Before I died, my whole life flashed before me.
Have you ever heard this phrase?
Are you interested why can such a thing happen?
Have you ever wondered why are there such strange consequences where someone can instantly age?
What if I were to tell you that these are all tied to the very same thing?
To the one and only substance, that surveys all, collects all and remembers all events?
To non other than the Oracle Cells themselves?
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G. E. N. C. - 1 - 01
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Plain. Too plain actually, however beggars can't be chosers.
Well it would be more correct to replace beggars with orphans, and the object accused being plain was their orphanage. A lot of places broken, bearing the signs of heavy age, fixed many times over and over again from the outside it looked rather shabby. The inside was just like before mentioned plain, yet effective to shut out cold when required and to keep the warmth inside.
Just like that day on the 4th of February in 2058, sometime after the night had fallen. The door to the small orphanage opened and two figures marched in. One of them was rather small child, from toe to head covered in a bit too large coat with it's hood deeply pulled on her head. The other was was their caretaker, a middle aged woman clad in heavy winter clothing.
The children usually called her 'Moma', a shortened version of Mother Martha as she referred herself usually. Martha quickly shed her clothes and with similar haste removed the oversized cloth from the small child beside her. It revealed a girl with a blank expression on her face, with hair cut very short almost looking boyish. Her cloths were dull grey in color, both the long sleeved pant and a thick pullover, out of the latter Martha helped to escape to reveal an also dull colored shirt.
"Children, meet... En." Martha nudged the small girl to step forward, though she didn't budge at all.
"She's going to stay with us from now on. Great her with heart." Their caretaker nudged the close to two dozen orphans to accept her girl. With varying enthusiasm she had been greeted, although En didn't react to it any way.
"Now kids, I sure know you must be hungry by now, so I'm going to make a great dinner to welcome En. Oh and please behave." With that Martha stormed to the kitchen, followed by the cheers of the children as well as some of them who offered help in making food.
As they were left alone, three of the remaining kids surrounded En almost immediately, Two boys and a girl. The two boys wore similar plain clothing of a really used pants and shirts, the only different between them was that the taller boy had dark bushy hair, while the other had a short sand colored one. The girl who stood there, with waist long fiery red hair eyed the newcomer, though her cloths weren't much different from the boys, maybe in size only.
The three of them turned with anticipation towards En who was being bombarded by a lot of questions, like 'Where was she from.', 'How old are you.', 'What's your favourite food.' and similar ones, yet she just stared ahead without reaction. Which puzzled the three of them quite, they didn't see that the girl would have been scared, or otherwise flustered. They couldn't even detect any type of emotion being displayed actually, as her expression was utterly blank.
"Come on! Let's play En." With that the younger boy quite similar in height and maybe even in age grabbed her hand and pulled the girl after himself. A few feet away from the door itself were a few steps which the boy eagerly jumped down, however En stumbled and fell on her face. The boy still holding onto her hand was suddenly yanked back and he fell onto the girl as well. Seeing this the witnesses quickly scampered away, not wanting to be scolded and punished also. Especially since their 'Moma' just warned them to behave.
"I... Didn't mean to do it!" He whined and ran away as well, leaving En to herself completely. Without a sound she slowly stood up, a faint trail of blood leaking from her nose and she stood there for a while. Then with a bit shaky steps she started walking forward, one arm extended until the girl reached a wall. There she turned her back to it and slid down to the ground beside it, wiping the trail of blood away with her fingers and became silent and still.
Once the dinner was ready the kids gathered to the call of Martha, with the only exception being En who was still sitting nearby the wall she took residence up. As the other orphans were enjoying a somewhat loud and cheerful dinner, the caretaker went to look for the missing person.
"There you are En. You weren't that far away, why didn't you come to eat with the others?" Martha asked as she knelt down in front of the girl, yet she didn't even glance in her direction.
"I didn't mean harm." The one boy suddenly said, from behind their 'Moma'.
"Phil... What did you do to her?"
