The Trap

    It was a stormy day, a normal one for the season. Evelyn walked through the strong wind, one hand on her head, trying to save her hat from flying. She had to reach the School before anyone found out she was missing. She had sneaked out of the orphanage a number of times without anyone noticing, she wouldn’t fail now. 

   At last, she reached at the gates, waiting for the right moment. She saw Charlotte go into the Principal’s office and swung open the gate and ran inside. She bolted down the corridors and inside, trailing mud inside the room. She cleaned her boots, and grabbed a cloth to wipe the mud off the floor, when she saw someone walk up to her door.

   She looked up and saw Charlotte looking at her with a frown. She was about to speak, when Evelyn defended,

“I was gone for an hour and I have not missed any classes.”

 “I know, but you need to stop sneaking out of the School. I don’t know why the Philips let you in during school hours.” she said.

"We were planting Amaryllis."

 “Now, let’s forget about it. I won’t say anything to Geoffrey.” Geoffrey was the school Headmaster. “You won’t?” Evelyn asked. It rarely happened that she got into trouble, and Charlotte didn’t complain to him. Something was shady. “No I won’t, but you will have to obey me.” she said. ‘There it comes’ Evelyn thought. “I won’t make a promise” “You just have to meet the family. They are really well off, and you will be really happy.” Charlotte said before Evelyn had time to reply.

   “You know I’m not going to meet anyone. I’ve told you so many times!” she almost yelled at her. “Listen to me this time, and I’ll be quiet about your disappearings, he was really cross when you were not there at Mrs. Brown’s charity.” she said. This was undeniable. She couldn’t cook up a reason this time, and couldn’t risk her secret visits to be discovered.

   After giving this a lot of thought, she agreed, Charlotte sighed and walked away, tired. After her classes, she walked over to the hall to meet the family. She decided to act dumb so the family would be able to get nothing from her, and won’t come visiting again. The people here were her family, and she didn’t want a new one. The staff and other girls at the School knew her from way back. This was where she had grown up since she had lost her parents. The staff at the School had taught her to live independently, she didn’t want to go and live with a family who knows nothing about her.

   “Evelyn, please don’t mess this up. The Durands will be here any moment.” she implored. ‘The Durands…. a vague memory clicked in her mind. She remembered who they were, and it was not good.

   A while later, the folks came in. They were one of the richest families in town, the ones who donated money for fame. She didn’t even want to be near them.

   Evelyn saw them enter, with their posh clothes. Mrs. Durand came to her and looked at her, uninterested. Charlotte was about to introduce Evelyn, when the lady stopped her, “Let the child speak.” “What is your name dear?” she asked, looking at Evelyn. She didn’t like the way she had rudely stopped Charlotte. “My name is Evelyn.” she answered. She then asked her questions. Evelyn didn’t talk much. The couple then went over to talk ‘business’.

   At last, she went over to her cabin. She saw Robbie waiting for her at her door. “Why were you there?” he asked her. “Do you know the Durands?” she asked him. “The Durands? The ones who claimed they owned The Durand Times, but it turned out the owners were never related to these Durands? What about them?” he asked. “Yes, the ones. They had come expecting to adopt a girl from the School, and—” “And Charlotte suggested that they meet you, and you acted dumb, so they wouldn’t come again? I know you too well.” he said, satisfied with his reasoning.

   She couldn’t help but notice how much he knew about her. Robert Philip was from the rich community too, but from the good ones. He never acted like the other rich families, too proud to acknowledge the existence of others and just without humanity.

   She had met Robbie when he visited the School for a charitable event. Robbie had shown great interest in the trees and plants in vicinity of the School. Fortunately for Evelyn, she shared the same interest. They soon became good friends. She had even visited the Philip House.

   “Did you lose yourself in dreams of being at the Durand garden?” he asked, laughing at her. She smiled at him. She knew she could always count on him for making her laugh. “I have to get going, Mother would kill me if I missed my lessons. And don’t forget, even if you went, I would still be able to meet you. I know you will do good.” he said, walking away.

   The next few days went uneventful. Evelyn thought the family had forgotten about their visit and were never going to come here. But on the sixth day after their visit, Charlotte came running to her. “Evelyn! Earlier this morning, a messenger from the family came and told us that they would love to adopt a ‘shy’ girl like you! They are going to send people to fetch you. She sounded surprised.

   She couldn’t believe Charlotte. She was sure the family had forgotten. Everyone in the School was so excited that she was having a new home, they could hide their sadness that Evelyn would be leaving them.

   Days went by, and Evelyn was ready with her luggage. She took her last glance at the School. She was almost crying. Minutes later, a jeep came into the School. A couple entered and started to grab her suitcases and putting them into one of the jeeps. They were the servants at the House. “I’m Joanna and this is Lee, we will escort you the House.” saying this, she left for the jeep.

