What makes a monster

Being dead was cold, he decided. 

No matter what the old veteran that always came to the orphanage said. Tom still remembered those cold, harsh winters when food was a rare privilege and sleeping could mean freezing to death. The stone walls of the grey building weren't helping the loss of heat. 

He could still remember the children that cuddled together in a useless attempt to keep themselves warm, dead the next day. You didn't even know who was dead, they all looked like corpses when they slept. Their chests barely heaving and their malnourished bodys mangled together. 

He remembered the dark basement where the feeling of watching eyes had never seemed to leave. Tom thought of the words Mrs. Cole had always told him in there. 

"God does not shine upon you, Tom Riddle."

Their days were always the same. Listen to the adults, try to get food, work, and most importantly, follow the rules. 

You didn't want to break the rules. 

They were easy, in all honesty. 

1. Don't make loud noises. 

Mrs. Cole, the head of the orphanage, had always had a knack for drinking. Her husband had cheated on her with some girl from the orphanage years ago, which was why she spent her nights drinking her sorrows away. She could be heard mumbling and screeching about the whore which had taken her husband from her, if you listened hard enough at night. And she somehow made it her mission to make the children's lifes a living hell. 

A girl named Annika had slept in another girls room. Their moans could be heard all across the hall. 

Loud enough to alert the children. 

And loud enough to alert Mrs. Cole. 

No one knew what happened afterwards for sure. They heard the head of the orphanage screaming about unholy behavior and sickness. The two girls had not been seen after that. Only two things happened afterwards: They all were to confess at the church the next day and the smell of blood in the basement. No one went down there to look at what made it smell like that. 

Some things were better left unknown. 

No child made unnecessary noise after sunset after that. 

2. Never go out alone at night. 

Most children were aware of that rule, unfortunately, or fortunately for some, not everyone. Those that had been here longer knew of Mr. Wilson. He was always nice, mostly smiling and always gifted roses he plucked from the bushes to the girls of the orphanage. He wasn't particularly handsome, just some average 50 year old man. Everyone knew he liked the little children most. 

You heard the screaming of the girls he took at night. You didn't want to go out at night along with Wilson out there wandering around in the halls. No one did, especially since the man preferred such pretty, little, petite children like Tom. He even saw it once. How Mr. Wilson pressed some drugged, screaming kid against the wall while he had his hands under her skirt. 

Mr. Wilson had an unspoken agreement with Mrs Cole. As she drank herself into oblivion, he'd listen to her ranting and she'd let him do whatever he wanted. Which was why Mr. Wilson had yet to be arrested and Mrs. Cole had not already been reported.