Keep Me Running

Initiation part 1

10 years ago

Niran watched from his spot in the corner of the large room surrounded by noisy kids as they brought in another orphan. The nun who walked her into the room with a reassuring hand on her shoulder attempted to introduce her to the loud room. The small girl under her palm didn't look up once to meet the fascinated eyes of the children now sat in front of her.

"Children! this is Oriah, please say hello and welcome her into our home."

The nun turned to her resting a hand on her head. "Oriah, I hope you'll feel comfortable" she gave a sincere smile down to her, picking up on the small girls anxieties. "You can make friends with the girls over there." She pointed to a group of giggling girls not too far from where Niran was sat in his corner.

The nun walked away leaving her to stand in the middle of the room, head hung, and alone. The five girls approached her in a line of linked arms. Niran watched from above his comic as they talked to her, all while she looked down at her scuffed white plimsolls. The black curly mop of hair on her head hung over her eyes. The clothes she wore hung on her skinny frame, and the bruises and scabs on her legs and knees appeared fresh.

The girls giggled pulling at her hair and clothes; she pushed their hands away looking up briefly to meet the eyes of one of the mouthier ones. The mouthy one also known as lianne pushed her face to hers, standing a few inches taller she looked down at her before saying something that lead to more giggles form the girls before turning their backs on the new girl again in the middle of the room.

Niran looked back down at the tattered graphic comic in front of him. He'd gotten to the part where the boss aka kill softly was assigning his recruits tasks. The main character had been given the task of infiltrating a drug lord meeting taking place in an extravagant mansion and kidnap and kill Raverlo the biggest drug lord in Chicago.

Oriah stood unmoving in the middle of the room not wanting to draw attention to herself or disturb any of the games being played around her. Her eyes scanned the room quickly for somewhere she could hide until night. For a catholic orphanage the children seemed happy. Even the mean girls that had pulled at her hair seemed truly happy playing with the broken dolls. They all had no family like her, but they had friends.  she then noticed something different in the noisy room. 

Then she noticed something different in the noisy room, opposite her in secluded corner sat a boy around the age of eleven. With his legs crossed and back hunched his eyes were fixed on the scuffed comic in front of him. Next to him she noticed a small book case with a few tattered looking novels, comics and colouring books all looking pretty worn considering none of the other children seemed as interested in the books as they found the toys. Before Oriah's aunt’s death in the fire, she had bought Oriah a new book every month. For an eight year old she had quite a collection, she would proudly stand in front of her books and admire them, hoping one day to have a collection as large as her aunts. But her aunt was gone now and so were the books.

She made her way across the room, tip toeing around the toys scattered on the floor until she had a clear site of the books, not standing too close to the boy perched in front of it. Taking down the thickest book on the shelf, deciding to get something she could get lost in as long as possible. She sat there getting lost in the pages for an hour but she couldn't ignore the fact she no longer had a family and was surrounded by strangers in a place miles away from her village.

Niran glanced up from his comic briefly at the new girl as she picked up a mystery book he had read just a week ago and sat down on the other side of the case, her back facing the rest of the room. he felt his face twist in confusion, wondering why this girl wasn't even trying to talk with the other children inside the large play room, or jump rope outside with the girls from earlier. He looked at her again taking in her short height and tiny hands she looked no older than eight, the book in her hand was for a twelve year old with an advanced reading level. Oriah noticed his curious stare and met it with her own curious glance before pushing her face closer to the book in her hands. Niran decided to pay no more attention to new girl but on his comic, though he had read it so many times and he could quote the villains’ word for word it never bored him. The comic was his older brothers, he had given it to him before he travelled to the us, he said he was going to come back for Niran. He was waiting.