Signs Of The Past

CHAPTER::3

     As I opened my eyes the bright light caused me to wince and close them as soon as I opened, blinking rapidly i finally opened them.

      Slowly looking around i realised I was in a room with a bunk bed in front of me , i realised I was laying in one itself, slowly rising I made my way towards the brown door that lead me out of this shabby room.

         As soon as I opened it all eyes fell on me , there were girls and boys of different age, some teenagers , some barely ten or five year old kids , it confused me where I was , a bunch of girls around my age sat in a circle probably talking.

         "Where am I?" As soon as I uttered those words out , the door next to the sofa that was in that room opened and in walked a man who looked like he was in his forties and smiled lightly at me , the smile was eerily weird and sent shivers down my spine.

         "In Saint Domenico Angeli puri orphanage" the man chuckled at the confusion that was evident on my face , last time i checked I was in a shelter , how did I end up in some weird orphanage? , as if reading my mind he spoke further "you passed out and seeing you were a teenager you were shifted here" .

         This made fear cross my veins , I was not ready to be put in a orphanage, no I wanted to be free and seeing the atmosphere of this building only made more doubts arise in my mind , I was pulled out of my trance which I seemed to go in too much these days as he introduced himself.

         "I am Favlio , the in-charge, what is your name , Ragazza ?" He stepped forward and i took a step back , this caused him to raise his eyebrows while smirking but nonetheless he didn't stop in his track.

         His long legs gave him advantage of speed and in next sec he was standing infront of me, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath , trying to calm my nerves and after a sec I opened them , stuttering I spoke in hushed voice just a little above whisper.

         "I am Cecilia", the fake name slipped out of my mouth effortlessly, having thought of it beforehand made me pat myself on back internally, the said main nodded and gestured me to follow him near the sofa.

         The kid that were sitting there and observing everything immediately stood up and scrambled to the other side of the room , Favlio was a man with bear belly and grey streaks of hair poking out from the bush of his black hairs , a heavy beard settled on his jaw giving him a rough look.

         He looked disgusting, just like the men's back in the mansion, the one who came to buy drugs from my father , who gambled their life away , his black eyes drilling holes in my face causing me to squirm uncomfortably as i slid in the armchair opposite to him.

         "I will get straight to the point , you cannot leave this place and will follow rules like every other kid here" , I looked at him in disbelief, who did he think he was? Deciding what I will and what I will not do! "No , I refuse to stay here" i protested.

         He looked amused as he retorted "where will you go then? To live on streets?" I stiffened in my place as he spoke further " you can live here , we will provide you food and shelter and perhaps someone could adopt you too , if lucky enough ".

         Family , the word that was suppose to hold meaning seemed meaningless to me , it was not hidden from me how in adoptive homes children's were abused and mistreated.

      But the idea of shelter and food seemed tempting , all I would have to do is do something to not get adopted not like someone would want a sixteen year old girl but I knew I had to be cautious, better safe than sorry.

         I nodded whispering a affirmation and he almost jumped out of the sofa at that , he yelled for someone to bring paperwork, i flinched at that , loud noises scared me but I covered it as fast a i let in slip and looked blankly around .

         The room was shabby just like the room I was in before i woke up , cream coloured dirty wall , cobwebs in the corner of the ceiling, this made my hand twitch and I wanted nothing more than to clean it , used to keeping the place clean seemed to make me a clean freak , I could not stand dirt and dust.

         After few minutes from the same door from where the man came entered a women , petite and looked as if she was in her thirties and handed Favlio and left as if the room was biting her.

         "Fill this , you would be registered as orphan under here for adoption" sliding few papers with pen forward he leaned back , i looked at the piece of document and picked it up skimming through it and decided it was best for me to change my date of birth and name to some fake made up ones to avoid them from finding me.

         I filled the form slowly and carefully reading everything two times to be sure it was not something I was not signing up for , after half a hour i finally filled it and finished it sliding it towards him.

         " You will be sharing a room with Anna, Beatrice and Gia, they will show you you around and i expect best behaviour from you " saying that he stood up and collected the documents and left.

         There girls who looked around my age came forward and introduced themselves as the girls who Favlio said I was suppose to share room with , they were pretty but looked mature than their age with their choice of clothing.

         They showed me around and left , everyone else was engaged in their own conversation ignoring my presence, I sighed and retired to the room which I woke up in which was now my temporary room too.

         My bag was one of the bag I rushed and opened it to check if everything was still in there or not , after making sure everything was still there i sighed in relief, sighing was something I did alot these days shaking my head I pulled the sleeve of my large hoodie down to cover the bracelet that I had on.

         Not wanting it to be taken away or snatched I made a mental note to always be careful and hid it , i flopped down and closed my eyes , everything was settled for now , I had a roof over my head and food promised.

         I finally escaped, the reality hit me hard and i broke down , it was after years tears flowed freely from my eyes , back when I was kid I had Blake to take care of and wanting to be strong in front of him I never cried seeing he was attached to my hips almost always.

         Even after he left I never cried , it was not something i could do in presence of them knowing they were like the monsters who feed on the fear of others , craved the power they had by tormenting souls and now that I knew they were not here anymore the dam broke.

         I cried for the little girl that I lost over time , for the scars that were left after years of tormented and torture, for the childhood that I never got to experience, for the love of parents that i always craved but never got , for everytime where i wished my twin would play with me but was let down.

         I cried for everything that happened to me over years after birth , I cried for the loss of the only person who cared , my baby brother, and without knowing I fell in a deep slumber, a dreamless sleep , darkness who once again welcomed me with open arms providing me a sense of protection from the harsh reality of the world and embracing and cuddling me in a blanket of oblivion, escape.