Free THE CLEARING by Shalini Boland

worked and she gradually got her feelings back under control. All the scary thoughts that had threatened to overpower her had been pushed to the side – for now.
    After Lissy’s momentary panic, the day passed in a blur of sleepiness and boredom. Lessons were all to do with God and religious stuff. Different women taught them, but their voices all merged into one monotonous drone and Liss could hardly keep her eyes open.
    They stopped for lunch – soup and bread. And then for supper – soup and bread again followed by a casserole of meat, potatoes and vegetables.
    And as they plodded back to the bedroom with Leah, Liss felt as though she was being smothered by a thick woollen blanket, her mind all foggy and strange.
    None of the girls had spoken to each other all day. It was like they were too tired to bother. They hadn’t exactly been forbidden to speak to one another, but everywhere was so quiet that speaking felt wrong. And Liss’s thoughts kept wobbling around, not staying in one place for more than a couple of seconds so that even when she’d wanted to say something, the words just slipped away.
    Once or twice, she had caught sight of the blonde-haired girl from breakfast, but there had been no opportunity to catch her eye. It was odd though, because each time she saw her, her mind temporarily cleared and she felt a teensy bit more normal.
    Annabelle seemed a little better today. She wasn’t upset anymore and Liss was always aware of her on the edge of her vision, placidly following instructions. She no longer seemed to need Liss’s reassurance. But Liss somehow knew that this wasn’t a good thing. She didn’t know why, but it had been better when Annabelle was crying and screaming. Better that, than this nothingness.
    Now, as they were following Leah along the corridor back to their room, they stopped to let another column of girls pass by. Liss stared at them, all silent and similar in their grey pinafores, all with their eyes cast downwards, all clean, pale-faced and expressionless, except for one - The blonde-haired girl.
    As they passed each other, the girl whispered something to her, jolting her out of her stupor. It sounded like: ‘Don’t drink the soup.’
    Could she have heard right? But what did that mean? Was she trying to be funny?
    Don’t drink the soup?
    Liss turned back and saw that the girl too was staring back in her direction, mouthing the word ‘soup’ and drawing her finger across her neck while shaking her head.
    Liss felt a slice of fear. Maybe the soup was poisonous. And she had wolfed down two bowls of it today. She didn’t feel sick or ill though; just a bit . . . odd. Maybe these people wanted to kill them. But that didn’t make any sense. Why would they bother kidnapping them if they were going to kill them? And then what would be the point of all those boring lessons?
    They had reached their bedroom again and the sound of church bells followed her in. All that thinking had tired her out. Liss’s brain felt muddled again. The bells filled up her mind with their chiming echoing sound, chasing away all other thoughts.
    A nightdress lay on her bed. She changed out of her clothes and took her turn in the bathroom to wash. Then she climbed beneath the blanket and tried to remember what she had been thinking about, but all she could think of were the ringing clanging bells and the pattern they made in her head. A metallic looping sound that pealed from high to low and back again, in a never-ending cascade.
     
    The following day, Liss found herself staring at the blonde girl again. It was lunchtime already and she was seated at the familiar trestle table in the dining hall. But she couldn’t remember waking up or getting dressed or having breakfast, or even what she had been doing before lunch. It was only now, looking at the girl, that she had some sense of time and of who she was.
    Liss’s spoon hovered below her lips and she blew on the soup to cool it. The girl was shaking her