A Snake's Treasure

3. A Silence So Stubborn

❗️Disclaimer!! mild torture description❗️

Word count: 1074

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The next few weeks played out much like her first few days, and it eventually became so repetitive, that she struggled to make out one day from the next. The only thing that was keeping her even remotely sane, was the nightly chats between her and Tom. He made it clear that he despised her keeping him up, however she had a hunch that he secretly appreciated their conversations just as much as she did.

Tom was still a mystery to her. There were so many things that she dared not to ask. He had never threatened her, but he had a certain.. danger to him. The air around him had always been.. off. From his secrecy, to the wrath of fear he seemed to uphold. She had sensed it when she first saw him, though then, of course, she couldn't tell what was him and what was the orphanage.

Though, Vanesa wasn't one to be discouraged easily. She guessed that she never had been. This proved to be a useful quality, when the cycle broke.

His name was William Brown. Shortly after her arrival, she had found out that he had been taken there just a few weeks before her. At first, this gave her reason to befriend him, though she quickly learned that he was not the nicest of people. She wasn't sure what day it was, as she had lost track not long after her fifth night, but it didn't matter. The lost sense of time seemed to make the days less gruelling.

It began during dinner, when William walked up to Tom, sitting down opposite him. "So.. what's your deal, eh?" Tom slowly looked up, and it was clear he was not going to give an answer. "What are you looking at me like that for? Weirdo." He began laughing, and took Tom's bowl of what the cook called 'soup'.

Tom froze, his bread still lingering in his hand, as he held unblinking eye contact. William ignored it, but he seemed to be the only one that did. Vanesa had stopped eating, intrigued by the sudden change of atmosphere, and every head (to the ignorance of the matron) in the room turned, and every gaze settled on Tom. Vanesa could feel goosebumps on both arms, as the temperature dropped until the air felt thin, and icy.

Then, an indescribable feeling, as she sensed a shift. All at once, every horror that had ever taken place inside the orphanage, shivered and emerged from the floors and walls. All the shadows, all the cold, and all the pain. Directed at William. He looked up for one mere second, eyes wide and skin pale, before he collapsed to the floor, shaking violently. He didn't scream, though she sensed it was because he wasn't allowed to. Tom's head was tilted back, his chin up, as he stared him down.

Then it stopped, leaving William panting on the floor, and a silence that dragged. It was then that matron looked up. Tom carried on eating, and so did everyone else, the low murmur of chatting between the children returning.

"Seems this one is trying to get out of chores.." the matron bellowed over to the cook, followed by a cackle from the kitchens. William was dragged away, and Vanesa watched him go, her mouth agape and food left, forgotten. She turned slowly, and stared at Tom.

"I told you." he said, without looking up. "You don't know me, if you did you wouldn't be sitting here every day.. talking to me at night.." She swallowed and clutched the fabric of her frayed dress under the table, in a desperate attempt to hide the fear on her face.

He let out a low chuckle, before he abruptly got up and left.

...

She stood outside the door, trying to swallow down her unease as she pushed it open forcefully. Tom's eyes rose up from his book, looking her up and down, before returning to the pages.

"Your still here..?"

She didn't speak.

"I can't decide if that makes you brave, or just plain stupid. Perhaps both."

Her hands fisted, and she sat down, refusing to even attempt to make eye contact. The night bled into the next day, and neither of them uttered a single word, and she stubbornly sat opposite him during meals, ignoring his glares and sarcastic comments. This lasted a week.

"Stop ignoring me, Selwyn!" He said, when for the 7th time, she entered their shared box room in silence. Her eyes snapped up to him, whipping around; her hair swung behind her shoulder's, and revealed an expressionless face from behind it.

"I.. I apologise for being so blunt with you,"

Her eyebrows raised.

"About what you said the other day.."

She tilted her head in question.

"I do consider you to be my.. familiar"

"You mean friend?" She asked with an air of amusement, eyebrows raised.

"Call it what you must" and just like that, he had returned to the snobbish boy from not a minute before, leaving Vanesa to smile smugly, climbing into the itchy, thin sheets that did next to nothing to shield them from the biting cold of the night.

"Indeed I will"

...

The next morning welcomed a change from their normal routines. The yellow rays of the sun glared through the windows and onto the many faces of the orphans as they gathered around the matron, as instructed.

"An opportunity has come up, for goods such as money, sheets and food." The children looked about them excitedly, before the matron continued.

"We are in need of such valuables at this time, knowing that a war is brewing between the good country of England, and Germany. And so all of you shall have to work." The children were suddenly silent, stiffened as if glued to the spot. What could possibly be considered work, if not for what they were already forced to do on the regular.

"This work will take place in a small village in the countryside, and I believe the jobs will vary from age, but most shall take place in the neighbouring forest or beach."