Lorraine's POV
I found myself staring at the ceiling as I slowly sat up from the couch of Mom's office, she made me take an individual test again and from the lack of sleep, I blacked-out after taking the test. Mom slowly made her way towards me and give me a cup of hot chocolate. The aroma and flavor of it is bursting into my mouth as I sip the warm drink, Mom brush some strands of my hair before looking at me with her loving eyes. My heart fluttered, I wish we could stay like this, with Mom being just her and not putting us all in danger.
"Are you okay now?" Mom ask, I nodded my head and put the cup of hot chocolate onto the glass table.
"Mom, can I go now?" I ask her back, she replied a small yes before I went out of her office.
It's already afternoon and some of our siblings are sleeping while some of them are mostly outside and playing. I sighed and went to the back of the house. Emma, Norman and Ray are taking care of the laundries as I approach them, Ray waved his hand to me and I just nodded my head. I helped Emma with our clothes. Norman stand beside me and put a hand on my shoulder, my body froze and quickly turn my head. I don't know but I'm suddenly getting chills, maybe it's because of that man. I mean, Norman and I have the same white hair and blue eyes like him and sometimes, Norman's cold and hard glare just reminds me of him and maybe I'll also get scared when I look into the mirror, It's giving me chills.
"Where have you been?" Norman asked, I smiled and give Emma another white blouse to hang.
"Oh, I was helping mom with her office, the babies are handful." I said and rolled my eyes jokingly, Emma giggled and stack up the baskets that they used for the clothes. "So can I catch up with the topic now?"
"Were planning to play tag in teams." Ray said and I looked behind to see him, I nodded my head, understanding his statement. "Most of our siblings would die if we escape individually."
"But everyone's moves and skills are pretty good, I got a lot of data." Ray added.
"For the actual escape, we'll have to make formations and run away in teams." Norman said and glace to Emma, so they haven't said these to her. That surprised me.
"So for escaping, we'll have to split into teams." Emma stated with a low voice, looking down and thinking about the plan. I put a hand on her shoulder then smiled.
"We just need to improve our skills a little more Emma, we can escape, everyone will." I said to her, encouraging the girl beside me, she gave me a small smile before I pull away my hand from her shoulder.
"Now, listen, I'm going to say the ten types of formation patterns right now, so remember them." Ray said while smirking to Emma, the orange haired girl beamed with the challenge, and ask, "By ear?"
"What? you can't do it?" Ray ask, provoking her with a smirk. I chuckled and shook my head lightly from their childishness.
"I can! easy peasy!" Emma replied, determined to show Ray that she can memorize the formation patterns by ears.
Ray turned serious and explained to Emma our formation patterns, we'll change our tag training by teaming up, to conform to the real escape and for the aftermath but we still couldn't complete this if it's the only three of us. We need more mature children like us, the ones who can catch up easily with the plans, the ones that we can trust.
"Don and Gilda." I muttered, catching their attentions. Norman nodded his head before speaking.
"Yes, Let's have Gilda and Don, soon. We'll explain the situation and have them lead the two other teams." Norman said, determination shows from his eyes and for a moment I saw a fire bloom from his eyes.
I just stayed silent and slowly stand up, putting the baskets inside with Ray and Norman, Emma waved goodbye to help our siblings to play tag and other games like hide-and-seek, that game could also help us. Suddenly, my vision swayed and I put a hand on the table, closing my eyes and regaining my vision. It became very hard for me to handle the medicines that mom is giving me, I don't know what they are for but mom is giving me them. She's giving it to me since that man came, she's injecting them to me with a syringe and I keep asking her for the name of the medicine but she'll just smile to me and she'll change the topic.
"So, what do we do about this problem?" I heard Ray asked to Norman, their backs turned from us with his hand pointing a fork towards sister Krone.
"Hey..." I went beside Ray and put down the fork from his hand, sister Krone might notice us. I grab a plate and dry it.
"Let's think of another way." Norman said, it is visible from his eyes that he doesn't want to resort from this kind of thing, me too.
"I'm sure that the three of us can handle this, except that I still don't agree with Lorraine being involved with this, while Emma and the others wouldn't be able to handle it emotionally." Ray said lowly while washing a plate, I sighed.
"Well, normal people wouldn't be able to handle something like this." Norman replied, showing us a close eyed smile but a shadow is forming on his face. I look down and think deeply, I don't want them to dirty their hands, we might have perfect scores from our tests but we still have the hearts of kids.
"First, we have to separate sister Krone from Mom, then we'll go two-on-one, one at a time and then we'll make our moves, suppress them." He added, I looked at him a little surprise. Were not going to kill them but instead, we'll stop them.