   Evelyn looked behind at everyone, disconsolate. She sniffled and walked towards the jeep.

   They reached the grand mansion, and Evelyn spotted the family at the gate. Evelyn didn’t know how to react. She walked down the jeep, Joanna and Lee carrying her luggage.

   “Welcome to the Durand Palace, I hope you enjoy your stay here.” said Mrs. Durand. “Thank you, Mrs. Durand,” she replied. Charlotte had taught her to just thank people when you don’t know what to speak. “Hi! I’m Caroline and this is my brother Kevin. I’m so excited to have a sister! Are you good at Math? Because I’m not, and I wondered if you could help me at it, so we could fire the tutor, because he doesn’t know how to teach an—” “Quit the ramble!” Mrs. Durand murmured, trying to keep both, a straight face and her disappointment in her children in place.

   Others didn’t take any notice, Joanna beckoned her to the House. She followed her, and was astonished at the sight of such a grand living room. Joanna led her to a sort of waiting room and told her to stay. She went inside and Evelyn heard whispering. Sometime later, Joanna came out and gestured her to go. “Go in and do not speak out of turn. Keep your eyes down at all times, Lady Ruth doesn’t like rebels.” she warned. Evelyn nodded and walked in.

   The room was grand as every other room, but it was devoid of the signature colored walls so prominent in the rest of the house. An old woman was sitting on a wheel chair at the center. She did as told and kept her gaze down. “What is your name?” “Evelyn.” she murmured. “Come here.” Lady Ruth ordered. Evelyn stumbled towards her. The woman grabbed her hand and pulled Evelyn toward her. She pinched her cheek and said, “Joanna will take you to your headquarters, and give you your chores. Now listen carefully. You do as we say, and you will not be harmed. From further, you are not allowed to come to this room ever, and you are not supposed to anger the elders. If you do, I will throw you out of this house, and you will never be heard of, again! Enjoy while it lasts, girl. People like you are not so lucky!” Evelyn was terrified. She yanked the door open and ran. She wanted to run away from this house, especially from Lady Ruth. She didn’t like how she had threatened her.

   When she was back to normal, Joanna led her to her room. She later brought in stacks of printed sheets and folders, and dumped them on her floor. “Organize these, and file them in their folders. Mr. Lee will come to collect them till nine tomorrow. Make sure to finish till then.” 

   She knew she was right about something. The Durands had adopted her, so they could show how charitable they were. They had no intention of caring for an orphan. She wished she had known sooner. She could have warned Geoffrey about it. She would never have had to leave her home.

   Since she had nothing to do, she started separating the sheets. She wanted to flee from this house. A while later Caroline came in. Evelyn didn’t notice; she was busy with the papers. “What are you doing in this trash?” she asked Evelyn. Evelyn didn’t understand what to say; she didn’t know whether she could trust her to badmouth her own family. Evelyn knew, that if she wanted to survive here, she needed to trust Caroline. She explained to her what had happened with Lady Ruth.

   When she had finished, she looked at Caroline. She looked horrified.

‘Why would Grandma do this to her you?’. ‘That is it! I am going to confront her and ask her why she would do this!”

“No, you wouldn’t do that!” Evelyn warned her.

“Why not?”

“Lady Ruth threatened me, that if I told anybody, she would drive me out from here.”

 At that, Caroline stopped in her tracks. She knew she couldn’t do this to her. “Fine, I’ll help you to clear this mess up” she said, pointing at the sheets waiting to be filed.

   Days passed. Evelyn kept receiving the dirty work of the house. The household started preparing for a family dinner. They had invited the Philips to their house. Evelyn was overjoyed at the thought that she would meet Robbie again.

   “He loves gardening just like me. We used to spend a lot of time with his dog, Timothy.” chirped Evelyn, while cleaning the dining area. Caroline smiled sadly at her words. “What happened, aren’t you happy?” Evelyn asked. She noticed her expression. “I feel you should know. We are not allowed to be at the dinner. Our Mother thinks, we embarrass her.” Evelyn was disheartened.

   An hour later, Evelyn—sure she would get another mean chore—was surprised when she was told to be at the dinner. She was given a dress to put on. The Philips arrived, and the Durands greeted them. Robbie entered the hall; he was delighted to see her. He whispered something to his parents. Mrs. Philips said, “It seems Robert doesn’t want to be here, I think we should let them play till we finish.” As if on cue, Mrs. Durand agreed. She really liked to put up a show, in front of them. She acted as if she was a caring and gentle woman.

   Evelyn and Robbie went inside, where she found Caroline and Kevin. Caroline suggested they tell him, about what had happened. Evelyn agreed. They all explained everything to Robbie. He listened with no expression on his face. He already had an idea about this. Robbie said he had a plan. “What is it?” Evelyn asked. He told her to wait for some days.

