Hey long time no write :)
I'm in school atm so it's been difficult to update. I miss writing this though and I promise I'll get the next update up ASAP.
This is a flashback chapter. The next one will start up with Lights again <3
PS: I'm sure there are consistency errors, and I'm working on it. This entire book is being rewritten and I'll be fixing any loopholes/inconsistencies.
—-
Claudette's red hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail that bobbed when she walked. It was well into spring and the pollen was thick in the air, but she was unbothered. Her focus was on the end of the long road that was lined with thick trees. Birds chirped in the leaves above and she looked up every once in a while to see if she could get a glimpse of one of them.
She stuck her hands in the pockets of her black pants. Her top was a basic t-shirt that was stained from cooking in the kitchen. She wore a sleeveless jean vest over that. It was frayed at the arm openings and was starting to tear near her right pocket.
She sighed in relief when she finally reached the store. Her eyes were lined with black charcoal liner, bringing out her dark eyes, and her lips were painted a dark red color that looked vibrant against her pale skin.
Inside, the young boy at the cash register raised an eyebrow suggestively when Claudette walked in. She quietly sighed out of annoyance and began to look around. She knew what she had come for. She just had to lure 'Rich', as his nametag read, away from the register.
She grabbed a package of Hostess cupcakes and walked to the register, taking a few dollars out of her vest pocket.
"Will that be all today?" The boy smirked and Claudette shifted her eyes up to him.
"Yup." She said and handed him the money, then an idea sparked in her head. "Actually...I noticed you don't have any more..." She looked down at the candy counter beneath her, and saw that one was empty. "Necco wafers...think you have any more in the back?"
The boy looked eager to help her. "Let me check! One second, pretty lady."
She smiled after him and let the smile drop quickly once he was gone. She looked around the store once before leaning over the counter and snatching a pack of Marlboro's off of the shelf. She shoved the box in her pocket and waited patiently for him to return.
Rich came out with a full box and she took one sleeve, paying for her two treats and then leaving the store, giving the boy a quick wink before starting to walk back towards the house.
She lit up a cigarette with a match from the book that Catty had given her. She puffed in the smoke and blew it out into the breeze, watching it dissipate into the air before her. The house came into view eventually, and she put the cigarette out on a tree so Mr. Hemingway wouldn't catch her.
She walked right over to the side door and stepped up the stairs. Before her hand was even on the handle her name was called from the garage. She turned to see little Nathaniel Reichs standing at the entrance of the garage with his hand on the handle. He smiled sweetly at her but she knew what he was doing.
Nate, as everyone called him, was going to be thirteen years old. He was the oldest orphanage and it didn't seem as if he would ever get out. He had a baby face but Claudette knew to look past that. He was manipulative.
"You aren't getting one." Claudette said loud enough so he heard her. He always wanted her cigarettes.
He whined and looked up at the sky in annoyance. Claudette shook her head before walking in through the door, shutting it quietly behind her. The large kitchen was giving off a lot of heat. I stretched all the way through the present dining room right to where the large windows looked out onto the empty land into the woods.
"About time." Her boss, Bertha, scolded her as she crossed the room to take off her coat. The basement door had a new wooden cross on it, and she made an impressed face when she saw it.
"Nice work." She said. "Who did it?"
"Mr. Hemingway got some donations for the house." Bertha said quickly before rushing off with a boiling pot of water towards the large industrial sink.
Claudette ran her fingers down the cross before grabbing her apron from the coat rack where she had left it almost an hour ago. She grabbed her hairnet from underneath where the collar hung and wrapped up her red hair inside of it, tucking in the loose strands as she did.
"Get working on that chicken." Bertha shot at her as she rounded the island. She wasn't a pleasant looking woman. Hair grew from her chin and the dark hairs were sharp, especially the ones that came out of the large mole that sat on her chin.
Claudette made a disgusted face as she thought about it and Rose snickered in her direction. Rose was always quiet around the rest of the staff. She was plain looking too, with a plain face and wiry brown hair that was forever pulled back in the same styled bun. She was Claudette's best friend.