"Suppress them?" Ray asked, also confused like me.
"It's harder than killing them." Norman replied, the three of us finished washing the dishes and went to the storage room for the food ingredients, we need to prepare for the dinner. I heard Ray shuffled beside me before speaking, "But actually, it's not impossible to kill them---"
"We couldn't do that for some reasons, Ray." I whispered and walk to the aisle of vegetables, putting a cabbage inside the basket.
"What reasons?" He ask from the other side.
"Tracking devices, the demons have them in us, their foods, we shouldn't be surprised if they also have tracking devices in the caretakers to keep tabs on them." Norman said while rummaging in the shelves, I write the ingredients that I already got and went to their aisle. He's right, they might put tracking device inside the caretakers to watch them or to see if they're also going to escape.
"I agree, it's speculation but what would they do if the caretaker suddenly had an accident, get sick, and died right?" Ray said, giving us all the probabilities, I closed my eyes. Another problem, wall, to pass.
It might be hard, there's so many problems that we can encounter but I am willing to do anything for them. I will keep mom entertained, I will be her hamster, maybe if being in her office can make me hear more information, more of her plans. Maybe I can help to restrain them, Mom and Sister Krone, from acting.
"Mom is really scary you know, you'll never know when she's going to move her pawns." I said and went out the storage room with the basket of vegetables in my hand.
"Let me carry it, they look heavy." Ray said and tried to pull the basket from my hand, I shook my head and also pull it away from him. He sighed and look at me with an irritated eyes.
"No, I can do this." I said and look into his dark raven eyes. They stared back to me and his lips turn to a smirk.
"You're thin, you're weak and you haven't eat dinner yet." Ray said and pull the basket from me, finally getting it from my hand. I pouted and spoke, "But you haven't eat too."
"Yeah, but I'm stronger than you think, you know." He said and nudged my shoulder while were walking, I pull a strand of my hair and play with it while a tint of blush covers my cheeks. I could hear a small chuckle from Norman behind us.
We stayed silent while walking back to the kitchen, we left the ingredients on the cabinets and table, Norman told us to go to the library. We still need to clean the shelves there and the books and maybe, to also read more books. The library have so many variety of books, the ceiling of the library is full of books, this room is basically full of books and it's like a paradise for me, who loves to read. I smiled while polishing the books on the tables that were left.
I look beside me to see Norman, leaning on a bookshelf.
"Mom, she showed us the tracker on purpose, she sent us the message that we can't escape. She showed us that we can't break the devices, and finally, she let us know that we can't kill the caretakers of the farms. She prevent us from making several moves." Norman said and put a hand on his chin, I look on the three books and hug it to my chest before going to the fairytale aisle.
Mom showed us everything, I know that she's doing that but I never knew that she'll go this far. She knew that we'll hesitate with our plans and moves, if we didn't have the brains and intelligence to notice then we wouldn't be worthy of caution. Can we even attack mom? she's the hardest wall that were encountering right now. She knows us all too well because she's our teacher, our mother.
"C'mon, let's finish these now." I said to them with my stern voice before going out the library with my head hung low.
I enter the shared room of us, siblings, and went to my bed, I panted from the heat inside my body. The medicine is burning me inside, I don't know what's happening, I don't have the proper knowledge for this! This burning feeling inside my body is making me sweat a lot. I put a hand on my right eye and scream but silently.
"Damn." I muttered before going out the room and finding the bathroom, as soon as I enter it. I pull away my hand from my right eye, "Mutation."
I felt like I suddenly lost my voice, a trail of blood fall from my right eye and another one fall from my nose, it's making me dizzy. I smiled and put both of my hands on the side of the sink, I don't know what's happening with my body anymore. I want to puke all of the medicines that mom is making me drink, I don't want to be reminded that I'm a result from a damn experiment. I don't know what that man is planning or what he can obtain from making me their lab hamster. I pull a tissue from the cabinet of the mirror and wipe the bloods from my face.
"I will be shipped, next." I conclude while looking at the mirror. It might be false but I will make sure of it, of all the children here, our siblings. I'm the only one who doesn't dream of escaping, maybe before I am, but I know that I don't have the wings to fly away from here anymore.
I'm just a doll that will help them achieve those dreams, to escape, because before escaping this farm. Someone needs to be shipped out first and mom is planning to ship one of the eldest.
But I will still help them, I know that mom is planning to deliver out Norman for the next shipment and I'm here to sure that she'll cancel it.
I won't let them hurt my twin brother.
***
My throat feels so dry as I shifted my position on my bed, it's already 3 am in the morning and I just woke up, panting and sweating, Mom gave me a new medicine last night, it wasn't as strong as the first one but they gave the same side effects. I slowly stand up and went down to the first floor, I grab a glass of water and gulp it down greedily.
