Change || The Promised Neverland

✼ Chapter Fifteen: Connected ✼

"Human trafficking?" Don repeated. Gilda gasped, looking around at the quartet for any sign of lying. All she got were grim faces.

"Yeah," Emma mumbled. "All of our siblings have been sold off to bad people."

The four stayed silent to let the effect of her words sink in. Don's mouth moved wordlessly, apparently struck speechless. Gilda looked down, eyes wide with horror. [Name] sighed.

"So, we-"

"BAHAHAHA!" Don let out a full chested cackle, doubling over in laughter. "I was wondering what you were so serious about! Pft- There's no way! What kind of prank is this?"

"Think about it..." Norman tried to reason. "The walls, the gate, the siblings who never write back..."

"Oh, stop it!" Don chortled. "So, come on, what's the punch line?"

Nobody laughed with him. Don glanced around in confusion.

"You're not... You're not saying it's true right?" he asked nervously.

"It's true," Ray said bluntly.

"Wait, hold on. What about Mom?" Don had started to sweat, backing up. Emma clenched her fist.

"She's one who's selling us to bad people."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Don snapped. [Name] frowned.

"Don-"

"Shut up!" he shouted. "There's no way! She's so nice, and... Take it back, Emma!" he grabbed the ginger roughly by the shoulders.

"Don..." Gilda muttered. "Emma loves this House and Mom more than anything. So there's no way she would lie about something like that. And you two were being weird, that night when Emma and Norman went to the gate."

"What?" Don looked at Norman in disbelief. The albino nodded.

"Usually, even if you broke the rules," Gilda continued, "you'd come clean about it, but you didn't apologize for it, and you even told me to keep quiet. Then, Mom made us do chores as if she were punishing us."

[Name]'s face softened as the girl's voice broke. "Emma, you've become so serious now. And [Name]," said girl blinked in confusion, "you've been trying harder to act cheerful, and your smile's become forced. Was it to hide your grief? I played along, but still..."

[Name] straightened, the smallest pang of guilt hitting her heart as Gilda burst into tears, diving into Emma's arms with a sob.

"Did you see it, Emma?" Gilda choked out. "Did you see Conny being sold off?"

"Yeah," said Norman. "We didn't make it in time."

"Hold on, does that mean Conny..." Don shot up from his seat, grabbing Norman. "She's okay, right? They didn't do anything to her, right?!"

"We don't know," Norman lied. [Name] looked at him with shock, her fist balling up the fabric on her sleeve. Norman, no...

"But how?!" Don asked panickedly. "How could this be happening?!"

"I don't know if this proves anything," Norman said, bringing out a piece of paper, "but these are our siblings' scores that I had Ray and [Name] look into for the past few days."

"The scores?" Don repeated, taking it and examining the contents with Gilda. Norman nodded.

"The ones who left are over six years old and were adopted in order from lowest scores to highest," he explained. "Weird, right?"

"True," Don realized. "This is Conny's scores, along with Hao's and Sadie's."

"You're right, Norman," Gilda bit her lip, almost not wanting to believe it. But the evidence was there.