The Shadow Anthology

Jade

After Moor's Orphanage was shut down, the property and all its content were to be sold at an auction to the local town of Glanshire. Jennifer had been offered to attend by her parents. They had been kind and sympathetic ever since they had taken her in. They could tell that something had bothered her about the invitation, but several inquiries offered no answer, only some unwanted outbursts by Jennifer.
Jennifer didn’t comprehend her feelings at the time. The young girl loved the adults that were looking after her, she even liked them, but they never seemed to understand her or what she wanted. The fact that Jennifer herself scarcely knew what she wanted was irrelevant information at the time. She found both adults mostly agreeable people, as they held her very same confused religious beliefs, and were partial to both literature and music. The young girl was given an environment for growth and aspiration. Their library contained a surplus of both classics and new titles, while their music room allowed Lucy to teach her new daughter the flute, and Graham to teach her the violin. On the morning of the auction, however, Lucy, Graham and Jennifer each knew that an uncomfortable conversation had to be had. The adults sat their child down in the living room.
Lucy began, “Jenny, we're so glad that you like the house and, well... us, but we're a bit confused as to why you don't want to go back to the orphanage. There's nothing wrong with wanting to stay here and we're so glad you do! It's just...” she trailed off, unsure how to finish her sentence. Graham took the baton and pushed ahead with wary teeth.
“We wanted to see it. It's selfish; I know. We know, but we really wanted to look at the place where you lived for so long. Also, we thought, if you want, we can get you something; just a little thing? We thought it might be nice to remember it by.” The parents looked to each other in desperation as Jennifer turned her head away in deliberation. “You don't have to come, and if you don't want to that's fine, but if not then why not, Jenny? Please, talk to us.”
Jennifer mulled over her decision as quickly as she could. She couldn't tell them why she didn't want to go. How was a young girl meant to tell her new parents that her old home reminded her of Sophie? She would see a dead girl, she knew, if she went anywhere near that place. Her only other option was to begrudgingly accept the offer, though she had some demands of her own.
“Okay, we can go, but why don't you want to see the place that I actually grew up in?” Lucy and Graham stared at each other in bewilderment. Thoughts raced around their minds at a rapid pace. “How could I not have thought of that?”, “Have we actually asked her about that yet?” and “What was it even called?” were just some subjects of the pair's panic. Graham answered first.
“Well, Jenny... we weren’t sure where that was, and we didn’t realise that you wanted to go back there. Anyhow, we are so sorry we didn’t even ask you! Tell you what, why don’t we make a day of it? If we leave now for the auction at Moor's, you can tell us how to get to...” the man trailed off, hoping that his gestures would incite Jennifer to divulge an answer.
“It’s in Plaiworth” she began, “and it’s called the Reiner Home for Girls. It’s a bit smaller than Moor's because, I think, a family owns it. I think it was set up by someone’s grandmother back in-" Jennifer was cut short as she was handed her coat and forcibly readied to leave.
“Jenny that’s a lovely story, but if we want to be on time we’ve got to leave now. You can tell us all about it once we’re there.” Said Lucy, hurrying the child into the car. Jennifer was far from upset by being quietened. Firstly, this was the case as she had little more information which she could impart, therefor she would have had to stop talking, which would give the adults time to analyse the situation and recognise how uncomfortable she actually was.
Though she didn’t enjoy upsetting others, let alone purposefully, she found this an occasion of necessity as it differed the attention from her. Secondly, the one major flaw she had consistently recognised in her new parents' behaviour was their severe lack of disciplinary skills. Jennifer knew that this was, to say the least, unusual for a child to think. However, she accepted it all the same.
Preceding the auction, the Smiths had set themselves aside some time to peruse the premises while Jennifer was to wait in the car. Once inside, the pair had rather opposing views.
“This place looks like waste from the stone age!” remarked Lucy.
“Well personally I think that the old-fashioned rustic decor is rather charming!” exclaimed Graham. He had spoken with an accent that attempted to mock a stereotypical professor, though still meant what he had said. Both then laughed at his terrible impersonation, and she wrapped both of her arms around his right. She leaned on his shoulder as they walked, and whispered into his ear...
“Jenny is so lucky to have you.” Rather than refusing the complement or deflecting it onto his wife he simply looked at her and smiled contently, as they left the building.
Jennifer had quickly grown tired of the basic, plain car, and had left soon after Graham and Lucy had. She was now staring intently at the slow progression of bids and sales outside in the gloomy rain. Fortuitously, as they left the building, Jennifer’s attention was snatched by an item that had just been added to the queue. It seemed that they were selling the girls' private chests. They had originally been given to the girls uniformly, then the girls were given the arduous task of personalising them. Jennifer impatiently beckoned over her swooning parents.
As they arrived, Lucy began to speak, “Jenny, what’s wrong?” she asked. “Did you find something you like?” she questioned, with hop practically beaming from her radiant hair. Her answers did not, however, come swiftly. This was because she had asked a rather preoccupied girl. This girl was now scanning each addition to the queue intently. Upon seeing her possession, she was disposed to answer.
