WHODUNITS

The merry-go-round

It was in 1987, in the small town of Hessel, there was an orphanage for little girls where they received a Catholic and a strict education. We rarely saw one of them leave the dismal building where they spent all their childhood.

That year, several strange events happened in the establishment. Some girls asked question to the Sisters but nobody had any answer . Lena was among the most inquisitive girls of the orphanage. As a result she absolutely wanted to know why several of her friends had mysteriously disappeared.

Indeed, Lena was a really curious girl ans she was very intelligent. Recently, she had celebrated her 12^th birthday and had arrived in that school 8 years before. She had never known her father, moreover her mother had been suffering from cancer. She had died not long after Lena's birthday. Consequently Lena had only one member in her family: her grand father Barry. She loved him, but after they spent one year together, Barry didn't have enough money to deal with his granddaughter so he decided to send her into an orphanage. Actually they saw each other every week-end. The little girl quickly made friends, particulary Alina with whom she was used to playing with.

Alina was the first girl who disappeared. It was on a Wednesday afternoon, that day the girls could go to the merry-go-round near the florist's . She was sitting on a horse that was going round. Lena was looking at her. She was seeing her, not seeing her, seeing her, not seeing her … The merry-go-round did many turns but suddenly Alina didn't reappear. Lena didn't understand it. And back to school, indeed she didn't find her at all. In the evening she asked one sister:

-Do you know where Alina is ? I haven't seen her since this afternoon, we were together yet!

The sister answered after a hesitating moment.

-Oh Alina ? Didn't she inform you ? She was really sick, therefore she went back home with her parents !”

Lena didn't understand. How could Alina disappear in a few seconds ? She thought that she didn’t have any reason to be worried thus she just believed the adult.

The following month ,where days were all similar, went by slowly. Nothing changed. Nothing seemed strange any more except one thing : Alina hadn't come back to school. “Maybe she will be returning soon” thought Lena.

One day in February, Lena using one of these few moments of relaxation was playing with friends in the playground, when suddenly she saw one of the Sister crying . She sat next to her and asked her why she was feeling bad. In fact, the Sister explained to Lena that the establishment had many problems. A couple of minutes later, the girl said “I'm sure you'll find a solution, don't be so anxious.” The Sister burst into tears, she stuttered something like “I'm very much afraid we have already found a horrible solution” and she ran away before Lena had time to say anything.

A few weeks later, the twins disappeared just after leaving school. The headship justified these disappearances by an epidemic. In their opinion it was all right, the nurse just explained the girls all the precautions they had to take.

Lena noticed there was a heavy atmosphere in the orphanage especially between adults. She was pretty sure there were serious problems, they didn't concern only money.

She decided to talk to Sidy who was a trustworthy friend. They exchanged their points of view and their fear. Sidy admitted that not long before the twin's disappearance she had seen the headmaster give a big sum of money to the owner of the merry-go-round.

It was too much for Lena. This week-end she would confide this story to her grand-father. Barry could probably help her.

He immediately took the events seriously. A few weeks previously he had heard that the school had problems and had been suffering from a supposed epidemic. Moreover Barry was a gossip in the small town . On Wednesday afternoons, he played bowls with his long-time friends. They often talked about the news of the neighbourhood. All of them were grand-fathers and were very attentive at Lena. Together they decided to resolve the enigmatic situation. First Barry took the decision to keep her at home. He called the orphanage to inform them that his granddaughter was sick. But the epidemic was a pretext invented by the school consequently the Sisters supposed Lena had discovered something.

One night, they hid next to the main square of Hessel, in order to observe the owner of the merry-go-round. They saw the Sister who had given clues to Lena, on a bench in front of the attraction. They approached her slowly; when she saw them she cried out. The grand-fathers led by Lena, talked to the Sister. Luckily she cooperated.

They climbed on the horses, fish and other animals of the merry-go-round. There was a room above where they could enter by a trapdoor.

First, the grand-fathers couldn't react, they were so shocked and surprised by the dramatic vision of the scene. Alina, the twins and six other girls where lying on the floor. They were probably drugged because they were unrecognizable! Barry thought that they were victims of child trafficking. Fortunately they had arrived on time.

When Lena entered the room, she fainted at once.

by Anouk Durocher and Jeanne Crouan