Dark Silence

27 days (2)

A wide staircase threw its wings in front of them, inviting them to get up to the second floor. It was framed with ornate beaten banisters that ended with pillars. There was a small metal sphere on the right one, polished to the shininess by children. The left pillar topped with a lonely pole. Darnell chuckled to himself: looked like the tutors never managed to find the second decoration that he had stolen many years ago. 

“May I help you?” a suave voice came along to the guests.

When Darnell heard it, he felt creeps running down his spine and noticed that Madeleine jerked and tried to hide behind his back.

The man turned to one of the passages that were going into different sides from the stairs. He wasn’t mistaken: the voice belonged to the permanent superior of the orphanage, Miss Carrington. Despite her declining years, this thin, even gaunt woman, was holding herself erect, keeping proudly her head up, as if she had swallowed a metal pole. It was obvious to everyone that in her youth she was really beautiful. Darnell knew this, as on one of the stands he had seen the black-and-white photo of Miss Carrington made dozens of years ago. He also knew that as beautiful she was on the outside, the same way her character horrible and hard was on the inside. She almost never smiled, but even when this happened, she did this only with the edges of her lips as if she was scared to show in public that she was capable of positive emotions. Even the age didn’t manage to create those very two wrinkles near the nose that appear from the smile.

The snow-white hair of this woman was as always coiffed in a bun on the very top of the head. Miss Carrington was wearing a floor-length black dress with a wide skirt that was hiding her shoes. Her waist was pulled over by a thin white leather belt. Darnell crept remembering how painfully this narrow and seemingly harmless strip could hit.

“Mister O’Dell,” she broke the silence. Darnell didn’t expect that she would recognize him fifteen years later. “What a surprise. And young miss Wordson?” she was always referring to everyone by their last names what irritated Darnell greatly.

“Good afternoon, Miss Carrington,” he hardly squeezed out from himself, coming closer. “I arrived regarding the issue of the ADA Agency, I’m helping Madeleine.”

The woman slightly crinkled her neat even nose when Darnell came up to her and folded primly her wrinkled palms with long fingers on her stomach.

“How weird, mister Ewing said that the protection of miss Wordson was charged with a professional. But I see you.”

Darnell ground his teeth looking top down into the cold grey eyes of the superior of the orphanage. He was hardly refraining from telling her everything he was thinking about, but in this case, she would never allow him to look around the place of the accident. Miss Carrington snorted barely audible. 

“You smell like cheap tobacco and you look like a tramp. Well, as always. I didn’t expect anything else from you,” she shrugged her shoulders. “So, what do I owe such an unexpected visit? Did you decide to partner with miss Wordson to completely destroy my orphanage?”

Darnell thought that he could just slightly push Miss Carrington to make her crumble to dust because of her age. But the habitual fear caused by her impassive stare only started to grip him. The man clenched his teeth and reminded once again to himself that she was no longer able to do anything to him.

“Miss Carrington,” he made stress on the first word on purpose, emphasizing the fact that she had never been married, probably due to her horrible character, as well as never had her own children, “as I have said before, I’m here regarding the Agency’s order. I would like to take a look at the room where Madeleine was attacked. Wasn’t it cleaned up there yet?”

“Oh, no, we’re still waiting for the delivery of the new furniture, so we didn’t get rid of the mess. Follow me,” Miss Carrington passed by Darnell and Madeleine, and they went after her.

The walls of the empty passages resounded only the heavy steps of Darnell. The gait of the older woman was so quiet and careful that the edge of her skirt almost wasn’t moving. Darnell recalled how he used to argue for hours with other inhabitants of the orphanage in his childhood whether Miss Carrington was going on the wheels or not. And how hard he was punished for the successful attempt to check the theory. He shot a look at Madeleine: she was walking looking at the floor, locking her fingers as Miss Carrington did. She was obviously stressed out, and according to her view, she would wish to be anywhere but in that passage.

The superior took Darnell and the girl to one of the dormitories.

“Everyone is at the classes,” she said passing by the open doors where the bunk beds could be seen, “so your visit will not bother anyone. But me,” she turned half face and looked at Darnell with one eye like some quirky bird.

“What a shame,” said Darnell through teeth, “I really hoped not to meet you today too.”

The superior only breathed through her nose out loudly in response to his comment. She came up to the only locked bedroom and took the bunch of keys on a big metal ring out of somewhere of the depths of her dress. She chose the needed one and unlocked the door.

