Hundreds of sparks danced above her, their patterns inscrutable, each seemingly dancing to a tune only it could hear.
Then, Riley dared move her head, and all of them stopped, gliding closer and closer towards her. She tried to move, but her feet were... not there. As the sparks got closer, she felt both freezing cold and burning warmth radiating off of her, her face threatening to melt off as it froze.
You don't have to torture me brain, just tell me you don't like me and I can arrange something.
***
Thankfully, there were no loud noises to startle her awake today, or any extremely urgent tasks to force her to get outta bed at an absurd hour.
She tried to relax some more, her leg giving her a warning shot in form of a small jolt of pain when she initially tried sliding out of the sleeping bag.
Fine, you win this time.
As Riley turned from side to side, trying to get all the comfort she could out of her pillow, she kept peeking at the sketch of Rick she drew the previous evening, his eyes drilling into her the weight of what she had to do today.
But that was later, and now is sleep.
She slid in deeper into the sleeping bag, the warmth making her doze off for the second time, catching just a bit more-
"Riley, you're really leaving!?"
Fuck off.
She quietly groaned as she turned away from the wall, one stinking eye towards one of her roommates who'd apparently only just heard the news.
"M-mister headmaster t-told us at breakfast!"
After taking a long sigh, Riley finally spoke up, most of the annoyance in her eyes since evaporated.
"Yes Liz, I am getting adopted. Tomorrow, very early."
The girl looked fascinated, letting out a quiet 'wow', her eyes racing with questions.
"Can I have your stuff after you're gone?"
Excuse me.
"What stuff, even." Riley responded, her voice deadpan.
"Y-you know, the notebooks, the pens, the bobby pins, m-maybe even your bunk!?" She sounded as if inquiring about the details of a half million inheritance from a dying grandma.
"Knock yourself out." She muttered, slowly pulling herself out of the sleeping bag, figuring she wasn't gonna have any more luck with sleep this morning.
"Thank you thank you Riley! You're the best!"
Riley rolled her eyes as she put on her clothes and got up, her notebood and pen with her, mentally prepared for a busy day. Sure, she'd skipped breakfast, but it's not exactly like she needed much food, she was barely even peckish.
Benefits of being tiny, I suppose.
First things first, she had to get back to the reading room. Sam had brought up the idea of bringing in some other kids he knew that also got on Bruce's bad side but wouldn't give their testimonies without him giving them some reassurance.
He's a good kid.
She slinked into the bright room, following the shadows towards a desk in one of the dimmer corners, the same one Sam had been sitting at yesterday. She wasn't sure when he would be back, so might as well grab some reading material for herself.
The books were only nominally sorted, most of them from bulk donations or just ones that went unsold at book stores. Didn't make for the most thrilling selection of stories, unless you really enjoyed the entire Dickens bibliography multiplied by twelve, with side of a smattering of old schoolbooks, sprinkled with romances so awful they somehow didn't sell.
Riley didn't have a better way to search than just looking through the titles until she'd stumbled upon something interesting. And while there were some vaguely recognizable titles in there, their condition was... less than preferable.
After glancing through the entirety of a few bookshelves and finding nothing that even looked remotely interesting, Riley was about ready to call it quits, before one title caught her attention, looking like some sort of medical book-
'''
Illustrated Morphology of Ungulate Anthropomorphous Species
'''
While each of the words even individually was way above Riley's education level, the unusually complex name and a relatively good condition prompted her to slide it out, opening it on a random page.
Sure enough, it seemed like just a book full of lots of pictures of horse and cow anthro anatomy. Everything from arms to torsos, to their weird looking legs. One of the pages even had a helpful diagram comparing the bones in human and horse leg, realization that they were essentially walking on their toenails making Riley just a tad bit queasy.
She shifted the pages back to the index, checking to see whether she could find something interesting in there, unsure what other species might else be in here. Sheep and Goats and Deer and... Dolphins for some reason. It felt like the most random assortment of animals possible, Riley mentally shrugging as she tried to somehow relate all these together.
She was about to put the book back on the shelf before one particular section caught her eyes, her teenaged mind inexplicably drawn to it.
'''
* Equine Reproductive System................87
'''
Of course, not like she wasn't guilty of paying a bit too much attention when human reproductive system was discussed in class in middle school, but this was something else entirely, at least judging by all the things she'd heard about, well...
She flipped over to the relevant page, after all a peek wouldn't h-
OH GOD JESUS.
She slammed the book shut in an instant, looking around herself, hoping that neither the sound or the intense blush on her cheeks attracted too much attention as she hastily slid the book back on her shelf.
