I Am None

Chapter 3

     A week after the incident with Simon's parents, June had never left the orphanage, everyone wanted to discuss what had happened. But we never got a chance. Brayden was growing tired of not being able to talk about it.
"Hey, June. We're out of sugar." Brayden said, even though everyone else saw him hide it in his jacket.
"Ok then, I'll be back by 4:30, behave and I'll bring back sugar and make cookies!" She smiled and grabbed her bag. She walked out the door and everyone gathered in the middle of the room.
"Should I confront her?" Simon asked.
"June, or your mother?" Ava asked. He looked at the floor.
"My mother was the one who knew all of you, even though she didn't want to. I hate to say it, but I think I have to confront my mother." Simon suggested. No one could think of a better plan.
"Ok, but I think I should come too. For some reason she thinks I'm going to drag you into some huge trouble. I want to ask her why she says that." I said, "Everyone else, act natural. And if June gets back before we do, get our attention and let us know. Tell her we're hanging out in my room, and make sure she doesn't go in there." I directed. Everyone nodded and me and Simon headed out. I followed him as he took me around the corner of the orphanage.
"There it is. I stared at it for years, just because it reminded me of my father. I've never seen my mother here before." He explained, we started walking down a slight hill to the restaurant.
"What's her name?" I asked. I didn't know what to call her, other than Simon's mother.
"Piper. She has given me this weird nickname that you might hear her say." He said, acting determined. Even though I heard it that day, it would spoil the next chapter, so I'll just call him Simon.
"Got it." We walked to the front of the restaurant. I was about to open the door but I noticed Simon was staring at it scared. "Are you ok?" I asked. He took a deep breath and nodded. I opened the door to find a bunch of people sitting in there, they all looked so messy, like they haven't had a shower in months. We walked to the bar of the restaurant.
"Nice try, kids. You don't look like you're twenty-one." A woman said while she was cleaning a glass with a cloth.
"No, we're not here for food." I assured her.
"Or drinks." Simon added nervously.
"Ok, then what are ya' doing here?" She asked, putting down the glass and picking up another. I swallowed nervously, for some reason this woman was intimidating.
"We're here to see Piper." I answered and everyone looked at me. I looked around, "What?" I asked.
"Why are you looking for my mother?" The woman asked. Me and Simon slowly turned our head to look at her. Simon's jaw was dropped in confusion and shock. "What? I asked you a question, answer me." She said.
"I want to see her because she's my mother." Simon answered. The woman dropped the glass she had been cleaning. A door had been opened from the top of a stair case in the corner. The woman started cleaning the glass.
"Simon, you have to go." The woman said,
"How do you know my name?" Simon asked, the woman stood up and looked directly in Simon's eyes.
"Our father is coming down here. He is a horrible person. Our mother gave you up because she knows that. He hurts her, and me. All she wants is for you to be happy. And whatever you do, stay away from James." She said. I stepped closer to her,
"I'm James." I said, she looked at me the way Peter does. "What? What did I do?" I asked, I desperately wanted to know what I would do wrong. But what thy didn't know is that them telling me I would do something wrong, would make me doing something wrong.
"Come back at four, father will be gone and mother will be here. She'll answer your questions and I'll introduce myself, but for now, get out of here." She said. I grabbed Simon's hand and ran out of the door. We heard a deep voice yell:
"Who just left!?" It was probably Simon's dad.
"We need to go." I said and pulled Simon with me as I ran back up the hill and inside. Everyone looked at the door when we opened it.
"What happened?" Brayden asked. So me and Simon told them the story. The fact that Simon has a sister and how his mother did this for Simon.

