Who He Is

seven

J, age 10.

The corridor's of the orphanage were so dark that the only light present was from the full moon that poured in from each window. I was afraid of the dark and what lurked in the shadows, but I never could show it. I always tried to be brave.

The wooden floors were cold as ice against my bare feet, causing a shiver to rake down my spine and my teeth to slightly chatter. It was about midnight, a time that I always liked to be up so that I could listen to what seemed to be inexistent in this place: silence.

Day time here is like a circus, and each of us kids were the animals desperately trying to escape. We dressed nice and plastered huge smiles on our faces on the days potential parents would come to see us, however it'd all end the same. I'd end up walking back to my room with tears down my face, knowing I'd never be good enough.

I shook the sad thoughts from my mind and continued to walk down the dark hallway with my arms crossed in an attempt to keep myself warm from the freezing air that pumped through the vents. Each door was closed except for one that was cracked open right next to the main office. I didn't remember that door, probably because it was usually locked and we were all forbidden to enter it.

Being curious, I walked closer to it with caution, looking around ever so often to make sure no one was watching. I noticed that the light was on, so before opening it I peeked inside. It was empty.

Slowly, I pushed open the door to reveal the mystery room. It was sort of small, but was large enough to fit two book shelves and a file cabinet that sat against each asylum-colored white wall that was almost blinding to look at. I closed the door behind me softly before stepping closer to the file cabinets that were all opened.

I ran my fingers through each file, going over each letter until I got to the J's. Curiosity bloomed inside of me as soon as I saw my name, but before I could reach in to see I heard the door being opened..

"Jaxson!" Mrs. Lorna hissed from behind me, scaring me almost half to death. She was the strictest teacher here, which made the situation obviously worse. She was almost six foot tall with jet black hair and bangs that covered her dark eyes that were almost the color of charcoal. It was even rumored around the school that if you looked into them you would turn to stone and die a slow death.
I ignored her eye contact.

I stuffed the file in my pants as soon as I heard the door opening, but it was too late to hide.

"I g-got lost.." I stuttered, terrified of the mean woman.

"You've lived here almost half of your life, how do you expect me to believe you got lost?" She scoffed and shook her head. "No wonder no one has even tried to adopt you, you're always lying!"

Tears welled up in my eyes from her words and I found myself desperately wanting to disappear into thin air.

"Come here." She spat and grabbed me by the ear before pulling me out of the room forcibly. I yelled out in pain which only resulted in her squeezing harder.

The tears finally fell, for I wasn't strong enough to hold them back anymore.

"No!" I cried as I realized where she was dragging me. It was a basement meant for storage, however some of the teachers liked to lock the bad kids in there to teach them a lesson. I've only heard stories from the ones that have been in there, stories that made my skin crawl just to hear. Never though has anyone been in there at night, not until now at least..