A. H. Wong

Prologue

 

Beatrix' Diary

 

April 26th, 2012

 

Dear Diary,

 

This can't have happened

 

I don't want to....I-I can't....No, he....He can't be. He can't b-be dead. Not like that. No, no....Not like that.

 

T-This can't be happening. I can't be here without him. I can't have washed his blood off my hands yesterday. I can't have seen his body being taken away. I can't have been hearing people cry. I can't have been crying. This can't be happening. It can't, it can't, it can't....

 

~

 

Beatrix' Diary

 

May 3rd, 2012

 

Dear Diary,

 

I'm scared of Master John

 

The Agency's still in lockdown. No one is allowed to leave. Internet access is down. Even the workers have to turn in their cellphones before entering the building, and most of them can't even leave. Every single door to the outside is locked. Every single camera is watching us.

 

Master John is refusing to speak to anyone.

 

Maverick and Janelle have tried. He threw them from his office.

 

Master John won't even talk to me. He won't even look at me.

 

No one will.

 

I've tried talking to people, but everyone turns away.

 

I....I don't think we know anything about what's going on, though.

 

We don't know what the world is doing.

 

W-We don't know if anyone outside knows he's....If anyone outside knows Taylor is dead.

 

Will he even be buried?

 

Or will he....Will he just be forgotten somewhere?

 

He doesn't deserve that.....

 

But...I....

 

God forgive me....

 

I don't even know if he had a family.

 

Did he have a sibling? A father, a mother he spoke to?

 

Will....Will anyone miss him but us?

 

Damn me to hell, because I don't know the answer to that.

 

~

 

Beatrix' Diary

 

May 7th, 2012

 

Dear Diary,

 

Master John talked to me

 

Taylor was cremated.

 

He gave me his ashes.

 

I don't know what to do with them.

 

What do people usually do with ashes?

 

It feels weird to keep them.

 

Is that all Taylor was-fuel for a fire?

 

Is this all he will be-black dust in an urn?

 

Is this all humans are?

 

~

 

Beatrix' Diary

 

May 8th, 2012

 

Dear Diary,

 

Maverick and Janelle

 

They're going to be thrown out of the Agency. That probably means they'll be killed. I'm not surprised-they won't stop yelling at Master John. I keep trying to stop them, because I can't lose them as well, but....

 

They won't listen to me.

They just don't listen to me.

 

Not like Sarah and David do. Those two have been talking to me a lot recently. They're the only ones that do. They want to be my friends. Sarah says she doesn't like how lonely I am. David says he feels sorry for me.

 

I'm scared to talk to them.

 

But they won't leave me alone.

 

I don't want to see them hurt, too. I don't want to lose them. I don't want to get close to them.

 

Taylor would....

 

Taylor would tell me I should be around them.

 

Taylor would tell me to forgive Martin. To talk to him again. He would tell me to be the better person, and to try and understand why Martin did what he did. Taylor would tell me to be his friend, because nobody talks to Martin anymore. The fact that he was working for Master John automatically makes him dangerous in the eyes of everyone here.

 

I'm not surprised everyone hates him.

 

I kind of hate him, too.

 

~

 

Beatrix' Diary

 

May 13th, 2012

 

Dear Diary,

 

They're Gone

 

Maverick and Janelle were thrown out today. They hugged me one last time. I know I'm not ever going to see them again. They won't last a week out there.

 

I can't cry anymore.

 

I've run out of tears.

 

I...I didn't even cry when I spread his ashes today. Master John, and a group of guards, took me outside today. They...they let me spread his ashes in the forest.

 

I remember him telling me, once, how much he liked the trees....

 

I....

 

Why can't I cry, Diary? Why can't I cry?

 

~

 

Beatrix' Diary

 

May 17th, 2012

 

Dear Diary,

 

My own fate

 

I don't know what I'm going to do anymore.

 

Master John told me I have to kill.

 

I've run out of time at the Agency.

 

I'm doomed....

 

I will never leave the Agency for Unwanted Children alive.

 

~

 

Beatrix' Diary

 

May 20th, 2012

 

Dear Diary,

 

I kill someone tomorrow.

 

That's all that needs to be said.

 

I have my target, I have my training, I have my weaponry. I know the when, I know the how, and I know the why.

 

I have no choice in the matter anymore.

 

I have no choice.

 

It's kill, or be killed.

 

Taylor, if you somehow can hear me....

 

I'm so, so sorry.

 

I never wanted....

 

You and I never wanted me to have to do this.

 

~

 

Sarah's Notes

 

Dated May 24th, 2012

 

Titled "Beatrix is Gone"

 

I regret to inform you that Beatrix has been gone on her first mission for longer than we thought she would be. We don't know where she is, as Master John isn't telling us anything. Nor is he, apparently, letting anyone out. Every single residence in the Agency, even in the outlying buildings that weren't told the truth by the now-late Maverick and Janelle, is in now-permanent lockdown. We aren't allowed out, and we are all bemoaning the lack of internet.

 

Of course, all of this has sparked more than a few fights. Still, the rest of it seems to be pretty calm. Most of us, including me, are too afraid to stand up.

 

Watching Maverick and Janelle being carted away by security guards, bruises and cuts visible on their bodies-and their chopped hair adding an even larger effect-made all of us afraid.

 

I don't know what Master John plans for us.

 

He can't keep us locked up forever, can he?

 

~

 

Sarah's Notes

 

Dated May 27th, 2012

 

Titled "Apparently He Can"

 

We still have not seen the light of day. Morale has dropped so low that every single resident is placed on a suicide watch, requiring every single employee to check on residents every ten minutes. Some residents, especially those on the seventh floor, are checked on every five.

 

I don't want to know how many of us they have seen naked. In fact, they've seen ME naked. Curse not having locks on the doors....

 

David is struggling. He, along with a handful of others, can't adapt to the new therapist. I myself can't. He isn't Taylor. Taylor....Taylor understood us. None of us may have known anything about him, and we still don't, but Taylor understood us.

 

Now that he's gone, we don't know what to do. We don't know who to talk to. We can't talk to each other-we lost the ability to be open the second we were told about the cameras.

 

About those cameras, I've been hunting for them. A lot of us have. We figured out where to look when some of us went to Beatrix' room after she was sent on the job, and saw the hole. We saw what Taylor saw: Wires, everywhere wires. A network of cameras and microphones, operating continually. Everywhere.

 

We took apart that entire wall.

 

In that single wall, in that single room....

 

There were eight cameras.

 

I don't want to know how many cameras are in mine.

 

I'm starting to be afraid for my life.

 

What if he kills us? What if he is keeping us locked up to make sure we can't run for help?

 

He could do it easily. I mean, we're pretty close to killing each other already. Wouldn't take long, or more than a few well-placed encouragements, to have a bloodbath on his hands. He could take us out Battle Royale-style, making all of us kill each other.

 

I wonder who I'd kill to save my life.

 

~

 

Sarah's Notes

 

Dated May 31st, 2012

 

Titled "Where is Beatrix?"

 

She should have come back a long time ago. David and I keep going into her room. Even though we didn't know her well-none of us did-it's still so impossible to believe that she is gone.

 

I don't want to realize what this means for the rest of us.

 

I'm scared. If Master John, who always seemed to almost have a soft spot for Beatrix, can have her killed....

 

What does that mean for me?