"Fell down the steps... I, pulled her and she fell... I didn't mean any harm." Tears were gathering in the eye of Phil as he confessed.
"Phil just wanted to play and pulled her after. Phil jumped down and she stumbled, then he fell on her." A girl who was there when it happened chimed in, adding another part to what happened.
"Ya. Though, she didn't cry or do anything." Noted the last witness, the oldest boy in the orphanage.
"En, is this true?" Martha frowned as she inquired, however there wasn't any response given.
"En, is... everything alright?" She reached out and pulled the chin of the girl up making eye contact with En.
"En! ... Children, keep her company while I call a doctor." With that Martha hurriedly grabbed her coat, boots and put them on.
"I... didn't mean harm." Phil started crying as the rest of the orphans started to gather around.
"Her pupils are not responding." Said the young doctor after the examination, he had been called over in a rush after hearing the explanation from the orphans caretaker.
"En, can you understand me?" He asked as he checked the ear of the small girl, yet as usual she didn't give a response.
"As I recall, she had been just brought here today. Is there anything to know about?"
"Ah yes. Her uncle left her in our care... because currently he can't accomodate her at all. These are quite troubling times with the Aragami and Fenrir clashing over and over again. However, her uncle didn't say anything about a problem with En. Actually I just got a letter with the sort summary that En should be left in our care." Martha frowned, if the small girl has some problems it is going to be hard for her to find her place in the small community of theirs.
"It's rather sad that she can't be properly examined under expert medical care, although I will attempt to get such a procedure requested. I am not going to promise anything." With that the doctor started to pack his things together.
"Should anything happen, don't forget to notify me."
Martha sighed as he saw the doctor out and returned to En. She was still sitting by that wall across the entrance of the orphanage. The rest of the children gathered around, not understanding clearly what is happening while Phil was still sobbing for what he did.
"Alright children." 'Moma' then suddenly clapped her hands twice, signaling for attention. What made her a bit surprised is that on that even En turned towards the source of the sound which brought a small smile on the caretaker face.
"En... as you could see has a problem with her eyes. She can't see. I would like to request your help for her." As she brought her gaze across the kids, they began to murmue slightly.
"But, 'Moma'... She's creepy!" The girl said, who was there when En fell from the steps.
"Marie. En is not... She just has a problem with her eyes." Their caretaker refuted.
"She is! Even if she is asked a question, she doesn't respond at all!" Marie pointed a finger at her.
"That's creepy!"
"Her name is En, Marie you aren't simply referred as 'you' or 'she' are you? So please do so and keep that in mind. In fact, this applies for all of you."
"En is still creepy." Marie pouted.
"Stop calling her creepy! Anyone I catch doing so will get punished!" After that declaration from Martha the kids quickly dispersed, not daring to incur the wrath of their caretaker.
"It's alright En, the other children as just confused about your situation." With that Martha scooped up the girl and brought her to the kitchen to eat.
En despite the warning of the caretaker did creep the other children out very much. First, she made the place right across the entrance, at the wall her own. Second, she was unresponsive and extremely passive. Only their 'Moma' could make the girl respond, although that was still a silent action. Lastly, they never heard her voice. Although on numerous times she should have released even the tiniest trace, there was nothing.
The doctor did return some days later and examined her, according to him the vocal cords were functioning. He did assumed that she is unable to speak due to a mental trauma, which wasn't surprising with the Aragami loose upon the entire world, as many of the orphans stationed at the orphanage had lost their parents due to the unstoppable attacks of the mad gods.
As the months flew past, and the eerie sight of the girl sitting across the entrace became sort of accepted, still it did unnerve all residents of the orphanage. While the three kids that initially showed interest in En, that is Phil, Marie and Joe continously repeated to try to get through her emotional barricade, while everyone else generally avoided contact.
"This is boring." Joe said one day in May, after another failed attempt for En to join them.
"I don't understand how can 'Moma' get through her." The boy scratched his head in frustration.
