VII. Apry's Will

Apry is the first to speak.

“Mayth’s market is gone. It is time for us to work together. There were times when the races were moments to prove to others that we could survive on our own. This time is over.”

Apry is the fastest of us all and has the sturdiest mind.
She always wins the races and is one of the rare few able to eat every day.
She plays fair, never steals from a monthling, nor trades with Mayth.
All she has ever done, ever since I knew her, was race and earn her meals.

Although, the last race was different. For a reason she did not mention, she failed to cross the dining-room door.

“I don’t know in which state we’ll retrieve Decy and Mayth,” she continues,

“But they won’t be able to race tomorrow. We need to-”

“You heartless low pitched.” Jurny interrupts her.

“Marc died yesterday, Decy’s tongue has just been cut in front of our eyes, Mayth’s market was discovered meaning that we won’t have bandages, food bars, or wax for our boxes, and all you do is brag about this race?”

He catches his breath.

“I…” She tries to speak.

“Yes, YOU! Always YOU, as it always has been, right? The fastest, healthiest, pretty Apry.”

He turns to face us all.

“Oh, but she is right. Maybe tomorrow we will be able to eat together if we help each other, right? And the race after, and the one following, right?”

“Jurny, I am just try-”

“Trying to help? Like you did with Marc?”

Apry lowers her head in shame.

Jurny was Marc’s roommate. His loss must be hard to simply swallow.

“Not that it’s entirely your fault after all. Our little princess had to push him away from your helping hand.”

I look at him, unaware of what he is talking about. He does the same, his eyes tainted with hatred.

Apry raises her head ,

“Jurny stop! We don’t have to blame anyone! We are all hungry and we all need to eat somehow, she did not do it on purpose!”

She is trying to defend my cause.

“Oh, she is right,”

he bows toward me.

“Oh my princess, I beg you to pardon me. May I wash your beautiful dress to cleanse you-”

The dining room unlocks and opens. Jurny gets up and quickly returns to line.
The Lady’s apron is cleaner than usual.
The stove is still lit and a cooking pot rests on it. She points toward the room.

“All inside.”

We are all stunned by the request and walk toward the entrance.
Inside, the scent of harebell stew fills the room. A loaf of bread sits at the center of the wooden table the winners usually eat at.

“Sit.”

We all obey as if our lives depend on that specific order. While settling down, we all look at each other.
My first concern is the lack of blood anywhere I look; yet we all heard what happened inside this room.

The Lady in Apron retrieves plates and gives one to every monthling.
Mayth and Decy are nowhere to be seen.
She takes the pot off the fire and serves stew into each monthling’s plate. She then cuts a slice of bread for everyone.

“Eat.”

We all obey without a single question. For some, it is the first meal they have had in a week.
All that can be heard are spoons scraping plates, mouths drinking, and teeth cracking against dry bread.
This might be a dream. I hope it is not, but it feels unreal.
Apry does not touch her plate. She lifts her chin and breaks the silence.

“Lady, where are Mayth and Decy?”

The Lady in Apron turns toward her.
We all stop eating, believing that Apry has just dug her own grave.

“The tailor will come tomorrow to prepare you for the annual tuning ceremony. There will be no food cooked. You all need to be nourished for this occasion. If you do not want your plate, you may give it to another monthling.”

The Lady in Apron avoids her question by announcing a more important event.
The tailor will come.
Every year he comes to our orphanage to inspect our music boxes and their condition.
He also owns a measuring device allowing him to inspect the tuning of our strings.
He is the one who renews our clothes as well if they are damaged enough to require replacement.

The tailor is always different each year and bound by strict rules:

Never talk to the orphans.
Replace only damaged clothing.
And never take an orphan that is in tune enough for the ceremony.

After the inspection, he and the Lady in Apron discuss the orphanage and other confidential subjects away from us.

Six years have passed since my arrival and I have never attended the ceremony.
I rarely use my voice nor my note, so my string does not detune.
Every year, the tailor usually refuses to take me, so I remain at the orphanage.

Apry eats the stew and, once finished, asks again.

“Lady, where are Mayth and Decy?”

Her tone is not one of command. She adjusts it carefully enough to hide her anger.

The Lady in Apron grabs the back of Apry’s neck, opens the door, and throws her outside. She uses her box to lock it.

“Would anyone else like to know?”

We all lower our eyes toward our plates and finish eating. None of us would risk wasting a single drop of it.

Once everyone is done, we gather our plates and the Lady in Apron lets us leave, locking the door behind us.

Apry is gone; we all return to our daily chores.

Mine is to clean all the rooms on the first floor. In order to do so, I need to fetch a broom and some old cloths from mine.
I walk toward the stairs and glance at my footprints on the planks, then at the traces on the walls, before climbing upward.

My chest hurts. Each step is a challenge I must face, a weak punishment for what I have done.

In the end, here I am, standing in the cellar, alone.
Decy was never much of a presence, yet he was still there.

I walk toward the boxes at the back of our room and hear the door close behind me.

“See, there’s a little something I’m missing there.”

Jurny is blocking the door.

“Decy tried to defend himself, naturally, but something felt off, don’t you think?”

“What is the meaning of-”

He interrupts me.

“No, no, no. There is definitely something off about this situation. He tried to point at something, or someone, and began to speak by saying something quite similar to the word: she, I believe…”

He stares at me and slowly begins walking closer.

“You’re his roommate. You two speak together and all that. Didn’t he tell you anything about that in particular?” He asks.

“I will be straightforward, Jurny. I do not know anything about that matter and, as far as I am concerned, I am not the only she in this orphanage, am I now?”

I try to appear as natural as possible and hide my lies behind his own tone.

“Right, right. I just wanted to make sure. Understand me, you are the only one who didn’t get inspected, and Decy was immediately accused… The Apron Lady even cut his tongue right as he was about to speak… That would be a very good opportunity if someone else did it, don’t you think?”

He stops walking, waiting for my answer.

“Decy is not as talkative as you try to picture him. He is naturally shy and speaks only when necessary. Fear and stress make him stutter and the Lady in Apron has always hated that,”

I answer.

I then lower my gaze.

“She cut his tongue because she demanded the impossible from him,” I continue, now staring directly into his eyes.

“I do not quite understand what the intrusion into my room is supposed to mean, but if it is to threaten me, then at least have the audacity to do it properly.”

I walk until I stand directly in front of his face.

He looks surprised by my attitude.

“You’ve grown bolder since the first days of your arrival here, princess. Be careful about who you want to bite.”

The door opens again. Apry enters the room.

“That’s enough, you two. We’ve been through too much for today.”

Apry grabs Jurny’s shoulder.

Jurny turns, pushes Apry slightly and leaves.

“See ya, princess.”

Apry is about to leave as well but, before she does, she turns around.

“He went too far,” she begins to say.

“I thank you for your interve-”

She cuts my sentence short.

“Although there is truth in some of his words.”

She looks disappointed and sad.
After saying that, she closes the door and leaves.

After a moment of standing still and letting the rays of the sun warm my face, I walk towards the boxes and return to my chores.