Rose

Chapter Two: Adoption Day

"MS. CHARLIE! MS. CHARLIE!" I woke to find myself shrieking her name over and over.

The woman burst in through the doorway, her long braid swinging over her shoulder.

"Good heavens, child! You nearly woke the whole building up!" The old woman gently stated, while swiftly coming over to the child's thin mattress and kneeling down, so that she was eye-level to the 9-year-old.

After a moment of comfortable silence, the older woman pats my hand and whispers,

"What did you dream of?"

I stare at the wall, for a minute or two, hoping that it will swallow me. When I finally decide that it won't, I answer.

"I-I dreamt of my parents. How they left me at the porch. I dreamt of everyone here, except you, saying that I'm worthless. That I don't deserve to live. I dreamt that you had d-died, and that I had been the cause of it. And-and Luna Cathrine. She's o-only five. She was being tortured in front of me, by the Bloody Man. After he had killed her, he turned to me and said,'You could have saved her. But you didn't. Your evil. No one will ever love you. Your useless. You can't do anything. You should go kill yourself. It will be better for all of us.'"

The woman looked stunned. She wasn't expecting that.

After a while, she took a deep breath. I knew she was about to lecture me on how 'Important' I am to her, and that I can do anything. The usual,'You can do it!' Speech.

Instead, tears streaked her face and she pulled me into a welcoming hug. I was surprised. Why was she crying? Shouldn't I be the one crying? After all, she hadn't had the dream, I had. She wasn't the one who had endless encounters with the Bloody Man, I was. She didn't have to see his mauled face every night, she didn't have his cruel words stuck in her head, repeating themselves again and again.

"I'm sorry, dear, it's just... You're only nine and you're having these terrible dreams. This might not sound genuine, but your special. And no one can tell you otherwise, because if they do, they're lying."

"Now, c'mon, let's watch a movie at my room."

The nine year old was not expecting that. "Uhh... Umm... How about Beauty and the Beast?"

The old woman smiled once more and stands up. "Well, let's go then! Belle's waiting!"

And with that, she pulls me up.

We link arms and skip out of the small room, singing,"We're off to see the WIZARD, the WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RRRRIIINNNGGGGGGG!!!!!

"Holy- Where's the fire?!"

I wake up from the memory-dream to an unpleasant alarm.

I stand up, only to hit my head on the ceiling of my small room down in the basement.

"WAKE UP, YOU LOUSY MOLE-RATS! IT'S ADOPTION DAY! GET DRESSED IN YOUR BEST CLOTHING!"

Grumbling, I pick out a sky-blue dress that comes up to my knees with a tan, braided, leather belt that goes around my waist. I put it on my thin mattress that serves as my bed, and go over to the sink. I brush my teeth, put the dress on, braid my black-brown hair into a Dutch braid, and go upstairs to cook breakfast.

I am Ms. Fiona's least favorite orphan out of 250+ kids. Which means I do most of the work.

It isn't that bad. I get paid, of course. Five bucks a week. All the other kids get a lot more, but it's fine by me. All the work gives me something to do, besides think about all of my troubles.

Today is my only day off. I only have to cook breakfast, because all of the other chores were done yesterday.

Adoption Day is the day where people come and talk to each and every one of us, and if they like you, you could get adopted.

I have been here for fourteen years, aka, my whole life.

I think that says something about my personality.

Either that or the fact that I tend to ward off most human beings.

After cooking 300 servings of pancakes, with the help of Lani and Mike, two of the five kids that are nice to me in this hellhole-oh, sorry, I mean this peaceful home for orphan children.

I have to practice not being sarcastic. If I wanna get adopted, I have to play nice. Which means no sarcasm. Or pranks. Or swearing.

This is gonna suck.

Three hours after cooking breakfast, I go into the adoption room. I sit on a gray spinning chair and wait for people to interroga- I mean, ask friendly questions about me.

Two people come in. Both are in their late 20's, or early 30's. The black-haired blue-eyed woman has a navy blue skirt on and a white button-up shirt. The brunette man has black pants on, with dress shoes and a sky-blue shirt.

"Hello, dear, we are the DeGrants'. You can call me Melissa, and this,-" The woman gestures to her newlywed husband, "-Is Falk. What's your name, sweetie?"

I smiled at them. These suckers are gonna be so easy to play with.

"My name is Rosette Maria Elotonta, but you can call me Rose. How are you?"

I decided to act super sweet then when they ask me about my past, I'll tell them it, but as a sob story.

They exchange a look, that said,"Yeah. This one is polite. Lets take her."

"That's a wonderful name Rose! Would you mind if we ask you a few questions?" The man, Falk, asked, as if I was a three year old.

I grin wider. "No, not at all!"

This is gonna be fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two hours later, they (finally!) asked me about how I got here, in the orphanage.

I think of sad things, like Ms. Charlie dying, those extremely sad commercials with the puppy's that are practically made to make you cry, etc.

My eyes fill up with fake tears.

"M-my parents left me malnourished on the step of the orphanage, in the rain. I g-guess they d-didn't want me."

I broke down in tears and covered my face. I didn't want to laugh and give myself away.

The DeGrants come over to me and start patting my back and consoling me. It takes all of my willpower not to laugh.

"Now, now, sweetie, it's okay, I'm sure they had a good reason. They probably just couldn't take care of you. It was probably just as hard for them as it was for you." Melissa whispered, trying to be soothing but her attempt was actually failing miserably.

I look up at her and smile weakly. "Yeah, I guess your right. Thank you."

Her and Falk share a look.

This look made me think two things at once.

Oh, no.

And,

I should become an actress.