Mute | A New Beginning

Chapter 2

If there was a reason that Arlo's parents left her outside of the orphanage almost two years ago, it was unbeknownst to the small girl and even the caretakers at Little River Orphanage. Her life before all of this was considerably normal, a happy child with two seemingly happy parents, which is why Arlo decided, in all the confusion and chaos, that the only logical way to cope with the aftermath was to keep quiet, ceasing to utter even a word to anyone. This was all a precaution, in case she said anything wrong, something that might mean being left behind again, her whole life turned upside down without a familiar face to comfort her.

Thankfully, the caretakers had been patient with her, allowing her to cope how she felt she needed to, never pushing her, or forcing her to talk to anyone. During her time there Arlo had taken a liking to one of the women in particular, Mrs Moore. The caretaker had been especially kind to the timid girl, taking extra care to make her feel as comfortable and secure as possible in the difficult situation.

One thing that Mrs Moore, and many of the other caretakers, were doing to help many of the kids there was making sure that every day was structured and that they followed a daily routine as much as possible.

On a normal weekday, the smaller children were woken up by one of the caretakers at 7:30 AM. Once they were all awake, they are expected to get themselves dressed, in clothes they either get to choose themselves or the caretaker that woke them up can help them pick, after which they can go downstairs for breakfast, which they are able to have between 7:30 AM and 8:15 AM. By giving the kids such a wide time frame, it means that the dining hall is never too busy, and it can be kept relatively calm in the mornings, when it is probably most needed.

Typically, Arlo tried her best to get down to the dining hall as soon as possible after she was woken up as this was always the quietest time and so it was easier to get away with sitting alone and not interacting with anyone unnecessarily. It wasn't as if the kids here were horrible to her, they were all nice enough and she never really got any trouble from anyone when she didn't answer them back verbally. The teachers were currently trying to teach all the kids at the orphanage sign language, as before Arlo, none of the staff had come across a child that needed a different way to communicate with others. Unfortunately, it was proving to be quite challenging, especially when it came to the kids remembering all the different elements, although the caretakers did manage to pick it up quite quickly. Because of this, other children avoided any potential awkwardness that could arise from trying to be friendly with Arlo, which the girl wasn't too fussed about as she preferred her own company over having to make small talk with any of the other kids.

Since the orphanage was quite large, many of the rooms had been dedicated to making adequate classrooms. Therefore, after breakfast is finished, the children are ushered into their respective classrooms, where they begin their school day. Arlo quite enjoyed completing her schoolwork, although there were occasions where she found the topics relatively easy and so would quickly become bored or distracted, staring off into space or looking out the window and watching the birds fly by freely, wishing that she too was somewhere else, able to go anywhere she wanted.

During the school day, since Arlo was still preschool age, their lessons were quite relaxed, learning about colours, numbers, and other basic things that small kids should be equipped with at this early stage in their lives. Because of this, the classes didn't last as long as the older kids' lessons and it never felt like long until lunch time rolled around, which was always substantially more busy than breakfast was, however, if the weather was good, they were allowed to sit outside, where there were benches and patches of grass to sit on, to eat their food, which Arlo liked doing a lot, especially in the summer when all the birds were out, flying above the trees and buildings.

Once all their lessons were done for the day and their teachers had dismissed them, they were allowed a few hours of free time where they were able to do almost anything they wanted. This was easily Arlo's favourite part of the day because she got to do the things that she liked the most and usually, she was able to spend the entire time without any disruptions or have to interact with anyone. Essentially, she was free to live inside her own bubble for a few hours. Obviously, being of such a young age, there was never a caretaker too far away, ready to help in case a situation was to arise. A lot of the time, Arlo liked to spend this portion of the day reading any books she could find. Although truthfully, the girl didn't know how to read all that well and struggled with many of the more complex words, however there were always pictures that she could entertain herself with and sometimes, if she really couldn't figure out the words, she would just make up her own story in her head using the pictures so graciously provided, coming up with her own character names and plotlines.

After free time was dinner, which was eaten all together in the dining hall. This could become very overwhelming because of the sudden rush of kids, all different ages, all sat within the same vicinity. This was the part of the day that Arlo usually dreaded the most as it meant that she would have to sit with the other kids that were around her age and listen as they talked and talked about nothing of any importance. During dinner, time always seemed to go painfully slow, one hour ended up feeling like five and it was always a blessing when it ended. Once it was over, the kids were all sent to their rooms to get ready for bed, making sure their teeth and hair was brushed and then one of the caretakers would come around, at different times, depending on the age group of the children in the room, to make sure everyone was settled, before finally turning out the lights, closing off the day calmly, ready to start it over again the next day.