01.2. | beyond the forest.

DISCLAIMERS ~ strong language , angst

"I'm slow, I wasn't as good at the tests as everyone else. But when I'm an adult, I want to be a mother, just like Mom!" Conny said, holding onto little bunny as her eyes began to well up with tears. "And I will never abandon my child!"

Astoria stood at the back of the room, keeping her head down as she fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

Nobody knows their real parents or when they were born. To everyone here, getting a new family and departing from here is exciting. It will never not break my heart to see a kid go.

Just as Conny was about to leave, Ray pulled her to the side so that Isabella couldn't see and took little bunny off of her. The door then slammed shut, indicating the plan was a success.

He made eye contact with Astoria, who was almost at a loss for words.

It's almost... impressive.

I will never tell him that, of course.

He doesn't need another ego boost.

Astoria began tidying up around the house after Isabella left, that was what she requested.

Midway through sweeping, Astoria heard a loud shriek from the dining room. She instantly knew what it was about as she had seen Ray place little bunny on the dining table a few moments prior.

She sighed as she leant the broom up against the wall and made her way into the living room where she saw Emma holding onto little bunny as if her life depended on it.

"SERIOUSLY?! AFTER THAT BIG SPEECH, SHE FORGOT HIM?! I GUESS IT'S POSSIBLE SINCE SHE'S SO ABSENT MINDED!" She shrieked.

"Wasn't she literally talking about how she could do it all if she had little bunny?" Astoria asked, crossing her arms as she walked in.

Emma nodded frantically in response.

"We need to get it back to her! But she's already gone!" She said, her arms tightening around it.

"Maybe not, I saw from the bathroom that the lights at the gate are still on, and Mom, who saw Conny off, isn't back yet either. so I don't think she's left yet." Ray said, approaching from behind Astoria.

Astoria wanted to cringe at the sight of him, but she refrained.

Norman turned to Emma with a large grin, "Let's return it to her!" He told her.

Emma's eyes widened, "What?! Norman, we can't do that!"

"I know the correct thing to do is have mom deliver it later, but Conny would be much happier if we did something sooner rather than later, right?" he said, already making his way to the door and began to pick the lock.

Ray's eyes widened.

He can pick locks?

I guess I didn't give him enough credit.

He thought before turning on his heel and walking away, Astoria following not too far behind.

"What now?" She asked as they began to walk down the hall.

He shrugged, "We wait for them to come back."

"You realise that Conny's most likely already dead, do you not?"

"Yes, I do. Which is why I need them to go. Me and you can't tell them about it, so they need to find out." He spoke, turning around to face her.

Astoria found herself wanting to die as he looked at her, not wanting to see his emo face, she was pissed off, annoyed.

She was worried about Emma and Norman's mental health after seeing Conny in the state that she most likely was already in.

There was little light due to it being night time, so Astoria couldn't really see the expression Ray had on his face, but she knew he was most likely cutting her a dirty look.

"They had no reason to not believe us, Ray."

"They had every reason to not believe us, Stori. They love Mom, they wouldn't have believed us if it came from our mouths. They love her and they love this house. So they have every reason to not believe us." He explained, his tone surprisingly soft considering how annoyed his body language seemed. "I just need you to trust me."

Once the words he had said hit his ears, he felt himself cringing.

"Whatever." She mumbled before leaning against the wall.

Around twenty minutes later, Emma and Norman came back.

Astoria forced a smile as she looked at the two friends. "Hey! how'd it go?" She asked, surprising herself with her overly confident tone.

Norman grimaced, keeping his head down and not looking at Ray or Astoria. He quite frankly couldn't bring himself to after what he had seen, Emma was doing the same.

"We didn't make it." He said, his tone almost a whisper.

That's when Astoria noticed that they were empty handed, the only way she saw that was because of the lantern that Ray was holding.

The small light allowed her to see their figures a bit better, and she saw that they had nothing in there hands, so they left it at the gate. Astoria knew this was going to be detrimental to their plan.

Ray sighed, noticing that they didn't have little bunny either as they made their way upstairs.

"I'll deal with it." he mumbled before walking away, Astoria knew exactly what he was talking about.

She sighed as he walked away. She made her way upstairs to the bathroom, she needed a few moments alone, to just process everything.

She was happy that they finally knew the secret of the house, but she was worried about their mental health.

