When We Don't Believe In Demons Anymore.

∆ Run Away.

Everyone wishes they had someone in the world.

Just that one person who'd never crumble, no matter what life threw at them.

Some people claim that they're above that.

They claim they're above having someone because they've been hurt too many times or they just don't trust enough.

Well, that's a lie if I've ever heard one.

Even as a dying wish, all we want is to just be able to have one single person to rely on. To love, to care for, to laugh with, to be able to tell anything without being judged, or harmed or ridiculed.

We just want to be happy.

Well, I just want to be happy, I'm sure other people are... To a certain extent.

I'm not.

I'm fourteen. I live in an orphanage, and every day and every night, my life takes me one step closer to believing that hell exists.

The orphanage smells, it's over-crowded, and though the matron tries her very hardest, the place is filthy, like a gutter almost. It's horrible.

There's barely any space to sleep, and the sheets...? Yeah, I'd rather freeze to death than use them.

Every week, it gets worse. We get not one, not two, and not even freaking three, we get five new additions.

Every week.

But the most horrible part isn't my living situation. It's the loneliness. Here, no one ever speaks to you, nobody pays you any attention, hell, you don't even get a smile! It's just bad.

And that's probably because no one knows your name.

I don't know my name.

And I'm so done with this place.

My plan has been months in the making. Write the matron a thank you letter— because there's always that negative zero percent chance that she'll find it— gather up my half a belonging, and run away in the dead of night armed with just the self-defence fighting I'd learnt and practiced over all these years.

Hoping I'd make it past the guards to freedom.

Oh yeah, I was running away.

I knew luck was on my side when I found a piece of un-scarred paper, a pen and an envelope, and miraculously a quiet corner of the orphanage so I could write.

Dear matron,
Thank you? Yes, thank you. You've been as supportive as you can be, and you've helped wherever you can.
So, thanks. Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault I ran away. You can't help this hell-hole and I get that. But I don't support it. I'm out of here. Thanks for the little home while it lasted.
- The girl who's missing— I don't know my name.

I looked sadly down at the letter, wishing there was more to write, more memories to document, anything.

But there wasn't.

So, I quietly folded up the letter, shoved it in an envelope, and left it on the window-sill where matron liked to sit in the evenings.

Hopefully she'd find it.

Then, I gathered up my few belongings, and tied them into the cleanest sheet I could find (which wasn't very clean) and waited.

Finally, night began to fall, and I got ready.

The darker it got, the more peaceful the orphanage became, as slowly the numerous undefined age groups of kids began to fall asleep.

Slowly, I got up.

I wanted nothing more to get off this disgusting floor and feel the soil between my toes and the wind on my face. I wanted to breathe in fresh air and smell the flowers. I did not want to be stuck here.

As I crawled towards the door, my stomach curled in disgust of the dirt I was dragging myself through. Filth not even worth describing.

Eventually, I got to the door way, and gently I raised myself to my feet.

The sight that greeted me was nothing short of revolting, and for a moment I had to physically restrain myself from gagging.

Children lay everywhere. Dirty arms and legs and matted hair was the tangle I had to walk through. From where I stood, the hauntingly peaceful expressions of the children made it look like dead bodies scattered across the floor.

I turned tail and ran away as carefully as I could. Once or twice, I nearly lost my balance and trampled a couple of children, but my only concern was getting out of that place.

Left, right, left, right, left.

My feet fell into an unconcious rhythm, as I ran through the orphanage.

When I got the bolted doors, I didn't stop. My hands worked fast at the bolts and locks, and soon, I pushed the door open freely.

I braced myself to get caught by the guards.

But, it never happened.

Instead, I looked towards the gate to find the entire guard passed out with bottles of water beside them.

Suddenly, I was on edge. I took a few cautious steps into the open, and scanned my surroundings.

Nothing. There was nothing.

I breathed in deeply and sprinted towards the gate and only when I was outside it, looked back to see a little girl probably a few years younger than me, with bright brown eyes, staring at me though the window pane.

Her intense eyes seemed to shine brighter than the full moon that currently sat in the sky, and they seemed to encourage me to run away.

"Go." I saw her mouth.

I paused for a second, swallowed and turned around.

It didn't seem right leaving her alone, but I couldn't help it. It didn't feel like she wanted to join me, and so I ran away, without looking back.

~~~~~~

"You may now kiss the bride."

I didn't waste a second before I caught my wife's lips passionately on mine. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a particularly happy looking wedding guest in the first row of seats.

The matron.

She was reason I had my wife clasped firmly in my arms, and she was also the reason I had nearly half of my wedding guests.

After I'd run away on that full moon night, many people followed suit. This upset the matron and she apparently decided that the orphanage should become a safe, happy place for everyone. So, she came to this anonymous company, and asked them for money and help.

It turned out that that company was mine, and when I recognised the matron, I jumped at the chance to help.

Ever since that little girl with bright brown eyes had helped me run away, I'd dedicated my life to helping— orphanages especially.

Then, one thing led to another, and I rebuilt and re-furbished the orphanage, found the brown-eyed love of my life, and got married with the giant, happy building, all clean and new behind me, and life was good.

To this day, my wife, the matron and I live happily, still working our time away to help orphanages, and other child organisations wherever we can.

Yet, sometimes I can't help but wonder... What would have happened if I hadn't run away all those years ago?