by Mark Butler
Chapter 8
Amelia once again astounded her co-workers. After two months in her new posting, she had become the unspoken leader of the lawn crew. There were eight girls total, and they were each smart and pretty in their own way. But Amelia was smart. If any of the other girls were to be put in the kitchens, or the laundry, they would have drawn into themselves and merely existed. Amelia, however, made everywhere she went brighter. Counselors asked her questions about organizing work groups and the best way to arrange plants for optimum growth. She had even handled requests to tutor certain counselor's kids' in their respective academic disciplines. She was a problem-solver, and in the light of the day, she held a position of respect.
Obviously, Amelia could not talk with the other kids openly. Talking was against the rules and the counselors feared that she could incite unrest. Instead, Amelia developed a complex form of sign language that every girl learned after a day of working with Amelia in the ravine. The signs could mostly be made with just fingers so as not to attract attention, and they could be done very quickly. Amelia had signals for food, clothes, counselors and all sorts of tools. She could instruct girls to work slower or faster, what to do when called upon by Ellis, and even excuses for why certain tasks took extra time. None of the other girls developed Amelia's mastery of signing, however, so she oftentimes would pass a message from one girl to another, going so far as to hold various messages in her mind for days at a time.
For this reason, Amelia was trying to get Lily's attention at the main gates' flower garden. Amelia was at a nearby cluster of trees, trimming branches, while she frantically attempted to catch Lily's eye.
A small circle was made by Amelia's left hand, similar to an 'OK' sign, then she closed her hand quickly into a fist. The message was simple and clear: “Shut up”.
A counselor was approaching Lily and Dana from their blind side, and he would be upon them at any moment, blundering upon their conversation. Amelia could see him, but Lily and Dana were oblivious as they chatted peacefully.
With less than a minute before the counselor arrived, Lily looked up and saw Amelia's signing, she nodded to show her understanding, then resumed her conversation. Amelia watched with horror as the counselor reached the girls, and they stopped talking as if on cue the moment he arrived. He watched them for a minute and continued his tour of the workers. Amelia's heart rate slowed down and she cursed Lily under her breath. Her relationship with Lily had become a huge disappointment after such a promising start. The girl did more than live on the edge, she created new edges for other girls to fall off of. She constantly pushed the limits of the counselor's patience, causing herself and others occasional beatings. And Lily was a liar. When Amelia and she were alone, she told the most unbelievable, ridiculous stories about palaces that she had lived in and places she had been. She often would contradict her own stories from previous weeks, though Amelia was too polite to make a fool of her.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The following day, Ellis announced that the orphanage would be getting inspected. He expected everyone to go about their normal business, and if there were any mishaps, well, then knew what to expect from him later on.
The inspectors entered through the front door and spread out quickly, checking every nook and cranny of the facility. Amelia watched them, though she couldn't be sure how many there were. They all had the same official uniform and clipboard, but they moved fluidly, blending with the environment and each other. They made secret handshakes with Ellis and the staff, and Amelia knew they were all corrupt. Ellis would crack jokes about how he abused the kids, then he would slip them some money and they would all laugh at their great fortunes in life. Amelia was shocked. Was the whole world evil? She knew that even for orphans, their treatment was abominable. The kids were beaten, overworked, underfed and psychologically abused on a regular basis. They had no rights, no possessions and no one to help them. Where was the justice in the world? Not here, Amelia thought, not with these crooked inspectors making a mockery of their own profession. Amelia thought Ellis was the most evil man in the world, yet everywhere she turned he was in charge. Was there no one above him? Maybe being evil was the real path to happiness and prosperity; Ellis certainly seemed pleased with his lot in life.