"All this dumb girl does is sit at the wall, and stare at that stupid door."
"Yes, that's true." Marie nodded.
"Although En never get's into trouble because of that. And her room is spotless, always does what 'Moma' tells her too." Phil commented as the trio stared at the silent figure.
"And exactly why it's boring." Marie stomped with her feet, then suddenly stormed towards En.
"You're coming with me, right now!" She pulled the silent girl after herself through the door outside. As the two of them emerged, closely followed by the boys, everyone outside suddenly froze. The other kids stared at the sight of the creepiest of them suddenly leave her place, after all she never budged from her spot. Unless she had to go to the restroom, sleep, eat or take a bath with the others. All eyes were glue on Marie as she literally pulled the younger En after her.
"Now then, there is a game you CAN play with us. And no excuses!" With that she dropped the girl.
"The rules are simple, you just have to catch us."
"But..." Phil interrupted Marie's explanation as he tugged on her shoulder.
"En... has that problem with her eyes."
"All the better! She's not deaf, as 'Moma' can talk to her, so she just has to now listen to us!" Joe laughed at the idea. He liked it really. During that time En stood up slowly, then turned around and started to walk towards the orphanage.
"Hey! Who said you can just leave?!" Marie shouted at her and grabbed the hand of En, who attempted to pull out of her grip. Seeing the resistance, Marie then grabbed onto her shoulders and started to spin her around.
"Ah! This will just be like hide and seek, with a twist... huh? Perfect." Joe laughed and joined in, spinning the already disoriented girl even harder and faster. They continued until En lost her sense of balance and collapsed.
"I... think, we're going to get punished." Phil whimpered seeing as how the girl might have hit herself, although no response came as usual.
"Nonsense. What's going to happen, Creepie's going to tell on us?!" Marie laughed, and Joe joined in.
"Look, Creepie's stood up! Hey, hey Creepie! Come and catch us!" The oldest boy shouted at her and for a moment En wobbled dangerously, she was still heavily disoriented and couldn't stand upright properly. The other kids also joined in either laughing or taunting her to join in on the game. After all most of them wanted to see her response, they were just as much interested by her as creeped out.
"Here, here, here! Come here Demon!" Marie jeered, attempting to get the attention of En. However she just slowly, very slowly turned around attemting to orientate herself. Which in the end failed, so with that she just sat down again, hugging her legs.
"Demon? More like a Devil." One of the other kids said, and most of them laughed.
"En the Devil!" Some of them said in chorus, chanting it again and again. However the abused girl just sat and stared into the air before herself.
"En and Devil oh... This ones better! She is the End of Evil!" Someone said and once again laughter erupted from the kids.
"Well, there is a reason why evil dwells En Devil, huh?" The same kid pushed it again, and the jeering intensified at the pun.
"Though, I guess a Devil wouldn't care to END evil." A few of the kids were rolling on the ground from laughing, though still no response came from the impaired girl.
"What is going on?!" Martha suddenly asked an everyone froze on the spot.
"Didn't I tell you not to cause trouble for En?!" Her gaze swept across the other kids, who realized they went too far.
"Well?"
"We were only playing Here, Here, Here." Marie stood defiantly before the caretaker, although a bit shaking in the legs.
"What kind of a game is that to go and abuse En for?! Tell me."
"We only wanted to play. We thought that if we break her out of that place, she will have to listen to us as well." Joe commented as their 'Moma' turned towards him.
"En can't just hole up in there until the Aragami kill us, no?"
"Joe! How many times should I tell you, the--." Martha tried to scold the child, but was interrupted by Marie.
"... 'Moma'... Don't lie to us. You told us that being honest is the first step. We know that the monsters WILL come, and no one can stop them." The fiery girl said and many of the kids recalled how they got to the orphanage.
"Marie... That..." The caretaker wanted to say something, yet couldn't find the right words.
"Still, that doesn't mean you are allowed to bully En!" With that she turned to the still curled up girl and picked her up.
"Come on dear, I'll bring you back."
