There lived a girl in an orphanage. Her name was Em. Her parents had left her at the orphanage when she was a baby and no one wanted her. She was a strange child. The other children didn't like her. She didn't like them either. They bullied her and hurt her. She couldn't trust the adults. "Useless, pathetic, ugly, and stupid" they would say to her. All she wanted to do was get away from them.
She only ever had one friend. A girl named Bea. They became friends one day when she first arrived. She got along with everyone and saw that Em needed a friend. They comforted each other. Bea never got bullied so she protected Em as best she could but the adults wanted to keep them away from each other. They would meet at night and laugh together in the cellar. For a little while Em was happy.
Then one day on their 16th birthday. they found out Bea was to be adopted in two days. They cried all night. Bea wanted to convince her adoptive parents to take Em but it'd be no use.
The next night they met downstairs and they went outside to get some food they had hidden. It was in the middle of winter and they could see their breath in the air like tendrils climbing toward the sky. They walked toward the storage shed. All of a sudden Em pushed her in and locked the door. She ran towards the house ignoring her friend's panicked cries. Em ran inside and ran into the cellar. Whenever they went down here she would see gasoline cans. She's planned this for years. She grabbed several cans and a box of matches.
Upstairs and down she crept throughout the house leaving a trail of gas in her wake. She's dreamt of this moment when she can get back at them all. Being free of their torments at last. She emptied out the rest of the cans and lit the match. The one that will change her life. She opened the back door and threw the match. The fire started instantly and the growing flames warmed her from the cold as it snaked its way through the orphanage. She closed the door. In minutes the whole house was in flames and she couldn't hear anything but the roaring flames. The smoke clouded her vision and stung her eyes and they began watering. The firefighters got to her and asked if she was alright. Her tears must've been mistaken for innocence and they wrapped her in a blanket. She passed out from the smoke.
Hours later she awoke in the hospital. She freaked out because she remembered she left her beloved friend in the shed outside. She got out of bed and ran. The nurses tried to stop her but she kept going. When she got to the forest where the orphanage was she screamed. The shed had caught fire last night and what was left was a pile of smoldering wood. She dropped to the floor and cried for what felt like hours. Finally she got up and walked over. There were no remains of her friend. She was confused. Just then she felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun around and there she saw her beloved Bea. Standing there in a beautiful gown. She said she broke out before the shed caught on fire and went shopping. She handed Em a similar dress. She put it on and twirled. She felt like a princess. They had a picnic on the grass. They had petit fours, macarons, and then Bea handed Em a small bottle decorated with a ribbon. It tasted like strawberries and clouds. Sunlight streamed through the trees casting a glow on her friend. It made her look beautiful and she smiled at Em. A sad sort of smile that looked out of place against the cheerful scene of the picnic area. A family of bears wandered near and the cubs play fought, and some deer grazed. Then they both lay back and took a nap.
The next day the cops were investigating the crime and came across the shed. They found the two girls dead inside. One had been burned alive and the other had been poisoned. They were buried next to each other.
Fin
"You're both queer enough, if that's what you mean by kindred spirits,"
-Anne of Green Gables
