April 13, 1978
Carmen tried to fall asleep, but when he heard Theo walking towards the door, he quietly got up. Following through the hall downstairs, they soon arrived at the library. He watched as Theo paced around the room in desperation, eventually sitting down with his back against one of the bookshelves, his hands rubbing his face. Carmen approached him slowly.
"What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" he asked softly.
Theo watched as Carmen settled next to him, and they sat in silence for a while.
"Does it have something to do with Ethan?" Carmen asked, his voice trembling with emotion.
"I…" Theo began, his gaze drifting away. He explained the situation with Ethan that had happened about half a month ago. "Why am I even telling you all this," he immediately added after finishing, regretting opening up.
"It's okay," Carmen reassured him. "Wait, are you crying?" he added, noticing the tears that had welled up in his eyes.
"What? No, I was cutting onions here but you interrupted me".
Carmen narrowed his eyes. "And what happened to the onions, where are they?"
"I ate them all, obviously" Theo's voice was shaking but it began to slowly fix as if it was stitched and he was smiling, his eyes still wet.
Carmen smiled too.
"Thank you," Theo paused before continuing. "For listening".
"No problem," the smile hasn't left yet. "Maybe it's best if we try to get some rest," he suggested gently, rising to his feet and extending a hand to Theo.
At first, Theo hesitated, his mind still clouded with thoughts of Ethan and the mysterious portal. But seeing the genuine concern in Carmen's eyes, he nodded silently and accepted the offered hand.
After Theo stood up, Carmen released his hand and gave him a smile. Silently, they returned to the room without attracting any attention.
April 14, 1978
Carmen noticed the wind outside first thing in the morning when he woke up. He reached beneath his bed and took out his notebook. He occasionally looked at Theo to check on him as he was drawing some cats. However, he heard the bell ringing before he should have, signaling that breakfast was ready. Odd, since the sun hadn't even risen. Everyone was awoken by its sound.
From his bed, Carmen called out to Theo, "Theo." Carmen approached Theo after he had not answered, saying, "Hey, is it usual that breakfast is this early here?".
Theo slowly began to open his eyes. "What," he rubbed his eyes. "Breakfast is at half past seven, I told you yesterday, remember".
They heard the bell once more. Then the sound of kids getting out of their rooms, muttering to themselves as they're confused, and coming downstairs. Carmen and Theo joined them without another word.
Theo sat next to Eileen, glancing towards her for a moment. Carmen sat beside them.
Mrs. Alice, Mrs. Agnes's assistant entered the room almost right away. It wasn't strange that she was here instead of Mrs. Agnes because she frequently took Mrs. Agnes's position on the weekends. She looked around the room to make sure nobody was gone. There was only a single empty seat.
Mrs. Alice shouted, "Please, silence," she took a deep breath. "I understand that everyone must be confused, yet peculiar things happened yesterday. While washing the kitchen's rear wall alone, Lily vanished".
In fright, everyone began to speak.
"Silence," she shouted once again. The room went quiet. "Please take additional caution until we get some further details. We're not sure if she managed to escape or what happened. The program is canceled for today, and breakfast will be served now," with that she left the room leaving the kids to talk about what had occurred.
"I have a bad feeling that what had happened to Ethan happened to Lily too." Theo said with worry on his face.
Eileen objected, "But we don't know anything about Ethan or Lily."
The thought that Ethan might not be alive made Theo seemingly a bit upset.
"Theo, I didn't mean to," Eileen stroked his shoulder.
"It's okay," he assured Eileen.
Everyone was buried in their own thoughts during this unusually quiet meal. Theo and Carmen returned back to their room after breakfast.
Theo said, "I'll take a quick nap," before turning in for his rest.
Carmen simply turned to face him while he kept drawing his drawings. After several hours, Carmen attempted to sleep as well, but all he did was lie in bed and shift between drawing and falling asleep. After around five hours, Theo eventually woke up.
"You managed to sleep through lunch," claimed Carmen.
Theo chuckled. "What's in the notebook you're holding?" Theo questioned with curiosity. Carmen answered, glancing down at his sketchbook.
"Just my sketchbook".
Theo extended his hand, gesturing for Carmen to give it to him.
Carmen had done some stunning sketches that Theo found impressive as he thumbed through his sketchbook. And then Theo suddenly stopped at a page. Pointing at a creature that seemed like a creature he saw before.
"Hey, what's that?" he asked.
"Just some hallucination I saw when I lived with my parents."
Theo turned to face the creature again, focusing on its long arms and legs and noticing its eyes with endless holes in them and its slender appearance. Lost in thought, Theo chose not to speak, but Carmen could tell by the look on his face that it made him think of something. And he was aware of what that something was.
Later that day when it was almost dark and practically everyone was asleep, except for Theo and Carmen.
"I think I have a headache," Theo said. "I'll ask for some medication from the nurse. I'll return soon".
With a nod, Carmen returned his attention to his sketches.
As Theo made his way downstairs he stopped by a corner and hid behind it. From there, he spotted Mrs. Alice standing next to Mrs. Agnes conversing with an elderly-looking man who was dressed elegantly in a suit. attempting to not make a noise.
"Great," Mrs. Agnes admitted. "Are you aware of what you have done? The kids aren't allowed to learn about other worlds or creatures," she yelled at Mrs. Alice. "Theo seeing the entrance is bad enough."
In an attempt to defend herself, Mrs. Alice asked, "And what should I have said?".
"All right. Kill her," Mrs. Agnes instructed flatly, turning to nod to the man dressed in a suit.
He pulled Mrs. Alice into an area down to the basement that Theo was blind to.
Theo, shaking, quietly walked back to the room. Still trembling, he approached Carmen.
Without delay, Carmen got out of bed and asked Theo, "Are you okay?" before helping him to sit down on his bed.
With a shaken in his body, Theo said. "Mrs. Agnes, she simply. She murdered Mrs. Alice. It wasn't a dream; she was lying to me. Ethan disappeared the same way as Lily.."
"What?" Carmen asked, just confused as Theo was.