Claudette pulled two thawed chickens out of the fridge and placed them inside of large pants. She started salting and spicing them when commotion came through the door down the hall. She knew who it was so she didn't bother to look, instead focusing her mind on her task at hand. It wasn't until Mr. Hemingway was in the room with them that she turned around, her gloved hands still wrapped around the chicken.
"Good morning, ladies!" Huntley Hemingway said happily, his tar stained teeth showing fully. "It smells amazing in here!" He said. He had unfamiliar men on either side of him, both official looking. Claudette figured they were inspectors and turned back around to continue working.
"So you have an onsite doctor, is that correct?" One of the businessman asked. "That's incredible! We never see anything like that in these types of places."
"We want to ensure our boys are well taken care of." Mr. Hemingway said. "My daughter Lottie works downstairs with the onsite doctor. He's not in today because of his own illness."
"Does that happen often?"
"Oh no. Eddie is never ill. This is a rarity."
"Well, good to hear! May we meet your daughter? She's his assistant, correct?"
"Something like that. More of a volunteer!" Mr. Hemingway started to walk towards the basement door. "Come on down, fellas."
Claudette listened closely until their footsteps were down in the cold, damp basement before she took a sigh of relief. Authoritative figures always made her nervous, especially with the stolen pack of cigarettes poking out of her vest on the coat rack.
"Move it, Peterson." Bertha barked at Claudette before she took a platter of raw vegetables down towards the stoves.
Claudette glared after her before shaking it off and turning back to her work. The hour went by slowly as the full staffed ten-crew kitchen whipped together dinner right before five o clock. Bertha rang the bell that hung at the opening of the hallway and started yelling out that dinner was ready.
The boys started to file down in a single line, led by one of the house helpers named Marie. She was a pleasant young girl that many of the boys loved. Even Claudette kind of liked her.
She tapped her fingernails on the counter impatiently as she stared at her vest. The box of cigarettes poked out and stared at her in the face. She wanted one more than she wanted air, but she had to wait until dinner was done being eaten so she could help clean.
"What's wrong, Claude?"
Claudette looked over from her vest over to the hallway where her other best friend, Catherine stood with a book in her hands. Her long black hair was slightly wavy and her normally short lashes were painted black.
"Are you...wearing makeup?" Claudette asked, laughing in a teasing manner. Catty turned red and put her hand over her mouth. She walked into the kitchen and stopped at the island across from Claudette.
"Just mascara..." She defended, looking slightly embarrassed through her smile. "Bertha wouldn't be too happy...you know how she feels about makeup..." She crossed through into the kitchen to stand next to Claudette. "You know how she feels about that red lipstick of yours..." She looked up at her best friend, her dark brown eyes sparkling in the light.
Claudette smiled and sighed, satisfied at the thought of defying "Evil Bertha."
The noise of footsteps filled the big spacious house and was soon replaced with the sound of chairs scraping against the wooden floor of the dining room. All the boys sat and said their prayers before food was served to them by other kitchen workers. Bertha cursed Claudette and Catherine's names under her breath for being lazy, but the girls didn't care. All Claudette could think about was getting that cigarette between her lips.
The air was warm outside and the girls walked side by side to the other side of the garage so Claudette could light up. She took the cigarette out quickly and lit the dark end of it, puffing the smoke in and exhaling in relief. "Thank God..." She whispered and Catty giggled. "What's that book you're carrying, Cat?"
"Oh..." She looked at in her hands. The fabric cover was brown and worn. "Gregory's having a hard time sleeping in the house with the rest of the boys...so I promised him I'd go and read to him before he goes to sleep."
"Poor kid..." She puffed her cigarette. "Huntley needs to chill the fuck out with all these new rules. He should be staying in the quarters with us. Not all those kids are good."
Catherine sighed, her face falling. "So far they've been okay...he just doesn't like all the noise at night."
