“The Bathhouse” by Doris 8A

The Greenhouse Terrace, the home to many orphans who do not know where they came from and the place where my best friend Roxanna and I grew up The Sisters who took care of us said that we were inseparable We called everyone family here, and we lacked nothing We had a blissful life within the walls that separated us from the Outside.

Every year, the orphans who turned fifteen would transfer Outside after the great ceremony of Graduation The number one most discussed topic amongst us orphans, our Graduation kept our minds occupied but somehow nobody had ever talked about what we would do afterwards Maybe we simply did not have time for it during our fully packed schedules. Our Sisters, the caring but strict guardians, taught us at the Academy in the Greenhouse Terrace We learned to cultivate cabbage and carrots and plant orchards; three days a week, Sister Agnes led us to the field and we ran and jumped till we fell on the cool green grass, exhausted For a couple of hours a week, we learned to read, and I loved it. But the Sisters told us we would hardly need reading skills after Graduation Yet, Roxanna would quietly steal a book or two from our measly library and we would read about Alice bravely travelling through Wonderland and the Red Riding Hood chatting with the Wolf I had never seen a wolf, but I think I would know what to tell him if I did. We lived and studied in a huge, sprawling mansion of the Greenhouse Terrace We called it home

Adjacent to the mansion, stood an odd crumbling building. They called it the Bath House. But I do not remember when we had ever bathed there The small windows right under the roof always emitted a shimmering ghostly light, but I had never seen anyone ever walking in or out of it. Roxanna wondered once, ”It would be interesting to know what’s over there, in the Bath House”

One spring night, Roxanna snuck up to me in our dormitories, her eyes glistening with excitement: she saw a shadowy figure with a lamp traversing the orchards towards the Bath House Smirking, I immediately knew her intentions: ”I see, it seems an expedition in the Bath House is due Let’s find out what exactly is going on in there.”

Roxanna and I spent the next few nights gathering the equipment we needed. Avoiding suspicion from the Sisters proved hard but our curiosity and determination to carry out the expedition made us careful and thorough We stole flashlights from the cupboards, biscuits from the kitchen to make our stakeout more like an adventure, and, just in case, a swiss army knife that Sister Anne kept inside a metal box for peeling apples. Finally after all those meticulous preparations, we had only one last step to take: investigate the Bath House

Dressed in identical marroon raincoats and wellington boots, Roxanna and I slipped quietly through the heavy carved wooden doors of the Greenhouse Terrace and crept across the pathway right into the orchard It was the biggest thunderstorm we had seen in a while Nobody’ll notice we snuck out Clinging to the Bath House wall and with the thunder masking our sound, we moved like shadows to the plankwood door. Even if the lightning struck far away from us, I felt like electricity was making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up Peering into the darkness, I suddenly noticed that there was a lock on the door! Out of nowhere, Roxanna pulled out a hair pin, lowered before the lock and after a few fumbling movements we heard a click How could she do that? She must have read about it somewhere in a book! We carefully tiptoed inside The ghostly light, emitted by countless tubes above the ceiling, bathed the walls of the bath house, stacked with shelves full of beakers, mason jars and glass flasks Inside some jars, what looked like hearts, livers, and brains, floated in transparent fluids Whose were those? We never had any animals around; neither did we have any meat in our meals

Roxanna let out a muffled gasp and pointed at the door ahead A bright narrow strip from under it could mean only one thing: someone was there, in the room conjoined to the hall where we stood We looked at each other: voices. Crouching, trying to make no noise, Roxanna and I pressed our ears against the closed door. My eyes widened I recognised those voices The Council of Sisters!

The head Sister’s monotonous voice spoke with authority: “We are running out of time. The Outside requires more specimens immediately and their demands are greater than what we can provide The Greenhouse Terrace is the most successful incubator for large amounts of food, and we must uphold that reputation. If our next batch of girls are not ready by next month, our orphanage will not receive the funds to sustain you and me for another year We don't want to become food ourselves, do we?”

Incubator all those hearts and livers in jars Food! I glanced at Roxanna: her hand kept the gasp of horror inside, but her eyes screamed

We heard next:

“From now on, the training regime must be regulated strictly: the girls must be lean but healthy. I heard some orphans asking questions: sounds like someone wants to know more than they need Find those curious ones and dispose of them immediately. Asking questions leads to seeking answers. They must live in oblivion before their Graduation Enforce a stricter training system; focus on their physical fortitude and inducing mental retardat ”

Before the head Sister finished her words, Roxanna and I had burst out of the bath house and dashed back into the orchards Cold, ghastly silence tied our tongues Who were we? What should we even do with our newfound knowledge of our home?

As soon as we were on safe grounds, Roxanna vomited straight into a nearby bush and collapsed onto the neatly trimmed grass. After a long bout of silence, she stuttered out: “I-i’m sorry. I shouldn’t have... We’re screwed!” I didn’t know how to respond to her My mind was completely blank and even the sound of rain was drowned out by my heartbeats. Without thinking it through, I blurted out: “L-let’s get out of here together! Even if w-we don’t know anything Nobody cares Who would notice that we were gone?”