The closer that Amelia watched the inspectors, the less she could be sure of what they were. Their faces gradually turned into animal faces; angry bulls, goats and birds returned Amelia's staring with slanted eyes and drooling mouths. The monsters licked their lips as they surrounded her, their sulfuric stench overwhelming Amelia's senses. She felt a razor sharp claw caress her neck and Amelia spun in time to see the The Beast looming over her. He was ten feet tall and as wide as two doors, and his eyes were solid red orbits, burning through Amelia's skin. He picked her up around the waist with one hand and opened his maw while the other demons laughed, then Amelia was in his mouth, being ripped apart by gnashing teeth...
“Get off me!” Amelia screamed as she woke up, slapping Lily hard in the face. Lily fell back in pain and Amelia leaped out of her bed, ready to fight.
“What's your problem, you freak!” Lily screamed, a faint bruise already rising on her left cheek.
“Why were...you...” Amelia stammered, realizing that she had been having a nightmare.
“I'm sorry” she offered pitifully.
'You have issues, bitch. If you ever hit me again, I'll kill you” Lily said in anger, rising to her feet and scampering away.
Amelia was left alone, realizing that Lily was only trying to wake her for the morning headcount. She felt bad that she had struck Lily, but she also felt a small release. It was as though a small box of tension had traveled from Amelia's heart to her fist, then from her fist into Lily's face. Releasing that tension had felt good. Sometimes, she thought, people should be punished for doing something stupid. As she dressed and prepared for the day, Amelia wondered if that pleasure was how Ellis felt all the time.
That morning Ellis got a telephone call. A couple had been approved to take a girl of their choosing and raise her. Ellis hated it when this happened. It came once a year and he was powerless to deny the State's mandate. When a couple completed the rigorous screening and application process, they were permitted to take any girl that they wished from any orphanage they wished, and they had chosen Lisson. He knew exactly how it would all play out, as well: A happy, middle-aged couple would show up the following day and smile to Ellis, the man would shake his hand and the woman would smile nervously at Ellis' dark glare. They would ask him about all the girls education, their dispositions and their histories. They would want to tour the facility. Ellis would politely decline, claiming that he didn't want to get all the girls' hopes up that they might be chosen. He would suggest, rather, that maybe they could describe what kind of girl they were looking for, then he would select several girls who fit that description and present them in the main lobby. He would pre-select the girls himself, obviously, and they would be cleaned and oiled, to appear healthy. They would be under the strict belief that Ellis was in total control of the situation, so they would not say anything that he didn't want them to say. One girl would be chosen, she could be seventeen years old, which was rare, or she could be three to five years old, which was far more likely. Ellis didn't care how old they were, all that mattered to him was that they kept their mouths' shut once they left his guardianship. In truth, he thought, the girls would never speak of the things that happened at Lisson, so strong were their beliefs that they were dirty and at fault. If they made any disturbances with their new family, they could be sent right back to Lisson. After planning out the best way to deal with the State's intrusion, Ellis felt considerably better.
That afternoon, Ellis got another telephone call. It was the couple, who had been given his number. They would be arriving in fifteen minutes. He waited.
Once the couple were there and the niceties were over, Ellis asked them what they wanted; they wanted a girl no younger than eight but no
older than thirteen. They wanted a girl who was sweet and smart. She had to be a blond, they insisted, because they were both blond. She had to have deference to authority and a sincere work ethic. Ellis nodded to their stipulations, then sat them in his office while he gathered the girls who fit the description. He had not expected them to be so specific, so he dismissed the girls who he had already gathered. Instead, he went to the laundry room and selected six girls who he thought might get the couple to leave, then he marched them to the lobby. Along the way, a wave of blond hair caught Ellis eye from a window, so he instructed the girls to continue to the lobby and that he would catch up. Ellis went out to the flower garden and saw the blond. He told her to follow him.
The couple selected the blond girl from the gardens, surprisingly so, because she was a little older than they had specified. Still, they were gone, a girl was gone, and life could go back to normal.