“Here, please, this is the bedroom of miss Wordson where she was attacked,” she pushed the door and made an inviting gesture.

“Thanks,” answered Darnell coming in.

The man looked around the room. He felt like standing in the middle of the battlefield. The only window without the glass was framed with black burned out zone. One of two bunk beds was turned over and thrown in the middle of the room, the second one was crushed as if clenched by a giant fist. The chips, notebooks, pieces of paper, and torn children's clothes were scattered everywhere. Looked like there used to be a wardrobe in the room, but now nothing was left from it.

“Madeleine, is this bed - yours?” Darnell pointed at the metal construction crumpled into a clod with pieces of mattress still sticking out of it. The girl nodded in response.

“It is lucky that she lives in this room alone,” said the superior, “so no one was injured. As well as she wasn't too, surprisingly.”

Darnell nodded and went through the barricade to the window. The broken glass creaked under his boots. Coming to the wall, the man ran his finger down the black zone near the frame. It didn’t leave a mark.

“Like at home,” he murmured to himself.

The room was completely destroyed. But where was the girl when all this mayhem was happening? How did she manage to hide? Darnell was going to ask this question to miss Carrington but occasionally looked at Madeleine standing behind her. The girl looked scared, she shook her head and showed him her tablet with the quickly written words “I’LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING,” and shoved it back to her bag, casting her eyes down. Carrington looked behind, following Darnell’s glance, but didn’t notice anything suspicious. The man thought for a while and said:

“I guess I’ve seen everything I wanted to. It’s time for us to leave, thank you for the excursion.” He jumped over the broken bed back and came up to Madeleine. “Come.”

She looked at him in response exhaustedly, and he smiled to cheer her up.

“I hope you found what you’ve been looking for,” said the superior closing the door after them. “I’ll walk you out.”

Darnell could make himself calm down a little only when he saw the heavy entrance door in front of him and put the hand on its worn carved handle. The saving exit was right in front of him, and just one step separated him from the freedom of the grown-up life which he once obtained as soon as managed to run away from this institution for the last time.

“May I ask you something before you leave?” pronounced miss Carrington standing behind the man’s back. He frowned and turned to her not willing to stay a minute more. Besides, Madeleine was feeling nervous too, and the man could almost feel her anxiety physically.

“Yes?”

“Mister O’Dell. Where is the sphere?”

When Darnell heard this, he didn’t understand at once what he was asked about. In the background, the banisters of the staircase shined, and he realized the amusing side of the situation. Darnell rejoiced and could hardly stay calm.

“Which sphere,  Miss Carrington?” he tried to express a sincere surprise on his face. A long time ago, in his childhood, he had stolen the heavy decoration at night and hid it in the vent of the toilet for boys. The tutors didn’t manage either to prove his guilt or to find the sphere. In the corner of his eye, he saw Madeleine staring at him in admiration. The superior rose her thin snow-white eyebrow and sighed.

“Mister O’Dell, it’s been 20 years, be so kind to finally return the sphere from the banisters of the main staircase.”

Darnell couldn’t keep his temper any longer and burst into loud laughter, releasing his stress and nervousness into the unexpected relief. He was laughing as if he had heard the best joke in his entire life. Through the tears of laughter he could hardly force himself to pronounce:

“I have no… have no idea, miss Harrida… Currington, I’m sorry, excuse me, I don’t get what you’re talking about.”

He saw pure anger and total powerlessness. The last made him really happy. He turned away from the old lady and confidently grabbed the handle to open the door. The street invited him with a solid wall of rain.

“Oh, that’s kinda worse,” he commented on and stopped laughing.

“You may wait out the rain here,” Miss Carrington dropped the polite remark in her cold tone.

The offer seemed quite attractive to Darnell. It wasn’t too far to go to the car, but driving in such awful weather wasn’t a very good idea. He looked at Madeleine and sighed helplessly: her eyes begged him not to stay here a minute longer.

“Thank you, but I suppose we’ll refuse,” answered Darnell taking his coat off.

“But the child will get soaked and may catch a cold!” the superior protested, coming closer, and apparently going to stop the man.

“It’s fine,” he grumbled and bundled the girl up in his clothes from head to toe. “Tramps in leather coats never get soaked,” he dropped over the shoulder to the outraged woman. He grabbed Madeleine under his arm and went out into the heavy rain.