Can You Free Me?

There I was. That lonely girl. I was never involved in anything. No one ever welcomed me in. But then I never came to people. I wasn't bullied. But then I wasn't treated the way I wanted. Life was hard for me. It still is.

I am fifteen. I am an orphan. I'd never met either one of my parents. Lemme take that back. I knew my mom, but she gave me up when I wasn't even one. So I knew her, I just don't remember her. The only friend I had here was Mazy. She got adopted last year. Two days after my fourteenth birthday. Ever since she left, I've never been the same. I used to be so happy. Now there seems to be nothing to be happy about. I don't talk to anyone here. Anderson Orphanage is just another ol' orphanage, and it will always just be that to me.

"Valery, get your feet off the table." Rachael demanded me as she scooted my chair out. My feet plopped back onto the floor.

"Happy Birthday much?" I ask.

"Who's birthday is it?" I don't know if Rachael was acting smart, but I answered her anyway.

"It's mine."

She scoffed. "Oh. My mistake. It is my duty to remember such important things." She said sarcastically.

I shrugged. "Well I think it is important. Birthdays are special to a lot of people. I used to always celebrate my birthday with Mazy. This is the only day I'm ever happy! Not even Christmas makes me happy! At least not in this place."

"Mazy's not here anymore. So suck it up, and move on."

I groaned and rolled my eyes. "You people have no souls! You and Derek!" Derek was her boyfriend. He helped around a lot. In fact, he was more nice than Rachael. But he still didn't seem to care about a single one of us.

One of the younger kids ran up to me and handed me a toy car. "Play." He said.

I get down on one knee and smile. "Max, why don't you play with Lily. She's the only girl in this place who actually enjoys cars. Sadly I'm not one of them."

Max nodded, but before he walked away he held his arms out; asking for a hug. I smiled and hugged him.

"Alright, go have some fun, buddy." Finally I was able to flash a genuine smile. I guess little kids just did that to me.

A few minutes later Derek came through the door. He greeted Rachael, then nodded over to me. "Hey Val."

I rolled my eyes in disgust. "Don't call me that." I said through gritted teeth.

"Whoah. Ok." He said kind of laughing. "Oh, happy birthday." He said with a smile.

I smiled. "Thanks Derek! Hey! Can I see your phone? I need to call a friend to see if they'll give me a ride home after school."

Derek handed me his phone. While I scrolled through it to find the "message" icon, he said, "hey, speaking of school, you want me to give you a ride there?"

I clicked on the conversation he was in with Rachael, and the very first thing I saw, 'When you show up, wish Valery a happy birthday. She's upset with me for not remembering.'

Then Derek wrote, 'who remembers stuff like that?! Lol! Whatevs, I'll tell her.'

I rolled my eyes and handed Derek his phone with the messages still on the screen. "I'll walk." I say, and I stormed into my room, grabbed my schoolbag, slung it over my shoulder, and walked out of the building.

***

I sat there with my lunch tray in front of me. I was just sitting there with other random girls. I didn't talk to them, but they seemed to have something to say with the way they looked at me. I sighed and looked the other way. "School." I say out loud. "The place where everyone's so loud. Everyone's so annoying, and you're the one who gets stared at. It's better to just...look at them funny back to them, because that's all you can do other than trying to be friendly and actually have to talk to them. That means you have to say something. And I'm too lazy to waste my time on these idiotic fools."

The other girls giggled. "Do you always think out loud?"

I shrug. "Do you always wear your hair in a high pony-tail?"

"Um..." Her friends snickered. "Most of the time...I guess."

"There you go." I say. I take one last bite of my apple, pick up my tray, and walk away.

***

I walk into the Orphanage without a word, and I go into my room. I put my backpack on the bottom bunk and look up at the top one. That's were Mazy used to be. I do the same thing everyday. I put my backpack on the bottom bunk, then stare up at the top bunk. I smile just thinking about all the fun stuff we used to do in this room. I start giggling a bit, and my happiness is interrupted by Derek. I walk up to the doorway and cross my arms.

"Val-"

" DON'T. Call. Me. That."

"Valery, I just wanted to say I'm sorry-"

I groaned. "No! No! No! No! I'm gonna save you some time by asking you to keep your hole shut. I'm done. Please. Step back a little." I ask sweetly.

"Why?" He asks, but he still does it.

"So I can do this." I say sarcastically grinning, and I slam the door in his face. I sprawl myself out in the middle of the wooden floor and moan into it. "Why's life like this?" My voice was muffled.

I know I fell asleep there, because I woke up with a knock on my door. "Dinner is ready!" I heard Rachael call.

I sat up, rubbed my eyes and swung the door open so it slammed into the bed. I walked past her and didn't say anything to anyone. While Rachael and Derek tried to engage the kids into conversation, I sat there. I hated being an orphan. I wanted to live a perfect, normal, and happy life. Rachael wasn't making that any more possible than the two year olds were. I finished my food, and put the plate in the sink.

"No thank you?" Rachael asked.

I rolled my eyes, went to my room, took out a piece of paper, and scribbled, 'thanks. The meat was too dry, but I guess it was good. Honestly, I can't wait to get out of this hole. If I ever do. If you need me, (which you won't) I'll be sleeping.' I crumpled it up, and threw it into the dining room. I closed my door, finished up my homework and went to bed.