The Unburning of Alexandria: Interlude
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Interlude: Iteration
Being an account of the events of
23 November 1991 London, England
Earth 42.13/Apple-Sigma 3
A little girl woke to the sound of pain. A chorus of thuds and sobs. Downstairs, the boys’ rooms. The girl got out of bed and crept by the others toward the hallway.
She looked both ways, no sign of Ms. Grot, then with remarkable speed and stealth for a seven-year-old, she darted for the stairs, glid down them and swung into the room the sobs were coming from.
Two boys had been beating a third, the bullies paused and looked
“Hey, no girls allowed!” one said back.
“No beating other kids allowed either!” She hissed.
“No one will want him anyway, he’s a foreigner,” the other bully said
“I am not!” the beaten boy said, “ I was born in Leeds!”
“Then why you look so… oriental” one bully snipped
“Ya can’t say that!” the other gave his friend a rap on the head “ It’s not civil!”
The girl stepped back in “Oh? but hitting him is?”
“Yeah” both bullies nodded.
“then you won’t mind this.” the girl punched one bully in the face, then the other. They both weezed.
The girl turned to the victim “Right then, get up.” the boy staggered to his feet. “Now, I can hit harder than that. So how bout you don’t pick on uh,-“
“Nice to meet you, Colin, I’m Alex. Right, so don’t pick on Colin anymore”
“Alex?” one bully said, “Aint that a boy’s name?”
“Regardless of the name’s gender.” a creaking, ghastly voice spoke from behind the children “A girl oughtn’t to be in the boy’s dormitories” Ms. Grot. How had the children not heard her come in?
“Well,” Alex stared down Ms. Grot, knowing full well it was about to be her turn to get hit “It’s not like you were going to do anything this.” she gestured to the three boys.
Slap. Ms. Grot’s hand left a red mark on Alex’s face
Another boy sat up on his bed “What was that?”
“Go back to bed.” Ms. Grot’s eyes seemed to flare with frustration. Midnight and at least five children awake? Oh there will be consequences for this. “all of you.”
Ms. Grot dragged Alex from the room and threw her at the stairs.Alex gave a nasty look back but trudged up the stairs and back to bed.
The children of the orphanage had finished their paltry breakfast. Colin slinked off to the library, and Alex followed
“You’re new, yeah?” Alex said as she sat down next to Colin, already engulfed in a book.
“Well, I wish I could say it gets better, but this place is dreadful.”
“Thank you for last night.”
“ ’s okay. I hate bullies. you’re not a bully are you?”
Shadow passed by the library window, a tall one. Alex peered out into the courtyard. “Never seen them before.”
Colin placed his book down and joined Alex at the window. An adult was standing at the front door. A woman with dark skin, short hair, and a long charcoal jacket.
She wrapped on the door once, twice.
“Could she be here to adopt?” Colin asked
Alex shook her head “Whole time I’ve been here I’ve never seen any grown-up come to adopt. C’mon let’s eavesdrop”
“It means listen secretly.”
“I know what it means but…should we?”
They should, they could, and they did.
Ms. Grot answered the door. “Can I help you?”
The stranger smiled “I believe you can. my name is Lucille, I believe we spoke on the phone I’m a writer and doing research on London’s Orphanages for my next book.”
“I’m afraid I don’t recall speaking to any such person on the phone.”
“Well, I spoke with someone” Lucielle furrowed her brow “Is there someone else here?”
“Just you? With how many children? Oh, that can’t be legal.”
Ms. Grot narrowed her eyes “I mean no one is here right now. my colleague is out shopping for dinner.”
The two women seemed to be in a contest with each other over who could glare at the other the most intensely while maintaining a facade of politeness.
“Well then,” Lucille smiled “perhaps you could use an extra hand.” she pulled a card from her wallet “ I am licensed of course.”
“That won’t be necessary, I’m certain my colleague will be back any moment now.”
“Lovely, I’ll wait, and they can confirm I did, in fact, make an appointment.”
Several moments of silence passed.
“Ugh, come inside. Be sure to wipe your feet.”
The two children slipped around a corner so as not to be seen as their monstrous caretaker led the strange woman to the foyer.
