Scarlet Takes On The Matron Pt. 1

Hence, 4 years to the day after they bought their home, Scarlet and the others were finally ready to take the fight to the Matron. With her family in place, Scarlet arranged for the Matron’s favorite figurine to be snatched from the safe it was kept in and placed front and center on the Matron’s desk. The figurine had been carefully polished and gleamed when the Matron entered the room and turned the light on. Being a woman who frequented high society, she was no stranger to the talks circulating around about “The Cleaner” and her capabilities, but seeing it happen before her eyes was different than just whispers in the night. Her face was going pale, and the Matron didn’t hesitate to immediately search the room looking for anything else out of place or disturbed. Finding nothing, the Matron knew that time was of the essence - she needed to leave and make sure nothing could be tracked down to her. Especially if the ones who broke in had learned of her secret plan.

Leaving her office, the Matron scanned the halls looking for any of her servan- charges she mentally corrected herself, to assist her in packing up any of the valuables she could easily carry to pawn immediately for extra get away cash. Walking down the halls, however, showed no signs of children whatsoever. The normally loud building was eerily quiet, none of the usual running footsteps or chattering of the children who resided in the building. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, the Matron quickened her pace, almost sprinting with how fast she was walking as she continued her search. Door by door, the Matron searched for the children, and door by door, she discovered no signs of life. All the bedrooms were cleaned out, empty of the few articles of clothing and toys she had allowed them to own. 

Desperate, she went to the dining room, a large room filled with a giant table the children ate their meals at. Opening the door revealed a fire lit in the mantle located along the side wall, a remnant from its Victorian origin. Instead of relief at a sign that someone was still in the residence, the Matron instead felt a sudden increase in fear as she saw the silhouette of someone who was clearly an adult lurking to the back side of the room. The Matron started to back up, intending to flee before the figure could do who knows what with her, but was stopped by a large hand suddenly pushing her from behind and back into the room. She only saw the tall outline of a man before the door was shut behind her, trapping her in the room with the shadowed figure on the other end. 

“W-what do you want? Who are you? How did you get in? Where are the children?”

The Matron was scared half to death but was hoping that once she knew who she was up against, she could talk her way out of her current situation. 

“Quite a lot of questions from you - how about I ask you a question back. Why do you think I’m here?”

The voice that answered was female and fairly young sounding. The Matron swore she had heard this voice before, but she could not think of where she might know them from. As she pondered this new development, the figure slowly strode forward, her heels clicking on the polished floor. Soon, she neared the fireplace, and her face was revealed - showing an older and fiercer Scarlet. The Matron narrowed her eyes, and a scowl formed on her face, distorting her features that were caked with makeup from her attempt to look more attractive.

“You”

It was one word, but it held a lot of hatred. The Matron knew that Scarlet had left her care at 18 and had been gathering her fellow young adults, but she did not expect that it would result in whatever stunt they were trying to pull now. Scarlet raised a brow before lifting her chin defiantly at the Matron in a silent challenge before looking her  up and down slowly like a lion analyzing its prey.

“Yes, it’s me. Did you miss me? Or more specifically- the money I earned?”

Scarlet knew that the Matron had been running low on her funds due to a gap in her working force of orphans. She had been the last one of working age in the orphanage, the others too young to work legally. She knew the Matron hadn’t expected her to be able to afford to escape and had been hoping to keep stealing her wages for years to come, but she had foiled that plan. In addition, she had provided a home for those who had been kicked out, so the Matron could not wait for them to come back and extort their wages either. The Matron, realizing that Scarlet had been the one cutting her off from her financial plans, glared even harder at Scarlet.

“It was you - you are the one who has been sabotaging me! You vile thing, I always hated you! You never listened or respected me!”

The Matron was furious, but Scarlet was unfazed. After dealing with her work in the shadows as “The Cleaner” the Matron was no longer the scary figure that had tormented her as a child. Looking at her now, Scarlet almost felt a sense of pity for her, seeing her as the pitiful old woman she had turned into. But that feeling lasted only for a fraction of a second, wiped away by the knowledge her spying in the office had revealed to her earlier.