"Lorraine?" I turn around to see Norman behind me.
"Why are you awake? it's still so early." I ask him, he smiled and patted my head, I only sighed and put down the glass on the sink.
"I couldn't stop thinking, I'm creating more plans for us and deciding if we can use them." Norman answered and we both went back upstairs, we both stopped on the middle of the staircase and I grab his wrist.
"We need to be very careful with the information Norman, I'm not certain but I know that someone is leaking them." I whispered, looking through his eyes, his pair of glacial eyes, looking so cold and emotionless.
"I will." He whispered and hugged me before we let go of each other and went to the opposite ways.
I went back on my bed and close my eyes, not sleeping but still pondering. I know that someone is already leaking our ideas and plans, because even with sister Krone watching us, she couldn't focus on those who knows the secrets it's because she's watching all of us, while mom doesn't do anything but she knows our next moves.
I gripped the bedsheets tightly and a flash of image form in my mind, raven black hair and the same uniform like us. Damn it! why does someone would do that? why would they spill our plans to mom? are they being threaten?
***
Emma helped me to entertain all of our siblings and play with them, I had fun playing with our siblings as they all enjoy my company, Anna and Gilda is looking weirdly at me, I guess that they're just not used with me being this social with our siblings. Me too, I'm not used with this but somehow, I found the calmness with them. The feeling of being a child, with all the tests, medicines, mom and the escape plan, it's making me feel so old.
"Hey, can I talk to both of you for a second?" Norman ask, his hair a little messy from the wave of air around us, my very own also turned tangled but I didn't give a care. I pull Emma and Norman to a more secluded place but not far from our siblings.
"What are we gonna talk about?" Emma ask, Norman smiled and I sit under the shade of the tree.
"Finally! we knew more about mom's intentions, thanks for the past ten days that she's giving us." Norman said, Emma's eyes gaze at us with confuse, before asking. "What do you mean?"
"Norman is saying that mom should be able to identify that it's you and Norman who are her targets, then me and Ray have team up with you guys." I said, giving enlightment to her mind.
"Identify? not have an idea or suspecting?" Emma ask, I look at them to answer her question but suddenly a hand was tapped on my shoulder. Beside me is Ray, my eyes stare at him with a deadpan expression, hiding my true feelings.
"No, I'm sure that mom have already identified us." Norman said to Emma, making her a little uneasy, Ray snaked his arm around my shoulder lazily and I rolled my eyes from the heaviness of his arm.
"Tsk." I clicked my tongue in annoyance and flick his forehead.
"Why are so annoyed easily today?" He ask, a cloud of amazement played in his eyes. I stayed silent before answering him, "Nothing, I lost my mood just by seeing your face."
Ray rolled his eyes and flicked my forehead, I giggled and nudge his side.
"Why do you think so? mom isn't making her moves yet." Emma ask again, despondent fall upon her eyes. I know that she's scared that mom might prevent us from escaping, escaping with everyone.
"Many reasons, but it's easiest to see how she uses sister Krone, if she hadn't identified the targets then she wouldn't watch the suspected eldest six, if you'll add Lorraine, But the fact is that mom is only letting sister Krone to watch us all in general." Norman said and grip his palm into a fist, I lean my head on Ray's shoulder and watched them.
"Mom has no intention of identifying the targets, Emma, she's letting us do what we want, but that's also weird right? too weird if you'll ponder about it." I said and caught both of their attentions. The laughter of our siblings echoed near us, as footsteps were also heard.
"Yeah, that'll be weird if she's letting us do what we wish." Emma said and nodded her head, with her lips closed into a thin line after speaking, but it didn't last as she speak again, "But what's the purpose of observing us? watching my reaction?"
"There's no way to figure out which two of us was from the tracker, right? and even after she identified us, she's letting us do what we want." She added, her cheeks turning warm from the anger.
"But what if someone's already watching us nearby? that's what Norman is saying." Ray said to Emma, making her eyes widened. I chuckled, he could have said it before.
"She doesn't even need sister Krone to watch us." I said in a hushed tone before adding another sentence, "There's a traitor among us kids."
I gaze at Norman's eyes to see them also staring at me, he's suspecting me aren't he? I smirked and give him a closed eye smile, I'm sure that everyone of us is doubting one another. Our trusts to our siblings are growing thin. I slowly stand up and stare down, I don't even know who's betraying us but I have my own suspects.
"A spy of the demons, a traitor who'll betray us." Ray said and stood beside me while dusting off his pants.
