8. Happy birthday

The headmaster would arrive at sundown as usual, Hannah knew she had to leave, so she had spent the day packing her few belongings, doing her chores, feeding the little ones and so on. She knew she couldn’t just leave without her papers, and he had them all. She also needed to make sure everyone was safe for now, Toby stayed close to her all day. She knew that he was worried about what was going to happen to her.

“I will be fine Toby”, she reassured him for the 15th. Time. She didn’t really believe it though but she didn’t want him to worry.

“I will kill him if he touches you”Toby said angrily, while balling his hands into fists.

“Toby, I need you to protect the little ones, I don’t know what is going to happen today. I know I will come back for you, so I need you to promise me that you will keep studying, and that you will keep trying to do your best to help the little ones.”

Hannah said pleading, hoping that by giving Toby a task, something he could focus on, he would stop worrying about her.

“I will be okay; I promise to come back for you as soon as I can. When I have a home, money and a job. I will get you, and I will save you and the others from all of this.” She gestured around her.

“You can’t promise that, we all know that when you leave you don’t come back”Louise said knowingly. Hannah knew that Louise was scared as well, because she was next in line.

“I am promising you this Louise, I will come back”

After this Toby had become really quiet, and so did the rest of the kids. Some of them where crying and hugging her. As the last thing Hannah did, was bringing all the kids up stairs. Reading them the story of High Moon City and then she told them;

“The world needs you; your smile will brighten the day of a lonely one, your voice will help a lost one and you are worth everything. If you don’t get treated right don’t give up. We all have our purpose in this world and so do you. Always be kind and gentle, and never give up”

She kissed all of them on the forehead, and then she heard the headmaster’s car.

Hannah went downstairs and waited for him. The headmaster came in with a sinister grin, “I have looked forward to seeing you today” he said. “come with me to my office” he grinned. Hannah followed him into his dark and mouldy office, without closing the door. She looked around, furniture’s were old, and in the middle, there was a big brown old desk, with an office chair on one side and two old wood chairs, in front of the desk. The headmaster never used the office, it was mostly there for when someone brought new children for the orphanage, which weren’t that often anymore.

Hannah stood in front of his desk and he went behind it to a big locked safe, he unlocked it by some sort of combination on an old rusty lock, then he opened the safe. Inside the safe there were a lot of different papers in stacks, and some money. Hannah had never seen the inside of the safe before.

The headmaster looked through some stacks of papers until he found what he was looking for. Here they are, your papers, he took them out, placed them in a big brown envelope, and turned towards her with it in his hand, he waved it her and the grin on his face got wider than she had ever seen before “strip, bitch.”

Hannah froze, she didn’t want to but in his right hand he held her future and freedom.

The headmaster came to the other side of the table and slapped her across the face, “DIDN’T YOU HEAR ME, STRIP-“ he didn’t get to finish his sentence, from the open door Toby came jumping towards the headmaster “Leave her alone”he screamed. Toby hit the headmaster right in the face with his fist, and the headmaster lost his balance just for a second. Hannah screamed “Toby NO.” Toby prepared to hit the headmaster once more, but the headmaster was faster, and made a strong grip around Toby´s throat. “you little punk, did you really think you could fight me” He smiled furiously, choking toby. Toby tried to make the headmaster losen his grip, by grabbing his hands, scratching, hitting anything he could. He couldn’t breathe with the hands around his throat.

“Please, stop” Hannah pleaded, looking at the horrifying scene in front of her. “I will do as you ask, just please don’t hurt him”

Toby tried to gasp, “Hannah, no, don’t do it, save yourself”

The headmaster looked at her.

“Well since you ask so nicely, and we are in bit of a hurry, now” He slammed Tobys head in the wall and let go”

Toby fell down to the floor bleeding from the side of his head

“Now strip, or I will definitely kill him”

Hannah felt tears rolling from her eyes, poor Toby. She began taking off her old ragged clothes, she took them off slowly, but proudly. She wouldn’t do anything that could hurt Toby anymore, but the headmaster shouldn’t think that his demand could break her. When the headmaster saw the tear in her eyes, he looked at her with perverted satisfaction. He didn’t know that it was because she was thinking of Toby that the tear rolled down her cheek, No, he was convinced that he was about to break her. When she had taken all her clothes off except her panties and her old bra she stood there, in his dark office with her head held high.

He grabbed something in the drawer in front of his desk and came back around.

“Now you will be a good girl”, he said, “and you will wear this, and tomorrow you will have your freedom.”

Hannah didn’t say anything. He moved towards her, bringing his odor of old tobacco and alcohol close enough to make her nauseous. He brought something to her neck, she couldn’t see what it was and then there was a sound of something closing, and she felt metal, cold and heavy on her neck. She looked toward the window, it was a collar, a steel collar. She looked at the headmaster his eyes were filled with perverted lust, and she felt her blood run cold.

He hooked something on the collar, and to late she realised that it was a metal leash with a rubber handle. He spat in her face and said, “now you look more like the slut you are.”

Hannah didn’t know how to react, so she stood there, with an emotionless grimace, she knew she couldn’t get out of whatever he had planned to do with her for now. She looked at Toby, he hadn’t opened his eyes since he fell to the floor, but she could hear him breathing.

Right there she made a promise to Toby and herself, “I am going to get out of this and save you, I am never going to be so weak that I can’t defend my loved ones, ever again” The headmaster began dragging her along she tried to walk slowly, but then he pressed on something and two small spikes cut into her neck one on each side of her neck. “So we can do this the easy way or the hard way, either you follow me, and you don’t get hurt, or you will die, which is a shame since I have looked forward to this day for a while. Hannah didn’t reply and he pressed again on the handle and suddenly it felt like a thousand needles poked into her body at once, she stopped breathing, the pain was frightening, she thought she was going to die. Then the pain stopped as fast as it began.

“So are you going to behave like a good little bitch or are you going to be dead for your own party?” he asked.

Hannah nodded, “I will behave” she said afraid of what was going to happen if she didn’t reply.