Nightmare

Spending half your life in an orphanage is not exactly ideal. A child is shoved away, hidden from the rest of the world. They have no real family. Just the workers or the others orphans surrounding them. That is no way to spend your childhood. Without a family and without a friend in the world to stand by their side. There are some who have it worse than others. Some orphans were born orphans. Their parents died when they were just a baby, or mother died while giving birth. They are abandoned by their family. Some even run away from home and are sent here. Others are torn from their loved ones through tragedy later on in life. Like I was…

Though all orphans have something in common. They do not have the one thing they need most, their parents. Parents are supposed to be the one thing on Earth that each child can count on. It does not always work out the right way because the world is a sick place. Some people are lucky, others are not at all. The orphans that were at Brinsholl Orphanage had no one. They were completely alone. They honestly did not even have each other.

Children there did not exactly get along. They fought constantly, trying to bring each other down. One can only guess that it was in search of a feeling of happiness and satisfaction. If they put others down it made them feel better, more important. So that if they were more important they would be adopted quicker than the others. This never did work out for them though. Adults saw how they treated each other and decided that a child with such behavior did not deserve their help in gaining a family. The children did not learn from this and acted out even more. When I arrived, they decided I was their next victim. The older children chose me as their chew toy, to mess around with whenever they saw fit.

I stood up for myself though. I had been around my mother long enough to learn how to take care of myself and handle situations like this. Since they were only children I figured that if I refused to let them affect me they would eventually back off, unlike my mother. They were just children after all. I did get beat often. That never brought me down. I had been through too much to ever let someone else try and hurt me again. I was going to fight. So I did… I punched back and I was not afraid to. They realized I had a strong will so they began to give up. Well, some of them did. There were a few who decided to go to new lengths. A rather large boy broke my arm by throwing me down the stairs a month and a half after my arrival. That was the first time I saw Riley.

***
The small girl eventually landed at the last step, her arm twisting in a horrid manner. The children who had done this laughed. They felt a sense of accomplishment seeing the strong hearted girl fall in pain. She did not let them see her pain though. She was stronger than they would ever be. Picking herself up, dusting off her black dress with her unharmed arm. She slowly made her way towards Mrs. Strumphner’s office, making sure not to jostle her wounded arm too much.

Shadows caught her attention from the corner of her eye. Surely the children had not come to do more damage. Her small head turned to look into the hallway. Her long raven black hair fell in her eyes. The girl attempted to blow the hair away from her face. The attempt was futile. As she was about to brush it aside, slender fingers placed the strands behind her ear. A boy was knelt before her, a concerned look on his face. He had oddly cut hair, which the young girl found quite interesting. She lifted her right hand up, touching one of the shiny piercings in the teenage boys lip. She giggled softly, the pain in her arm momentarily forgotten.

The boy looked no older than 17 or 18. His skin was paler than any other she had seen before. ‘Maybe he is sick.’ She thought to herself. The boy smiled gently down at her, “My name is Riley. What is your name sweetheart?” The girl smiled in return, “Maive.” The boy smiled again, “Nice to meet you Maive, now let’s get you to an adult so your arm can be taken care of. Judging from that fall I think you broke it.” He carefully lifted her up, carrying her on his hip to Mrs. Strumphner’s office. The child softly knocked on the door as Riley placed her back on her feet.

Mrs. Strumphner opened the door and ushered the girl in, “What’s happened to you?” The child looked up at her, speaking in a strong voice, “My arm is hurt, I think it is broken, Riley does too.” The adult looked at the child, “Who is Riley?” Maive pointed to the teenager standing beside the adult. Mrs. Strumphner saw no one, “Look no one is there, so you probably just hit your head as well if you are seeing things. Let's get you to the Doctor.” The girl did not understand why the adult could not see Riley. She did not care though, for she had made a friend.
***

Riley had always been the one that I had depended on after my father’s death. So how can I put my trust into another? How did Michelle and Brian expect me to react to the suggestion of adoption?

“Maive, we can give you a family again. You deserve it after everything you have been through. We care for you and we want you to be our daughter.”

They were offering me a family again, something every person needs. Though how could I accept this? My family is dead. My father was my only family and he is dead. He can never be replaced, not even by Brian…

Notes

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