"No, this person might be giving information to mom unknowingly, to be more clear. That traitor is mom's source of information." Norman said, a shadow formed under his eyes, his gaze turned livid. How scary he is right now.
"A source of information? wait, what!?" Emma looked so confused, a bead of sweat run down from her forehead. I grab her hand to keep her calm.
Emma's mind is conflicted right now, I know that it'll come to this, this time when were going to doubt everyone and I couldn't help but to see the happiness behind the eyes of our siblings is turning dark, but at a time like this, I could hear all of them saying goodbye to me after the failure of our plans. I wouldn't let that happen, not when the light from the outside is already in our grasp.
"Now, what do we do about it? let's say we find the source of information, what about winning over Gilda and Don?" Ray ask, he's right. I let go of Emma's hand as I felt mine shaking, this is the very first time that I'm feeling so weak, so mentally weak.
"What if those two are the source of information that mom has?" Ray added with a straight face. I clicked my tongue in annoyance and pull a strand of my hair.
"Hey, we can reveal the source of information at the same time, we can win over Gilda and Don." I said, my eyes turning cold and blank, I open my mouth again and speak, "If there's a spy then we can use that person as our trump card."
"We can use the information and confuse the enemy and it's not impossible to turn the tables so the favor is with us." Ray said and put a hand under his chin, Norman smiled and said, "Exactly!"
"I already made arrangements for that, with Lorraine." Norman said and pull me beside him, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. I give him a nervous smile, we haven't talk about anything yet.
"Hey! we've got enough rest! let's play again!" Don approach us with Chamberlain and Rossi beside him. I smiled to them and wave my hand to the kids, the give me back a smile and run to my side, pulling me away from Norman.
"C'mon, we'll follow you guys after, go with Don first." I said to them and they just nodded before running away with Don again.
"Mom got things under control, under her palm that's why she's not making a move even though she already identified her targets." Ray said, I nodded and agreed to him.
"As long as we don't make a big move, she's not going to ship us out immedietly." I whispered to them, our siblings might be around, I couldn't risk right now.
Mom might ship one of us a little faster but if she'll ship us in a normal time then it's a month and a half after the next shipment, if she'll only give us that much time then we have so much time to plan for the escape.
"Ray, is everything doing great with breaking the tracking device?" Norman ask Ray with a smile on his lips, seems like the tension of the air around us has vanished.
"Yeah." Ray answered.
"How long do you think until you're ready?" Norman asked again, I look at Emma to see her in state of shock.
"Let's see two weeks--- no I can do it in ten days." Ray replied with a low voice, still thinking if he can do it in such short amount of time.
"Then let's do it ten days from now." Norman said and I frown, that's too early.
"What are you thinking, Norman?" I ask him, he turn to me and clasp both of his hands in front of his chest but he put it down immedietly, his eyes suddenly turning cold and emotionless.
"We'll carry out the escape plan, ten days from now, on November 8." He said to us.
The air wrapped their way towards us with a cold embrace, It's making me shiver with my legs exposed from the skirt that were required to wear, I sighed and pull them down, Norman is making me nervous. I could feel my skin turning wan and cold. I look beside me to see Emma and Ray, also shocked from Norman's statement.
"What are you planning, Norman?" I whispered and I was shocked to see Emma, suddenly she throw herself to Norman, putting both of her hands on his shoulder, I helped Ray to pull her away from my twin and smiled.
"That's too fast! but it's fine---"
"It's not fine! you idiot!" Ray yelled to Emma and smacked her head, I slap his hand jokingly and hug the girl to my chest, gently rubbing her head.
"Mom's objective is to manipulate us! As long as we won't make a move, she won't also do." Ray said to Norman, my twin only smiled to him calmly.
"Yeah, that's why I want to move quickly." Norman replied to Ray, I slowly let go of Emma and stood beside Norman.
"What are you saying, Norman!?" Emma ask him.
"If it looks like it to us then, she sees it that way too. I want to outwit mom, I want to defeat her." He said, his smile fading. "Either way, we'll all escape before winter comes."
"And it's not like were doing this so rush, we already did a lot of preparations, like training, we only need to take care of the important things in our remaining ten days." Norman added and I nodded my head, I understood but I'm still conflicted with the ten days. "Plus, mom has no intentions of hiding the source of her information."
"Then, making us think that we have time is a trap for us!" I conclude, my eyes widening in the process.
Norman only flash me a gaze and nodded his head, the four of us agreed to go back to house since our siblings might get suspicious, plus, we still need to watch for the spy.
~~~~~~~~
(A/N)
Sorry about my wrong grammars and typos!
For the picture above, I do not own it, Credits to the writer of The Promised Neverland I just got it from the manga.
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