A New Life

Rough Life

Ms. Trace introduced me to all the girls the day I arrived. Ever since then, I've been living a nightmare.

I've been made fun of, spitted on, cussed at, and I don't even know what. It's been horrible. I get up every morning before the sun is even out. There's no clocks in the orphanage, so none of us know what time it is. We get up, eat a piece of toast, and work until the sun goes down outside pulling weeds, chopping trees, or mowing the grass. The rest of us clean the house. We clean the floor with toothbrushes. Ms. Trace says we don't work fast enough. I've been sent to bed with no supper some nights. Some days I eat absolutely nothing. She's hit my with that horrible broom. I've been spanked on bare skin like a small kid. She's screamed at me. I cry myself to sleep at night. Oh, and those wooden sticks? Yeah, she beats your stomach and back with them until you bleed. I want to go home. Thank God it's adoption day tomorrow.