Wool's Orphanage

Halloween 1934

Seven years had passed since Mrs Cole had found Chara on the front step and the only thing that had changed in Wool's Orphanage was Mrs Cole being Matron now. It was a rainy day, but that didn't come as a surprise as it had been raining nearly every day in October. Chara woke up to the sound of Mrs Cole's voice, she was yelling at some children for being too loud. It was very cold in Chara's room, she didn't want to get out of bed even though it wasn't comfortable at all. She forced herself out of bed anyway and got dressed quickly. Looking at her little pocket watch, which she kept under her pillow, she realised that she still had an hour until breakfast. Last night she had finished the new book she got for free from a nice old bookshop owner and she wasn't sure what to do now. Chara only owned three books and she had read the first two books many times, so she decided to read the new one again. It was some kind of fairytale and Chara wasn't really in the mood for it right now but it was better than reading the other two books again. The chair she was sitting in made a noise whenever she moved and the desk was unsteady, that's why she preferred to draw or write on the floor. After she had read the first chapter, Chara wanted to look at the time again and was about to walk over to the bed when she saw the watch right in front of her on the desk. She didn't remember putting it there. Deciding that she must have taken it with her when she got up, she put the watch into her pocket. It was great to be able to tell the time, she had learned it a week ago. Mrs Cole tried to teach it to many children but most of them didn't get it, that was why Chara wanted to bring the watch with her to breakfast, she liked showing others that she was more intelligent than them. At least more than most of them. The one guy who always seemed to know everything better than her was Tom Riddle. That didn't bother her, actually, she wished she could talk to him more but he always avoided everyone. She couldn't judge him for that though, she did the very same. But he seemed to despise everyone, Chara just never knew what to say or do when she had to be in the same room with other children. She would try to act normal and ask the other children if they wanted to play with her but after a day of playing games with others, she needed to be alone. It was tiring. She definitely preferred being alone.
Miss Lester, a new staff member, brought Chara out of her thoughts by ringing a bell and shouting "Wake up everyone, breakfast is ready in 15 minutes". Chara quickly tangled her long, black hair, checked the mirror only to see that she was even paler than normally, grabbed the new book and ran out of the room, she wanted to be one of the first children to pick where to sit. She always picked the same spot: right at the end of the table next to a window. There she would not have to deal with too many other children but she would not sit all alone either. Chara also liked to bring a book to breakfast, lunch and dinner because she always finished eating way earlier than the others and then she would read so she wouldn't be bored. No one was allowed to get up before everyone was finished.
Entering the food hall she noticed that 7 children had already chosen their seats and someone was sitting on her beloved spot! Sometimes Chara herself found it ridiculous that she could get extremely angry over stuff like this but she was storming towards that person determined to get her seat back. The other 6 children, on another table, started whispering, they were excited to see what she would do. When Chara finally reached the end of the room she recognised Tom Riddle the be the person sitting on her seat and stared at him in shock, the others started laughing. Tom had never really done anything to her but there were rumours that he had hurt some of the other children. Everyone was a little scared of him. Tom was staring back at her trying not to smirk.
"Why?!" is all she could manage to say. Tom had an annoyed look on his face now.

"Why what? Can you speak in full sentences?" 

Chara started to get even angrier. "Why are you sitting here? This is where I always sit, everyone knows that!"

Tom seemed to be a little surprised that Chara would talk to him like that but hid it quickly. "Well, I got tired of my corner near the entrance and I like this seat better because it's next to the window. Also, we don't really have a seating plan here so this seat isn't yours just because it's your favourite. I was here first." Just as she wanted to think of a witty comeback Chara noticed that more children had arrived and everyone was watching them. Her face started to heat up, she didn't like this much attention. Chara just wanted to turn her back on Tom when he said: "Why don't you sit down next to me?"
Chara couldn't hide how surprised she was. She sighed "Sure, why not."
When all the children had taken their seats they were allowed to start eating and everyone was talking to their friends, some laughing so loud they were shushed my Mrs Cole. Chara thought this was finally an opportunity to talk to Tom and after she had finished most of her breakfast she asked awkwardly "So... are you excited about Halloween?"
He didn't even look up from his plate "Not really." Chara starred at him for a few seconds "Why not?"
"Don't you find it pathetic to ask strangers for candy?"
"Well...yes but on Halloween, it's okay I think."
"Hm...it's the day they found you, right?"
Chara swallowed the last bit of her breakfast and looked at Tom surprised. "Y-Yes, but how do you know that?"
"Don't you think about why your parents abandoned you, especially today? I assumed you hate Halloween." No, she hadn't thought about it until now.
"Well do you hate your birthday because you are the reason your mother is dead?!"
Oh no. She had gone too far. Chara's heart started beating faster.
"Oh no, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to ... I shouldn't have..." she said ashamed.
Tom acted calm and looked directly into Chara's blue eyes. "It is not my fault that she was too weak to survive childbirth." 

He kept staring into her eyes without blinking even once. Chara started to get scared of him, she tried to find the right words but she just didn't know how to respond to that. They kept staring at each other for a few seconds, Tom looking quite threatening. Then he just continued eating like nothing had happened.

Chara started to think about Tom. She didn't know anything about him besides that he was born in the orphanage and that his mother had died afterwards. She also knew that "Marvolo" was his middle name because some children had made fun of it behind his back. They never did it again though. After that the rumours about him hurting others started.
But Chara knew nothing else about him even though they had been living together in this orphanage for 7 years. They had never played together or even talked more than a few words although his room was across the hallway, Tom's room was number 27 and her room was 28.
Chara snapped out of her thoughts because Betty and Amy, who were seated next to her, started giggling and she noticed that she was still staring at Tom. Her cheeks turned a little red and she grabbed the book she brought with her and started reading chapter two.
"I didn't know you could read." Tom said with a smirk on his face. Chara was a bit confused, she never thought he would start a conversation again. "You know, not everyone here is as stupid as you think they are."
"I have to disagree."
"Well, we can't all be as intelligent as you are."
Tom started to grin.
Great. She didn't mean to compliment him. 
"Whatever. Do you read a lot?"
"Yes." He stopped grinning and his face went back to expressionless. 

"I hope they get us more school books soon, I'm tired of reading my 5 books over and over again."

Chara was excited that they finally had something in common. 

"I hope so too! I have only 3 books and this one is new, I'm reading it for the second time now."
"What's it about?" Tom asked uninterestedly.
"It's some kind of fairytale with magic and sword fights and -"
"Do you like it?"
"Yes, actually my favourite part comes up in this chapter, it's where she meets Prince Charming but the best thing is that she doesn't know it yet, she'll finally discover that it's him in chapter three!"
Tom was obviously judging her now.
"So it's a love story." He said the word 'love' as if it disgusted him and before he took the last bite of his breakfast he added: "Sounds boring."
Chara was about to say something when Mrs Cole spoke up.
"It's time to clean up. I want everyone to bring the dirty dishes into the kitchen. It's room number 11 to 20's turn to do the dishes this week."
Tom was already walking towards the kitchen when Chara turned to look at him.