Alice

chapter eight

Sarah walked out of the changing room. Her school books in her arms, her hair brushed, her teeth cleaned, and shoes tied. She peered over the heads and shoulders of the other children, searching for Alice. At first, she didn't succeed in finding her friend. But, after a little while, she spotted her; head hung and shoulders scrunched. She had her back turned towards Sarah, and her ponytail was cooked, proving that she was in a hurry or delirious for some reason.

         Sarah jogged after her, pushing past the high-schoolers and through crowds of middle graders. She kept her eyes fixed upon Alice, who was casually trying to get away. But Sarah noticed something strange about her: her hands twitched, and her head occasionally slightly jerked to one side. Something seemed wrong. Sarah frowned in thought. "What is wrong with her?" She muttered.

         She finally emerged from the crowd of children, whom were going to breakfast. She soon saw Alice was walking away from the lunchroom, and towards the teacher's section. This was strange. Why was Alice going over there? Then Sarah came into a sprint, chasing after Alice. She came closer and closer, and Alice didn't notice her. Finally, Sarah reached Alice, and came to a stop beside her. "Hey Alice," she said, trying to cover up the worry in her voice.

         Alice looked at Sarah. She was paler than usual, and her pupils were larger. "Hi," she replied, a small tremble in her voice.

         "Why aren't you going to breakfast?" Sarah asked. "You know you're walking to the teachers section right?"

         Alice shrugged. "I am not that hungry," she answered.

         Sarah caressed Alice's head. She felt rather worried for her, but she decided Alice was shaken up because of some nightmare she had last night. "Just, at least come with me to breakfast. You don't have to eat anything if you don't want to."

         Alice seemed to go blank for a second, blank with some strange look of terror in her eyes. It was faint, but Sarah could see it. Then, Alice finally answered. "Sure, I'll go."

         Sarah smiled, and rested her hand on Alice's shoulder. "You're a strong girl, Alice," she said. "If those sick bastards keep hurting you, just try to block it out. That's how I survived my first week in this hell."

         Once again, Alice had that same, fearful, blank expression on her face. It looked like someone or something was talking to her, but Alice was scared of this thing. After about a minute, Alice answered with a tremble in her voice. "O-ok," she hugged her friend, a split second after she said that. "Thank you."

The two girls sat on the benches; in front of them, the large, long table. Sarah was eating an egg salad sandwich, along with a muffin, a cookie, and a glass of orange juice. Earlier in the food line, Alice gained her appetite back a little, and requested two pieces of bacon. Alice was nibbling on one, leaving the other on the plate to get cold. The other children sat in their groups as usual: the 1st graders sat at one table, 2nd graders sat at another, the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders and so-on.

         "We have an interesting project today," Sarah said, taking a sip of her juice afterwards.

         Alice felt tired, and hyped up at the same time. She didn't want to go anywhere. She wanted to lay in her bed all day. "What project?" Alice asked, trying to make herself casual as possible.

         "We are going to examine an old painting of an old woman, the founder of this orphanage who died decades ago. Then we have to write an essay about what we thought of the painting."

         The horrid memory of the demon emerging from the painting of Alice's mom appeared in Alice's mind. She once again felt the horror, the fear and terror of that moment that left a scar in her heart that will remain there forever. She imagined the old woman in the painting Sarah mentioned melt into a demon, and kill everyone including her in a violent way. She remembered when that thing possessed her; when it ripped apart her lips and entered her soul. "No!" the words escaped her lips. Alice regretted it. All of the children laughed at her mockingly, and Sarah looked at her with concern.