005 Let's Sleep!

She realized she was different very early, and she learned to hide and act normal.

She was taught that murder was wrong, and she learned well, but she knew she was different -- she could never understand why it was wrong like the other kids she went to school with.

She could not feel love, or any of the positive emotions people so naturally desired. That was why she grabbed onto Darren when he appeared in her life--

He was the textbook of what a loving boyfriend was.

He offered to report his whereabouts to her. He cared about her little thoughts and moods in her days. He had genuine desires -- for a career, a family, her body, and so much more.

He was a normal person who was alive, and with him, Raven felt alive, too.

She stole his desire of life, pretending she could generate those, too. She laughed when he was happy, as if she could share a taste of what that sweet taste was like, the one that everyone made a fuss about.

She really thought she could live through Darren like this, for life. Even with Emily as a shadow in the relationship.

Darren didn’t know he dodged a bullet, tricking her into the game. Raven thought.

That was why she became a horror streamer--

She unleashed the darkness and urge to kill inside her through horror games because it was too much trouble messing with the law in reality.

Not impossible, just trouble.

To hide her sociopathic self, Raven had to memorize the normal human being code better and more accurately than anyone. Like how she actively kept two female friends around her, as the average amount of “normal”. Like how she was a straight A student because that was what people found likeable. Like how she campaigned for the homecoming queen at school, because all “normal” girls did it.

And like how right now--

She helped Aaron, because Aaron was real. And real people don't respawn. So save, not kill.

Raven sighed--

This game would be so much harder and tiring than any games Raven had ever played...

***

The sky turned dark the moment they walked through the iron door, and the dark fog instantly gulped down the area they were standing on before.

No way back.

The orphanage was exactly what Raven expected from 1879 London, and exactly what she didn't want to see.

It was a short, wide building, standing alone in a too large yard. Its windows patched with paper and rags. The yard was bare dirt. No toys. No benches. Just a hand-pump, a laundry line, and children. Dozens of them, three to eighteen, hauling buckets, scrubbing floors, mending clothes, carrying firewood.

Quiet was the theme of this orphanage, because--

None of kids were playing. Like how they should be. None of them even talked, seemingly too occupied by the chores. In fact, the women watching them—the nurses, the caretakers, whatever they called themselves—looked much more normal. They stood with their hands folded, chatting softly among themselves, doing nothing at all.

Weird is the orphanage.

The moment the players stepped through the iron door, a woman swept out from the main hall, all smiles and open arms, her skirts rustling like she'd been waiting for them.

Looked like she was the “Mama Matron” the system had been mentioning.

She wore a high-collared black dress, buttoned to the throat, and a silver keychain at her hip, polished bright. On her head, a small lace cap pinned with a garnet brooch. The only spot of color on her.

"Ah! My new little new orphans! Seven of you this time, how wonderful!" She clapped her hands together, beaming. "Welcome, welcome to The Orphancage. You must be so tired from your journey. Don't worry, Mama Matron will take good care of you."

NEW orphans. Raven caught the word.

Her syrupy baby cooing instantly turned Raven’s stomach. It was already weird that she was treating their group with an average age of 20 like they were five, but she sounded like she wasn’t talking to babies, but to...

Food.

Raven stood on the outskirt of the group, watching quietly.

At first Raven thought the matron talked like that to stay in character -- treating players like they really were young orphans. Games do that. But soon Raven spotted that it wasn’t quite the case--

The players seemed to have different ages in the matron’s eyes.

The matron spoke to James like he was a teenager. Casual, a little teasing, the way adults talked to boys who thought they were men. She spoke to Rose like a little girl, talking about her little pet frog. And she spoke to Raven like a child who needed soothing.

What was the matron’s standard of deciding their age, and was that just part of experience, or...hints that might come in handy?

The hard part about a real-life game is the overwhelming amount of information. Hard to tell apart useful ones from settings.

"Come, come. I'll show you to your rooms. It’s almost bed time now." The matron led the way before Raven could sort out all the information pouring down on her.

Rooms? They just entered the game, and the first plot is the easiest of all -- go to sleep?

Something is off.