SPECIAL on hold

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Reina Cedarbrook hid in her shack, a small, abandoned two-room house at the edge of the town, afraid to be spotted. She was a runaway and hated adults. Her parents, well, it's a long story, as she says.

Today had been a strange day. She had gone to the market to pick-pocket, and no one had spotted her. She had seen a tall woman with glasses who had most definitely seen her. Yet, she hadn't said a word. Reina could tell just by looking at her that she was trying to be mysterious; hiding behind glasses, wearing a long, thin dress, made of simple, dark material. The woman had her lips in a nonchalant line, and no creases showed. Her arms had been loose and she walked with a small hint of jumpiness. Just trying to blend in with the wintry surroundings.

It had been chilly, that's for sure. Her thin, old, and yes, stolen coat had been a man's, and was much too big and meant for rain. She sometimes wondered if other 13-year-olds felt the same way.

She must of looked strange, yet she had seemed invisible, or at least she thought. I mean, she thought, I looked like a hobo!

She had one roommate. His name was Peter Fletcher. He was a colored boy of the age of sixteen. He was there, counting the trinkets of the day. He had been in jail once, but had gotten off the hook. He noticed just about everything.

They were a good team. If they just looked at a person, they could decipher what job he or she worked with, what class, what type of person they were, and other things, like what the person had eaten recently, and when. Peter could catch just about any little detail and Reina could nearly read people's minds by their facial expressions and body movements.

"Paper." Peter called, tossing her the weekly news. She caught it as she pondered on her cot. They were sitting on her room in the shack. He had taken the old, rickety rocking chair they had found outside a house with a sign that said TAKE.

Reina scanned the newspaper. A big advertisement was on the second page. She read it with interest.

THE WEEKLY GAZETTE

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Ad Section

Are you a child with different talents, abnormal and unique? Then come to the 1st Annual SPECIAL Test! For only the brightest and the keenest. Go to 679 Mulberry Avenue on December 25th! See you there!

~Audubon Corporation

Was she smart? No. She'd never gone to school. Her vocabulary was poor. She was an outsider, completely different from all the other children in Baltimore.

But wait, did it say smart?

No. It had said abnormal and keenest and unique!

"Hey, Peter, check this out." she said, pointing to the ad.

"Hm. Would you want to take it?" he said in his smooth, melodic voice.

"Well, yes. I mean, don't you?" Reina frowned slightly. Wouldn't he?

"What if they ask us who our guardians are? What-"

"Enough of your pessimism. It's clearly talking to us. Not the parents. It says 'are YOU a child' et cetera. It's specifically directed towards the kids themselves. Can't you tell? I think the test is meant for children that are kind of alone." she explained brashly.

"Oh. I didn't think about it like that. I guess you're right. I've never heard of this Audubon thing. Well, wait- it's on Christmas! Then of course! What parent would, or kid for that matter, want to take a test on Christmas? It's for kids without parents!! Duh, duh!" Peter slapped his smooth forehead, dark like coffee.

"That's the ticket! We've got a Christmas celebration!" Reina cheered.

"Our first in ages."

A/N: Short, but sweet. I want to get onto some other stuff.