1 Chapter 1

Hearing the words "the cleaners are coming" citizens believed they must have been hearing things. The cleaners had not stepped foot in Olson territory for centuries, yet such bold words had been declared. In an instant worldly ideals were lost it did not matter whether you had the largest wealth, you were on equal footing with the rest.

The cleaners were rumoured not to be discriminative, all they did was cleanse what they called 'sinners'. Anyone could be deemed a sinner for many reasons, for no one was purely good.

At least that is what many had previously proclaimed, until the cleaners did arrive and left one single person standing. Her name was Ivory daughter of the top officials in town. Some say the cleaner who had received her as a target took pity on her, while others believe she truly was a pure individual.

Ivory now resides in a hospital room, where she refuses to speak a single word. Reporters tried and failed to communicate with her, and being the sole survivor of her city drew much attention. This soon died down as the world realised she would never tell them what had occurred that dreadful day.

The girl went through psychologist after psychologist but to no avail. She sat on her bed and stared at a nearby wall, almost as if she were waiting for someone. This was her life day after day until relatives learned of her whereabouts and requested to see her.

It had seemed she no longer trusted outsiders, as she was reported to have communicated with these family members. Doctors were shocked at this occurrence, believing she no longer possessed the basic skill.

What was even more shocking, however, was the change in behaviour around those she deemed impure. Members of the public believed she herself had become a cleaner, with the way she composed herself.

Although cousins compared talking to Ivory to talking to an elder, the visits seemed to be improving her.

"Dr Isles I understand you want to release her to her grandparents, but is that truly smart?"

Doctors spent many meetings arguing about whether they should release Ivory or not. Some agreed that she must spend time with her remaining family if she has any chance of recovering, whilst others viewed her as a threat. The reason for these beliefs could stem from her misbehaviours.

The girl would often call for assistance and when they arrived, she would frighten them: leading to the resignation of three nurses so far. The media found this story interesting, a girl could be scary without speech. It was a fascinating phenomenon that many wished to witness. As a result, many doctors wished to be rid of her, even if she was still in need of treatment.

"There is nothing else we can offer her"

Dr Isles was the best of the best and yet he thought her hopeless.

"We can only pray her family reach her."

With that declaration and the knowledge Ivory would only speak to insiders, she was set free.

From then on a silent rule was set in stone, the girl was not to be provoked: no one was to mention 'retribution day' around Ivory.

Many walked around her on eggshells, she became ostracised at school and at home.

This was due to her new character: the 17-year-old would stare blank-faced at teachers when asked to contribute, and during class discussions when asked a simple question she would glare at the person with a smile described as being insidious.

The first real insight into the girls' thoughts came from a creative writing task.

As instructed she poured her heart out onto the pages, in order to help better her writing.

The end result revealed what had truly happened that one day.

However, she tore them apart and instead left words that she felt could be revealed to others.

The page read the alarming words,

Not over yet

Why are they not panicking?

He warned me, communicate with the righteous he said. I won't let it happen again.

Ms Temaza was left dumbfounded, she knew of the girls' history, but the words felt hollow and true. Goosebumps erupted across her skin, which she decided to ignore as she stuffed the page into the rest of the pile, forgetting to give the girl a grade.

This would turn out to be common between the student and teacher duo, as Ms Temaza feared Ivory and what she represented: an impossible threat reached her town, one could not help but wonder whether the bearer of this was Ivory herself.

Thus, many grew weary of the girl.