Demo Origins

Chapter 2 - I Escaped

I had a dream.

A dream of the past.

I was ten years old, back at the orphanage.

Thwack!

"Urrgghh!"

Thud!

"Get away from us, black boy!"

I winced, clutching my side as the kids from the orphanage stood over me, their faces twisted with hate.

I was being bullied again.

Apparently, my black eyes and hair were signs of bad luck. At least that was the rumor going around.

"It's my turn at the swing set," I said, blood starting to trickle slowly from my nose.

"What if it ends up breaking because of you?" one of the kids snapped back.

I honestly don't know when this discrimination started. As far back as I can remember, it's always been like this.

According to everyone in the orphanage, having just black eyes or just black hair is one thing, but having both is something else entirely.

Although they say it brings bad luck, nothing out of the ordinary has ever happened around me.

Initially, I thought maybe I was the problem but over time I realized everyone within the orphanage was just seriously ill. That included the caretakers as well.

Their prejudice against me was unmatched, even worse than that of the other kids.

It made me wonder why they hadn't kicked me out yet.

I hated thinking about my past; it was deeply depressing, and frankly, I'd rather not dwell on it-not that it would do me any good.

Ptuh! I spat out some blood that had gotten into my mouth.

"Fine!" I said. This wasn't the first time this had happened.

I was used to being alone in the orphanage. The only good thing about the place was the free food.

The food was terrible, but at least it was free.

As I walked through the corridors of the orphanage, I suddenly overheard three female caretakers gossiping.

"Poor thing. He's just bad luck, plain and simple." one of them said.

"Quite sad; someone with that color combination can never make it anywhere," the second added.

"He doesn't realize it's not that we want to hate him-he was just born to be hated," the third chimed in.

Are they talking about me?

"We would have had him out of here, but it would make the orphanage look bad." the second replied.

It seemed they had been observing what had happened with me and the other children outside.

The orphanage was quite large; I think it was sponsored by the government of Demo City, but I wasn't entirely sure.

Even though the orphanage-Sanctuary of the Holy Shepherd-was government-sponsored, it had been established on a religious basis.

I wasn't too keen on the details, but it seemed the founder was one of the higher-ups in Demo City.

It must have been a money-grabbing scheme. After all, various charities and donations were always being brought to the orphanage, yet the living conditions never seemed to improve.

Besides, no one here believed in God, let alone Mary.

"I was against taking him in, but Sister Catherine wouldn't allow it. Since she was the head matron, I had no say in the matter," the third caretaker stated.