Discovering Shadows (Completed)

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A loud mumbling comes from the window. I look back over at the couple. The man is yelling now. He looks really mean and scary when he talks to the headmistress; his eyes are hard and his face is angry. But when the lady talks to him his eyes soften and the angry goes away. It's like magic.

Like she's the princess that tamed the monster.

We watched a movie like that the other night when The Headmistress went out and left her daughter in charge. Her daughter is pretty and nice to me. Ms. Maggie never locks me in the basement. Ms. Maggie likes to hug me. I like her hugs too. She always has kind eyes and a nice smile when she talks to me and the other kids.

The lady with the man has kind eyes and a nice smile too. She has to be a nice person because she even smiles at The Headmistress who is almost evil.

She looks over at me for the first time and I try to make myself smaller.

So, small that no one knows I am here.

In a place where I'm not supposed to be.

I don't want them to see me.

I don't want to be in trouble again.

I didn't want to be afraid again.

Locked in the basement.

Forgotten.

Lost.

Scared.

I don't want to be here anymore.

But I have nowhere to go.

I can't move.

If I move they might see me again.

I'll get into trouble.

Please don't put me in the dark...please...not the dark.

The Headmistress is always sure to let me know all the time that I wasn't like the other kids in the orphanage. I am different and no one will want me. I will always be alone. She says. Disaster will follow me. She snarled. Will always follow me. She whispered.

The Headmistress told me that night when she was locking me away that my mom wasn't supposed to be able to have me. She laughed when she told me that when my mom became pregnant with me she was taken. The rest of the story just fell out of her mouth as she was locking the door.

My Mother came from prominent family (I thought that meant she liked to dance in nice clothes at school but Mark told me that just meant important) and her parents were not happy that she was pregnant. They sent her to a facility to get rid of the baby. She was imprisoned in that place until she had me. Then she left and never looked back.

The Headmistress likes to call us children names. I'm no different except that the names she called me are different.

I'm a mistake.

I'm a secret.

I shouldn't have been born.

Everything she says about me s really true.

I am unwanted and unloved.

Sitting in the basement gives you plenty of time to remember things you had forgotten.

I remember a bed with white sheets against white walls in a small room that had a door with one small window that I was too small to reach.

I remember the men in white coats taking notes as I was poked and prodded with needles.

I remember always being alone and feeling cold.

Then I remember the strange man in a strange black mask coming in the dark of night on my third birthday. I knew it was my birthday because he told me. He told me to stay quiet and never tell anyone how special I am, where I came from, who I belonged to and especially to never attract attention to myself. He brought me here to the orphanage two years ago. This is the first time I broke his rules.

I am always quiet now.

I don't talk...Ever.

But I listen...Always.

I watch...Everyone.

I remember...everything.

I always hide.