"Wake up! Everyone wake up! It's nearly time!"
Anna's feet hardly seemed to touch the floor as she ran from the dormitories to the dining room to the kitchen and back around again. Her chirps echoed through the halls incessantly, sounding to the unreceptive ears of the asylum like a broken cuckoo clock. "It's fair day!" she shouted. "Why aren't you getting ready?"
She had picked out a short, light blue dress with a lacy white pinafore and stockings with black stripes. Her old shoes had been rubbed with a cloth until they gleamed. She ducked in and out of each door, helping the girls who were getting dressed and pulling those still asleep out of bed. "Mildred, you've got that on backwards. Do you need some help with that bow, Clara? Louise, how does your hair become knotted so?"
The children gleefully absorbed her joy and followed her around once they too were ready. Some of the older inmates join in as well, but most sneered and shut their doors in her face when she came for them. She thinks they will let her into the village, they whispered. She thinks she will finally be shown mercy.
"I can see them!" one girl shouted as she peeked through a window at the yard. "They're opening it!"
Two nurses were going down the walkway to the gate. When they reached it, they removed the padlock and slowly pulled apart the two halves of the iron barrier. The rusty metal screamed in protest as it moved, only to be drowned out by the cheers of the crowd as they flowed into the yard.
Shrieking with joy, the girls came stampeding from the dormitories in a mangled procession of colors and bodies. They overwhelmed the orderlies as they crowded into the foyer and spilled out onto the lawn, waving and calling out to the visitors. At the front of the pack was Anna, skipping towards the newcomers even as they started to back away. "Don't be afraid!" she told him. "Come in! We've all been waiting for you!"
"...You're not dangerous?" a boy asked, sounding somewhat disappointed. He looked at the large stick in his hand with dejection.
"Just a little nervous, I should think. Do come in, the presentation's starting soon. Mildred, why don't you show the other children inside?"
A pack of boys and girls, all large and still a bit grubby, detached from the crowd and advanced on the waifish child. She folded her shaking hands behind her back and managed a smile. "Hello…"
The boy from before looked her over, smiled, then raised his stick and jabbed her in the stomach. "Look, Mum!" he said happily as she doubled over, crying out in pain. "They're so mad they don't even fight!" He raised the stick for another blow, only to have Anna jerk it from his hands and snap it in two. "Hey!"
"That is no way to be treating anyone," she told him, the storm of rage swirling inside her manifesting in the twitching of her face. "Apologize at once."
The boy kicked her in the leg with enough force to send her stumbling to the stony ground. "Mildred," she hissed through her clenched teeth as she tried to stand, "go back inside. All of you, back inside. I'll have this sorted out before long...ouch! W-What are you doing? No, no! Please, that hurts…!"
The girls fled, screaming and crying. Anna's cries for help were lost in the mass of people that surround her, laughing and wielding more sticks. Her vision became a blurry sea of jeering faces. She shielded her face, but that did nothing to allay the jabs and knocks from the sticks. The nurses stared on, their faces unmoving.
"Please," she whimpered. "Someone help…"
POW!
The attackers froze as a shotgun went off behind them. "Get away from her!"
Anna dared to open her eyes. She knew that voice.
"Inside!" he shouted at the people as he waved the gun around, trying and failing to pretend it had another bullet. "You'll have no more sport here."
They glared at him, but dropped their sticks and shuffled through the door all the same. When they were gone, he turned to the nurses. "And what have you been doing?" The women bowed their heads in feigned shame and walked away.
Anna sat up. "Hans?"
The red headed young man stood over her, holding out a hand. "Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.
Grabbing his hand, she struggled to her feet. There were bruises on her arms, a tear in her dress and a thin line of blood trickling from the side of her head. "I...I'll be fine." Don't you dare cry in front of him.
He took off one of his gloves and held it against her head. "I-I should have gotten here before they opened the gates — "
Anna lightly punched him on the shoulder. "What have I told you about unnecessary apologizing?"
"Anna, you're bleeding."
"Were," she retorted, pulling the glove away. Her head still ached. Enough moaning, she silently told it. "I suppose Byron locked you in the drawing room again. I won't tell a soul," she added as he looked down guiltily.
"I don't think there's anyone to keep it secret from by now."
"Haven't you told your father? He'd put a stop to it."
"I have."
"Oh, must I do everything myself?" she said overdramatically, and they both laughed. Her face grew solemn again, however. "They called us mad."
"They're wrong, Anna."
"It doesn't matter. They'll complain to the staff now. We'll be shut in for the rest of the day! The older girls'll blame me and throw me in the closet again and go after Gertrude and - "
Hans grabbed her shoulders and held her still. "The presentation hasn't even started. They'll forget soon enough."
"Are you sure?"
"You're acting like you did something wrong. Listen; if they bother you again, just tell me and I'll let Father know of it. I'll even put someone in front of Gertrude's room if you're worried. Does that make you feel — "
He was cut off as Anna threw her arms around him. "Yes! Oh, thank you! I mean, er, I'm very grateful." Stepping back, she curtsied awkwardly. "No one saw that, did they? Not that I really care. I mean, I do care, just not about me. I care about you. Not like that! Just…you know."
"I understand," he answered, smiling. "We have a few more minutes before they start, don't we?"
"I think so, why?"
"There's...there's something I need to tell you about," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Well, what is it?"
"I'm…"
"You two!" A nurse was standing in the doorway glowering at them. "Get to the cellar. They're starting."
"Yes, ma'am! You'll tell me this evening, won't you? Good." With another curtsey, Anna hurried back inside.
"Get someone to bandage your head!" Hans shouted after her. It took him a few seconds to remember that he had been called for as well. As he began to run, his foot landed on one of the sticks. Oh no. Any chance of a subsequent thought was snuffed out by the ground rushing up to greet him.
As Anna walked down the halls and steps to the cellar, her pace slowed. She let her shoulders droop, and her gaze fell to the floor as a few wayward sobs choked their way out of her throat. I thought they would be so nice...like him.