After taking a while to clear her thoughts after... that, she looked over to the nearby books, noticing the few nearby looking similar. Sure enough, they had the same title, just with the middle word changed. She skimmed through each in turn, trying to find what she was looking for, finally finding the one with the 'Skunks' section near the end of the small collection, taking it with her.
She never was any good with biology, but maybe pictures would help? She's always had quite a few questions about what anthros worked like on the inside, might as well learn before having to live with them.
Half an hour later, she had her answer: Very close to how humans worked, just with more fur and a bit... wonkier extremities. Even the weird bits like paws and feet-things looked surprisingly similar once the fur and skin were taken away though.
As she neared the end of the section, she spotted some motion above the book. She slid it under her jacket for later reading, pulling out the notebook as Sam approached her with two other anthro boys who were following him, both obviously anxious.
She leaned back on the chair and tried to give them her best friendly impression as they neared, preparing for more writing.
***
The interviews went slow, Sam having to constantly intervene to calm the boys, Joshua and Jose, down. Riley didn't mind, it was relatively early in the day still, and the testimonies were worth their weight in gold, even if it took them both quite a bit of effort to get the boys to keep talking.
Joshua had to be helped with the signature since he didn't know how to write, Sam managing to convince him to just scribble something he could write again if needed. And while the idea of having testimony signed by a crude replica of the batman symbol was absurdly funny to her at some level, she did add a small note underneath that Joshua was illiterate, putting on the finishing touches on the nearly three hour long interview process, her hand cramping something fierce from overuse.
It was enough to get her hungry for sure, the nondescript vegetable mash of a lunch going down relatively smoothly as Riley planned her next step. She's had all the testimonies she'd need, guess now it's time to pack up and prepare the necessary tools before the night falls and her plan springs into action.
Realization that it was the last lunch she'd ever have at this place made her feel the slightest tinge of nostalgia before the aftertaste of the vegetable mash made itself apparent, dissolving any positive emotions towards the food being made here she might have had.
After making her way back to her room and stuffing the anatomy book into the canvas bag, she searched around her bed, trying to find all the little curios and trinkets she had once hid for future use. Bobby pins, some nails, empty refillable lighter, the rest of her old notebooks. Nothing staggering, but all useful trinkets at times, especially today. She took out the linen bag Rick had given her, stuffing it with her spare clothes and the book she'd taken from the reading room, figuring nobody would miss it anyway.
It was time to finally arrange the tomorrow's waking. She took the lighter and walked upstairs over to the boys' rooms, eventually managing to find the door with "WAKING SERVICES" written on it in permanent maker.
Riley rolled her eyes and knocked a couple times, a scrawny looking boy her weight peeking from behind, expression twitchy.
"Well hello hello, you must be Riley!"
"Spare me the ceremony, we both know what I'm here for. That a good payment?" She asked, lifting the lighter into view.
"Na-ah. Adoption days are free, so duncha worry about payment, jus'tell me the hour."
"Twenty to six. Can manage?"
"Pfffft, I could manage twenty to three if that's what you needed." He bragged, much prouder of his little establishment than he had any real reason to be.
"...alright? Need anything else?"
"Room and bunk, and make sure ta leave the door unlocked at night, else I can't do my duties."
"Two-Eleven, to the right after you enter the room, lower bunk."
"And that'd be all ma'am! Farewell on your new life!" He exclaimed, before shutting the door, leaving Riley standing there confused before an idea sprung into her mind.
Make sure to leave it unlocked, eh...
She made her way back to the ground floor, letting herself into the storage rooms, searching for replacement door locks, since the cheap ones got broken quite often from overuse. A flick of the light switch later she found herself inspecting the mechanism, not looking for ways to break it open, but for ways to break it shut.
And after some tinkering, something just like that had presented itself, the simplicity of the solution making Riley doubt herself for a bit, before grabbing one of the locks and a long, narrow nail from the tool box, testing her idea, grinning devillishly once it'd proven itself to work.
Soon she'd found the second part of her idea, a half emptied bottle of super glue, laying on its side on a wooden shelf. One drop of the glue and a sticky wooden scrap later, Riley left the storage room, smiling slyly to herself.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
What the fuck was she getting herself into.
***
All the tools were ready, and now she had to wait.
One, two, one, two, one, two.
Her punching session felt... weird. Of course, the physical activity made her mood improve as she blood rushed around her body, but at the same time, there was a sense of sadness to it all. Even as her own mind tried to whack the sad thoughts away, they just kept coming, drilling into her consciousness that she was finally leaving, to never come back.