A bush rattled to their left and they both turned their heads to the edge of the garage. Claudette held the cigarette at her side, ready to ditch it in the grass at any second. A small head peeked around and Catty gasped when Nathaniel Reichs started walking towards them.
"You're not supposed to smoke out here!"
"Go eat dinner, you little shit." Claudette said.
"You can't say that to me!" He said mockingly, putting his fists on his hips and scrunching his face. "I'm going to tell Mr. Hemingway you're smoking!"
"Nathaniel..." Catty started but Claudette interrupted.
"What do you want?" She asked him harshly.
Nathaniel held out his hand with an evil smirk on his face. Claudette grabbed his wrist and brought him in close, her face only an inch from his. His eyes grew to the size of saucers.
"Listen to me right now..." Claudette hissed. "You're going to take this fucking cigarette and you're going to keep your mouth shut."
He gulped.
"Then, you're going to tell Ms. Bertha that you're the one that stole the can of frosting from the cabinet. You hear me?"
He hesitated but nodded quickly so she would let go. She took the pack of cigarettes out of her pocket and handed him a stick. He ran off quickly, shoving the cigarette in the hem of his fancy brown pants; the same uniform that all the boys wore, including Catty's son Gregory.
"Oh my God, Claude...you're going to get in so much trouble."
"He won't tell." She said, looking at her best friend and flicking the ash off of her cigarette. "He fears me."
Catty giggled quietly and Claudette started laughing as well, the only other sound being the breeze that whisked its way through the trees.
—-
Night came quickly and Claudette was helping clean up the kitchen alongside Rose and two other workers. All the boys had settled down after playing outside until sundown and Mr. Hemingway had let the two official looking men go. Not that she cared much, but Claudette was curious as to why they wanted to look around the house anyway.
"Ready for bed?" She asked Catherine as she went to exit the back door that was in the dining room.
Catty sat in one of the chairs with papers strewn out in front of her, looking stressed.
"You have an office, you know."
"Yeah, I know...it's in that creepy attic though." She said, putting her fountain pen down and looking up at Claudette. "I should go find my son...I'll meet you back at the house soon?"
They went their separate ways and Claudette made it halfway to the house before she decided to gun another stick. She dipped behind the large oak tree that stood before the staff's house, which was dimly lit. The figures of the day staff walked back and forth, creating shadows that danced in the light's reflection. Everyone was getting ready for bed but Claudette wasn't into the nine o clock bedtime that everyone seemed to abide by. She was seventeen and the only reason she was even there was because of community service. She only had six more months to go before she could return home to her parents and siblings.
She smoked her cigarette slowly, enjoying her alone time with the crickets that sang in the distance.
"Tsk, tsk, Peterson."
The familiar deep voice made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She wasn't normally spooked, but anything involving Eddie in the dark really sparked a fear in her. She turned around quickly towards the bald man. He wore his white lab coat and dress clothes underneath.
"I thought you were sick." She said flatly to him.
"I'm feeling better." He looked at as if he knew something she didn't, and eyed the cigarette in her hand. "That's no good for you...and I am a doctor..."
She flicked the cigarette to the side.
"Don't just leave it! It could start a fire."
Claudette rolled her eyes as she went to stomp out the cigarette.
"You know, Claudette, I have an opening downstairs. I need a secretary."
"Lottie's your secretary."
"No she's not." He said. "She's been promoted to assistant."
"Lucky her." She stared down at her black boots in the mud, dismissing what he was saying to her. "I'm not interested."
She started to walk away and he tilted her head. "I could give you a reference."
She slowed her walking and eventually stopped. She shut her eyes in slight defeat, but it was either her freedom or her dignity in this case. If she had a positive reference she could go home before autumn came.
Eddie waited patiently for an answer as she slowly turned around. "No." She said sternly.
He shook his head and laughed. "Whatever you say." He started off in the other direction and Claudette made a face at his back.
Eddie was a member of Huntley's family, and that's all she knew. He wasn't sure if it was through marriage or his own blood, but all Claudette knew was that there was something seriously wrong with him. He was discharged from the military dishonorably but for what reason she didn't know. He hated children. It made no sense why he was there.
