3rd Person POV
Ophelia Laurel Domel.
A black-haired, fair-skinned, blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked, freckle-faced being of kindness. She'd grown up in a highly religious and strict home with her 13 other sisters (Her being the youngest of them). They weren't allowed to have male friends, and had to cover up all the way up to their necks. When her oldest sister, Eloise, had expressed that she was wanting to marry a man she had been seeing for a while, their parents objected fiercely. Ophelia was far too scared to stand it. She never spoke up, even when her friend...s... were being hurt.
They hated it so much, but they couldn't do anything about it. When she was old enough to leave, she immediately did. But she didn't really have a place to live, so she just lived in a few homeless shelters, moving from city to city. But that all changed one day.
Ophelia grumbled to herself as she looked through her wallet. She debated what she'd be able to eat that day. Not that she was sure she'd have enough to actually eat that day. She suddenly ran into someone, dropping her coins on the sidewalk. "Hey! Watch it!" She yelled at the woman she'd run into. "S-sorry, Ma'am." The woman said apologetically. Ophelia grumbled, "Yea, yea. Fine." She said, looking up. The woman had long curly blonde hair, creamy fair skin, dark red lips, and a familiar gleam in her green eyes. "Wait, wait, wait, wait a minute. Eloise?" Ophelia gasped, her eyes widening, almost immediately recognizing the woman. "Ophelia?" The woman questioned.
Ophelia immediately embraced her sister. "Oh my God!" She yelled. "Whoa, whoa! Calm down! You're gonna make me go deaf!" Eloise laughed. Ophelia nodded, "I'm so sorry..." She mumbled. "It'll all be ok." The elder promised.
Ophelia soon found out that her sisters had stayed together and founded an orphanage. She immediately recognized her sisters. Cordelia, Diana, Adeline, Elvira, Lavinia, Annalise, Charlotte, Nathalia, Evangeline, Kiara, Jadie, and Ameerah. And with Eloise, Ophelia felt complete. Taking care of children was Ophelia's dream. Being a co-owner of an orphanage, she finally had all she wanted.
She closed the children's book she'd been reading that night to the children. 6 bunk beds lined the walls as the children had been listening to her reading a story to them. She smiled and stood up, placing the book on the nightstand next to the lantern. "Ms. Ophelia? Can you sing?" One of the kids asked. Ophelia smiled, "Well, I think I can." She said. "Sing! Sing! Sing!" The little kid chirped. Ophelia smiled a bit more. "Alright then." She sighed, twirling a black lock in fingers. She sang them a lullaby, her soft voice flowing through the air and letting the melody guide the children to sleep. She covered them with their blankets and kept them snuggled in their beds. Once she finished, she smiled and brushed her skirt off. She saw that one of the beds was empty. She sighed, turning the knob of the lantern to turn it off. She didn't notice that it was still on.
Ophelia walked off to her sisters. Jadie looked over to her younger sister, her blue eyes shimmering softly in the lantern's dim light and her blonde hair falling out of its braids. "Is he out of bed again?" She asked, noticing Ophelia's slightly annoyed expression. "Yea." She sighed. Adeline looked over, "Fela, could you go to the store and get us some groceries?" She asked. "Sure." Ophelia responded, grabbing her jacket and walking out the door with some money.
About an hour later, she came back but completely froze, dropped her bags, and screamed in horror. The flames reflected in her eyes, bursting out the windows, and the screams...
Oh God.
The screams.
They were unbearable.
Ophelia rushed to the door, about to try and help. Do anything. Grab the kids. Find her sisters. ANYTHING!