What else could she do?
She pondered as she punched in the dark, the winter sun having long since set. What else could she do even in theory? It's not like she had that many tools available on her hands.
Can't change the world with a knife.
She kept going with her punches for a long while, her chilled mind running in circles as it struggled to think of anything up. It kept arriving at the same conclusion- no tools to do what she wanted to do, or not enough time left, or no opportunity.
No tools...
She kept trying to drill on that one idea as something deep in her subconscious kept tugging at it, denying her own thoughts. Even if she had tools, what would she use them on, and what tools even? It was like trying to build a tower by starting in mid air.
She needed a foundation, she needed a plan, she needed a-
Wall.
She stopped mid punch as her mind almost audibly clicked together, her eyes focusing on the far wall of the small courtyard. In the summer she could just barely make out old scraps of paint in the corners last remnants of what must have once been some sort of artwork, which has since worn off. Leaving only gray concrete, oh so befitting of this place.
That wall was visible from a lot of corridors on the upper floors, especially from ones connecting the bedrooms.
She had her canvas, now she needed paint.
After sneaking back into the storage room, she went through drawer after drawer, swearing there was a can of paint there at one point. She didn't bother much with stealth at this point, aside from dinner time the ground floor was virtually empty, most of the rooms for utility.
Besides, even if some tech did step in on her, they didn't get paid enough to care. Given the recent wage cuts, they might even just say fuck it and help her with her little project.
Thankfully, this scenario stayed only that, as she'd finally managed to find a can of red paint behind some old grease. One shake to confirm its contents later, and Riley was back on the courtyard, her spirits renewed despite the arrival of a blizzard.
Her artistic capabilities were... very rudimentary even with a pen, she'd never even held a can like that in her hand. Any drawings were out of the question... but not simple writing. But what could she even write here that would have the impact she wanted to have? It couldn't be a quote, and not just because she didn't know any.
It had to be very short, so that she could use large letters and make it readable from the above floors. It still wouldn't look *good*, but it would at least be intelligible.
Come on Riley, use your brain or something.
What would she want to hear? What would she want to be reminded of every day when looking outside?
With a deep breath of the blizzard air, she looked up and started writing, ambient light from the floors above making it just barely visible. Much to her joy, she managed to fit the entire thing in one line without having to squeeze the letters in, even leaving herself enough space to add an exclamation mark at the end.
She stepped back and took a look at her creation, or at least tried to, being forced to squint to even make out the red paint on almost completely dark wall. After a few minutes more of freezing outside as she inspected her masterpiece, she decided it to be good enough and ran back inside, dusting off all the dry snow that had accumulated on her jacket.
'''
IT DOES GET BETTER!
'''
She was so into her little showoff she forgot just how cold it had been all this time, feeling like she was thawing out of being encased in an ice block as she almost stepped into the cafeteria while still holding the paint can. A brief recourse to dispose of the evidence later, she went to grab her last supper, the microwaved dumplings succeeding at warming her insides even if they didn't impress her tongue.
A glance at the clock sped her heart up, it was almost eight by now. Just an hour from her plan, but it's not like it was particularly time sensitive, all that mattered is that it was late, dark, and quiet. She quickly wrapped up the dinner and went back to her room, preparing herself to do the impossible.
But first, shower, the last thing she wanted was to stink tomorrow, and she had a sneaking suspicion that underneath the numbing cold she was reeking.
She grabbed the last clean set of underwear she still had, along with the least worn tee and headed for the showers, the other girls... stepping out of her way once they saw her? Regardless whether it was mockery or respect, she wasn't the one to say no to skipping the queue, getting into one of the stalls and probing the water, thankfully it was at least slightly warm today, the numbness in her fingers finally subsiding.
She took her time, cleaning herself more thoroughly than she was used to, wanting to make the absolute best proper first impression she could, despite limited... everything.
Fifteen minutes later she was about as clean as she was ever going to be, relaxing as the water cleansed her hair from leftover foam, until she was interrupted by...
Silence.
She closed her eyes and focused her hearing, trying to make out any sounds besides that of her running water. It was the middle of the showering time, there was no way she was actually alone in here, there were like 7 girls already waiting in line when she stepped in, and she couldn't recall hearing the characteristic croak of the old pipes being forced to start delivering water again from other stalls.
She slowly turned off the shower and tried to dry herself as quietly as possible, listening out for any quieter sounds. This time she could hear soft steps, whispers, not far from her stall, was someone about to ambush her? What was happening?
