CHAPTER SIX

“Absolutely not!” Odelia screamed so loudly that they all shushed. Her.

“Don’t be so loud.”

“Be quiet.”

“Odelia!”

“Sorry,” she muttered.

“But her? Absolutely not. Never in a million years!” She yelled and almost immediately Eliana slapped her mouth hard.

None of the girl were happy knowing that Addilyn let Birdie join their group. It was Birdie Beatrice Posey. He most horrible person at St. Grace Home for Young Women.

Who would even let her join?

Why would they even?

Addilyn and her friends began to argue and fight about it while Birdie stood in the corner watching them. She smirked when Addilyn defended her and frowned when the girls said something horrible to and about her. Smirked when Addilyn defended her and smiled when the girls finally gave in and let her join.

Birdie walked closer to them but Addilyn raised her hands making her stop and lift up her eyebrows in confusion.

“One thing… you can’t boss Beatrice around,” Addilyn said.

“With us you’re not head girl,” Eliana added.

“And we won’t be your pets,” Odelia said firmly.

“OK,” was all Birdie could say back. It wasn’t going to be hard. She could hold her tongue when she had to and her anger too. It wouldn’t be hard. She at least owed them her sanity, she needed to be a better person and this was the only right way to go. They stood and watched each other awkwardly thinking of what to do next.

“What now?” Saffron asked.

Addilyn cleared her throat and they all turned to her.

“I guess we put the plan in motion.”

And then they started planning. They talked about everything, fought about some things and agreed on others. They had trouble setting up a date for when they leave, mostly because Addilyn was scared out of her mind and couldn’t stop herself from thinking about all the bad things that could happen.

Getting caught and being sent away, successfully escaping and dying on the way or getting there to nothing. It had been almost a month since she got the letter, she worried she’d taken a long time without doing anything. She felt too trapped or maybe even too afraid. Maybe that was why when the bad things happened, she still couldn’t leave. She worried that that if they left now nothing would probably be there.

“Three days from now,” Addilyn said out of nowhere.

The girls looked at her in confusion.

“Huh?” Eliana said.

“We leave… three days from now,” Addilyn repeated.

“We’re enough now we could even leave today if we could but Eliana hasn’t spoken to Ollie and we have no money and there is still a lot we need to plan.”

“So in three days we do it all,” Addilyn said with a determined look on her face.

Everything began to fall into place, Eliana spoke to Ollie and he agreed.

He was to be out at midnight with a carriage patiently waiting for them. Odelia had stolen the orphanage timetable which was helpful because she was able to figure out the perfect time for them to escape.

“10.00” she had said.

“Everybody’s asleep by 9.00 and the nuns retreat to their rooms and so do the matrons”

“Are you sure- “Addilyn had begun to ask before Odelia interrupted her.

“Addilyn, 10.00 is fine. Ten’s perfect,” she said but it almost felt like she was reassuring herself but nevertheless Addilyn and the girls left it at that.

They planned it out so well that Birdie even got the keys to the gate for when they would leave. The only problem was that they had no money and they could do close to nothing with no money once they escaped. The only place they knew they could get any money was the prioress’ office and since Saffron was the only one who had nothing to do, they made her do it and they made Birdie keep a look out for when Saffron stole it.

“I’m not sure I feel like doing this anymore,” Saffron told Birdie. The two of them were standing outside the prioress’ office pretending to dust vases as they patiently waited for her to come out.

“Don’t be a child,” Birdie said rolling her eyes.

She loved to tease Saffron about her age even though she was just a year younger than she was.

“It’s going to be easy,” Birdie continued.

“You wait for her to leave then you get in and unlock the bottom drawer on her desk with this,” she said handing Saffron a small silver key.

‘Then you get whatever amount you think will be enough.’

“How much is enough?” Saffron asked as she nervously cracked her knuckles.

Birdie thought about it for a while and then said, “I don’t know, not less than 30 pounds.”

“30?!” Saffron yelled.

“Be quiet!” Birdie harshly whispered and Saffron immediately shut up.

They stood outside waiting and waiting for the prioress to come out but she never did. They waited some more and it was still the same.

“What on earth is she doing in there?” Birdie whispered and all Saffron could do was shrug.

Secretly, Saffron was happy the prioress wasn’t leaving her office. She never wanted to take the money and she was hoping birdie would get tired of waiting and give up so she didn’t have to. She didn’t want to be labelled a thief by anybody. Mostly by her new friends.

As for Birdie, she didn’t have a thought about leaving, she would wait the entire night if she had to but nothing could make her leave.

A few minutes passed and the prioress finally left her office and passed by them like it was nothing. Birdie clapped joyfully but inaudibly. While she did so, poor Saffron who was now hiding in the dark was ready to throw up.

She started to nervously crack her knuckles as she watched the prioress leave.

“This is wrong,” she thought to herself.

“I don’t need to do this,” then she cracked her knuckles some more.

Once the prioress was out of sight. Birdie held the door and gestured for Saffron to walk in, she did so and suddenly her thoughts didn’t lead her anymore. She walked in scared but determined to get it all done.