Fading

The Orphanage

        I still have nightmares of that place. A bunch of feral children being managed by even more feral adults. Oroville Orphanage, a place well respected by everyone; except the children and adults that suffer inside. I didn't have any friends, but the week before my age group had the ceremony, I did find Shai, my crow that the mistresses reluctantly let me keep.
      It was my 13th birthday and we always got a little personal cake of whatever flavor we wanted. Mrs.Rainy was my favorite mistress of the orphanage, and the only reason we got cakes sneaked into our rooms on our birthdays.
       There was knocking on the door with a direct opening of the door, because why would you need privacy from the mistresses in an orphanage. "Sunny, I know you said you didn't want a cake this year, but I know your favorite is German Chocolate cake, and I love to make them so here you go! Head mistress wants all mistresses in her office to finish planning for next months ceremony, so enjoy that while everyone is distracted. And here is your hush money Katie.". "I would've just taken a cake but thanks for the ten dollars, Happy Birthday cloudy!" Katie acts like she is better than the rest of us, and calls me cloudy because I'm "not happy enough to be called sunny". She's my current roommate, but everyone in the orphanage has an understanding of orphans against mistresses, (except Rainy, she helps us all) before orphans against other orphans, so I don't waste my time with Katie. "Thanks Rainy, good luck with the the queen.". Rainy is the only person I've ever liked, and everyone else knows it.
      After breakfast in the dining hall, Rainy took me outside to the garden because we can't go without a mistress. We walked outside and kept hearing a crow cawing in the big tree in the center of the garden. Rainy walked closer, "It looks like the poor guy's wing is injured.". "How do you know it's a guy?" I asked. "Well I don't know if it's a guy, let's get him...or her inside and we'll use the computer to figure out it's Gender." So I climbed up the tree before she could stop me and got on the limb right under the crow. "Sunny get down from there! I can go get the ladder, what I can not do is be responsible for an injury!!". The Crow jumped on my shoulder and looked into my soul, and I just knew I had to help her. Me and rainy fixed her wing into a sort of sling until her wing healed, which is when problems started. Head mistress allowed Rainy to keep the crow in her office until the wing was healed, and she was always honest with me, another reason I liked her. So the day we went to release the crow outside, she just kept flying back to my shoulder. The head mistress was outside watching the whole thing. "Goodness Gracious Rainy! You're smarter than that bird! Grab that crow and send Sunny inside, if you don't I will!" So Rainy grabbed her and I went inside the doors, but the crow stayed right on the other side of the doors. Head mistress walked over to grab her and to say the least, she didn't appreciate it. Head mistress was rushed to the hospital after getting knocked out by a beak, and when she came back to Oroville she walked into Rainy's office where the cage was and said "if the bird wants to be with sunny so bad, Mr.Farroway said he can't be bothered with another medical bill. You're lucky it was a bird Sunny." She said threateningly. Birds and people with magic capabilities are known for having a certain connection, most great magicians that normies know of, keep birds around to magnify their power.