Stay...Calm

Chapter 4

Victorine woke up to the sun shining on her face. Her squinting eyes slowly fluttered open to see the rays pouring in through the window. She laid there for a minute until she heard stirring below. She slowly made her way to the corner of the canopy, grabbed onto one of the poles holding it up, and swung down it to the floor. Pauline was just pulling the covers off of herself, and Lee burst through the closet door with her brown rat's nest and tired eyes that looked ready to hurt someone.

Pauline threw on a t-shirt and leggings, and lead them downstairs to the dining room, where everyone in the house was slouching in their chairs as Horace handed out plates of sunny-side eggs. The folding chairs had been put away, so Victorine ate standing up, along with the rest of her group. Everyone was quiet like they were too tired to try striking up a conversation. Victorine picked at the yolk a little with her nimble fingers.

"Now, all residents have to pull their weight here,"Ms.Kion explained, breaking the silence. "Each has a task to follow through on in the morning. Victorine, I guess you could feed the fish."

"I'll take you there!"Asha offered. Victorine shoved the rest of the egg in her mouth before following behind Asha to the fish tank, leaving the everyone else behind. The tank was in the living room and was bigger than she thought. It took up the whole table it was placed on and reached halfway to the balcony. It was rather difficult to see the fish inside at first, as the water seemed a rather dark shade of blue, almost back. But as Victorine's eyes moved upwards, she could see that the water at the top was much lighter. And that's the moment she realized: that water was the fish. A shark, specifically.

"His name is Starco,"Asha told her. "Timothy picked out the name. I think it has something to do with some show he watched as a kid or something. And it reminds everyone else of Star Wars."

She handed her a condensed basket of raw fish filet. "Just throw in one of those."

And so Victorine tossed it up (with a boost from Asha), and was taken to the small living room across from the dining room. Everyone was sitting in a circle on the tan sofas. Victorine climbed up onto the arm of the couch Asha sat on and received a couple stares.

"This is what we call sharing time," Ms.Kion informed. "This is when we all share our feelings. Let us begin. Lee, how do you feel."

"Tired," she sighed, begrudgingly.

"Alright...how about you Thelma."

"Less scared than yesterday."

"Thank God," Lee chimed in.

"Victorine?" She didn't answer. She just shrugged and got back to fiddling with her bracelets.

"Melissa?"

"Thankful," Melissa answered. "How 'bout you, little guy?"

Baby Beau babbled, almost philosophically. Half the room erupted into "Aw's."

"Anyone else has something to share?"Ms.Kion announced.

"Horace is picking his nose!"Pauline pointed out.

"No, I wasn't!"He whined, pulling back his elbow to hit her, but ending up striking Parker on the side instead. Parker rolled his eyes and groaned. "You're a pain in my ass," he muttered under his breath.

"How 'bout you Anais,"Mrs.Daniels called. "You've been quiet."

Anais glanced over at her, and answered,"I dunno; I guess I'm good. I watched Buckley try to pet Victoria over there."

"Not her name!"Timothy called out.

"I know!"

"Why anyone here just calls her by her stupid name?"