   Many days passed, she would ask him, but his message was the same. Evelyn grew impatient day by day, but she still tolerated the Durands.

   At last, the day came when Robbie suggested they make an escape plan for Evelyn. the others were not quite sure. “But even if I escape, where will I go?”

“I know a kind old man, Bernie. His daughter died in an accident. I told him about you. He will be more than happy to raise you as his own daughter.”

Caroline and Evelyn agreed to Robbie’s plan, but Kevin seemed to disapprove. He pointed out flaws in the plan. Over days, they planned this escape. After a lot of outlining and revising the plan, and keeping the elders in dark, they had everything ready.

   Meanwhile it seemed as if Lady Ruth’s tasks were getting harder and harder, but Evelyn did not deter. The day before the getaway, everyone revised their part of the plan. All the time before, Kevin had been a little down, but today he seemed very happy. Evelyn thought it must be because their plan would be executed tomorrow. He said that he would get some sleep before the great day. All of them agreed.

   Evelyn woke up to chirping birds, she felt on cloud nine. Today was the day she would be free from this cruel family, and their merciless minds. She would still miss Caroline and Kevin. They were the only ones close to her in the household. Kevin had started acting weird, the last few days. It seemed like he wanted to say something but he never found the courage to. Still he had supported her, and was the major part of her escape plan.

   She got up and went through her normal day. Caroline and Evelyn had decided that they would talk less, so no one would get suspicious. They had a family dinner planned. Evelyn and the other staff were put to work, and everything was made ready for the dinner. When Evelyn was cleaning, she came to know, that this time other families were going to come too. Now they had a problem; they had to dodge the Philips, and the additional people that were going to come. The people were about to come, but Kevin had vanished. They needed to find Kevin.

   They searched the entire house and found him in the Gardens.

“Kevin! We need you to be inside the house, so that we can give you the signal, so you can distract the folk—”

“Evelyn! I don’t think I can do it anymore! If Grandma really is bad, I don’t want to get in trouble.” he said, cutting off Evelyn in the middle.

“Kevin! You cannot do that to her! She is our sister. It is our responsibility that we keep her safe; even if it is against Grandma.” Caroline pleaded. Evelyn didn’t say a word. This may all go down if Kevin wouldn’t help. She might stay here forever.

After a few hushed words from Caroline, Kevin seemed to change his mind. “I guess what you say is right. Evelyn is my sister, I will help her.” he said, grinning. Kevin told them to head ahead. He would follow a little while later. Caroline and Evelyn went inside. Joanna was standing at the entrance. “What are you two doing here?” she asked. The girls stopped in their tracks. They were caught. “Everyone is searching for you two; you need to get ready for the gathering.”

   The families started rushing in, the children had everything under control. Their plan was that, Kevin would create a distraction, at the end of the dinner, so Caroline and Evelyn could sneak out the house, where they would meet Robbie. Robbie would then take her to the railway station, where they would meet Bernie, the old farmer who was supposed to take care of Evelyn.

  Evelyn had her bags packed and was ready to go. The dinner went on for a long time, but at least it was over. There was no waiting to do, no planning, no spending time discussing their strategy; it was all happening. Evelyn couldn’t believe it. It was about time Kevin went on with his part of the plan, but he was nowhere to be found.

   Caroline and Evelyn hunted for Kevin, but he was nowhere. Caroline had had enough of it; she would create the distraction so that Evelyn could sneak out.

   Meanwhile Robbie had reached the gates of the Mansion, with the carrier. Evelyn would be coming anytime now. She ran to her room and grabbed her stuff and skirted to the back door. As planned, the door was open for Evelyn. Evelyn rushed towards the gates, and saw figures standing there. It was probably Robbie and the carrier, waiting for her. As she got closer, she realized how close she was to freedom, closer to meeting Bernie. The only people she would miss here at the Durand’s House were Caroline and Kevin. They had helped her not only to survive Lady Ruth’s barbary, but also planned her whole escape. She would never be able to thank them enough.

   All these thoughts overwhelmed her, and tears rolled down her cheeks. She couldn’t see very well with the tears clouding her sight, but Robbie seemed to be saying something, he was making hand gestures she couldn’t quite decipher; but she kept running. She didn’t look behind. All her hatred gave way, and the only thing she could see were the gates.

   Suddenly everything went wrong. Evelyn’s only mistake was not looking back. While she was running, someone hit her in the head, and she passed out. Robbie was caught, and the carrier shooed away, and Caroline was locked away in her room.

   While lying on the ground, realization dawned on her, ‘Kevin had gone rogue. It had always been a trap’.