Chapter 126

Chapter 126: Nightfall and Childhood

Night was deep.

Light from the streetlamps outside the yard shone through the side windows and spilled into the orphanage corridor. The dim hallway was very quiet, as if the daytime noise had never happened. Tonight’s darkness felt calm and safe.

Little Red Riding Hood walked slowly down the corridor, passing one room after another. At each door, she stopped for a moment, looked through the observation window to check the room, and only after making sure nothing was wrong did she move on.

The “parent” on duty in the first half of the night had to patrol twice. The “parent” in the second half had to patrol three times, until the sun rose and the dark faded.

Footsteps came from ahead. Little Red Riding Hood looked up and saw a small figure approach through the gloom. The other girl was short, with ear length hair, and looked about two years younger than her. It was the girl who had chatted with her at dinner.

Little Red Riding Hood asked with some surprise: “Snow White? It isn’t your shift tonight. Why aren’t you asleep?”

Snow White answered casually: “Couldn’t sleep, so I got up to walk. Then I remembered you would be patrolling the east building, so I came to find you.”

Little Red Riding Hood nodded and didn’t say much more, and the two of them walked on in silence.

By rule, after ten at night everyone had to go back to their rooms to sleep. But that rule only applied to children under fourteen or those who had not “awakened.” Snow White already counted as a “parent” in Fairy Tale. She knew what to do, and Little Red Riding Hood was not going to nag.

Snow White broke the quiet: “You’re sleeping a lot less now, right?”

Little Red Riding Hood only gave a soft “mm.”

Snow White spoke in a low voice: “As adulthood gets closer, sleep drops a lot. Sometimes you only need two to three hours a day. But in return, those two or three hours become extra dangerous. Calm dreams almost disappear, and once you fall asleep, the chance you’ll enter Fairy Tale is almost one hundred percent. Every night is a challenge. I heard the King say you didn’t have this problem last month. It started this month.”

Little Red Riding Hood said evenly: “My birthday is next month. This is normal.”

Snow White pressed her lips together. After a while, she asked in a small voice: “Are you scared?”

Little Red Riding Hood answered: “A little, but I have my wolf with me. What about you, why bring this up all of a sudden? You usually don’t pay much attention to this.”

The corridor went quiet again. After several seconds, Snow White spoke: “Did you notice the new child today?”

Little Red Riding Hood nodded: “I noticed. She doesn’t talk much and looks very nervous. The staff who brought her said she used to live in a public orphanage in the North District. She had repeated nightmares and caused some ‘abnormal incidents,’ so the Special Affairs Bureau took notice and sent her here. Is something wrong with her?”

Snow White said: “Little Match Girl looked after her today. She said the child still can’t recall her dreams clearly, but when reading storybooks, she shows obvious resistance to any pictures or words about wolves.”

Little Red Riding Hood stopped for a second. After one or two beats, she walked on as if nothing had happened.

They stayed side by side for a long time without speaking. Then Snow White said softly: “That child might be the new Little Red Riding Hood.”

Little Red Riding Hood answered very seriously: “Then you’ll take good care of her, like I took care of you.”

Snow White frowned and put on a stubborn look: “You’re only two and a half years older than me!”

Little Red Riding Hood glanced at the thin girl: “And I was your ‘parent’ for two and a half years. Eat more. You’re as skinny as last year. If you keep this up, the kids won’t listen to you.”

Snow White grumbled: “I do eat. I just can’t get fatter.”

They chatted like always, then fell quiet again at the same time.

At last Snow White broke the silence: “We do have more than one record of members reaching adulthood. Don’t be afraid. The King, if you convert the years, is over forty in human age. And the Cinderella before last even had her twenty sixth birthday. I think two Little Red Riding Hoods existing at the same time wouldn’t be strange.”

Little Red Riding Hood listened quietly. Lately, she had often thought about these things. Dr. Lin had said the same words to her. She had said them to herself as well. But [what else could she do?] Every Fairy Tale member close to adulthood had heard similar lines.

