Red Room

1

The orphanage door opened. Heavy shoes stomped all the way to the main office. One couldn't make out much of the stranger's appearance. Was it a man or a woman, young or old? Anyhow, that creature of a man could only be described as massive: very tall and thick, but the shape of the muscles was showing through the clothing.

A black coat, which looked rather tight, was covering the person's body up to the knees and black, dirty, leathery boots would hug the rest. The hood seemed to have to be kept on, necessary.

Whoever that was, he or she was walking rather slowly, but made sure the steps were pressed hard enough to the floor that they were heard in the entire building.

"Good day!", a raw voice spoke. It was a man.

The secretary of the place, a fairly young lady, could observe some details of him now that he was standing just in front of her desk. Both, his hair and beard were long, thick, blond and greasy. His lips were thin and dry. His nose was big, with large nostrils. One couldn't tell much about the eyes, though, as the hood only let the lower lids be seen by the world.

"Good afternoon, sir.", she greeted politely, as always, of course, because her job forced her to. There had been lots of clients who deserved to be at least spat in the face, but the young lady never had the chance, "How can I help you?"

The stranger leaned against the desk on his elbows, like he was trying to get a better view of her. That was the message she received, at least.

And that was the oportunity to get a view of his hands, which the young lady could have happily lived without seeing. They were huge and damaged. The skin was so dry that cracks appeared in it, aside from the other bigger and smaller injuries he had most likely gotten while doing his job, whatever it was. Not to mention that he clearly didn't care to look after his nails. They were long, yellow and had a good amount of dirt stored underneath them.

Reluctantly, she backed away the best she could, until her back was sticked to the chair's back. She had the feeling that she was going to vomit if she didn't at least back away a little from the horrendous smell.

"I heard you've got a kid with a genetical disorder in here."

She immediately knew who the stranger was talking about. They had an albino boy accommodated there indeed.

"I wouldn't say disorder.", the secretary corrected, "Albinism does no harm to the body, unlike any actual disorder. Some of them do not even look bizarre. Well, our boy here does, but anyway-"

"I couldn't care less what you call Albinism, I'm here to get the child!", he raised his tone slightly his fist hit the desk, making her jump a bit in shock. That man was clearly one who knew exactly what he wanted.

"Well then, take a seat wherever you wish.", she motioned him to have a look at the waiting room, "I'm going to get him."

The lady headed to one of the many orphanage secondary buildings to get the albino.

It was strange that he asked for that child in particular. Everybody who came there tended to look for kids who were in 'the best condition' and the little freak was thought to never be wanted.

Probably that man insisted so much on getting the kid with issues because he noticed his own major imperfections, she thought.

Once there, the first place she'd look for him was his room. The little boy would usually get isolated from society by the rest of the orphanage's inhabitants, who refused to accept him as one of them, although they'd seen him on a daily basis since forever. It was a rare event when he had the chance to socialise.

"Hey you!", the lady greeted, faking a smile. She was never that fond of him, despite of the pity.

The called one turned his head to her, disinterested. Very bright blue eyes with red edges were nonchalantly asking what did she want with him.

"There's somebody to adopt you! Pack your things and let's go to the main building to meet your new parents!", the joy was oh so visibly fake.

But he did what he was told. In a matter of minutes, a small backpack was filled with all his belongings, which were quite few.

They walked back to the main building. The mysterious man was sitting in the waiting room, looking through magazines, awaiting their arrival.

"This is him, sir."

The stranger's eyes scanned the child all over. Skinny. Pale, too pale. White hair. Bright eyes, that looked bloodshot.

He grinned, satisfied. Yellowish teeth which resembled fangs perfectly were showing.

That was the kind of smile that announced he had something on his mind, but not something very ok.

"He's just fine.", he praised.

However, the soon to be father wasn't labeled as fine, or as anything positive for that matter. Scary, creepy, those were characteristics to fit him better.

Isn't there any rule that allows me to choose not to go with him, the little fellow begged his mind desperately.

Formalities followed- signing papers and all that. Well, more work should have been done for the whole procedure, but nobody seemed to care about that.

As the new father and son were exiting the building, the secretary wished them a very happy life together. That was some sort of unwritten rule in the code of professional manners. Even though she was sure to get him back within days, she had to wish the new family the best of luck.

The strange man smirked devilishly to nothing in particular.

No, honey, he won't live much more, he mentally warned.

The two headed to an old, black car. The new father opened the front door for his little boy and, after he buckled him up, entered the vehicle himself. He started it up and they took off on the road.

There was no music playing, the car was far to old for a stereo.

Ahead, there were many, many kilometers of a boring highway. It was spring, the snow hadn't melted comletely yet. Wherever one would look, one would see grass, lots of mud and white patches here and there.

They didn't change one word. The son didn't feel excited about what was happening at all and neither was the dad, one could tell that from the moment he entered the orphanage.

Those hours passed by so slowly they felt like days, but they finally reached their destination. 'Home' was far too much said to name the sorry attempt of a living place they arrived to. The cottage where the family was supposed to live in, wih the newby hoped to be temporary, was located outside of the only patch of civilisation named village the newcomer had seen in a while. The once white walls had become grey in time and some cracks had crossed the paint; the aincient windows with the rotten wooden frame were due to give out any second and so was the door; the roof had visibly gone through lots of changes- there were all sorts of materials on it, from hay to tiles.

"Hey! Get your ass outside and, I have the kid!", the man who was still not intending to tell his name shouted and a woman dashed outside immediately.

It was clear who was the boss in that house.

This lady was more 'visible' than him, one could actually see her. She was considerably smaller than him, but taller than the average woman. A hint of grey was showing in the tone of her skin and her body looked like she had some sort of disease that didn't let her put some meat on those bones. Wether it was that, or she didn't receive enough food. Her greenish eyes had big, dark bags underneath, her lips was dry and her entire appearance was messy and dirty, just like the one she was living with.

"Meet your mom, brat!", the dad proudly presented.

The small human only waved at her because he was too afraid to speak and an excited smile made its way to the woman's lips.

"Hi there, lil' buddy!", she bent down to the boy's level and waved, "I'm happy to meet you!"

The family's newby did his best to put on a believable smile and nodded.

"Whatever.", the father mixed in, "Is the food ready? Let's go in!"