Something seemed…odd about Lucille. The children couldn’t quite put their fingers on it, nor was it a strong enough feeling that they would think to try. Was it how her coat seemed to every so slightly billow even in the absence of wind? How the light shone off her jewelry at less than ordinary angles?
No matter, whatever implacable otherness the woman extruded, it was overshadowed by the placable otherness of Ms. Grot. More than ever the old woman’s movements evoked a disgust of her surrounding, like just being here was a rotten meal, and now someone had come to her tables and asked her how her meal is. she was grinning and baring it and saying complaints to the chef, but this woman, this intruder seemed to have shaken that facade
“I think Ms. Grot’s scared of her” Alex whispered once the two women had passed.
“Maybe she’s with the government, maybe Ms. Grot is afraid she’ll see how she’s been treating us and lock her away,” Colin said.
“That’d be too good to be true.” Alex slumped.
“You’re not very optimistic are you.”
“I’d love to be optimistic, but I’ve been here too long. how are you so optimistic, didn’t your parents just die?”
Colin inhaled and looked at his feet “ it was actually pretty long ago.”
Ms. Grot’s voice came like seething wind “Now, what could you possibly be doing hiding in the hallway like this.”
A far kinder voice:“now-now, let’s not jump to any conclusions, eh? standing in the hall is hardly a crime.”
The two children spun around. Ms. Grot and Lucille were right behind them.
Ms. Grot’s eyes narrowed as though she were trying to block the other woman from her peripheral vision. “Aye, but loitering is a fineable offense.”
The old woman grabbed Colin and Alex by an ear each “I’ll be just a moment.” She told Lucille before leading the children down the stairs to the utility room.
Alex looked around “really? locking us in here for being in the hall?”
“No.” Ms. Grot grinned. “Locking you in here,” she shoved them into a broom cupboard. “ I don’t trust you two stay quiet ‘round strangers. Especially not that one. So you’re going to have a little time out until that interloper is gone.
The children couldn’t see anything it was dark, cramped, and damp in their tiny prison within a prison.
Time passed. Then more time passed. They could hear something. Violence and shouting. That woman, Lucille; it sounded as though she was pleading and shouting for the kids to get out. What had happened? Why did they need to get out? How could they get out? What was that unearthly wailing?
Now it was getting warmer. The children were beginning to get a sense of why Lucille was urging them to flee.
“Help!” Colin shouted, but the unearthly wails and the rising sound of crackling flames drowned it out.
“Hello?!” Alex called out. Still, the children voices were nothing to the other noises. She began to kick at the door. she turned to Colin “well come on then, help me.” Colin gulped and looked at the girl who seemed, bafflingly, to want to be his friend. Well, if the alternative is dying in a fire…
Colin began pounding on the door. Between the two children, the door began to budge. Through the crack, they could see the lock, but it was well above their heads.
“Lift me up, I think I can pick it!” Alex said
“What? From the inside? Besides you’re wearing a dress. It’s not decent” Colin stammered, switching his gaze back and forth between the lock and Alex.
“Dying in a fire isn’t decent either. Now help me up!” Alex shouted. Colin shrugged and did as he was told. “wearing a dress.” Alex grumbled, “I swear if I make it out of here I’m never wearing a bloody dress again.” She pulled her hair clip off and bent the clasp with impressive dexterity.
Colin couldn’t see quite what Alex had done, but after a few tries, the door swung the rest of the way open. Brutalized lock laying on the floor.
The wailing was getting more urgent, more frail. They could now hear Lucille “Children? Children?! Alex?! Colin! Please! The others are safe where ever you are, please come out!”
“We’re down here!” Colin shouted as the children made their way to the stairs out of the basement.
The fire was everywhere. Avoiding it was near impossible. The children were already afflicted with several small burns by the time they made it to the steps and up to the main level. Lucille was near, searching for them. Behind her was some sort of dying beast. The source of the wailing.
Lucille ran toward the children she was so close. She was going to save them.
And then, the rafter fell.
Alex pushed Colin out of the way and into Lucille’s arms. “ALEX!” Colin screamed and kept screaming. More than making up for Lucille’s shocked silence. This can’t be happening she thought as she rushed Colin outside. How had everything gone so wrong? The fire was one thing but a child—
This can’t be happening. Even if it killed her, Lucille would make sure none of this ever happened.
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