Tremaine

- Chapter 2 -

I woke up in the morning to the sound of a loud knock at the door. I got out of bed and walked to the front door. I opened it to see the grand duke staring back at me with a carriage behind him.

"Why aren't you dressed? Directress Jewel is expecting us in twenty minutes! Go get dressed!" I rolled my eyes and shut the door. I quickly got dressed, grabbed my trunk, and walked outside.

The footman helped me in the carriage with the grand duke and we started moving. I stared at the house as we rode away. It was the last time I would ever see the faded blue door. The last time I would ever see the neatly trimmed grass.

We passed many fields as we moved along. Fields of grass, corn, and other crops. We passed farms and houses. None of the houses were as nice as mine. In fact, they looked worse and worse as we got closer to the orphanage. Bad sign.

Eventually, the carriage came to a halt and the door opened. I stepped out and looked around. There were children in filthy looking clothes running around. There were many stands that were selling fruit, vegetables, and odd looking jewelry.

In front of me was a tall, grey building. It looked very old and dirty. On the stairs was an old woman in a long, black dress that went all the way up her neck. It was a very ugly dress. I gripped my trunk tightly as the grand duke said, "Good luck!" and got in the carriage.

I walked closer to the stairs as the carriage drove away. When I was right in front of the woman she said, "Follow me," and started walking towards the large brown doors.

I followed her into the building and she led me through dark, long hallways. As we were walking I heard yelling from down the hall. "Tag! You're it!" A young boy ran out from behind a wall and a boy who looked about my age chased after him.

The older boy knocked into my shoulder. "Watch it!" I shouted. The boy turned around and looked at me. He had the most beautiful green eyes I had ever seen. His brown hair drooped over his eyebrows.

"Sorry," he said, and continued chasing the young boy. I rolled my eyes and continued following Directress Jewel. She led me into a small office and sat in a large chair behind a desk. I sat in the chair across from her.

"This is my office. If you ever need me, you will come here, but do me a favor and don't need me. All of your clothes will be sold because we need money to pay for food. You are allowed to keep one thing," she said. She was talking very fast and I was very confused.

"You are going to sell all of my stu-" I was cut off. "You will be given new clothes. We have breakfast at nine-thirty everyday, lunch at twelve-thirty everyday, and dinner at six-thirty everyday. Your room number is room three hundred sixty seven. Gregory will take you there. If you don't get adopted by the time you are eighteen you will be kicked out. Have fun!"

She put my trunk in my hands and pushed me out the door. "Wait! Who's Gregory?" I asked before she shut the door. "GREGORY!" she shouted startling me. The boy who bumped into me before came running from around the corner.

"Yes?" he said, his green eyes looking at me. "Take her to room three hundred sixty seven," she said, shoving a ring full of keys in his face and slamming her office door. I stared at the boy who was called Gregory for what felt like forever, until he finally started walking.

"Come on," he said. I followed him up many staircases and through many hallways until we finally arrived at room three hundred sixty seven. As he tried to find the right key on the key ring I noticed his necklace.

It had a tarnished gold colored chain and green gem sitting in a small cage. He must have noticed me looking because he said, "My father gave it to me. It's the thing I kept," He finally found the right key and unlocked the door.

I walked into the room. It had dusty wooden floors, stained wallpaper with faded blue and white stripes. The bed was small and firm. There was a small closet with a couple of sad, dark, dirty dresses hanging on filthy hangers.

I set my trunk down and looked out the dusty window. The view was of a small courtyard where many of the children from the orphanage were playing. "It's disgusting," I said, turning around to stare at Gregory who was leaning against the doorframe.

"Yeah, well, it's all you've got," he said with a smirk. "Get dressed and pick out what you want to keep. Directress Jewel will be up here soon to collect your things," With that he tossed me the key to my room and closed the door.

I looked around at the sad room. This is my life now, I thought. Great.