A Window to the Past

Saint Nicholas Children's Home

It wasn't every day that Emelyn woke up in a good mood. In fact, you could say that it never happened at all. It was a surprisingly sunny summer day in England. They had been experiencing a lot of rain, which meant that Emelyn was forced to stay inside at Saint Nicholas Children's Home. When it rained, she couldn't go outside, but today she could. When Emelyn woke up, she knew it was a special day, but she had no idea how special the day would truly be.

Emelyn lay quietly in her bed, listening to her roommates snoring. Though it was sunny outside, the pale light peeking through the window curtains told her that it was still early. It wasn't terribly early, but it definitely was not as bright as when she would wake up at 9:00 AM.

As Emelyn lay lost in thought, she felt the bunk move as her bunkmate, Jocelyn, a very sarcastic and mean ten-year-old, rolled over in her sleep. Even though Emelyn was older, Jocelyn's attitude made it impossible for her to sleep on the bottom bunk. Emelyn turned onto her side to peer over at her other two roommates whose bunk sat against the opposite wall. Chloe and Tracey had the loudest snores that Emelyn had ever heard. Though they were not sisters, one would think that they were at first glance. Both girls slept on their backs, an arm raised over their head, and both had their blankets pulled up high, a leg popping out at the bottom. As one girl would breathe in, the other would breathe out, creating a cacophony of snoring. It was a rhythm that Emelyn had grown used to but didn't enjoy.

With a stifled yawn, Emelyn slowly sat up in her bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She took a quick look over at the window that sat between the two bunks and grinned. She lifted her arms above her head as far as the low ceiling would allow her and stretched with a groan. To her surprise, she felt her bed lift, and she began to catapult forward as she became off-balanced.

"Could you be quiet? It's early," Jocelyn moaned. "You're making too much bloody noise."

Emelyn let out a quiet sigh as she gathered herself. The sudden movement of Jocelyn kicking the underside of her bed had given her a fright. She breathed deeply, trying to still her thudding heart and her breathing. Emelyn should have realized that Jocelyn wasn't asleep when she had turned over in her bed. It seemed as though the sunlight was causing everyone to stir a little earlier than usual.

Emelyn pulled herself up into a crawl and moved to the foot of her bed with slow and deliberate movements so that she could descend the ladder. She very carefully turned around so that she could back up and place her feet on the rungs and climb down to the chilly floor. Though the top bunk was only separated from the floor by seven steps, Jocelyn had a habit of making the journey precarious. As excited as Emelyn was for the day, her mood soured as Jocelyn chose that morning to be exceptionally difficult.

Emelyn let out a gasp as she suddenly felt her feet losing grip on the ladder rung as small hands poked through and pushed her knees out from underneath her. She fell hard onto her back on the floor, groaning as the wind was knocked out of her. She closed her eyes as she tried to get air back into her lungs and felt a pang of anger as she heard Jocelyn begin to cackle.

"You idiot," Jocelyn squealed in delight.

Jocelyn's laughing caused both Chloe and Tracey to wake. Chloe, who had the top bunk, peered blearily down at Tracey over the side of the railing. They looked at each other, confused for a moment before looking at Jocelyn and then discovering Emelyn, who lay motionless on the floor. After a few moments of recognition, they began to laugh as well.

Emelyn slowly sat back up, breathing hard. She glared at Jocelyn, trying to avoid wincing as a throbbing pain shot up her spine. Her fall hurt more than usual.

"You know that you should never use the ladder. Your balance is absolutely dreadful," Jocelyn said through her laughter.

Chloe was the next to speak, having equal difficulty getting her words out through her laughter. "I thought that I was having an absolutely wonderful dream, but this is even better! Isn't it brilliant, Tracey? Stupid Emelyn fell again."