* * * * *

We waited until three forty-five. Simon came down the stairs and some to me, I was sitting on the couch, writing in the journal. I had added Simon's mother, his sister and father.
     "Ready to go?" He asked me, he looked too ready,
     "I know you have a lot of questions, but you might not get all the answers." I said, trying not to get his hopes up.
     "I know. And I'm ok with that. I just want to know how my mother knows you and what she means by you taking me down a bad path. I'm focusing on the questions we had when we first entered the restaurant." He said. And I nodded. I hugged Grace and we headed out, June was upstairs and we told them an excuse they could use if she asked where we are.
"Are you ok?" I asked, his face was blank but he had something in his hand. He didn't speak, he just nodded. "That's a lie. What's in your hand?" I asked when we got to the bottom of the hill and started along the path to the restaurant.
"It's a- a necklace that my mother gave to me when she gave me up. I've kept it locked in a drawer for a couple years now." He showed it to me. It was a compass design on one charm, and on the other was a picture of the world:

"Do you know why she gave it to you?" I asked him. He shook his head.
We had made it to the place and opened the door. Simon's sister was there and once she saw us she waved for us to follow her into a door behind the bar. Me and Simon went around the table and opened the door.
It was a room where the walls are covered in papers. It looked like someone had done a lot of research. Simon's sister went through a pair of curtains and we followed.
Next we saw a room that was only started to be filled with papers. And we found Simon's mother sitting on the ground, writing vigorously.
"Mother." Simons sister said. She looked up and jumped back a little.
"Simon!" She hugged him. "I-uh, What are you doing here?" She asked while looking at his sister.
"They came here earlier, when father was here. They have questions." She said, she seemed excited to hear the answers too.
     "And I'm sure I don't have answers. Get back to June. Why did she let you come here?" She asked.
     "She didn't. We snuck out, I need to ask you something and tell you something. And you can't get out of this." Simon stated. She slowly nodded in agreement, "First, we overheard you talking to June, as in your cousin."
     "How do you know everyone's name? And how would I be able to drag Simon down a bad path?" I asked. She looked scared,
     "Ok. I know this is going to sound crazy, but my brother told me about this old legend that he heard from someone in our family, it went something like 'The second child of the fourth of the first will go down a dreadful path with his friend, he will love, he will loose, and he will get very hurt.' At first I thought that it was silly, but then I realized that I'm the fourth child of my father who was the first child in his family, and there isn't anyone else like that in our family. And you're my second child. So I was curious and I did some research."
     "Some?" His sister asked sarcastically. Piper nodded,
      "Ok, a lot of research. I found out that you, James Heather, would become his best friend at the orphanage. You and Peter Gray will become enemies, I've been trying to find a way for that not to happen because that starts the bad path. I care deeply about you, but at the time I was scared that you would meet James when you lived with me. So I gave you away, and now it's my fault that you two met." She said, "Oh! And, this is Maria, your sister. She lived with your father the whole time. We tried to keep you separated because I found out that was a sign that it had begun, when you two met. And you met earlier today. I need to find a way to stop this." Piper went back to her writing. Simon stood there in shock.
      "Simon, are you ok?" Maria asked, I looked at him to find him not blinking, he was just standing there, frozen.
"What else do you know about the orphanage kids?" I asked. Piper looked at me like she wasn't allowed to tell me. "Please. One of them is my sister."
"Grace?" She asked. I nodded. Piper took a deep breath and stood. "Grace will grow up to marry Gavin Darling. They will have three children that Peter... no. All you need to know is that." She said, then went back to her writing.
"That's why I had that weird feeling about Gavin." I said, happy something made sense.
So, now you know part of it. Gavin will be my brother, and Sm-Simon is my best friend.
"What about me? Do you know who I will grow to marry?" I asked, curious.
"You won't marry." She said, without looking away from her paper.
"What? Will I love someone? Will they love me?" I asked, ever since my dad died, I imagined myself making him proud, falling in love, having kids, and doing what he would've wanted me too.
"Yes, you will fall in love. And she will love you for the longest time until P-someone curses her to become something she's not, and to love him." She explained, again, without looking away from her paper.
"Is this girl in the orphanage?" I asked. Piper nodded. "Is it Hazel?" I asked, she hesitated, but ended up shaking her head no, "Samantha?" I asked, again she shook her head no. "Paige?" She shook her head no once more. I had to think for a moment, "Ava?" I asked. She nodded yes. I tilted my head, that was surprising, even for me.
     So there you go, my brother will be Gavin, my best friend is Simon, my worst enemy will be Peter and the woman I will grow to love is Ava. Now bare with me while I explain how that happens. And if you're wondering who I am, pay close attention to details... :)