Inside of the staff's house, everyone was settling down for bed. Claudette shut the door behind her and headed up the staircase to the second floor where she and Catherine's shared bedroom was. She went inside and sat on her bed, kicking her boots off and laying back so her back muscles would relax against the feather soft mattress.
Pictures hung up on Claudette's wall of her family. Her mother was a redhead as well, though it was more natural than Claudette had been doing. Her Dad was a tall man with dark eyes and a blunt black mustache. He was a serious man and didn't take Claudette's actions very well. He was the one that sent her to that home to make her see that she had it made.
"That poor baby..." Catty entered the room and shut the door behind her. "He doesn't want to stay in that house."
"You should talk to Mr. Hemingway." Claudette said, her arm draped over her eyes. "I don't understand why he can't stay in this house with us."
Catty put the children's book on the shelf and laid down on her bed, lifting her long black hair so her neck could touch her cool pillow. The black strands flowed and covered the entire pillow case.
"Eddie's back."
"Yeah, I ran into him." Catty said. "He's not that bad."
Claudette finally lifted her arm from her eyes to shoot her a disgusted look.
"What? He's not!" She said. "He offered me a job as a secretary."
Claudette sat straight up. "Don't do it!"
Catty sat up as well, alarmed. "Whoa, sorry...did you want it?"
Claudette started to stand up. "Catty...listen...please don't take that job. There's something off about him and I don't trust him..."
Catty looked up at her funny and then shrugged. "Well, fine. But I hate the kitchen and I'll do anything to get out."
"I get that." Claudette sat back down, the mattress squeaking.
Catty stared up at her own little wall of photos, sighing and putting her fingers against her favorite one. "I miss him, Claude..."
"I know you do..." She whispered.
"He was a good man, my husband. Gregory barely even got to know him."
The two sat in silence inside of their own heads before Catty finally got up to change into her pajamas. Claudette didn't say another word that night, and instead just looked at Catty's pictures. At her life.
After her husband's death, Catty took back her maiden name but still wore her wedding ring. She missed him dearly but he waited too long to see a doctor about his pneumonia. If only he had listened to her sooner...
—-
Claudette lay half-awake in her bed with a dry mouth. She had had a nightmare but couldn't recall what it had been about. She stretched her back under the blankets and turned over towards Catty's bed. She kept her eyes shut for a while as she tried to fall back asleep, but something made her want to open her eyes. A slight irrational fear sat in her stomach but finally she opened them slightly. She looked for a moment, slightly alarmed, and then propped herself up onto her elbow.
"Cat?"
Catherine sat straight up in her bed staring straight ahead towards their door.
"Are you awake?"
Slowly she turned her head to her friend and nodded.
"Are you sure?" Claudette asked, raising an eyebrow but instead Catherine's eyes stared ahead again, looking lost and vacant.
She waited another moment and laid back down, peeking up at her friend every couple of seconds. She finally laid back down quietly before Claudette fell asleep.
The next morning she approached Catty in the bathroom as the staff were getting ready for the day. Catty seemed fine and hummed while she brushed her teeth in the mirror. Claudette brushed her teeth too, looking at her tired eyes in the mirror ahead of her.
"I was having some weird dreams last night." She said to her best friend as they walked to the house with the rest of the cooks. The sun had barely broken over the horizon.
"Me too!" Catherine said. "So strange...really all over the place..." She cleared her throat. "What were yours about?"
"I wish I could remember."
They walked into the house, began to prepare the kitchen and just when they were finishing with their breakfast, Eddie entered the kitchen and said good morning to the girls. Claudette snarled under her breath and walked away in the opposite direction. She stood with Rose, who made a disgusted face in Eddie's direction.
After the boys ate and breakfast was cleaned up, Claudette went into the basement to grab a cookbook for Bertha. Before Eddie showed up a couple of months before, the basement was her refuge. It was dark and dreary, and most of the staff was scared of what was down there but nothing bothered her until now. Now the only thing she was scared of was Eddie.
