Any Orphan

Chapter 2

Here starts the usual morning. The morning bell to go off at 5:45 A.M. every morning. Everyone awoke with a groan. Besides me. I've been here all my life, that's longer than anyone else here besides Old Lady. I'm used to it. It's the only thing I've ever woken up to. A hard, cold bell instead of my mother's sweet voice. Sometimes I like to dream it.

I quickly got up to see the clock read 4:00 A.M. instead of the usual. Maybe the bell was broken again. That's what I thought until Old Lady's wretched voice came blaring over the speakers.

"Wake up girls!" she'd holler through the microphone, "Miss Lorensen will be coming at 7:40 to pick one of you to adopt."

Some girl was going to get lucky today. It would never be me. Everyone wants a cute four or five year old girl. Not some dirty teenager.

I made my bed and headed to the dinning room, where the usual slop was plopped onto each girl's plate. 

Today we were served "pancakes". Even though I'm pretty sure it's just flour and water, mixed to make the batter. I cut it in half to see the uncooked, oozy batter flow out from the center of the pancake.

After breakfast it was my job to clean the tables. And if I'm orphan number eight hundred sixty-one and I'm the oldest... you best believe there are a lot of tables to clean. That's over one thousand sticky four-year-olds to clean up after.

I get a mop, spray, and a rag from the cleaning closet. I tie the rag around my wrist and hook the spray on my belt loop. And then I... get to work.

It took three hours to clean everything. By then Miss Lorensen would be here in forty minutes and we would all have to get dressed in our "adorable" outfits and line up from tallest to shortest, standing up perfectly straight and still.

I slipped my dress on and used my hands to brush through my hair. Then I clipped a bow in. I hated to dress up like this. As if clothes would make me more appealing to some family wanting to adopt. And plus, my dress was covered in dust and dirt and gruesome stains. Who know's what these stains are. These dresses are old, probably as old as Old Lady.

Everyone met in the front yard where the sun was blazing on my skin, making me sweat.

A beautiful, baby blue car drove up to the orphanage. Inside was a beautiful woman. Her hair was blonde and silky and her eyes were as blue as crystals.

I think my hair is blonde too. After not showering for almost a year, the dirt in my hair made it seem brown. And I think my eyes used to be blue crystals too. Until this place made them a dull, sad blue.

She was wearing a sunhat, a white dress, and tan heels. Her makeup was perfect. Her red lipstick with no smears and clumps... unlike Old Lady. 

She smiled as she got out of her car.