Miracle

Chapter 2: Scotty

A few minutes passed before everyone in the orphanage came bursting into my small room.

“Mer are ya really leavin?” Scotty ran up to me and tugged on my cargo pants.

“Yeah,” I replied, pausing from my packing process, which was basically chucking articles of clothing into a black duffel bag. I didn’t have much to pack. I reached a hand down to ruffle Scotty’s mob of red hair, we named him Scotty because of his accent he had since he arrived a years ago.

“I’ll miss ya,” he sulked, his freckled face distressed.  

“I’ll miss you too,” I kissed his forehead, not much of a fan of displays of affection, but this was an exception.

“Can I have a kiss too?” Jack joked from the doorway.

I gave him a wolfish smile “Yeah, from my fist!” I shouted and mock punched him.

He pulled down my hood. “Never thought I’d see the day when batkid would get adopted.” There was a joke we had that my mask was due to the fact that I was actually batman’s daughter.

“Whatever,” I shrugged, a smile lingering on my lips “You’re just jealous.”

“Me?” he gasped mockingly pointing at himself “Naw,” he drawled.

“Meri!” a child’s voice shouted and I jumped, only one person called me that.

“Yes, Gretel?” I sighed, turning around to meet her eyes. They were flaming, in a figurative way.

“Are you really eloping with Rain?” she demanded and I choked on my own spit. Jack burst out laughing.

“No!” I sputtered out after a minute of coughing. “We’re being adopted,” I glared at Jack.

“Did you teach her that word?” I demanded and he looked at me with a serious expression.

“No,” and he burst out laughing, his brown hair falling over his eyes.

“Liar,” I growled.

“Oh,” Gretel said, confusion written over her face “Well you can’t have him because he’s going to marry me when I grow up.”

I rolled my eyes “Gretel, you’re 10,” I stressed the number. “By the time you’re grown up, he’s going to be an old man.”

“Liar!” she shouted, tears welling up in her large doe eyes. She ran out of my room with tears gushing down her face.

“Oh, nice job. Ya made Gretel cry. Again.” Alexis remarked, coming into my room. “Oh, hey Jack, didn’t notice ya there,” she remarked dryly.

“Oh, uu-m I’m gonna go work on some stuff, bye girls!”

I stared at Jack's retreating back, to say he was afraid of Alexis was an understatement.

“Hey Alexis?”

“Yeah,”

“You know you scare the living daylights out of him?”

“Yeah,” Alexis said nonchalantly and sat on my bed. To most people, Alexis was scary, she had over 15 piercings and I had never seen her without her pitch black makeup on. Plus, she didn’t own an article of clothing that wasn’t black. “Here,” she said handing me a black bag.

“What is it?” I peered curiously.

“Going away gift,” she stated, crossing her long legs.

“Ah, thanks” I replied, placing in my duffel.

“Whatever,” she mumbled but I saw the flicker in her eyes. She was sad.

“I’ll miss you,” I said and she nodded. I knew she would miss me too. We were like sisters that sensed each other’s feelings. We sat in a comfortable silence for a while.

“Bye,” she said suddenly, and walked out the door without looking back. I lifted a hand.

“Bye.”

“Is she gone?” a small voice whispered and I looked under my bed.

“Scotty!” I exclaimed, scooping him out from under the bed. “What were you doing hiding there?”

“Well,” he mumbled “everyone came in and I got scared.”

Scotty was afraid of loud people, he was like a spooked horse sometimes. “Scotty,” I said, placing him on my lap “In this world, one of the most important things in life is trust.” I looked down at his bright green eyes “Do you know what trust is?”

“Sure, I do!” he declared puffing his chest out “It’s when ye make friends and ya protect ‘em and ‘ey protect ya!”

I smiled at his adorable lilt “Yeah, it’s when you put your faith in others.” I set him down on the ground. “Can you do that when I’m gone?” I asked him and he marched towards the door.

“Of course!” he grinned and ran out with a wave.