She rummaged through the bookshelf as quickly as she could looking for the old cookbook Bertha used once in a while. A door down the hall opened and Claudette froze in place. She knew that he could see her where she was standing and she looked over to face him, but instead she saw Lottie heading down the hall. Lottie was the prettiest of the three Hemingway girls, arguably. She had long raven hair and sparkling eyes.
"Hey." She said, shifting her eyebrows and looking away towards the floor. She may have been the prettiest in Claudette's opinion, but she was just as snotty as her sisters.
"Hi." Claudette said in the same tone and took the book off of the shelf before turning quickly to get to the stairs.
"Are you taking that job?" Lottie crossed her arms and leaned up against the hallway entrance. "He said he was going to ask you."
"No."
She nodded. "Ah, well, I think he might offer it to Catty."
I shut my eyes. "Catherine already helps with so much for Mr. Hemingway..."
Lottie shrugged. "He needs a secretary."
"For what?"
She raised an eyebrow. "He's a doctor...he needs someone to schedule the boys to come down."
"Well good luck to him...and congrats on the promotion."
Claudette headed up the stairs before she could say anything back. As much as she thought Lottie was a snob, she was nowhere near as bad as her little sister, Natalie. She was a few years younger than herself and she was a constant pest. She thought it was her place to boss everyone around just because her Dad ran the place. Lottie was old enough to know her place.
As for the middle sister, Diane, she could care less about the home. All she cared about was her soon to be husband, Nick.
Eddie did end up offering Catty the job, but she politely declined. She told Claudette all about it later and she couldn't be more relieved that she turned him down.
Summer moved on and the hot August heat made working in the kitchen unbearable. Catherine had been acting stranger and stranger, especially as of late. They made sure that she stayed in her office most of the time so she wouldn't have to deal with the heat.
Claudette headed up the stairs one morning and headed right for the staircase that led to the attic.
"Ms. Claudette!" She smiled when she heard the quiet voice from her left. She stopped and backed up, smiling when she saw Gregory sitting on his bed with a smile on his face.
"Have you been good today?" She asked him, putting her fists on her hips dramatically.
"Yes!" Gregory giggled and ran over to put his arms around her.
She hugged him tightly and reached into her apron pocket to take out a wrapped cupcake. "Don't tell Bertha or else it'll be off with my head!" She handed it to him and he smiled wide before immediately hiding it in the nightstand drawer.
"Thank you, Ms. Claudette."
"You're welcome sweetie...why aren't you playing with the others?"
His face fell. "Charlie wouldn't let me."
Claudette sighed. "That Charlie..." She said and held her hand out. "Come on, Greg. There are plenty of other kids here to play with. You don't have to play with that troublemaker."
He smiled up at her but became embarrassed quickly as they started to walk down the hall hand in hand. She didn't even feel insulted when he let go of her hand and stuck his hands in his pants pockets. "What about Timothy?" She whispered.
"He seems okay." Gregory said but shrugged. "He likes playing with Charlie's friends."
"Go talk to him." She pointed and he looked up at her with unsure eyes. "What's the worst that could happen?"
He listened to her and went up to him, asking if he could play cards with him where he sat in the hallway. Timothy reacted positively and let Gregory sit across from him. Gregory shot Claudette a happy smile and she felt herself tear up for a moment.
Catty hadn't been acting right and she felt as if she were responsible for Gregory while she was going through whatever she was going through.
Upstairs was hot, but she knew that Catherine's office would be cooled off. She headed through the attic quickly and right up the stairs as fast as she could to get out of the heat.
"Cat?" She opened the door slightly, but the same heat slapped her in the face when she started into the room. "Cat?" She asked, more alarm in her voice.
Catherine was covered in sweat, her hands up to her forehead out of stress. She had her eyes shut and her head was tilted down towards the papers strewn out on her desk. She didn't answer her friend, and instead just breathed slowly in and out.
The thoughts in her head were slowly getting worse, and she couldn't tell anyone about it. She didn't know what was happening to her.
