The Lost Daughter

Chapter 10: Chemistry & Crime

April 1965, Oakville Orphanage

Remember when Charlotte made up a theory about Holly being a reincarnated soul and spirit of Mary? Well, she was wrong. Or at least she thinks she's wrong. Charlotte didn't believe in reincarnation.

Charlotte thought of the fact that Holly might be Mary, trying to warn Charlotte about "something." But what? Holly was giving signs of help and every place that Mary went to, so she assumed Holly was guiding her to Mary, but in a weird, twisted way.

Why would Holly do that? Did she want her old body back? Did she want to be alive in her own body? Did she give warning signs? Was she like a fortune teller, predicting Charlotte's every move? If so, is that really possible?

Holly was a girl with feelings! Charlotte didn't think Holly was some sort of robot or alien, but Holly never expressed any feelings (except some of these feelings, it would always give Charlotte chills), but it was like she's trying to express it and wanting to guide herself so she wouldn't make a BIG mistake like what happened to Mary.

Could reincarnation be real? Could it be a coincidence? Or just some sort of...hoax? Charlotte thought to herself again.

Charlotte didn't know what to believe: reincarnation or coincidence or just a hoax! She got chills bringing up "reincarnation" because it gave her chills. Reincarnation wasn't real, right?

She decided to forget about all the theories surrounding the peculiar girl and her deceased daughter. She just wanted to get the day over with.

"Mommy!" George exclaimed. "Come see what we made!"

"Okay, okay..." Charlotte said, a little air-headed. She felt exhausted and her eyes looked like she hasn't slept for two days.

She followed George to the playroom, where it showed a big block tower.

"Look! Our big block tower!" George shouted with pride. He looked extremely proud of his tower.

She gazed at the block tower in awe. When she wanted to get a closer look at the blocks, she noticed one of them spelling a word!

"M O M M Y"

"Aww! How cute and amazing! Love it!" Charlotte exclaimed in awe. She wasn't being sarcastic or trying to make George feel better; she actually meant it.

"You mean it?" George asked with excitement over his face.

"Yes, I do mean it." Charlotte replied, hugging him and the other children.

"Yay!" the other children shouted in unison.

She chuckled. She loved seeing her kids- or the orphans- playing, laughing and most importantly, being there for one another. For anyone who worked in the orphanage. For...Charlotte.

Oof!

Bailey ran and bumped into Charlotte. She had a whole lot of papers in her hands, looking exhausted.

"Hey, Bailey. Anything wrong?" Charlotte asked, looking at Bailey's face. She looked so tired.

"Yeah, actually. I had to do a favour for the boss by printing up all 100 the paperwork for these files. But the stupid printer wasn't working, so it took me the whole morning, afternoon, evening and night to do all this! Boy, I'm so exhausted..." Bailey complained.

Charlotte felt so bad for her. She offered to give the papers to the boss, but Bailey backed up.

"No! No! I can handle this!" Bailey shouted, which freaked Charlotte out.

She looked up at Charlotte one last time, and proceeded to go into Mr. Fano's office. She smiled as she handed the paperwork.

"Nice work, Ms. Keosuni. But what took you so long?" Mr. Fano asked.

"The printer wasn't working, so I had to write these all down," Bailey complained, glaring right at him.

"Okay, okay. Did Charlotte caught you with that...paperwork?" he asked.

"No, sir. I mean, almost. Thank goodness I stopped her on time," she replied, relieved.

"Good. Well, solving this will be a piece of cake," he chuckled.

"Yeah. But will she ever know you.."

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk! No, she will never know that this was all..."

"Shhh! Quiet down. We don't want anybody hearing this, you know?"

"Yeah, that's right. The only reason we hired her to be caretaker for this orphanage was...to use her for pity and to gain her trust."

"Yes! And most importantly, it worked!"

"Exactly. This is all according to plan. The children don't have knowledge of Charlotte or...that night. It will be much easier since you know how kids can be if they knew secrets. They love Charlotte, so if they knew, they would tattle on us."

"Yeah, good point. But are you sure playing it out will be alright? Don't criminals usually turn themselves in?"

"Yes, but in that case, I've constructed chemical weapons, medicines, prescriptions and drugs. These emetics and sedatives will easier come in favour."

"What do chemicals and criminals have to do with anything? Is there a connection?"

"Precisely. Oakville criminals, gangs and thugs know how to cover their tracks and keep a new identity. Constructing chemicals will allow us more easier benefits and we can use these to our advantages."

"I don't get it..."

"Oakville has high standards and strict laws. Basically, science and chemistry have a connection with criminals. Over the past years, criminals used chemical weapons and drugs to kill their victims. Getting rid of chemic evidence is much easier, and it covers your DNA well."

"It's basically like the usual murder then."

"Not exactly. As I said, using chemical weapons and medicines will allow us more advantages and grant us more benefits then potential murder weapons. It's creativity and chemistry criminals had! The knowledge of power!"

"So, you're saying you can drug...people...?"

"Bailey, do I have to repeat myself? Enough questions for now. We can talk about this another time. Right now, it's late, so head off to bed." Mr. Fano clicked on his watch.

"Alright. Good night, sir."

Bailey walked and looked at Charlotte, with a worried expression. Charlotte looked back at her in confusion.

"Why were you in Mr. Fano's office for so long?" Charlotte asked.

"I...I was helping him find...his missing pen. He always misplaces it, you know?" Bailey lied.

"Yeah, I know. Good night, Bailey."

"Yep, good night to you, Charlotte."

Charlotte went to her own bedroom and wrote down in her journal on her desk. After a few minutes, she started to get dizzy. She felt exhausted and slept on her desk.

When she tried to wake up, all she woke up in...was back on her bed in her old farmhouse.