Despite the many warnings of Martha, both Marie and Joe as many times they could grabbed the silent and impassive En to bring her to different place each time. Many times just leaving her there, much to the annoyment of Martha who had to search for the silent girl by herself. Even after she punished both of them for disregarding her words, way too many times for her taste actually.
Even right now it was more than over of the orphanages curfew on a late August night and Martha had to once again search for En. The kids once again snuck her somewhere and she had been searching for more than two hours already with no luck. Martha had contemplated to ask someone nearby to help search for En, when she was suddenly stopped by a yank on her cloths.
"There you are dear." Martha quickly scooped up En, after recognizing who made contact.
"I'm sorry for what you have to go through." A tear rolled down her face and she tried to comfort the silent girl.
"They... can't understand that you are just like them. Even if you can't see, or won't speak." En heard her, yet still acted just as usually. Completely indifferent.
"Come on dear, let's return." As the two of them started to walk home, Martha soon realized she might have gotten lost in the dark. That is when En pulled on her cloths again, and pointed in a direction.
"Yes? What's there?" However without and answer she just hopped from her arm, and although she landed improperly and hit herself to the scare of Martha, without a sound she stood up.
"En, please be careful!" 'Moma' knelt down and checked the small girl for injuries, which weren't found luckily. Then she felt a bit stupefied as the girl started to walk in the direction she pointed previously.
"Hold on dear! You can't go alone... Especially not... in the dark." Martha had to keep silent, as she didn't want to reveal she might have gotten lost. However En still defiantly pointed in the very same direction. With a sigh, she picked her up and decided to see what En tried to point out.
Once she started to walk, En just nodded and returned to gaze towards that direction. Without saying anything, the two headed towards that direction until, the girl pointed towards a different route to take. Martha suddenly realizing that she knew this part of the settlement felt surprised, but still decided to allow the girl to navigate themselves home. After a short half hour trek the two of them returned to the orphanage, catching just a glimpse of the other orphans who eagerly waited for them.
"Children!! I KNOW you are still awake!" Martha roared, and suddenly everyone assembled. The two perpetrators on the very front, with Marie bearing a smug look, and Joe clearly displeased.
"What is the meaning of this?!" She stared at the two intently.
"That Devil's--." Marie started, but suddenly found herself on the ground as their caretaker slapped her hard.
"En! That is her name! Not that... what you called her!" 'Moma' was furious, she had maybe taken too long to take action, as the two troublemakers seemed to enjoy causing indirect harm to the small girl.
"So, 'Moma'. You're going to hit us because we don't play as you dictate, huh?! What about En? Why don't you smack her too?" Joe stared at the hand that hit Marie. Which made Marie flinch, She didn't chose force because the kids didn't obey the rules that were set up, she chose to resort to such a method because they continued to disobey them.
"She never broke any of the rules. Did she? Unlike every one of you, why do you have to abuse her?!" Her glaring gaze swept over everyone present, and most of the kids just turned away and looked down. Unlike Marie and Joe who still were defiant.
"Ah yes, by being not much different from a creepy doll... And clearly obeying any of YOUR orders, while completely disregarding everyone else. THAT IS THE VERY EXAMPLE OF BEING A GOOD CHILD, RIGHT?" Marie stood up, very defiant now. Her gaze still fixated on the right arm that made her right cheek bright red. Although she was shouting the last sentence, many of the kids grumbled affirmation.
"But... En, has problems, you know that clearly. Why have do you have to cast her out?!"
"And ignoring everyone else is the way to behave? You're teaching method fails." The eldest kid glared at the silent girl.
"Joe!!" With that even he gotten a deserved slap on the face, at least Martha though that he did deserve it righteously.
"Face it 'Moma'." Marie stared right at the silent En very fiercely.
"That is not En, that is evil." Her right finger pointed at the girl as some of the kids surrounding them murmued in agreement.
"That's nothing else, but the Devil itself."
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End of Chapter
2015,12,26