Ethereal

Chapter 6: The Beginning

I pulled my bag tighter onto my shoulders, my legs coming back to life as I pulled away from the door and strode down the hallway and towards the kitchen. I passed the Head Matron's door again, but I didn't see any light from under the doorway. The meeting with the other Matrons was long over, and I couldn't help but wonder what they were up to now. Were they alerting the other Matrons? Preparing their own bags in case they needed a hasty escape?

I turned a corner and pushed open the door leading into the kitchen, poking my head into the doorway to make sure I was alone before entering the room. The moon offered a little bit of light from the skylights that hung overhead, but I still found myself squinting as I rifled through the pantries and cupboards.

There wasn't much I could take with the wool blanket taking most of the space up in my bag, and I didn't want to take so much food that it would make one of the other girls go without a meal. I stuck with a loaf of bread, a handful of dried chicken jerky, fresh berries that I wrapped in a small dish cloth, a decently sized empty Bota bag for water, a pack of matches, and a paring knife that fit easily into the palm of my hand.

I paused by the sink, looking out through the windows and into the trees beyond. Somewhere out there were the rebels, I was sure of it. Just as I was about to turn away, my eyes caught my reflection in the window. My brown hair was curled just above my shoulders with a giant frizz ball on the top of my head while the glow of the moon highlighted the dark bags underneath my brown eyes. Save for the racoon look I was going for, I looked particularly ordinary, plain enough to slip through a crowd and avoid being truly seen. Though I was several inches taller than most of the girls in the orphanage, there was nothing else that made me stand out from the other girls. I ran a hand over my hair to try and flatten it, rolling my eyes as the stray strands curled back to the top of my head.

I tied my bag until the drawstrings couldn't move any farther, my brows drawing together in concern at how full it looked. Would it be too heavy? If the bag rips, I'll either be forced to carry everything by hand or abandon it. And while I wasn't exactly a survival expert, I knew neither of those options were good. Everything I had packed was needed, and I couldn't afford to take a single thing out.

With I grunt I pulled the bag over my shoulders, shrugging the bag into a comfortable position and pushing against sharp objects that dug into my back. I pushed away the image of my bag ripping apart, all my belongings crashing into the forest floor in the dark, and me scrambling across the ground trying to pick everything up.

I turned towards the door to leave and tripped backwards when my eyes met another's through the darkness. I wasn't alone.

Matron Gallic stood in the doorway; the shadows of her long cheek bones dramatically enlarged from the awkward angle of the moonlight hitting her face. Matron Gallic was never a favorite among the other girls, as she preferred solitude and silence over just about everything else in the world, but she would read to the younger girls when they couldn't sleep and wasn't above helping me with my schoolwork when I needed it. I had never seen her physically punish anyone of the girls although it was encouraged, and despite her lack of desire to speak, I thought she had a lovely voice.

Matron Gallic looked from my face to the bag over my shoulders, and then to the boots laced onto my feet. It didn't take much to put two and two together, and by the knowing look in her eyes I assumed she already had. I wanted to ask her how long she had been standing there, but another thought quickly took precedence over it. One of the Matrons must have woken her, which meant that whatever the Head Matron was planning was quickly going into motion. If they were abandoning the orphanage in the dead of night, then by the morning the girls would be alone. If the rumors were indeed true, and the rebels were coming for us, we didn't have much time left.