Chapter 9
Lily was gone. After Amelia had finished her day's work with Anne, she immediately noticed Lily's absence, the girls were together so often and their routine was so well-established that it was impossible to not notice a missing girl. Lily didn't show up for the evening meal, either. A few girls signaled to her that Ellis had taken her, though she should have returned by now. After the evening headcount, Amelia was distraught. Lily could likely be gone forever, and she had not had the opportunity to apologize for slapping her. It was all so sudden that Amelia could hardly grasp the gravity of the situation. Lily was absolutely gone. Just like that. She was waking up Amelia, she was slapped, she was taken on a whim by Ellis, and now she was probably in a grave somewhere. The injustice of it was unfathomable. Amelia pulled her woolen blanket over her head, relaxed onto her stiff, stained mattress and listened to the rhythmic breathing of all the girls in the compartment. They all breathed fast and shallow and it sounded to Amelia like they had all just run a marathon. One girl must have had a lung problem, Amelia thought, because she snored like a bear. One of the younger girls shivered in her bunk, she had lost her blanket privileges after over-watering a tulip in the garden. Amelia stood up and went over to the girl, half-asleep, and laid down next to her. The girls knees were drawn up nearly to her chin and her the goosebumps on her legs were so rigid that they felt like some sort of medieval battle armor, rather than human skin. Amelia couldn't be caught sharing her blanket and warmth with a girl who was being punished, so she would have to wake up extra early and go back to her own bed. But for the moment, she was protecting the weak. God didn't give me my brain so that I could spend my whole life in an orphanage and be killed on a madman's whim, Amelia thought. She decided that she would utilize her mind in a much more practical way; she would destroy the counselors.
Over the next few days, she chose her mark: Counselor Vale, one of the younger male staff members, was perfect. He often filled in for Counselor King, the Ellis look-alike, at the outdoor patio during mealtimes. He was no more than thirty years old and he seemed out of his depth with so many girls under his direct authority. He had the dark, slender features of a Mediterranean man and he spoke with such a clear falsetto that Amelia thought he belonged in the opera. He never yelled, never cursed and didn't seem cruel. Counselor Ellis kept a cast-iron chain wrapped around the throat of the orphanage, Amelia decided, and Counselor Vale was the weakest link.
Two days after Lily's disappearance, Amelia emboldened herself to speak out of line to Counselor Vale. She waited until the morning assignments were being issued, then she made her move when he called her up,
“Good morning, Counselor Vale” Amelia said in her sweetest, most deferential tone.
“Hi Amelia. You'll be digging today, take Asa with you” Vale said, leafing through his roster. This is it, Amelia thought, now or never.
“Counselor Vale, you seem awfully handsome to be a Counselor here. You could be a model or movie star” Amelia ventured. Though she hadn't spoken loudly, every girl in the area craned their neck to witness Amelia's brazenness. With so much instant attention on him, to Amelia's delight, Vale turned slightly red.
“Uh, thank you” This breach of protocol was so unexpected that Vale had trouble forming words, “But there's no talking allowed” Vale said.
“I'm sorry sir” Amelia replied, replacing her tone of admiration with one of complete submission, she hung her head and looked up at him with just her eyes, half-smiling.
“It's OK. You're not in trouble. Now, off you go.”
“Yes sir.” Amelia smiled to herself. The entire encounter had lasted only thirty seconds.
She made her way to the work-shed to retrieve the shovels, with young Asa in tow. He's vain, she thought. He's vain and indecisive. Any other male counselor would have, at the very least, slapped her. Others might have done worse. And if she had said that to Ellis, well, she didn't want to think about it. Still, she had formed a temporary rapport with the young man, she had shown him that he had the ability to decide not to punish, even when a rule was blatantly ignored. I can use this, Amelia thought. All I have to do is figure out his interests, build a confidence and Ta-da! She would have her mole.