Claudette sat across from her desk and waited until she finally decided to go downstairs with her. She tried to convince her friend to go to see a doctor, but Catherine refused, claiming she had to stay there for Gregory.
—-
Catherine stood outside in her bare feet staring at the house. The voices in her head were too loud, making it almost impossible to sleep. The icy ground didn't faze her, it only numbed her legs so she stood eerily still in the moonlight. When she did move, it was only to lean up against the large oak tree in front of the staff's house. She sunk down so she was sitting, staring ahead into the woods.
A man stared back at her, his eyes black and hollowed as if they had been removed.
"Not now." She said to him. "I'll come back later."
"I'm sorry?" She slowly looked up to see Eddie standing in front of her. He had a briefcase over his shoulder and he was heading to the staff's house.
"Evil man." She said looking him dead in the eye. He narrowed his eyes at her and stepped forward. She didn't move.
"And why do you say that?"
"Evil. Evil. Evil." She said over and over until she looked back into the woods. There was no one there anymore.
"Let me walk you back inside." Eddie offered, leaning down and putting his hand on her arm. She jolted to the side and looked up at him from where she balanced herself on her elbows.
"Don't touch me, demon." She hissed.
Intimidated, Eddie stepped back and immediately started back towards the house with his things. He left her alone for quite a while, only watching her from the dining room window as she lay on the ground staring up at the sky with no expression on her face. Finally, she rose onto her feet and walked back inside.
—-
The house that currently belonged to the Michealson's currently used to belong to the Hemingways. Mr. Hemingway resided there when he felt that he needed to. Today his daughter Natalie was with him while their mother was away for the weekend.
Natalie walked her way down towards the main house with her head up high. She knew the cooks wouldn't be doing what they were supposed to be doing and she would make sure they cleaned up their act so her father wouldn't have to deal with them. She just dreaded having to see Lottie that morning. She was always so annoying.
Claudette audibly grunted when Natalie came into the kitchen.
"Good morning to you too, sunshine!" Natalie said to her sarcastically and then turned to Bertha. "You people are barely moving! How are these boys going to eat if you don't move it? And where's Mrs. Roy!?"
"Weiss." Claudette stopped kneading her dough and stared at her harshly.
"What?" Natalie snapped.
"Weiss." She repeated. "Catherine Weiss. She's not Roy anymore."
"Oh, well, whatever!" Natalie said and walked over across from Claudette. "Why are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be in high school?" She looked her up and down, judging every little fiber of her being.
"Shouldn't you be fucking off?"
Natalie inhaled and put her hand to her chest. "I'm telling my father!" She ran out quickly, nearly getting smacked in the face by the opening basement door.
Lottie looked after her baby sister quickly but shook it off before shutting the door behind her. She crossed her arms and went over to Claudette, who set down her bowl before staring up at Lottie. "Are you Hemingway girls out to get me today or something?"
She shifted defensively. "Whoa, I was just going to ask you where Catherine was."
Claudette raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because she's missing for her shift..."
"Yeah, well, she's not feeling well." She smoothed out her apron but then shot her glance back up to the eldest girl. "Wait, how did you know she was missing?"
Lottie tilted her head. "Because she's not downstairs..."
Claudette stared back at Lottie, waiting for her to admit she was kidding. She began to take off her apron and then threw it in the direction of the coat hanger, missing completely. The fabric hit the hardwood floor with a thud. She started quickly down the basement stairs, ignoring Bertha's yells and demands from behind her. Lottie came down quickly after her. She shut the door behind her as she did.
"Where is he?" Claudette stated more than asked as she started down the blue and white medical hallway. "Eddie?!" She called out.
"He's in with a patient. Don't bother him!"
Claudette stopped a couple of doors down where she could here him talking low. She banged once on the door before yelling, "I'll be done in a minute!"
She waited outside the door until it was opened. Robert Webley walked out of the room, holding his arm as he did. Eddie handed a paper to Lottie. "Please give this to Michelle so she can go to the pharmacy and get him some Tylenol. He was playing outside and fell off of a stump."
