Hazel went to ring the bell for dinner, and the playing children rushed over to the dining hall after hearing it.
Night fell quickly in the Contamination Zone.
Hazel was directed to her room.
After entering, she glanced around the room, checking the bed and everything else before sitting on it.
After all, she planned not to sleep tonight.
Her tendrils flashed as she relaxed a little.
It had taken a lot of mental power to keep them hidden.
They moved freely around the room when suddenly, a knock sounded from the door.
The tendrils stopped moving.
“Knock!
Knock!”
Hazel stood from her bed and gripped her gun tightly.
Then she walked toward the door and opened it, only to find no one there.
She only heard the giggle of a child.
Staring at the hallway, she noticed that it looked longer than before in the darkness.
Coming out of the room, she walked in the direction of the child’s giggle.
Following the sound, she was led past various corridors until she reached the door of a room.
Hazel opened the door.
It was just a normal room with two beds.
She walked inside and glanced around when she noticed a tattered diary under one of the beds.
Then she heard footsteps approaching the room.
Hazel quickly glanced around, looking for somewhere to hide.
Then the door opened.
The cockroach-headed director glanced around the room, seeing nothing.
She walked inside, then stopped right in front of where Hazel was hiding.
A wave of fishy, rotten smell assaulted Hazel’s nose because of how close the cockroach head was.
Hazel, who was currently using her tendrils to wrap herself against the wall and blend in with it, gripped her gun tightly, ready to attack if the director came any closer.
But the director stopped and headed out of the room.
Hazel took the tattered diary and headed back to her room.
After closing the door behind her, she sat on her bed and opened the diary.
Slightly scattered handwriting was written on the first page.
“Hi, my name is Ayan.
Brother told me this is a diary where I can write everything into.”
“This is the first gift Brother has given me in a while, and I like you.
Though I can’t go out to play like Lily and the others, I have you and my brother.”
The next page had the same handwriting.
“Brother and the others have gone to school, but he promised to bring me toys since his teacher promised to give him some if he got first place.”
The next page.
“I fell sick again.
I am used to falling sick, but I don’t want Brother to cry again.
How do I get better?”
Hazel turned the page.
“Director Mum brought me back to the orphanage because we cannot afford the bills, but she brought in a doctor to see me.”
The handwriting this time was a little shaky.
“Brother and Director Mum are trying everything they can to help me, but the pain is still there.
If I die, what will Brother do?”
Hazel was about to turn to the next page when she noticed through the window that it was already morning.
She went straight to the kitchen, where the chef was already scraping human fingers, but she acted calmly as usual.
Hazel took her apron and began her day as a kitchen assistant.
Once the food was ready, she rang the bell, and the children ran to the dining hall.
For the rest of the day, other than the time spent preparing dinner, she was free.
So she returned to her room with a plate of chopped fingers and eyeball soup that the chef had insisted she have.
Hazel went straight to the closet, poured the soup into it, and flushed it away.
Afterward, she went to her bed to continue reading the diary.
“Strange-looking men with huge machines came to the orphanage today, and they stabbed everyone with needles, saying it was for a blood test.
On that same page:
“Director Mum said they will not be leaving today.
She even added that they might be able to cure my sickness.
Brother was so happy after hearing this.
Can I really be cured?”
Hazel turned the page.
“The people called my brother this morning.
I don’t know what they discussed, but Brother came to me and told me that they would give me a drug to cure me if he gave them a vial of blood.
I was happy but scared at the same time, so I asked Brother if it would hurt him.
If so, there was no need for the drug.
But he assured me that it was okay.
They would also be giving him a pill to make it not hurt.”
One could notice the happiness the owner felt while writing the entry.
“I have collected the drug, and I am fine now.
I can run around the hallway like Lily and even go outside to play.
And Brother looks alright.
I am so happy that we are doing well at the same time.”
This time around, the writing seemed a little steadier.
“Sorry, Diary.
I have begun going to school, so I have not written a lot.
Those people already built a basement at the back of the orphanage, and Director Mum has informed us never to go there.”
Hazel made a mental note after seeing this.
Then she continued reading.
“And we have been eating meat since they built the basement.
Director Mum said it was because of those people.
Overall, Lily and Nala told me they were good people, and I think so too.”
The rest of the entries contained the daily life of a child who had not been able to play before.
Now that she could, she would try anything, even dragging her brother along with her.
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