She worried about how they were going to take it, and what they were going to do to solve it because knowing Emma, she won't give up on getting everyone out until she takes her last breath.

Astoria knew Emma like the back of her hand. She adored how stubborn she was. How she wouldn't take no for an answer. And it makes Astoria want to almost laugh, because she's the exact same as her, except just nicer.

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊

"Conny?" Emma called out, pulling the curtain to the side, looking for her younger sister as she held little bunny. "Conny? are you here?"

She took a step into the room, inching closer to the table. Her heart dropped as she saw Conny lay there, lifeless.

The true colours of reality are that this place is a farm.

"Conny?!"

And we are...

Emma shot up in her bed, she felt really really warm, her nightmare hitting her.

It was around 5:30AM, snoring was still echoing through the room.

We are humans raised as food for demons to consume. They're going to kill us.

No. We're escaping. I won't them kill anyone anymore.

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊

Astoria woke up as the alarm went off, indicating that it was 6AM.

It wasn't until she started getting dressed that she realized Emma hadn't shouted for them to get up.

She walked out after tying her hair into a ponytail and made her way into the dining room. "GOOD MORNING!" Phil shouted, a rush of wind hitting Astoria as he ran past her.

It stopped her in her tracks for a moment, it wasn't until someone hit her on the head that she snapped out of it.

"It was a rush of wind, you cold or something?" Ray muttered teasingly into her ear, his hand still resting on her head.

"Get your hand off my fucking head before I make sure you have no hand."

"Agressive much." he chuckled before removing his hand off Astoria's head and walking away with a smirk.

She gritted her teeth in anger. She hated how he knew how to easily get under her skin, but if it was anyone else, she wouldn't care.

But Ray wasn't just anybody else.

He caught her eye from the other side of the room, still smirking at her.

I feel violated.

She thought to herself as she shook her head and walked away. Her eyes landed on Emma, who looked traumatised as she heard Isabella's voice talking as if nothing had happened the night before.

It made Astoria feel sick to her stomach as she watched, she didn't understand how someone could act so nonchalant after... that.

"Good morning, Emma!" Norman's voice echoed in the hall, he smiled at her before whispering something it her ear, making her smile.

Astoria assumed that everything was a bit better after that because she seemed to be acting normal.

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊

"Were you able to sleep?" Norman asked Emma, approaching her.

Emma nodded, "Yeah, but I woke up earlier than I normally do." She replied before looking up, "The lattice windows, I noticed for the first time this morning, are bolted down in places where they know we can't reach and the screw holes are damaged. This place is a cage."

The hidden objectives in our daily lives, the delicious feed that we can have of much as we like of, the white clothes that show immediately when they're dirty, the regulated life.

All of this is to maintain the quality of our lives as merchandise.

"What about the tests?" Norman pointed out before continuing. "Education isn't exactly necessary for those who will just become food. In fact, it would be risky for the demon, but I'm sure that our ages and our scores have something to do with the grade of the meat."

Emma looked at him, "But why is that? Meat won't taste better if we get good scores on the tests, right?" She asked.

"I don't know." Is all Norman could reply with. There was a moment of silence before he spoke up again, "We thought we knew about the house, and the outside world. come to think of it, it's the 21st century, but we don't have a TV or even a radio. The inside of this cage is an anachronistic fake world."

All we know is what the demons have prepared and arranged for us...

This miniature garden.

The real world.

The outside is unknown. We need to learn about it and escape.

"For now, I want to act before Mom can. So let's take note of what we already know first." He spoke, "Let's organise the information. Before Conny was Hao, before him was Sadie. Based on the cycle they've followed so far, the next shipment should be around two months from now at the earliest. We need to think of a way to escape before then. Here's a simple map of the site."

He got on his knees and began drawing a little map of the house in the dirt. "The house is in the middle. There's the gate, and then the forest that encircles us." He spoke, pointing to each location, so far, Emma was following along pretty well. "Which exit do we choose? The gate or the forest?"

Emma thought for a second, putting her hand on her head, "I would say the forest. The gate is always closed except during shipping time."

Norman nodded, "Yeah and when it is open, there's always demons there." He stated.

"And when? Do we go with night-time during shipping when Mom is gone? Or playtime during the day when we can get out of the house freely?" She asked, still rubbing the back of her head in thought.