Robert looked up at Claudette with guilty eyes before he started walking away with Lottie to the stairs. She and Eddie stood across the hall from one another in silence.
"Did you come to tell me something?"
"Where's Catherine." She demanded.
He laughed. "I could ask you the same thing. She didn't show up this morning."
"She wasn't in her room when I woke up." She stepped forward. "What the hell is she doing working for you anyway? She turned you down."
He cleared his throat confidently. "She wanted a different job. It's better down here. Very quiet."
Claudette narrowed her eyes at him and then stormed off the other way to the stairs. She snuck out without Bertha seeing her and started back towards the staff's house.
"Ms. Claudette!"
She stopped when she heard Gregory's voice behind her. "Gregory!"
"Where's Momma?" He asked her. The other boys played in the yard, screeching and laughing as they did. "I couldn't find her."
She leaned down in front of the sad boy. "I'll find her, honey." She said. "For now play with your friends, okay?"
He nodded and then looked over to his group. Timothy waved him to come back and he turned back to Claudette. "Nate pushed Robby off the stump."
Claudette sighed. "We'll deal with him later, I promise."
Inside of the staff's house, Claudette found Catherine sleeping in her bed. She stood at the head of the bedroom feeling relieved as she looked at her best friend's still body. She knew something was wrong with her, and she knew that Catherine knew it too.
She peeked out the window at little Gregory, laughing and playing with his friends in the yard. Her heart was breaking.
—-
Catty made it to work the next day. The date on her rip-away calendar read September 29th.
She clawed at the wood of her desk mindlessly, the nubs that were once her nails becoming red and irritated. Soon they turned a dark crimson and the warm, sticky substance filled the lines she continued to dig with her fingers. Her eyes stared ahead at the floor where she swear she was seeing fire dance along the white tile. She felt the heat start to rise up inside of her.
"Kill it."
—-
Kill
Fire
Fire
Evil
Kill
Fire
—-
Eddie walked into Catherine's office nearing the end of the day. He stopped cold when he saw the claw marks on her desk. He cleared his throat. "What did you do there, Catty?" He asked her. "You've only had that desk for three weeks."
She looked up at him. "Master."
—-
Lottie stood in Catherine's old office so she could examine what needed to be cleaned. Paintings from the kids were lined on the walls, and there was one section dedicated especially to her son, Gregory.
She planned to take the office for herself, and to quit working with Eddie. She couldn't take it anymore.
—-
The worst part was that something inside of Catherine knew Eddie was wrong with what he did. He targeted the bad kids and used them as guinea pigs. He wasn't a pervert or a murderer. He was just too obsessed with his tests. He wanted to discover something that would maybe bring back some of the honor he had lost.
She shouldn't have told him that Charlie was mean to her son.
Now, though, it was too late. She was far gone. Very far gone. So was Charlie.
She stared at her son for a whole minute before she realized he was peeking down the hall at her.
"Momma?" He asked, his voice scared.
"Go find your mother." She said louder than she intended and he made a face. "She's not here anymore."
—-
October 13, 1975
The clock ticked as Claudette stood in the kitchen, waiting for Bertha's order on what to do next. Dinner was well past over but she had caught wind that Claudette was stealing from the convenience store down the road. If Rich hadn't of been completely in love with her, he probably would have given her away.
She walked upstairs to see Gregory before she went to sleep, and he shook underneath his blankets. "Don't leave, Ms. Claudette. I don't like sleeping here!"
She sat on his bed for a long time, petting his hair as she did. He finally fell asleep when she got up to leave.
"Wait!" He startled her.
"Whoa, what?" She asked, putting her hand on her chest.
"Where is Charlie?"
Claudette felt a twinge in her stomach. "No one knows, honey."
"He disappeared."
"I know." She shut her eyes. She wanted to bring him back to the staff house so badly, but she didn't want him seeing Catherine the way she was. "Try and get some sleep, sweetheart. We'll have tea tomorrow and we'll talk. Then maybe Charlie will come home."
