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Chapter 1: The Orphan's Escape

- The Year 1893 -

Gina breathed out in gasps, puffing frosty white out into the wintry world. She held her skirts as she slid out of the window to the orphanage girl's room, crawling on her hands and knees to make as little sound as possible. She held her letter and bags in her left hand and a file in her right. The seal on the window had come loose with a little prodding from her chilled fingers, thanks to the work she had done over the past month to shave it down. Tonight would be her last night here.

I did it, she thought silently.

As she climbed carefully downwards toward the ground below her feet found footholds on the windowsills of the other levels. Only a little more to go and she would be free...

"'Wina?" A small voice called from the window.

No, no, no, no.

"Shhh," she whispered, "Angelica, go back to sleep."

"Where are you going?" the little girl asked her, frightened. "Miss Karina will be mad at you."

"I'm going away, Angelica. Someplace far from here." She patted the letter in her pocket. It was her assurance.

"I wanna come with you," Angelica said, her cherubic face tearing up. "Don't leave me here all alone, 'Wina."

Gina couldn't bear to look at her. "Just... just sing the bedtime song to the other girls for me while I'm gone, ok? Go inside now."

Angelica whimpered, but the window closed. Gina dropped the rest of the way to the ground.

She walked up Nodding street, feeling spooked by the dark shadows. She firmed her lip and hurried along, looking behind her for pursuit. As she went through the snow she kept getting turned around by the street names veiled with the night, and the dark unnoticed landmarks. She lost her way.

Where am I? She wondered. She had planned to make a left on Wick Street, but she seemed to have missed it. 

It doesn't matter, Gina thought as she made her way through the snow with only her thin coat and small bag. Any place is better than the orphanage.

Gina had no family; no parents or siblings. Not a single relation that she could name as her own. She had been found on the streets, a child begging for food from strangers. She had later been picked up by the local bobby and sent to the orphanage, but she found little happiness there. Her lack of familial connections had left her as the leftovers of life; that child which one must take in, but little truly felt compassion for. She had been sent to Charles Hall Orphanage, where there was scarce enough food or kindness to go around.

The headmaster at the orphanage had been cruel and cross, so much so that the children had passed a rumor that she was secretly a demon, whose job was to make children's lives miserable.

Gina had often dreamed of somewhere where there was no orphanage headmaster or spiteful orphan girls. Somewhere the factory wasn't the only option for her after she became too old to stay in Charles Hall. 

Thus she had decided, up in her room one night, that if the opportunity came around to leave she would take it. She had to make a better life for herself.

She saw the sign directing prospective passengers to the train platforms and followed its directions. She hadn't been too lost after all.

Gina lifted her meager skirt then and hurried up the stairs to the railway station. Passing the money she had saved for the trip to the ticket master, she quickly stuffed the rest of it back into her pockets.

Gina sat down on one of the cold wooden benches placed near the tracks and pulled out her letter once again. Recently, it had become a comfort to her, and she had pulled it out often so that it was well worn and handled. She could still make out the writing though. Not that she needed to, as she had memorized it long ago.

Dear Gina of the Charles Hall Orphanage,

We hereby invite you to come to Woodside Manor, a private research and schooling institution. We have chosen you along with four other candidates to aid us in a task that only you may complete. Please come to the Manor before the third of September this year. The address is on the front.

She flipped the letter over onto the other side to see the address. The lighting from the still barely risen son made it hard to read the words.

254 Wilhelm Street, Breconshire County, England

At first, when Gina had received the letter, she had hardly given a second thought to it, deciding that it was nothing more than a prank being played on her. The younger boys were often foolish enough to goad each other into tricking the other orphans, and she knew it was likely just one of their new ideas, but something about the letter spoke to her inner longing for something more. Somehow she just had to keep it, even if it wasn't real. She had known then that she would do whatever it took to make it to the address on the letter. It had been an answer to her prayers.

Just then the train arrived at the station, whistling its way to a loud stop before Gina's eyes.

What a large beast this is! Her eyes widened in surprise. She could hear the train from the orphanage, of course, but she had not had the opportunity to see it, and she was somewhat frightened by its monstrous size.

"All aboard who are coming aboard!" The conductor yelled. The train station became a hive of activity after that, and it was all Gina could do to get herself and her luggage into the train without becoming trampled. The people seemed to have appeared from nowhere.

Gina looked up and down the crowded aisle until she saw an open booth. There!

She made her way to the seat as quickly as she could, and smoothed her skirt down when she sat. Then she stowed her luggage in its compartment after watching the other passengers. She could barely contain her excitement.

Gina looked around her quickly. No one seemed to have been following her from Charles Hall.

The train began to chug forward, sending her lurching forward in her seat.

It finally settled into her heart as well as her brain, then. She had escaped. She vowed to herself in that instant a silent and solemn oath.

If it is in my power, I will never return to this place.

And with that, she felt the orphanage fade from her heart, as it faded from her window.

The rest of the train ride lulled her into an exhausted sleep, and she dreamed peacefully of better times ahead.