Pointing at her box, she implored “Please, please can I have that? It’s mine and I really want it back.” Seeing the injustice in being forced to pay for repossession of something that was never freely given away, Graham determinedly strode up to the podium. The man then whispered something discreetly to the auctioneer, who presently laughed in his face and told him to leave, aloud. Returning, slumped and defeated, Graham sat beside his family on the front of their car. Following this loss, a tall, middle aged woman with short, raven hair strode to their car.
“Hi, sorry to bother you, but my name’s Leanne; Leanne Layheart" she said, firmly gripping and shaking each of their hands. “I just wanted to say it’s not just you, and that man has been absolutely horrid to everyone today, so please don’t feel embarrassed. I asked him earlier if my family and I could take a quick look around the place before it started, and do you know what he did?”
As she had been speaking both Graham and Lucy had become absorbed by her story. Graham moved his hand as so to plead for the continuation of the sentence, while Lucy only threw her mouth wide open and spiked her eyebrows.
She concluded in shock, “He swore at me! Not one of those petty things you might... hear someone shout if they cut themselves. No, he said...” she trailed off noticing Jennifer. Leanne drew between the duo and whispered the swearword out of the child’s earshot. This elicited overdramatised sounds of shock and horror from the couple.
“He thinks he’s so great.” He folded his arms. “Just because he’s selling all of this, he thinks he owns it too!” began Graham. “You know what I think?” he forwarded, “I think we should tell everyone else not to bid on anything, then he’ll look like an idiot!”
By this time, another young girl had been listening curiously for a while. She remained stood, unnoticed, behind the car as she watched intently. She seemed to be an unmoving idol. However, the man’s suggestion ignited her motion. The girl was Jennifer’s age, though her practically infantile complexion, along with her minute stature, gave the impression of a primary school child. Her voice startled the group.
“Why don’t you just buy everything cheap? Then we get to use it too.”
While the Smith family debated the value of her input, Leanne already had a response for the girl, “Amy where did you come from? I told you to wait by the...” she glanced over to her car. “Where is your father?” Amelia slouched onto the hood of the car, unknowingly imitating Jennifer. The girl sheepishly looked down at the ground, irritated by her guilt. She distastefully dispatched her opposition.
“Well, I came from you, mother, but if we’re being specific and relative then dad left me to have a go at the salesman.” Which, as the group turned to see, he had struggled to do. He was currently blushing profusely as he descended the podium. As he walked towards his wife, the young girl started up again. “Mum, I don’t understand why we can’t just buy everything? If you buy all of it then the whole town has access to it.” She justified.
By this point the husband-father had arrived into the conversation. He saw this as an opportune time to voice his opinion. “Lea, I think she’s right.” By now, the Smith family were all looking on with blatant confusion. “What’s a mayor for anyway?” he posed to her.
Though the Smith family did own a wonderful house in Glanshire, they hadn’t owned said property for very long. In reality they had only moved in a few months prior to taking Jennifer in. The parents were greatly thankful that the house had been finished by the time she came around. However, they had dedicated so much time and resources to the project that they had hardly left the premises in that time. Both Graham and Lucy had heard the Mayor being spoken well of by passers-by, though they had no idea who it was. Jennifer’s seclusion in the orphanage definitively meant that she had little to do with the town prior to her leaving.
“You’re the Mayor?” Lucy managed to stutter out, while Graham only stood back with his gawking mouth. Meanwhile Jennifer had taken little notice of the information after it had resolved her initial confusion and now began to talk nonsensically with her new friend Amelia.
“So, how many pigeons do you think it would take, landing on that fat man’s bald head" stated Jennifer, pointing to the auctioneer, “for him to drop his little hammer and run away screaming?” Both girls laughed hysterically, then Amelia thought on her answer for a while which forced Jennifer to think for herself.
“Six.” Proclaimed Amelia decisively, “I think he'd just hit away one, or two. Then he’d start flapping his arms at three, but with four or five he’d panic but try to look calm. So, I think six would finally make him run away screaming like a little boy.” She finished proudly.
“Or if any of them went to the toilet on his dress!” exclaimed Jennifer, trying to keep quiet in vain. Both girls then broke into excruciating hysterics. “I’m Jennifer by the way, but my parents call me Jenny.” Said the taller girl.
“My name is Amelia, but my mum and dad call me Amy... so does everyone else.” Finished the shorter girl.
“Are there any other girls our age in the area?” asked Jennifer.
“Well there didn’t use to be because mostly old people live here, but after this place shut down,” said the girl, gesturing back to the empty building, “I started seeing more. Well not really more, just you and this other girl called Scarlett... I think.”
“Does she have big blond curly hair and blue eyes?” queried Jennifer, to which Amelia nodded. “That’s Scarlett, I’m sure, but I never really liked her.” She conjured her porcelain image in her mind, scrutinizing every incarnated flaw. “She always seemed a bit weird. In class once, I saw her put a pencil up her nose. That’s not the weird part though. It was the start of the lesson and she fell asleep like that for half an hour! But then her arm slipped off the table and...” Jennifer looked around for witnesses. “She had to go to the hospital.”
Amelia winced at the thought, asking “Is she alright now?” to which Jennifer nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders. The two girls continued.
