Unalterable Existence

Chapter One: Mrs. Monterey's House for Girls

They were lining us up in the dining hall, two lines on each side of the room. I could see Emoen and Adeleine on the other side of the room. Adeleine looks a little nervous, but Emoen looked calm as an older sister would be. She was setting an example, although it's not like we haven't done this before. Most of the others in the room looked nervous as well, and that was completely understandable.

This was just roll call. Ms.Nazia, our head supervisor, was usually the one that called roll. And let me just say, this woman was pure evil. She was especially mean to Emoen and a couple more of the older ones. She has always had "favorites."

And as for me, my name is Shiloh. I'm the second oldest in my family. My younger sister Adeleine, and of course the oldest sister is Emoen. We were all sent to Mrs. Monterey's House for Girls due to.. Unfortunate living situations.

Mrs. Nazia went down the line, seeing if anyone was missing. It wasn't until she got to the end of the second line when she directed us to our seats for breakfast. We all had separate divisions we were put into. Which one you got into determined the table you sat at. As for me and my sisters, we got put into the second division (out of three). There are only twenty four girls in the second division, which is a little cut short compared to the other divisions who have over thirty.

Most of the time, roll call is the worst part of the day. It's especially worse if someone escapes. It seems like all of our supervisors take it out on us. As if it's all our faults. They care enough to get by, enough to make us suitable for adoption. What they value most is the adoption money they get out of it. Each one gets their cut on every adoption.

My sisters and I sit at the corner where the second row lines up. I typically don't eat much in the morning, just enough to not be hungry. Their food tends to be bland, but it could be worse. Who and i kidding, it actually has been worse. Ms. Harp yells at kids for not eating. You might see it as being concerned, but trust me, it's scary.

A lot of the other girls think they try to sedate us through the food so some of us won't be so hyper. A lot of them complain that it tastes like the medicine they give us for that. Emoen sits across from me and Adeleine sits on the left beside me. I sit on the left corner. Morning meals tend to be dull and quiet. No one opens the curtains, so there's only a little light slipping through the bottom of them.

We didn't have to do roll call until someone escaped. After that, the "mistresses" got even more strict about it. The girl who escaped was named Emma Nightshade, from division three. There's been talk about how she jumped out the window to escape. As far as anyone knows, she still hasn't been found.

After that, they called in guards. You would've been an idiot to even think about trying to escape after that, even if they were just outside. Most of the girls can finish their food within thirty minutes. Others don't really touch their food. All of us are fairly skinny, whether that be from doing chores all day or from lack of nutrition. After breakfast is over, we all have time to do pretty much anything we want. Not that there's that much to do, so naturally conversation topics are typically boring and often conversations are short.

The bookworms reread the same books over, possibly hoping for new ones. Although, I'm pretty sure that's false hope. But one thing we all do is daydream. We all daydream about getting out or what our life was before, whether that be good or bad.

I sit on the edge of my bed, eyeing my sisters. We all got lucky enough to share a room with each other. Emoen was nervously pacing the room. I suppose she was nervous about which job she was going to get today. We all rotate with chores, but they typically aren't scheduled. Adeleine was laying down on her bed probably daydreaming. I know she couldn't be sleeping.