I am Alex Marie Little and I'm 14 years old. I live in Compound 3, of 'Miss Ripe's Orphanage' on Island 5.
I used to lived with my mom and dad until I was 7. My father was the only one who took care of me, but he died in a fire. My mother gave me up and took me to an orphanage. I've been there ever since.
There are these places called "The Islands". There are 5 in total each numbered by wealth, 1 being the richest, 5 being the poorest. The adults are put into a draft to work the ocean gates, which is very dangerous and important because they protect the city.
All 5 islands have very large orphanages that contain up to 3 compounds. Compounds are the buildings that we live in. Each one has 3 stories. The first floor is the "Lobby" it is just a little room with a staircase on each side and a desk in the middle. The second floor is a hallway with 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. The beds are simply just tiny, flabby mattresses. Each kid has a bucket at the end of their bed, t]which is for your stuff. The lucky kids have toys, shoes, maybe even an extra outfit in their buckets. There is only two bathrooms with one bathtub, a hole for you know what, and a dirty mirror in each compound. The top floor is storage and time out. When you are bad they send you up there to sit for 30 minutes. There us one more building, making four buildings. That would be Miss Ripe's house. It is only one story but it is as wide as the compounds. All four buildings line up so that their back walls make a square. We call the backyard it makes the 'courtyard'. That is where the kids play, and mingle.
Miss Ripe is the meanest of all the other orphanage owners. She makes $2 a week for running the orphanage, and she lives there herself. There are about 35 girls in compound one, 23 boys in compound two, and 13 babies and toddlers along with 6 'young nannies' to care for the children in compound three. Her frizzy gray hair is always up in a hair tie, yet there is always this one extra curly piece that droops over her piercing blue eyes. She is very skinny, most people are on Island 5. She has a long pointy nose that is covered in warts along the rest of her face. On top of all that, she has a very cold heart. If you get in trouble and she doesn't send you to the third floor of your compound, you should be worried. It has never happened to me, but it has happened to my best friend, Taylor. She hunts you down at around midnight, drags you into the courtyard, pulls down your pants to reveal your bare bottom, and whips you with a belt until you bleed.
Island 5 is the smallest island. Only one small school and only a handful or two of places to work. All the houses are crammed along the dirt streets that are covered in trash. This is the only island out of the 5 that have the ocean surrounding it. All the other islands have bridges connecting to each other, but the only way in and out of island 5 is boat.
Every 6 months they have a drawing that picks 3 kids and one guest from the orphanage to move to the Island 5 orphanage, which is so much healthier and nicer. The key is, you have to get in the drawing bucket. To do that you have to get noticed. Lizzy Green got into the bucket by her mad singing voice. Me? I have one talent, stealing. to live on island 5, you need to be a good thief. Speed, smallness, courage, little hands, and intelligence. I am small, have tiny hands, I'm the quickest at the orphanage. I know that because we race for fun. I have to have courage or i have nothing. I don't have much school- type intelligence but i have street- type intelligence.
I've heard really nice things about Island 5. That there are many schools that actually have pencils that write, books that you can read, desks that you can sit in. That everyone can get jobs and a lot of houses are nice and in neat rows of neighborhoods. That the orphanages are clean and there is good help. The kids are provided food and clean water to drink and to bathe. The beds are nice and fluffy and each kid has at least 3 toys all to themselves. It all sounds so...perfect.
I have my mind set one one thing and one thing only: Daxton. This is all until the new kid shows up to the orphanage. He lives in compound two of course, but he plays outside with the little kids a lot. I could never think about a boy being 'cute'. That's just not even possible here. The seven years I've spent here not once has it occurred to me that I am 14 and haven't had a boyfriend. Not even a crush. I played with the boys in the courtyard when I was younger but now I am so busy with the little kids I don't think about them. Even if i wanted to i don't have much time to think.
I need to get into that drawing bucket because living in on the poorest island in an orphanage taught me only one thing- survival. Will this new kid get in my way?
