As per Mrs. Walker's instructions, every child in the orphanage had been escorted back to their dormitories. Younger kids were placed under the supervision of the caretakers along with the infants on the ground floor.
Their sobs and wails drifted to the second floor. Fortunately some of these younger kids did not have the chance to see the horrifying scene, as their class teachers reacted on time and shut the drapes.
Room: 268
The atmosphere in the room was damp, filled with a heaviness no kid of their age could bear. Some of the kids were crying, lying under their bedsheets while reliving what they had seen.
The rest were lying in silence, in no mood to talk.
Jinn was also sitting in his bed with his back against the board, sheets draped over his legs. He was staring outside the window of his room with a dazed look on his face, like something had shaken him.
Sun had already started to set, covering the whole city in a cold shadow that only continued to spread around like spilled blood as the time passed.
In his hand was a small box, the size of an adult hand. It was made of polished wood, carved by hand. The box had a lid that was slightly opened and a handle attached to the side.
Jinn's fingers were wrapped around this thin handle as he kept rotating his circular motion. The creaking sound coming from the box as his hand went up and down dampened the atmosphere in the room even further.
While he was in the middle of this action, the lid of the box suddenly snapped open and a horrifying clown jumped out. Its eyes were hollow, and it was covered in dirt and patches.
Everyone in the room jerked when they heard the noise of the lid snapping, but Jinn kept looking out of the window, lost in his own world. His hands moved again as he closed the box and repeated the action.
He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Sally, who was lying on the bed beside his, calling out to him.
"Jinn…"
"Jinn."
"Jinn!"
At first she tried calling out to him with a soft voice, but no matter how she tried, she got no response, so she got up from her bed and shook the boy.
"JINN!"
"What?" Her loud shout snapped the boy out of his trance. Jinn groaned in pain after all; Sally screamed like a banshee on mood swings.
"You are scaring everyone with that creepy thing of yours."
Jinn looked around and saw that everyone else in the room was now looking at them with either teary eyes or a forced smile. 'They got scared, just from this? This poor thing does not even have a voice module; otherwise, who knows what would have happened?'
Sally raised her voice even more when she saw the disdain on Jinn's face. "Keep that thing away! It's good that Kyle is not here; otherwise, he would be a mess by now."
Jinn's hand that was going to replay the Jack in the Box toy paused after hearing the little boy's name. Just like the other kids of his age, he was also taken to the second hall on the ground floor.
Sighing, Jinn placed the box on the side table to his left. Sally's anger also faded, but instead of going back into her own bed, she slid into Jinn's.
Jinn stared at the little girl as she shamelessly started covering herself with his sheets. He did not even bother to hide the look of contempt on his face. "Who said you could get into my bed?"
Sally froze for a second before snorting, "I will come in your bed; what will you do about it?"
"What? Did you piss—?" Before he could even finish his words, Jinn felt a crisp slap land on his lips. Thanks to his awakening, he did not feel much of the stinging pain and only felt a small bite-like sensation.
His eyes met with a cold pair of predatory gazes; there was a clear warning within those eyes, which he understood upon one look. Just when Sally thought Jinn would back down, she felt a wet, tingly sensation on her palm and hurriedly took her hand away.
"You!!"
On her hand was a wet little patch that Jinn had left with his tongue.
"Don't stare; your wide eyes make you look like some hideous monster."
Jinn's snarky remarks only fueled Sally's anger; her chest heaved up and down as she took deep breaths.
"Stop gawking and tell me what you want."
Sally suppressed her anger and glanced around at the faces looking in their direction. Seeing her wild eyes, they all looked away.
Sally finally turned to Jinn and whispered, "Did you see what happened?"
Not every class was next to the windows from where the incident could be witnessed. Sally, along with many others, did not witness Torus's suicide because her class was positioned to view the back walls of the orphanage.
"I heard someone jumped from the upper floors, is that true?"
Jinn shrugged and responded, "I did not see it myself; I was out of the class, but I heard the same from the others."
The rumors spread like wildfire among kids, and naturally the news was known to all by the time the kids were even taken to their rooms.
"What were you doing out?"
Sally looked at Jinn in suspicion. She leaned forward to put an imposing pressure on him, but her attempts failed when a loud sound echoed through the entire Orphanage.
"It's the bell of gathering." Jinn whispered, looking out of the window. "We should leave."
"Why are they summoning us at this moment?" Sally grumbled but still beguilingly stood up from the bed. She carefully straightened her skirt only to notice Jinn staring at it with a mocking smirk.
With a flushed face, she turned away without uttering a word and rushed out of the room.
"Guess she did not wet herself after all." Jinn chuckled to himself and followed the girl. The other kids had already left the room in a rush before them. Jinn looked back at the box he was playing with one last time before closing the door and walking away.