Jordan Rose

Prologue

The sky was clear that day for once. I could see the sun from behind the clouds for what felt like the first time, the sky a beautiful shade of blue. Even little birds were dancing outside the window on the usually cold and dark courtyard. That was when I knew it was a good day.

I jumped down from the window sill and skipped over to my small bed on the floor, folding the brown sack over the little patch of space, and fluffed my dirty pillow up a little bit. Then I sat on my bed and played with the little silver cross that hung around my neck, the only possession of mine. My parents gave it to me when I was born, on a chain that you can keep adding to so it will always fit. I hummed a song I had heard one of the carers singing the day before when she was sweeping the courtyard.

The door swung open, and number 27 jumped out. I looked up at the scraggly little boy, my humming going silent.

"Hey guys! Guys guys guys guys guys!" He shouted. 293 pairs of eyes looked in his direction, followed by a loud "what?!" shouted in unison.

"The Keepers are here!" Number 42 jumped out from behind number 27, answering us all. Most of the children gasped. The room broke out into excited whispers and frantic kids getting ready. Excitement bubbled up inside of me and I ran to the bathroom.

I hurried up to the mirror, thankful for being the first person there. I splashed my face with cold water and dried it off with the sleeve of my brown dress. My fingers ran through my curly black hair in an attempt to clear it of knots and to make it look presentable. When I was sure it was as good as I could make it, I studied my reflection in the mirror, flattening down the creases in the dress. My emerald green eyes stared back at me, my pale skin and freckle-covered nose pure and clean. Despite my greatest attempts, I couldn't quite get my hair right before I was pushed out of the way by a stampede of girls trying to clean themselves up to impress the Keepers.

The Keepers were the people that came to the orphanage and looked at us all. If we were very lucky, sometimes a little boy or girl would be chosen and would go home with the Keepers. It was my biggest dream ever to be adopted and to leave the orphanage forever. No one had ever given me a second glance, but I always tried as hard as I could.

A bell rung somewhere in the distance. I hurried outside and lined up in the courtyard with the other girls, while the boys lined up on the other side. Miss Harvey, the owner of the orphanage, walked up the path that separated the 2 lines, inspecting us, before stopping up the other end and facing us all. Not a word came out of her mouth as a middle aged couple stepped out into the courtyard. The man wore glasses and a bright red bow tie, with a checkered t-shirt tucked into some khakis. His brown hair was styled so that the front flicked up, and his hazel eyes had a friendly glint in them, one that I could see from a long distance away. He held tightly onto a women's arm. She had sandy blonde hair that was pulled tightly into a ponytail, her height exceeding that of the chubby little man by far. Her black cardigan was buttoned up the front, with three-quarter length jeans on her long legs. Both he and she wore black sandals.

"Good morning Mr and Mrs Miller," Mrs Harvey called. Both women and man nodded and smiled in return. "Would you like to take a look at some of our orphans here on offer?"

Mr Miller was the one to answer.

"Why of course we would! Why else would we have come here?" He said smiling. Mrs Miller laughed. Mrs Harvey, however, clearly didn't share the same sense of humour as the couple.

"Well then," she said dryly. "These are all of our children. Take a look." Mr Miller nodded and tugged on Mrs Miller's arm as they slowly walked down the aisle. I stood up as tall as I could, meeting the height of my fellow orphans. My chest was puffed out and my hands were held behind my back. Mr Miller walked on over to number 27 and patted him on the head. Number 27 beamed with happiness.