A Silent Child (Brothers conflict fanfic)

Moving in

(Zero's pov)

Consciousness slowly began to eat away at my sleep. A pesky glimmer of light cased over me behind my eyelids. A pale ceiling with its wallpaper peeling and the musk smell from years of suffering water damage greeted me promptly. A constant reminder that where I slipped off to in my dreams was only temporary. 

I reluctantly sat up from the cushiony cloud to see everyone else's beds completely empty. There were at least a dozen of them lined on either side of the walls. Toys littered the floor but were still carefully put aside as to not obstruct the head of the orphanage's warpath when she checked on us during the nights. 'Damn mornings.'  I threw my feet over the bed, stretching out my muscles still weary from the ridiculous amount of chores that were thrust upon me yesterday. Before walking down to the parlor, I quickly tied my hair up, it came out messy because of such hurried actions.

The old wooden staircase creaked under my weight, warding off the nearby children that were huddled together. Their distance didn't bother me, in fact, it pleased me. The less amount of time I spent enduring their presences the more polite I may willingly be. A grand bookshelf filled with torn and worn out books was pushed against the floral designed wall. This floor was made better than our rooms in order to dazzle the parents that walked in to pluck out a child. 

The air here was even more tolerable. A scented candle was burning somewhere around here, probably in the head lady's office, to make it seem like a cozy abode. 

I paid no mind to anything else but the bookshelf which provided me my only solace. It was moved to the back of the room to allow the children to play their stupid games in the center of the parlor. I never socialized with the other kids here because it was pointless. I wouldn't remember their faces when I'm in my grave. I reached my arm out to grab a text entitled The Art of Serenity.

Just as I was getting comfortable the speaker hanging in one of the upper corners released an annoying static sound. "Will Zero please make her way to the office." the cracked voice requested. I mentally hissed in discontent. I turned on my heel and followed the instructions given, ignoring the wondering stares of the other children.

Upon entering the small office I was met with the nervous faces of a middle-aged man and woman along with the Head Lady's. Uncertain of the current situation, I was a bit hesitant in allowing the door to shut behind me. We all stood there for a good 2 minutes without speaking a word. Thankfully one of these moronic adults opened their mouths.

"Zero, this is Mrs. Miwa Asahina and Mr. Rintaro Asahina." The Head Lady introduced, wearing a forced smile on her wrinkly face. She didn't particularly like me. Often times we've had arguments over what we felt was right or wrong. Majority of those arguments ended in her embarrassment of being wrong. 

I think the two of us understood what a married couple would be doing at an orphanage. I'm sure it just got under her skin to think that someone would actually be crazy enough to adopt the biggest thorn in her side. If I was gone there'd be no one left to clean and fix everything around here.