A Still night of Snow

Chapter 1

The sound of running and playing children rang around the yard; the children of the orphanage playing with no sense. A dark shadow rested in a corner, covering a twelve year old girl crouching, her head on her knees. He face was expressionless, and her clothes untidy. A hood covered her head and face, showing that she was not to be messed with. A boy came up to her, a pitiful expression on his face. He asked her gently, for he knew she was hurt inside. "D-do you wanna play catch with us?" He insisted hopefully. The girl, called Scarlet, knew how to speak and count, but preferred not to use that knowledge. She growled low and quiet, not letting her anger get a hold of her. The child just nodded and skipped back to his game.

Scarlet was put in the orphanage a day after her mother's incident. She was supposedly two or three, but she never got over the fact that she was separated. She could care less about her real mother; the wolf was the one that loved and cared for her.

The girl shivered under her thin cape, as the snow fell silently while the children played. A woman dressed in all black came and rang the bell for the children to come in. They all came blundering inside, while Scarlet trudged after them, her head bowed. The children in this orphanage were not mistreated, for they each got their own bedroom and a roommate. Scarlet, however, seemed to be aggressive to the children and adults there, so they set up a bed in the basement with a shelf and a lantern. Scarlet could care less where she stayed. She would never hurt the children, but was never in the mood to play like she used to.

As Scarlet let herself into the building and into the announcement hall, the adults had already started giving the speech.

"So," said a rather plump one, "Tomorrow school starts, and you will all either make your way to the elementary, middle, or high school. We have all your supplies ready, with your names on them. When you leave tomorrow, grab the bag and get on the correct bus..." The care giver went on about which bus to get in, and where the stop was. Scarlet thought about whether they had set her up to go. She had never gone to School, for the care givers had never trusted her enough. They had given her brief education on their own, but never enough to live off of.

When the announcement was over, she followed at the back of the crowd toward the bedrooms. Before she went out, a hand touched her briefly on the back. She turned slowly, then stared into the eyes of the Woman in Black. She cleared her throat and fired questions at the puzzled girl. "Scarlet," she began, "are you ready to go to a real middle school? Are you going to behave and participate with the class and interact with your classmates?

Scarlet stared at her. Would she? She couldn't be as happy as the others, and hated the attention. Scarlet stared at her shoes. A woman in a blue shirt whispered to the Woman in Black. She nodded, then said to Scarlet in an encouraging voice, "let's give it a try."