“I know you said there’s not many kids here but are there any boys? I mean our age.” Asked Jennifer as she prayed for the negative, to which she was greeted when Amelia smiled smugly and shook her head in banishment. Jennifer then released an outrageous “Yes!” and then went on to dance with the amused Amelia.
The adults laughed to one another, though not because of their children. It was their own childishness that appeased them. While the girls had been talking their parents had been orchestrating a revolt with the other attendees of the hour. Leanne planned to buy most items for the town, though she had a single extravagant idea which she would use for her own purposes.
Seeing how little time her husband had been spending with their child, she hoped that she could bring them together through their love of music. The woman knew this place to be rather musical and planned to buy any instruments under her own name, rather than the town's. To suppress any potential outcry, it would all stay housed in the building, where her family would keep private access of it, until some future generation decided it be moved.
The unlikeable, vindictive man was growing restless at the low and frankly insulting offers, from only one person, for his desirable display. However, the arrival of yet another dull box brought a young girl forward. He watched her like a vulture. She clawed at forgetful parents which seemed to spark memory. This then lit the flame of a counter-offer. The wretched old man’s hope of mediating another war was extinguished by a peaceful discussion between the two parties. He muttered something into his cloak, and continued with his dreary day.
Upon obtaining the box Jennifer reminded her parents of their tight schedule. Following this, apologies of departure were given as the trio left the grounds of the future town hall. Once in the car Jennifer forbade herself and any others from trying to open the small chest. For most of the journey she was merely a guide to the clueless as they sped through lonely lanes.
As they drove, and the lanes opened up, the car briefly passed another moving in their direction. It seemed that this car, however, held the speed limit and was quickly overtaken. Though she only caught a glimpse of the rider and passenger it looked like little Scarlett and a man whom she didn’t know, whom held a strong, perpetual grimace. The girl herself was sat in the back surrounded by luggage. She appeared to have been crying in anguish not too long ago.
After driving a while more, they finally reached the Reiner Home for Girls. It was nearly night-time as they entered the building. The kindly old secretary welcomed them and spoke, “Well the girls are all about to go to sleep, but I think I can find an excuse to see my favourite big girl again, and let her parents walk around quietly for a bit!” With that, Graham and Lucy wandered away. “Now I can’t be long but, how are you? You look as pretty as ever. How’s Sophie?”
With only a question Jennifer’s defences came crumbling down. She vehemently spat out every venomous detail between pillars of tears. Susan, the secretary, held back her own waters so that she could comfort the grieving child. The lady had known the girl for so long. She had watched Jennifer and Sophie become best friends over the years. She used to see them playing with their toys on the grass outside. Their laughter brought so much joy to her heart, which she would never feel again because sweet little Sophie was dead.
Some minutes of deliberation passed until Susan finally gave in, “Jennifer, come with me.” she said, taking the girl’s hand. Marching determinedly through the small corridor, Susan peered into the empty toy room. The ageing woman kept the hand, cradling it in her own, as she walked over to the large chest. Once opened an array of toys leapt forth.
Briefly rummaging through she soon found what she sought. “Here.” She offered them to Jennifer. “I saw how much fun you and Sophie always had together with these.” She looked down at them. “I think you should keep them.” What Susan was holding were the slightly battered remains of a doll outfit. There was a small lime bonnet which had green roses flowing over the side of it. There was a large puffy dress drenched in four-leafed clovers. Lastly there was a pair of sparkling emerald shoes that shone like starlight.
“I can’t remember how many different dolls you put this on, but I know, any time they put this on, they”. Susan’s air was cut off by Jennifer’s launching hug. The girl could only relent once her parents found her. As they were about to leave, the lady had a realisation, exclaiming quietly “Wait! You didn’t take a doll!” Jennifer looked up to her parents, then down at her new toy and whispered...
“Thank you for everything, but I’ve taken enough.” She briefly smiled and was then taken out the door. Jennifer left the orphanage for the last time. The family car pulled out of the driveway as another waited to pull in. The light was abstract, and the dark was prominent, but through what little she could see, Jennifer squinted to find a bunch of blond curls being led out of a car.
The drive home her time to reminisce and scrutinize. Sophie once spilled her juice there; there was still a stain. Sophie ate apple crumble over the dress; the smell still lingered. Sophie once cut herself, and a drop of blood dropped onto the shoes; a thick red mark still stayed. Sophie sneezed so hard that she almost ripped the sleeves off; the tears would never leave her.
Jennifer climbed the stairs to her bedroom, followed by concerned parents. She shut the door to get changed, setting what was now hers beside her bed. They opened the door, when allowed. They came in softly. They sang sweetly. They kiss her cheeks. They tuck her in. They check for monsters. They laugh. They hug. They kiss. They close the door. They leave her alone.
“Goodnight Jenny.”
Jennifer reached for her dusty locked chest, checking underneath for keys. Then she slowly peeled off the tape, taking the keys but putting the tape back. She held them high, just watching. She smelled the steel. She kissed them. They seem the same. She reaches toward it. She touches the lock. She cries. She stops. It opens. It was their doll. She hugs it tight.
“Hi Jade.”