Dark Friends by Mark Butler Read Free Book Online Page B

she was a little older than they had specified. Still, they were gone, a girl was gone, and life could go back to normal.
                                Chapter 9
                  Lily was gone. After Amelia had finished her day's work with Anne, she immediately noticed Lily's absence, the girls were together so often and their routine was so well-established that it was impossible to not notice a missing girl. Lily didn't show up for the evening meal, either. A few girls signaled to her that Ellis had taken her, though she should have returned by now. After the evening headcount, Amelia was distraught. Lily could likely be gone forever, and she had not had the opportunity to apologize for slapping her. It was all so sudden that Amelia could hardly grasp the gravity of the situation. Lily was absolutely gone. Just like that. She was waking up Amelia, she was slapped, she was taken on a whim by Ellis, and now she was probably in a grave somewhere. The injustice of it was unfathomable. Amelia pulled her woolen blanket over her head, relaxed onto her stiff, stained mattress and listened to the rhythmic breathing of all the girls in the compartment. They all breathed fast and shallow and it sounded to Amelia like they had all just run a marathon. One girl must have had a lung problem, Amelia thought, because she snored like a bear. One of the younger girls shivered in her bunk, she had lost her blanket privileges after over-watering a tulip in the garden. Amelia stood up and went over to the girl, half-asleep, and laid down next to her. The girls knees were drawn up nearly to her chin and her the goosebumps on her legs were so rigid that they felt like some sort of medieval battle armor, rather than human skin. Amelia couldn't be caught sharing her blanket and warmth with a girl who was being punished, so she would have to wake up extra early and go back to her own bed. But for the moment, she was protecting the weak. God didn't give me my brain so that I could spend my whole life in an orphanage and be killed on a madman's whim, Amelia thought. She decided that she would utilize her mind in a much more practical way; she would destroy the counselors.
                  Over the next few days, she chose her mark: Counselor Vale, one of the younger male staff members, was perfect. He often filled in for Counselor King, the Ellis look-alike, at the outdoor patio during mealtimes. He was no more than thirty years old and he seemed out of his depth with so many girls under his direct authority. He had the dark, slender features of a Mediterranean man and he spoke with such a clear falsetto that Amelia thought he belonged in the opera. He never yelled, never cursed and didn't seem cruel. Counselor Ellis kept a cast-iron chain wrapped around the throat of the orphanage, Amelia decided, and Counselor Vale was the weakest link.
                  Two days after Lily's disappearance, Amelia emboldened herself to speak out of line to Counselor Vale.  She waited until the morning assignments were being issued, then she made her move when he called her up,
                  “Good morning, Counselor Vale” Amelia said in her sweetest, most deferential tone.
                  “Hi Amelia. You'll be digging today, take Asa with you” Vale said, leafing through his roster. This is it, Amelia thought, now or never.
                  “Counselor Vale, you seem awfully handsome to be a Counselor here. You could be a model or movie star” Amelia ventured. Though she hadn't spoken loudly, every girl in the area craned their neck to witness Amelia's brazenness. With so much instant attention on him, to Amelia's delight, Vale turned slightly red.
                  “Uh, thank you” This breach of protocol was so unexpected that Vale had trouble forming words, “But there's no talking allowed” Vale said.
                  “I'm sorry