Vale watched Amelia walk away and he felt his heart slow down and his face return to it's normal color. He had loved her words. I'm so handsome that an orphan will risk a beating to ask me what I'm doing here, Vale thought. Her timing had been excellent, as well, she had made light of one of the worst parts of his day, delegating morning work, and he loved anything that broke up the monotony of work. For the first time since meeting Ellis, Vale thought he could start making real decisions around the place. After finishing the morning tasks, Vale decided that he should supervise the various girl groups, to make sure they were being good. He decided to go to Amelia's work-site first.
Now it was Amelia's turn to be surprised. She had expected to have a quiet day of digging a trench, ostensibly to lay a pipe, on the western side of the orphanage, where the sun's rays had not yet warmed the earth. Next to Amelia, Asa grunted with the weight of the wheelbarrow that the dirt was dumped into, her face showing the strain of hard labor. Her hands will be bleeding soon, Amelia thought; her own hands were now strong and callused, the effect of countless hours of manual labor.
“Take a break, both of you.” A voice spoke from behind the girls, the smoothness of Vale's tone was unmistakable. Both girls turned around, astonished; they had only been working for two hours.
“Yes sir.” They said in unison. As they set down their tools and started making their way to the patio, Vale spoke again,
“Asa, go ahead. Amelia, I want to speak with you.”
“Sir?”
“Do you really think I could be a movie star,” the words sounded ludicrous to both of them, “Should I be pursuing a better career? I know you're smart, so tell me what you think.” The words were meant to sound casual, but they somehow came out sounding like an order.
“Yes sir. I think if you practiced enough, you could be a movie star or a model. You seem so different from the other counselor's, you're so...genuine.” Amelia responded. Vale thought that he probably wouldn't get great career advice out of an adolescent orphan who had never been anywhere, but he enjoyed hearing compliments too much to care.
“How about this, Amelia, we can talk and be friends, but if you tell any of the other girls or counselor's, I'll make sure you regret it.” Vale's threat was clear, if unnecessary; Amelia would never tell a soul.
“Of course sir. I don't know if I'll be up for much talking, I've just been too worried lately.”
“About what?”
“My friend Lily, I haven't seen her in over two days.”
“She's fine.”
“What?”
“I'm not supposed to tell you, per Lisson policy, but I promise, she's fine.”
“Thank you so much, Counselor Handsome” Amelia said in her most adoring voice.
“OK,, OK, go take your break.” Vale said. He was not sexually attracted to Amelia in any way, but he was addicted to her adoration. She said w
hat he wanted to hear, and in exchange, he would treat her like a human.
Chapter 10
Ellis had spent half the morning doing paperwork: Employee evaluations, budget reports, adoption reports, staff meeting notes, his charges' conditions...the list was endless. He was familiar and even adept at this part of his job, though he despised it. He liked to be where the action was, making decisions and letting his underlings feel his presence. He knew that many of the orphan girls would describe him as a hands-on kind of boss. As Ellis finished his last to-do's, he turned his thoughts to Amelia, the smart girl. She reminded him of his mother.
Ellis' mother had been a brilliant woman in her prime, and a wise one in her later years, always quick with her thoughts and words. Ellis had never been able to hide anything from her. Once, after he was promoted to Head Counselor, his mother asked him how he planned to turn the orphanage into a, “high-functioning safe haven for God's forgotten children.” She thought he had finally found his calling in life, and she couldn't have been more right. Ellis never told her he was a pedophile, but one day, out of nowhere, she simply asked, “Are you molesting the kids in your care? What have you become?” Her questions had surprised him and Ellis had vehemently denied her accusations. In response, she had simply stared at his eyes and seen through his weakness. It was her eyes, Ellis finally settled on, that had always scared him. They were too damn bright blue, too insightful, too...aware. After several minutes of intense retrospect Ellis couldn't take it anymore, he hated his mother for her perspicacity. He needed to vent. Leaving his office, he went to find his newest employee, what was his name? Vale? That pretty little man would know where his mother...no.. where Amelia was at.
