Beneath the ever so silent and pale morning skies that should've been blue, at the corner of a greenish field of grass sitting at the confines of four thick concrete walls and surrounded by wide and towering rust-colored buildings, there was a woman who smiled at her cup of tea as she sat on a chair at the porch of her huge old mansion. She closed her eyes, letting the smooth wind caress her wrinkled skin under her ashen long-sleeved dress with the tip of its hem almost touching the wooden flooring that caught the worn-out soles of her leather boots. With a lighthearted sigh, she pulled the corners of her lips to form a sweet smile as she shifted her weight to make her brown rocking chair creak as it moved back and forth. There, with another breath that added to the warmth welling up in her chest, she welcomed the scene of her children playing at her lawn, looking like grazing cows in silence that blurred the barbed-wire fences in the distance from her view.
"Goodmorning, Grandma Mabel," a voice came from behind her. It made her hold her breath and push the corners of her lips to widen his grin.
Mabel turned her head a moment later as she brushed the side of her gray hair with the tip of her finger. She saw the bright blue eyes of a blonde short-haired girl move past from their mansions' dark broken doors and its dirt-colored walls. The girl gave her a polite bow with her skirt spread to her sides and one of her legs behind the other.
"A good morning to you too, Margaret, have you, by chance, checked the other kids inside?" Mabel muttered sweetly before she sent her eyes back to the other children wearing the same white pajamas as their uniform in the distance.
"Which ones, Grandma?" Margaret replied, slowing down her words as though she was grinning, still with the hint of uncertainty behind her tone. "The last time I checked, they were banging their heads to this radio while screaming 'I'm already Tracer.' To be frank, I don't know what's happening."
Mabel let out a chuckle, setting her view to the kid who appeared to be playing catch with the others as they passed through another group of children who also seemed to be dancing, although they were sharing a coffin that was held upon their shoulders. "Of course, I do want to know if our children are having fun, but have they eaten their breakfast already?"
"I believe Darlene was in charge of them today, she might have led the other children to the dungeons below to have their fair share of sustenance, although some kids, especially some of the younger ones, were still sleeping," Margaret replied, sharing Mabel's view and soon seeing the kids in the distance push each other. "It was a rough night, they played with strip rock paper scissors but they ended up ripping their skins off too."
"Thank you, Margaret," Mabel replied sweetly, letting out a chuckle a moment later as soon as she saw one of the kids kicking the head of his playmate as the others laughed. "That reminds me, how many did we lose yesterday?"
Margaret smiled. "We have lost three kids yesterday; one of them has disappeared completely while the other two... we have successfully adopted them into our loving family." She looked at the kids fighting on their lawn. "Yep, they're fitting in."
Mabel continued to watch the kids from afar, now appearing as though the one who got kicked in the head managed to stand up and push his playmate towards the ground. It looked like he was choking the other as some of the kids began to cheer at them with their little fists raised into the air. "I trust that we've been taking care of those…"
"Yes, Grandma Mabel, we've been treating them with extra care, especially with the little cuts and some lashes," Margaret replied with her confidence delivering the tone of her voice. "But still, I couldn't say that about the others. The other grown-ups that we've been gathering were dying rather quickly, and it seems that our kids were being too harsh on them." She puffed her cheeks and shook her head. Then, with a heavy sigh, she shrugged and followed, "We've already lost three men and a single woman yesterday… all of them managed to pass on too, such a shame…"
"Indeed, it shows how angry they are but no matter, it's not like we could do anything about it anymore. It that's where their desires are anchored, there's nothing that should be done except to fulfill it," Mabel added, following the movements of the kid in the distance as he struggled from the clutches of another boy gripping his throat. "I believe that we'll be getting more soon, so that should not matter at the moment."
"Ah, yes, Miss Harper said that she would be moving in the day after tomorrow with a fresh batch of humans taken from a nearby town—" She broke her words with a chuckle. "I'm… I'm sorry…" She looked away from the fighting kids in the distance who now appeared to be biting each other as the crowd around them continued to revel at their fight. Margaret giggled and after clearing her throat, she followed, "It… It appears that they have caught a reaper too."
"They are getting close, I wonder what the Convent is doing about this," Mabel commented after a short laugh as she saw the kid in the distance tear his playmate's thumb away from his hand before spitting it out. The other child screamed in pain but then, he smiled and pulled himself up to kick his friend down. "I am not going to lie," she added with a frown as she turned her head to look at Margaret. Then, with her words sounding more of a protest, she followed, "They keep on doing this! Honestly, Margaret, I'm telling you, I'm starting to fear for our children's safety."
