Build To Survive - The Orphans

The Transfer

Life at the orphanage was bland but I enjoyed it enough to stay happy.

I woke up on the dreary Saturday morning - James lay in his bed opposite me, his name-tag hanging like a watchful eye over his bed. My name-tag, old and flakey, reads "Joey"

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When James wakes up we walk down the hallway together to that large eating hall at the end  of the building. He is always complaining about the Orphanage but we have no choice, our parents left us and we still don't know why.

We line up with the other orphans to get our food. Breakfast is just a bowl of cereal, which is fine by me but sometimes I dream of having something different to eat, like exotic meats and fruits ... the flavours exploding onto my tongue.

After breakfast when we return to our beds there are notes on our pillows. I eye James carefully, trying to read his expression but for some reason I can't. He carefully opens his note and reads it. His expression  just gets harder to read, at first I thought I saw happiness but then a flash of doubt swam across his eyes. He shows me the note,

James and Joey -

You two have been selected in our transfer program, you may be confused at first but it's a good thing. You are to pack your things and come to the staff hall at 1:30pm. We will give you the rest of the information when you come to the hall.

Orphanage Staff

My jaw drops. I don't know how to feel there, are so many thoughts rushing through my head.

James starts packing, not because he wants to but because he knows we have no choice. I reluctantly start throwing my clothes into the suitcase that has been laying under my bed un-touched for years now.

We walk down the cold and quiet hallways together, dragging our suitcases behind us. When we reach the staff hall the principal of the orphanage is waiting for us. He seems on edge and eager to get us out into the bus. James throws his suitcase into the boot rather hard, I do the same but my build doesn't allow me to throw mine as hard.

When we are sitting down on our seats, the bus jerks forward as the engine kicks into gear.

The bus ride is long and boring but after around 4 hours we reach a dock. A medium sized boat waits for us, the principal ushers us onto the boat and it's engine roars into action and boat takes off from the dock with surprising speed.

It only takes one hour and we are approaching a large beach, or a bay, I'm not really sure. James' eyes are locked on the fast looming land. He hasn't said anything this entire trip. It's now 7:30pm and the last dying rays of sunlight have disappeared. The principal comes out from the helm and gives us a bag full of food and even some knives we are too distracted to even comprehend it all.

The boat hits the beach and throws James and I off our feet, when we are standing up again we are kicked off the boat by the principal. The principal stands on the edge of the boat, saying something, but I can't hear him because of the large waves crashing on the beach.

The boat pulls away and leaves us stranded on the beach and we are left alone.

Two 14 year old orphans left to succumb to nature's grave.