I didn't think about that.

"Right." She said, chuckling nervously.

"And I'm worried the younger ones won't be able to stay awake either." He added on before standing up, facing the gate, "Then it's decided, we'll escape during the day through the forest, whether that's possible..."

"Depends on what it's like beyond the forest." Emma finished off for him.

Norman took off running in the direction of the trees, hoping to find some sort of idea.

Emma followed after him.

"Mom." He whispered to himself but emma heard it clearly.

Norman...

When he called her name, his hands were shaking. There's no way he's okay with this. to all of us, Mom is the only mother we've ever known.

Norman continued running, his hand in his other one in an attempt to calm himself down.

He felt so angry. So hurt. Betrayed.

How horrifying. Mom didn't reveal anything.

Not a single fucking time. Even this morning, she had the same peaceful smile.

Hiding behind that evil grin, how many children has she led to their deaths?

Mom is the enemy.

A cold-hearted minion of the demons.

Then why? Why were you so kind to us, mom?

"It's a.. wall?" Emma breathed out as they finally made it.

She jumped onto the nearby tree, hoping to find anything over the top of it.

Norman watched with baited breath, "So, is there something up there?" He asked her.

She shook her head in response. "No, nothing. But the wall itself is about 2-3 metres thick."

Norman leant his head on the wall, "But there are no guards." He mumbled, "It's quiet. What do you think?"

Emma jumped down from the tree, with the help of Norman, and made her way towards the wall and pushed on it, kind of. "It's hard and sturdy. There are no rough edges or seams, and the surface is smooth. There no way anybody could climb over this." She said.

But that's what we're supposed to say. We're supposed to give up.

"But it if was you or me, we could climb it as long as we had a rope." She added on with an ounce of confidence.

The problem is how to get everyone out.

The only one watching us is mom. I don't sense any demons around, could it be that easy?

Norman thought, placing his hand on his chin, deep in thought.

But if you think about it, this place is supposed to be an orphanage.

There's no way kids would realize this otherwise.

Then, this farm wasn't built on the assumption kids would run away?

The only obstacle is the wall.

"We just need to look for some rope." He finalized, watching as her face turned into one of excitement.

We can all escape safely with the right equipment.

The ringing of a bell soon rang out through the forest, indicating it was time to go back.

Emma and Norman made their way back and were greeted by all their siblings.

"Missing are Naila and..." Gilda trailed off before a screaming and hysterical child cut her off.

"MOM!" Mark screamed, running up to Isabella who handed one of the babies to Astoria.

"Mark, what happened?" She asked, bending down to his height.

"WHAT SHOULD I DO?! I LOST NAILA IN THE FOREST!" He cried out, now struggling to breathe. "I TRIED LOOKING FOR HER, BUT I COULDN'T FIND HER! THE SUN'S ABOUT TO SET, IT'S GOING TO GET DARK SOON!"

He was now hyperventilating, Astoria was pretty worried. She knew all of the kids like the back of her hand, but knowing Naila, she most likely fell asleep while playing hide and seek.

Isabella pulled out what looked like a pocketwatch, Astoria knew exactly what it was, but it still made her nervous. "Don't worry." She mumbled, "Everyone, stay here until I get back, understood?"

Everyone nodded and watched as she walked off. She then came back less than two minutes later with a sleeping Naila.

Yep, you guessed it.

"MOM!"

"NAILA!"

Screams of the relieved children filled the air as they all ran to Isabella and surrounded her.

"She got tired and fell asleep." She said, Astoria scowled in frustration at her fakeness. "Look, she's not hurt at all!"

"That was far too fast..." Emma mumbled, "It's like she knew exactly where Naila was."

Come to think of it, Mom has always been really good at finding us.

No matter where we were, she found us in seconds.

That..

That wasn't a watch.

"There are tracking devices." Emma said, putting on a fake smile for Isabella as she walked past. "They could be implanted somewhere in our bodies."

If that's the case, carrying out an escape...

No.

We're finished as soon as she knows of our plan.

She showed us on purpose so that we would figure it out.

Mom knows.

She knows that little bunny was brought to the gate by someone other than Conny.

A declaration of war.

"No matter who it is, I won't let you escape." Is probably what she's thinking.

We're finished.

💌

hi (say it back❗️)