The Daughters

Chapter 1

It was a cool night in London, England. The wind was freezing. The orphanage window wouldn't shut all the way. It would've been fine if it were summer, but nope, it had to break in winter.

I looked towards my only roommate, another reject. Her name was Reese. She also happened to be my sister. Nobody wanted us in the main bedroom with the beds all lining up, so we got our own separate smaller spare with two extra beds. It even had an old creaky door. Since we were fraternal twins, we didn't mind having our privacy from the others.

We were both 12 years old, and we'd be 13 very soon. December 3rd was our birthdays. I'd never celebrated a birthday before, but it was supposed to be really fun. Apparently, your friends all go to your house and you all eat cake and hang out until everyone goes home. I've never had any true friends. Only people that say they're my friend and stab me in the back or people who are acquaintances but never anyone who would get close and stay with us. My sister and I have always been alone after. We hated everyone in that dumb orphanage.

One day, we decided in secret that on our 13th birthday, when we get more rights and we're able to get a job, we'd run away from that shitty place.
It was night at that point. We'd asked for a clock in our room since in the main room there was one. Little did they know, we were planning our escape. Neither of us went to sleep early, so it became a nightly thing.

The orphanage keeper would come through the rooms and make sure we were all asleep by 9:30. We'd all take the stuff off of our beds, only leaving the pillows and blankets. Then we got in our beds. She'd stay in the main for 10 minutes and in ours for 5 to make sure we would be too sleepy and lazy to get up or have your brain work. The second she shut her bedroom door, we'd count to 5 in our heads. We put the other beds' blankets at the base of the door to block out the light and sound, also delaying anyone trying to enter. We decided to use the broken window to our advantage. We'd keep all of our clothes and belongings in a bag and if anyone questioned it, we'd say it was easier to clean that way. Then, the night before our birthday, we'd leave.

But then one night, something unexpected happened. There was a third reject? She knocked quietly on our door late at night. I could tell it wasn't the keeper of the place. The knock was gentle, soft, as though if were asleep, the person didn't want to wake us up.

I moved the blankets away from the door. "Come in," I whispered just loud enough for her to hear in case someone was following her.

A girl stepped in. I recognized her from the orphanage. She was quiet and shy, but hated everything about this stupid orphanage. "Hi," she said nervously. "They said I should stay in here from now on. They were really mean." She was carrying all of her belongings. It consisted of a small bag, a larger bag, and a pillow.

"Oh," Reese said. We looked at each other. Reese's eyes asked if we should trust her. Mine said yes. Reese pointed at one of the empty beds. "You can stay there. We stay up late though, so we might sleep in until after breakfast. Just a warning."

"Oh! That's fine! I usually read or talk to one of my friends. Or, at least, who I thought were my friends. You guys seem like outcasts too though, so I feel a bit at home. But the first chance I get, I'm running away from this dumb place."

I looked at her. Then I looked at Reese.

"Your name is Erin, right?"

She looked at me. "Yup!"

I sighed. "We were planning on leaving the night before our birthday. We turn 13, so we could get a job at a pool place cleaning up towels or something. I suppose you could join us if you wanted to."

Erin looked at me with big eyes. "Really?"

"Yes. But you can't tell anyone. No one on the street, no one in this orphanage.. you can't even talk about it unless we're in this room late at night when everyone is asleep and the stuff is already blocking the door." Erin nodded and flopped on her bed, putting down her pillow. We explained our plan.