The Sebana Heir

Chapter 1

Two small girls looked out the window, at the other small girls on the swings and seesaws. Nine year old Ria felt sorry for her friend, Lacy, because she could not stay out on the small orphanage playground for too long. She was not allowed to go out in the sun much, because it affected her sight and skin. So Ria would stay indoors with her.

Lacy was the odd one out of the Masylon Orphanage children. She was looked at, differently and sometimes made fun of in school, because of the color of her skin and the big rimmed glasses she wore. She had traces of albino white pigment on her dark brown skin. Lacy was born with skin cancer, and through the years, her left eye became partially blind and she had to be medically treated at least three times a year. Her story being quite similar to Ria's, she was also abandoned by her teenage mother who left her in the hospital; hours after giving birth.
Ria was the only one who never treated her differently. Ria was her only friend who never made her feel alone. Ria would stand up to the other kids in their school who'd say bad things to Lacy, and end up getting scolded by the matrons, many times.

"Ria!" Marisa called through the open window, "Aren't you coming out to play tag with us?"

"Nah, not today," Ria replied, although she wanted to.

"You should just go," Lacy replied, pulling her glasses up.

"I don't feel like it," Ria smiled. Lacy smiled back, giving her best friend a pat on the back.

"Ahh!" Ria cried as she tilted her back away from Lacy's hand.

"What's wrong?" Lacy asked, looking confused. She saw as Ria flexed her back slowly, pulling down the cardigan she had on. "Does your back hurt?"

"No, ah...... Yea, but just a little. It's nothing," Ria replied. Masylon Girls Orphanage was an orphanage funded by a charitable organization, situated outside a large town called Hitchell. It had three matrons who took care of 22 young girls from the ages of 12 to 6.
Matron Helga was a Swedish matron, she was kind and fair to every child in the orphanage. But she travelled away most months, heading back and forth to her country. The two girls staring out the window, loved having her around because it was the only time they were never caught in the other two matron's severe punishments. Matron Ila and Matron Olive were quite the opposite to Ms. Helga. They had their stereotype behaviour towards the children, and while Matron Ila was harsh and fiendish, Matron Olive was a lazy caregiver who just applied to be a matron, after being jobless for a long time.

••••••

That evening, before Ria headed down for her dinner, she was dressing herself after her shower, and as she buttoned the back of her shirt she studied the long lash marks on her back in the mirror. They were red and painful, especially when it touched the cold water. Her mind went back to the time she had got it from the cruel matron.

"Come here, you irritative little rascal!" Matron Ila roared as she dragged Ria into her office, she got out a long whip from her top drawer, "You know what to do." So Ria turned to her desk, placing her hands on it as the severe lady pulled up her shirt and whipped four to five lashes on her already marked back. Usually she would just whip the girls twice as every severe whipping they got for any misbehaviour. She had been doing it for years and the girls called it the 'punishment'. But this time, Ria was caught in all her anger, frustration and bad mood, so she received more than what was legally required.

This would have never happened if Matron Helga were around, but she also did not know about this particular punishment being done to the children; they were warned to never speak of it to anyone, by Ms. Ila. Sometimes they were even locked in the dark attic or burdened with more chores. When taken to the attic Ria would plead with the matron to give her lashes instead of locking her alone in a dark attic. She would rather be whipped then left in a dark room without windows. It was from there, where Ria got her claustrophobia. Overall, the orphanage seemed like a hell house to every child since Matron Ila took over.