"He saw a ghost!" He said.
"Ghosts aren't real, Greg."
"What if it took him?"
"They're not real, sweetheart."
He nodded and shut his eyes again before Claudette headed down the stairs to the door. She walked back to the staff's house and entered her bedroom where Catherine was under her blankets completely, the rise and fall of her chest showing from underneath the sheet.
Claudette fell asleep quickly that night, but awoke to a nightmare.
Smoke was billowing through her window and she coughed hard before sitting up straight in her bed and gasping. She coughed immediately before panicking and throwing her blankets off of her. She rushed to get out of bed, tripping slightly so she fell towards where Catherine sat on her bed, her eyes rimmed with dark circles and her lips purple. She clawed at her wrists and muttered inaudible words under her breath.
"Catherine come ON!" Claudette screamed before she saw them. The pentagrams that were etched into the wall behind here where her pictures once hung.
Screaming outside caused Claudette to run out of the room and right outside to meet the other staff. There were no signs of firetrucks yet, but the majority of the building was in flames. "Gregory!" Claudette ran into the house that night, searching desperately for him. She made it up the stairs to his bedroom but he was no longer there. She felt a wave of relief, thinking she would find him outside.
They were never reunited.
—-
Claudette refused to return to the staff house that night. She was scared Catherine had something to do with it all, and it wasn't until they pulled her burned body out of the rubble that she realized Catherine had everything to do with it. Eddie seemed flustered even. She wondered if it was an act.
She stared blankly at the remaining of the building. The bottom floor had been severely burned.
She looked for Gregory; no one had found him. They never did.
They never found Timothy. Robert. Nathaniel.
Charlie.
All gone in the blink of an eye.
—-
October 20, 1975
The door squeaked open.
Claudette stared into the dim room, only lit by the dull sunlight from outside. The entire quarters smelled like smoke, as would all of her belongings, but she needed to get them out of there before someone stole something. Slowly she walked into the bedroom. The floor creaked underneath the rubber soles of her boots. She flicked the light on out of habit but nothing happened. All electricity on the property was wiped out.
She took the red lighter out of her pocket, flicking it on and holding it up. It didn't make much difference until she walked towards her bed. Then she saw what was on the wall next to her bed, right under one of the big windows.
Pentagram.
She moved the lighter closer and then jumped back when she saw that the dried blood on the wall was, well, blood.
She continued to search the dark walls, finding more and more pentagrams drawn in blood. She wondered if they had been there the night she woke up, or if Catherine put them there after. She started to cry, her hand over her dark lips and tears running down her cheeks as she continued on. Then she stopped when she saw the words.
'Black Book'
She stopped her crying and stared at the words, but her hands were shaking too badly. She let the lighter go off and she shoved it back into her pocket before she opened the blinds of the windows and started packing her things. She continued to look at the walls momentarily, searching for anything else written, but that was it. 'Black Book'.
She went through Catherine's drawers and looked for it, but found nothing. She took what she thought would be important to her and kept it for herself in memory of her long since passed friend.
She went downstairs to the staff kitchen. She reached under the kitchen sink to where they kept all of their chemicals, taking out anything and everything she could. She went upstairs carrying them all in a bucket. At first she had intended on cleaning, but that would only put her in the middle of it all. She wanted it to be quick.
She poured everything all over the house, as much as she could. She walked down the stairs spilling lighter fluid as she went. She shed a tear as she did. She couldn't see them frame Catherine for any of this. It wasn't her fault she ended up sick. She felt guilty never helping her find someone that could give her treatment. It was really partly her fault, in her own head.
She waited outside until nighttime. No one was there to look at the damaged, blackened remains on a Sunday and she was feeling thankful for that. Eddie had disappeared by this point and she felt an anger rise up inside of her like no other. Of course he became a coward when things became real.
When the sun was down, she lit her lighter and dropped it onto the fluid, and in seconds, the house was up in flames. She walked away with her backpack around her shoulders.
"Black book." Whispered in the wind behind her.