She took a deep breath and steeled herself for any possibility, wiping herself off and putting on the cleanest clothes she had, readying her switchblade just in case.
Here we go.
Riley opened the door to a shared soft gasp from the outside, stepping back into the bathroom to see...
The majority of the girls living in here that she could recognize, all of them looking over at her.
She was dumbfounded by the sight, having no idea whether she was gonna be eaten or revered, so vastly outnumbered it didn't even make sense to keep her knife readied. She crossed her arms under her chest, eventually finally asking-
"What's going on?"
The mass of girls, human and anthro looked away at one of the older girls, Luca, just a few months younger than Riley as she stepped forward.
"Riley, we just wanted to say... well, thank you. For everything."
Riley took a moment to close her eyes, trying to clear the hostility from her face before looking around once more, meaning more to every girl here than she could ever know. She then nodded, smiling at Luca, as she spoke up herself.
"You're welcome, all of you. I might not have been the most talkative of the bunch, but... I hope I made it, this whole mess, just a bit more tolerable for you all."
"You have, you have no idea just how much..."
The words made Riley's eyes just a bit wetter as she walked closer to Luca, who seemed to be extending her arms for a hug, making Riley raise her eyebrow for just a moment, before she gave herself a mental 'screw it' and went in for it, holding Luca tightly.
She opened her eyes as she felt an arm around her back, and then another, feeling like she was gently pushed into from all directions. A quick glance confirmed her suspicion- guess everybody really did want to join in on the group hug, the sight of dozens of tweens and kids wanting to give her a goodbye hug making Riley's heart melt. She closed her eyes again, just enjoying this unexpected, but oh so welcome moment.
The hug went on for a minute or so, a wobbly rhythm eventually developing as the mass rocked back and forth, a yawn or two slipping out from some of the younger participants.
After being freed, she looked around to see most of the girls sharing her damp eyes, most of them smiling as they looked up at her.
No, not at. Looked up to her.
After a few more moments Luca broke the stalemate, calling out to everyone present-
"Alright girls, we all need some sleep, especially Riley! Let's all give her our goodbyes, on three, one, two-"
The room erupted into a cacophony of every girl saying something different simultaneously, but Riley couldn't help but giggle at it all, the entire thing coming at her out of the left field.
Once the last echo had cleared out, it was Riley's turn to say goodbyes-
"Take care girls. As... hollow as this may sound, I promise you all that things will get better, maybe even sooner than you think. Don't lose hope, despite how much this place wants to take it away from you. I hope I'll see you all again some time, in a... better place than this."
And with that, she headed for the door, the girls stepping aside to let her through as she left to a chorus of "Take care Riley!" and similar calls, heading for her room.
***
Preparation was the easy step after all. It was one thing to think up a mad plan, it was another to actually go with it. "'Could' and 'Would' are two different things."
Rick's words echoed through her mind as she stood in front of the secretary room in shadow, illuminated only by the reflected light from the floor below. She's been trying to drill the door lock open with her eyes for the best part of last half hour, too afraid to step any further.
She could still go back, forget about her dumb idea and just go to sleep. She could just slide the notebook under the door into the secretary room, hoping they wouldn't be as... bureaucratic as to just sweep it und- oh of course they would.
The jolt of anger gave her the push she needed to kneel in front of the door, pulling out her knife and a bobby pin, looking the first about a centimeter in or so into the keyhole, the small blade fitting well enough to leave space for the bobby pin.
Riley slid it in next to the knife, having scraped off most of the rubber coating to make it fit, listening intently as she started to slide the pin back and forth, putting pressure on the knife to turn it away from the-
*Click*
Huh. That was easy.
With the door now opened and inviting her in, she wasted no time, turning on the light and taking a look around, the room's layout only superficially recognizable. After a bit of consideration, she sat down in front of the computer closest to the scanner and pressed Enter on the keyboard, waiting for something to happen.
After a few seconds of the old desktop struggling to get its fans back to life, the monitor lit up to a login screen, asking for a password.
Riley sat in silence, trying to figure out what the password would be. She tried "password", then "password1", then "oakwood", but it didn't gave in. Riley was getting upset, her plan crashing down at the dumbest step... until she noticed a small text underneath the input box.
'''
Hint: top right
'''
She was dumbfounded by this. What did 'top right' mean? She was about ready to try a different PC, before she noticed a yellow post-it sticking to the top right of the monitor, its contents self explanatory:
'''
december password: YAV4zL1C
'''
Sure enough, a few confused taps on the keyboard later she was let right into the system, free to do as she pleased. That is, if she had an idea how to proceed. The lessons she thought she remembered from the middle school were crumbling into the dust the moment she tried to make use of them, looking around the desktop in confusion, before finally spotting an icon she recognized.
