, promise me you won't do something so reckless again, okay? Next time something like this happens, you come to me right away." I nodded my head "Of course Father," he sighed, smiled and patted my head "Let's get back okay?" I nodded and smiled, following him inside, I hate to admit it, but Father's better at acting than I am, you'd seriously believe he actually cares for all of us despite sending kids off to their deaths all the time.

I sat down next to Angel who almost immediately mouthed, "Where were you?" "Talking to Father," I whispered, his eyes widened and he looked back at the food, we finished our prayers and ate, after washing the dishes, and testing, of course I got the highest score again, we headed outside to play.

I sat down near a tree next to Angel, "Ava and Lewis got to Father... he knows we went to find Sal..." his eyes widened, acting as if he forgot Ava had gone to find Father last night when we set out to find Sal, "I-I told him Sal didn't make it, that she got lost in the forest, it's only a matter of time until he finds out what we know, I doubt Sister is doing this behind his back..."

"Wait- so you believe Sal?"

"Of course, she loves Sister, she'd never lie about this, and it makes sense, why our siblings never write us letters.. why we can't go near the gate, especially during shipments... and you were there, you saw it right? The way she cried, how she screamed, looking so terrified, I don't think she lied-"

"You don't know that!"

"Angel- she's FOUR- she wouldn't make that up- what kind of happy little girl makes up stories about her dead siblings?" I sighed, holding back tears, "She didn't lie... we have to leave... quickly... before someone else is-" my breath hitched, I wiped off the few tears falling down my face, Angel sighed.

"Alright then, let's go," I looked up "Huh?! Go?! Go where?!"

"We knows why the gate's dangerous, but what about the fence?" My eyes widened, "T-the fence?" He nodded and walked into the forest, I followed behind him, we started running and leaped over the fence to the end, a wall, it was a wall, a really tall one, "Woah..." 'we're never gonna get out of here, are we?' "We might wanna use the gate-"

"No, remember what Sal saw? People, if we go through there they might stop us..."

"You think they were people? They sure sound more like monsters than people," he changed the subject instead of answering, "Rope..."

"Huh?" I turned to face him, he was looking up at the wall, "Rope might work..." I looked up at it, and at the corner of my eye I saw a tree close to it, "There," I pointed at the tree and he looked at it, "I can climb it and tell you what's over the wall," he nodded and I climbed to the top of the tree, I then had a stupid idea. I jumped, I jumped to the wall, I looked back at Angel, his eyes widened, "Idiot! Why would you do that?" I smiled sheepishly, I looked at it- I couldn't believe it, "A cliff..." I said, "What'd you say," I looked at him, "A cliff," he looked at me in disbelief, "A cliff?" I nodded slowly, and had a stupid idea, "Wait here- I'm gonna walk along, see if there's somewhere we can go-"

I heard him trying to stop me but I ran and what I saw was shocking, another house, I saw some kids outside playing, running, they weren't from our house, I saw a woman talking to them, she had her dark hair up in a bun, might be their Mother or Sister, that wasn't the only house, there was more of them, 'so we aren't the only ones', I ran through, I saw a bridge, It connected to somewhere, unfortunately for us that seemed to be the only exit, I ran back but stopped dead in my tracks when I saw some kids near the wall.

They were from a different house, but mine was right next to theirs, so I had to run past, problem is, I can't get caught, I took a few steps back and crouched down hoping that I'd go unnoticed. There were three of them, a girl with orange hair, a boy with white hair and another one with messy black hair covering half his face, they seemed to be talking, I waited a few minutes, and I saw another girl go up to them, she had short green hair, she was speaking but I couldn't hear it considering I was like over 10 feet above them.

I saw they were running back, so I made a run for it, when I got there I saw Angel still waiting. I jumped to the tree and carefully climbed down, "Angel..." he looked at me and helped me get down, "Did you find anything?"

"I saw kids,"

"Oh really? How surprising," he said sarcastically.

"No- I mean other kids, from another house, there's more of them, they were also near the wall, do you think, like us, they're trying to-"

"-escape?" he finished for me, "Well why else would they be near the wall, surely their Mother told them not to go there-"

"Woah woah woah- you said Mother? They don't have a Father? Or Sister? Not even a Brother?" I shook my head, "I saw her, she's all they have," we soon heard the bell, "Angel, one last thing... how are we save everyone? Do we tell them? I mean- you saw Sal- the others are just too young and-" Suddenly Father rung the bell

"Let's talk later. Library, at midnight, okay?"

I nodded and we ran back, the first thing we saw was Ellie crying, Angel ran to her "What happened? Ellie?" Lewis looked back at us, "Sal's not here, she's usually one of the first ones to return... I think it must have to do with Liam's adoption..." I flinched at the mention of his name, knowing he's dead seems so- surreal...

We heard cheering and when we looked back we saw Father walking back with Sal, I ran up to her, "Sal! I got worried when Lewis mentioned you didn't return, did you get lost again in the forest?" Sal has never once gotten lost in the forest, but she definitely knew what I was planning and thankfully played along, "Yeah... it's a lot more scary at night though..."

I smiled at her, "Come on... let's go back inside..." she nodded and followed us inside, there was one thing I couldn't understand, 'Ellie might be young, but kinda like Lewis, she's pretty good at tag, she's not fast, but she's good at finding people and hiding herself, not to mention Sal's her best friend, she had to know where Sal was gonna hide, so how come she wasn't able to find Sal? Actually I don't think Lewis could either, I know Lewis, I know he had to have searched for Sal, or tried to at least, so how did Father find her instantly?' There had to be a way.

That night we went to sleep a little early, and I couldn't get the thought out of my head. 'How'd he track her? Wait- that's it- track, he tracked her location, but just how? If only I had that information... maybe a camera in the forest? No, I would have noticed it instantly, I usually go through the trees while playing tag, the only good place to hide a camera would be in the bushes or trees, one of us would have found it, so then, a tracking device? That has to be it, I should talk to Angel about it when I get the chance, not only that, we need rope to climb the wall, I know I can climb the tree, but the others are just kids, there's no way they'd get through so easily, maybe I could get in contact with the other kids I saw? Would that be too risky?

Oh I almost forgot, what time is it?' I looked over at the clock, 'IT'S ALMOST MIDNIGHT!' I got up and crept out of the room, I went downstairs to the library, "Angel?" I sat down and decided to wait instead, 'This is gonna take a while...'