Margaret laughed and after a second, Mabel joined her until a shadow of a shy child creeping behind their old doorframe caught her attention. This made her stand up from her rocking chair as Margaret stepped back so she could get a full view. There, Mabel smiled once more and asked, "What is it, sweetie?"
The little boy lowered his chin and with his puffed cheeks that wriggled as he hesitated, he muttered, "Sis-sister Darlene asked me to call you…"
Mabel smiled and walked towards the kid before she knelt down so she could match his eye level. There, she patted the boy's head with her wrinkled hand and tilted her head. "For?"
The boy mirrored her expression with his big brown eyes and replied, "Sister told me to tell you that… the Do… the Doorman is here and he had some serious news…"
"I see, good work sweetie, now go join the others and play outside okay?" Mabel said, seeing the kid as he jumped over the broken fences of their porch a moment later. Soon, she turned to Margaret with a serious gaze and added, "Please take care of the kids for me," she pleaded as she got up from her knees. "Don't forget to tell me if something bad happened. I'll just head down for now and meet him."
"I understand, Grandma Mabel, please do take care." Margaret bowed the same way she did earlier, stealing a glance at her side to see the two children tearing the skin off of their faces with their nails and teeth as Mabel went through the door. "I'll make sure that I'll do my best to keep these kids safe so you could tread on with your mind unburdened."
"Thank you very much, Margaret," Mabel muttered as she stepped into her mansion. She met its familiar scent of old paper that made her stare happily at the run-down and dimly-lit brick walls of the halls stretching to her far sides. She straightened her back and raised her chin with her sharp gaze as she moved towards the middle of the room after hearing a few distant giggles. Taking her eyes off from the old grand stairs of her mansion that led to the upper floors, she proceeded to their empty kitchen where she met another set of concrete stairs that took her underground.
She kept going with her steps clicking through the rough cold floors until she met another plain hall of concrete only lit by a few lamps hanging by its set of few heavy metallic doors. Mabel moved on, still carrying that same grace as though someone was watching her back and after a moment, the third silver door from the end of the hall was opened. It revealed another young long-haired girl that wore a dress of the same color and look as her clothes. The young girl peered at her with her sharp brown eyes with a wide smile as she gave her a polite bow, careful not to let the patch of dirt, grass, and flowers fall down from the tray in her hands.
"Goodmorning, Grandma Mabel," she said with the tone of her voice sounding so sweet.
"A good morning to you too, Darlene," Mable replied with a hearty laugh as she moved her head from the tray in her hands. "How are the humans?"
"Well... " Darlene looked away before letting out a soft giggle. "We lost a few humans yesterday… so I figured that I would get early and see if I could take care of them and give them some food…"
"That's very sweet Darlene, how is it going so far?" Mabel patted her head, not minding the sudden burst of screams coming from the set of metal doors around them.
"Oh, I…" She looked down and chuckled once more. Then, after a moment of hesitation, she raised her head and looked at her to return her inquiring gaze with a bright smile, saying, "Some of them told me that they could not eat this, so as a big sister, I pulled their mouths open and shoved this down their throat!" She laughed and tilted her head. "They were giving me tears of their joy! Grandma Mabel, would you believe that what I had right now was once a sack of dirt?! Oh, they loved it, Grandma Mabel, I'm so sure that they loved it!"
Mabel raised her eyebrows to give her a look of genuine affection as though she was proud. "Oh, I'm sure they did, sweetie, because if not, they wouldn't be so silent! But I do have to apologize for now because I have a more pressing matter to discuss, is the Doorman already here?"
"Ye-yes, Grandma Mabel, he's waiting for you there…" Darlene replied with a saddened tone as though something weighed down her chest.
Mabel cupped her chin. "Don't be saddened, sweetie, we'll talk about it later, okay?"
"O-okay, Grandma Mabel," she replied still with her head down but one could see that there was a smile starting to form on her cheeks.
"That's a promise so now, move along and be well. Help Margaret take care of the kids and wait for my return." Mabel patted her head once more and looked at the patch of dirt in front of her. "Also, can I have this?"
"Sure, what for, Grandma Mabel?" Darlene furrowed her brows.
"Oh, it's just to help our Doorman out." She grabbed some dirt and turned it into a ball in her hand. With that, she gave her goodbyes and strode forward, setting her eyes towards the wooden door at the end of the hall with a smile.