For some reason, though she thought she was ready, hearing Snow White’s comfort made Little Red Riding Hood feel a different kind of thought rise inside.

She suddenly remembered today’s phone call with Yu Sheng and what he had told her. [Maybe…]

Snow White, trying to think of lighter topics, almost missed her whisper. She spoke a few more lines, then realized: “Huh? What did you just say?”

Little Red Riding Hood steadied herself and looked Snow White in the eyes: “Maybe things won’t be that bad. I mean, maybe… maybe something good will happen.”

Snow White looked confused, but she noticed a new light, different from recent days, deep in Little Red Riding Hood’s always calm gaze.

She didn’t know why, but she still nodded on instinct: “Well, I’m glad you can think that way.”

Little Red Riding Hood said very seriously: “A friend is coming over tomorrow. I invited him to visit my home.”

Snow White blinked in surprise, then caught up: “Oh, that’s fine. That’s rare for you, though. I thought only Rapunzel does that. Is he a classmate? Are you two staying in the east building?”

Little Red Riding Hood said: “He’s an adult.”

Snow White went blank.

Little Red Riding Hood continued: “He’ll come at noon to avoid the most unstable hours in the morning and evening. He knows some things about me. I don’t have class tomorrow, so I’ll probably show him around the orphanage.”

Snow White stared for a long time, then finally processed the news and complained a little: “You should have told everyone at dinner. Now we’ll have to make arrangements in the morning and move some unstable kids to the west building.”

Little Red Riding Hood shook her head: “No need. He’s a Spirit Realm Detective. He has worked with me, and he knows about Fairy Tale. I mentioned him to you before. It’s Yu Sheng.”

Snow White blurted out: “The one who eats entities raw?!”

Little Red Riding Hood nodded: “Yes, the one who eats entities raw. Though most of the time he cooks them first.”

Snow White went silent, as if her brain had stalled.

Little Red Riding Hood kept walking.

After a few seconds, Snow White snapped out of it, hurried two steps to catch up, and fired off questions in a row: “How does he know about Fairy Tale? Did you tell him? You almost never tell outsiders these things, do you. Why is he coming? Just to tour the orphanage? You aren’t planning to pull him in, are you? That’s not okay. It’s too dangerous. Does Dr. Lin know? Should we talk to Dr. Lin?”

Little Red Riding Hood only gave brief answers, and Snow White soon ran out of questions. She looked at Little Red Riding Hood for a long time, then muttered one last line: “We don’t have many rules, but remember this: the ones who wanted to help… later, they all died.”

This time Little Red Riding Hood stopped and answered her seriously: “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.”

Snow White pressed her lips together and said nothing more. They both looked ahead.

Without noticing, they had passed the dorms and the cafeteria. Ahead was a large “classroom.”

The lights were on inside.

Snow White frowned: “The Activity Room lights are on again. Think how much power that wastes.”

Little Red Riding Hood pushed the Activity Room door open and peeked in.

This was where the younger kids played and had “class.” The big room was divided into zones. Old desks and chairs stood in the northeast corner. In the northwest corner were low shelves full of picture books and some indoor toys. Near the door a small blackboard stood. The doodles left there by the Cursed Children hadn’t been erased. Many small slips of paper were stuck around the blackboard’s edge, covered with the siblings’ clumsy handwriting.

They were wish cards the teacher had helped the Cursed Children write during class today.

They wished for everything: a slice of cake, a new toy, a new piece of clothing, a trip outside, a whole day to watch cartoons.

The writing mixed in pinyin. Some cards were just simple drawings.

Kids’ wishes and ways of saying them really were all kinds of strange.

Little Red Riding Hood couldn’t help smiling. Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw a slip that had been taken down and stuffed into the corner of the teaching aids box.

She reached in, pulled it out, and carefully smoothed it.

It read, in mixed pinyin and characters: “wo xiang??,” meaning I want to grow up.

Snow White spoke from the side: “Turn off the lights.”

With a click, the wish on the paper fell into darkness.