With Internet Explorer now open she at least could ask the internet for help-
"how do i scan notebooks"
The rabbit hole of search after search that followed took Riley more time than she'd anticipated, with having to figure out what kind and model of a scanner printer- thing it was, but in the end she had a rough plan of action. She managed to find the printer manager, selected the one and only printer, pressed "Scan Multiple Manually" and got up, walking to the beast of a machine, which had chirrled to life in the meantime.
With some effort she lifted the scanner cover up and slid her notebook in, opened on the first testimony, before letting the heavy cover fall back down, her attention shifting to the LCD display underneath. With a press of an onscreen button, the machine rumbled awake, the nose making Riley worry about attracting attention.
She glanced over at the PC screen, checking to see how the scan went... before reaching in and turning the notebook around, since for some reason it'd scanned upside down. She pressed the 'scan' button again and again, reaching in and flipping over a page every time, making sure all of it was legible.
What in her anxiety felt like most of the night, but in reality was barely half an hour of scanning later she was finally done, pressing the 'finish' button and sitting back down, when she heard footsteps up stairs approach, her body freezing, before she hid under the desk that faced the door, waiting for the inevitable.
The steps stopped in front of the door to the secretary room, a gruff voice she recognized as one of the janitors calling out-
"Didn't the boss tell you you're not allowed to go in and just scan shit after hours? Guess if you're here this late it must be urgent, whatever. Just clean up after yourself when you're done so nobody bitches at us." -before walking away and downstairs, swiping the floor behind himself.
Riley stayed still until she could no longer hear his footsteps, her heart finally starting to slow down. That was a close call she absolutely didn't want to repeat, her motivation renewed to get this done as fast as she could.
After sifting through the icons on the desktop she managed to locate Outlook and make a new email, having to look up instructions in the other window every few seconds. She added all the scans as attachments, before moving to add the subject, typing it in all caps-
'''
TESTIMONY OF ONGOING ABUSE AT OAKWOOD CHILD CARE CENTER
'''
Hopefully it was eyecatchy enough. It was time for all the recipients, Riley going through the address book and adding everything that she thought would make the case louder- the headmaster himself, the local police department, hospital, the county office, all sorts of fun.
At the last moment she thought of something to spice it up even further, searching for local and county newspapers, adding their contact emails to the recipient list, the more the merrier.
With one last checkup she made sure that the scans were all legible, surprised by just how many pixels they had up close, and moved the mouse cursor over to the 'Send' button, taking a long breath before slamming it hard.
So... that was dealt with.
After taking a few moments for adrenaline to leave her system she closed all the windows and logged out, getting up and sliding all the chairs back in, almost forgetting to take her notebook back with her before turning off the lights and leaving the room, ensuring that the door was locked once more before slipping downstairs, to take care of the second part of her plan.
Bruce was one of the few privileged enough to live inside a one person room, its tiny size wouldn't even let them fit a bunk in. All the older kids were envious of the boys who got to take one of the solo rooms, for... obvious reasons.
It was just perfect from Riley's point of view, however, as she approached his room, tentatively pushing down on the door handle to make sure it's locked, a slight rattling satisfying her. She took out the long, narrow nail she found earlier that day and gave it a solid coating of the super glue, before sliding it into the keyhole all the way in, quickly wiping her fingers away before the glue cured.
After a minute or so she tried pushing on the door handle again, this time it wouldn't bulge at all, much to Riley's glee. She took a look around to make sure nobody was around to have seen that, quietly whispering into the new jammed keyhole-
"Sweet dreams, piece of shit." -before getting up and walking downstairs, the sheer impact of her actions having not yet hit her sleepy mind.
Inside her room she found a surprise- a wrapped package on her bed, a small bundle wrapped in brown paper, with a scrap of paper on top of it-
'''
Meant to give it to you in the bathroom but forgot, it's from all of us
Luca
'''
Riley almost wanted to open it there and then, before a loud yawn swept the thought from her mind, the bundle placed inside the canvas bag along with her notebook.
The mystery could be explained tomorrow, but now she was almost falling asleep sitting up, exhaustion taking over as adrenaline left her system.
Holy fuck she actually did it.
The grin refused to wash away from her face as she took off her clothes and slipped into the sleeping bag, the warmth only making her feel better about herself as she dozed off, a smile not leaving her face even as she was deep in slumber.