Tears of Magic

Part 1

1. Orphan's memories

Who would've believed that time was running so fast? I'm only a few hours away from my 22nd birthday!. Even though it's been four years since I got out from the orphanage, it still feels as if it happened all yesterday. I've been doing this for four years now. Although it seems as a weird habit, I just can't stop doing it. Sitting on the couch in front of the window in my parent's old apartment (which is my house now) and staring at the stars. I let the past envelope me in its deep sea so I feel like I'm watching everything again. As if I'm listening to myself telling the story from that very painful moment. The moment the car hit the surface.

After my parents died in a car drowning accident when I was 12, I was sent off to one of New York orphanages because the social services couldn't find any close relatives to me, and even if I had one or two relatives no one came forward to claim me.

I still remember the first day, when I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw were the walls of my future room painted in depressing shades of gray, and the beds of the girls that shared the room with me. All nine girls were sleeping. I tried to do the same but my mind wouldn't stop thinking about my parents, and how I wouldn't be able to see them anymore, about how I can't kiss them goodnight before I go to bed or even hear them say good morning to me when I wake up. The first couple of weeks were hard but at least I knew what I had to do to avoid getting in of trouble, I knew my routine.

I woke up in the morning for the next seven years knowing that I won't be adopted, so I concentrated on my eighteenth birthday, the day when I will be allowed to get out of here once and for all.

Everybody will think that this orphanage is a quiet place, but most people are wrong. In order to live in a place like this you will have to know what to do and when, and who to talk to and who to avoid. And that's exactly what I did.

I used to wake up first so I wouldn't have to get stuck outside the bathroom waiting. I walked to school earlier than the other girls so would have extra time alone. I usually ran back to the orphanage so I wouldn't have to eat lunch cold. But the best part in my day was dinner, when I take my plate and go to my secret place. It's a small room on top of an old part of the orphanage that no one visits anymore. I found it by mistake when I was running from some trouble making girls I had a fight with.

It was the only place where I could actually feel happy. Every day, I lean on one of the walls, stretch my legs, cross them at the ankles, close my eyes and remember my parent as they talked about myths and legends. They talked about treasures hidden somewhere in the world waiting to be found. That's why I always dreamed about being an archeologist and maybe find myself a treasure or stumble upon one or two chests of gold. Those were my childish dreams.

2. Getting started

Finally, my 18th birthday was here. I was taken to the head office and told to wait so I can talk to the administrator of the orphanage which we call Miss, Summers. Our conversation went on well and I was given my formal papers and what was recovered of my parent's belongings and some money. The papers were in a white envelope and the other items were in a big, brown envelope.

Miss Williams told me to go to the job office in the morning so I can get a job, and told me that I should go to the city hall to find out where did my parents live so I can stay there. She wrote me the address and dismissed me from her office.

"What a way to say goodbye" I told myself when I was closing the door of her office. But that didn't matter anymore because I was finally getting out of this place.

I went to my room and gathered my clothes in my school bag. I only left out my worn out jeans and a red shirt. I went and got dressed in a hurry, gathered my hair in a French braid and before I ran downstairs I went to look in the mirror. I saw an 18 year old girl with light skin, brown eyes, dark, brown, long hair and confidant smile staring back at me. "Now, you are free" I said to myself and then ran downstairs to say goodbye to the only person I considered my friend, Colleen. Colleen is the kitchen lady, my relationship with her started when I was first admitted to the orphanage, she treated me like her own child and I loved her for that. She is a woman in mid-forties, short brown hair, light skin and green eyes.