My Secret

Prologue

     It started when I was seven.

     The day was so foggy and overcast, you could hardly tell if there was any such thing as the sun. It had rained the day before and the dark grey sky threaten rain once again. Wet leaves were plastered to streets, and not a single animal was out on such a gloomy day. I was a young, very petite child, as I stood on the steps of the grand building that, if you stood at the base, you could barely see the top. The children there used to try and guess how tall it was exactly; we always had the wildest ideas. "One-thousand donkeys!" one kid would bark. It was the town's orphanage, which didn't need to be so large considering the fact there were only twenty-three kids there. I suppose the reason it's so big is because in the past, forty years before, there use to be almost one-hundred homeless and parentless children running around the place. Then, one morning, a group of people just vanished, leaving the poor defenseless children behind. Parents would just disappear. However the people who work at the orphange said my parents brought me as a baby to the very steps I was standing on.

     My seven year self watched as a really expensive-looking car drove up on the gravel road. It stopped at the base of the stairs and the driver got out of the driver seat. He was a lawyer, I think, named Mr. Dylan He was the man who took the orphans to their new parents. He stood there and we exchanged glances for a moment until I slowly walked down the stairs to his car. "Where are your things?" Mr. Dylan asked.

     I dreaded having to talk, so I answer very quietly, "I don't have any things."

     My hands fumbled with the slippery car door. Mr. Dylan came around and opened it, pitying me silently. The only reason I felt the least bit happy is because I got to ride in the fancy car and without a special booster seat. As I clicked the seat belt securely, Mr. Dylan put the car in reverse and backed of of the small driveway. He drove off as I looked back at the orphanage, saying a goodbye in my head and hoping someone would miss or hear me. However, I hadn't let any of the children know that I was leaving so no one came to wave goodbye. I turned back in my seat and realized Mr. Dylan had been talking to me. I furrowed my eyebrows and craned my head signaling that I hadn't heard him.

     He repeated himself, this time louder, "I was asking if you were going to miss the orphanage." He drove silently for a moment, waiting for an answer. I shook my head and hung my head down. Mr. Dylan looked in the rearview mirror to see my lonely expression. 

     "Your name is Jack, right?" he asked. I nod my head yes, secretly hoping that he would only ask yes or no questions. "Well, Jack, I know these people actually and they are very nice. They will treat you very well. They're house is beautiful and-" For the first time I cut him off, with a question I had been dying to ask.

     "Do they have a backyard with big trees?" I asked so softly that Mr. Dylan had hardly heard it. He made a face that told me he was trying to remember.  

     "You know what? Why don't we find out?" he said as he pulled the car into the driveway of what looked like a mansion to me. Mr. Dylan laughed as I pressed my face against the glass of the window, my jaw just about hitting the ground. He got out and opened my door, grabbing my hand to lead me to the door. Big houses hadn't scared me after all I had lived in one for the past five years, but the only thing that scared me about this house was the fact I had no idea what kind of people would become my parents.

     We walked up to the porch and I hid behind Mr. Dylan's legs. Mr. Dylan was about to knock on the door, but a frantic looking woman in a blue lacey dress and heels was already in the doorway. Behind her was her husband in a pricey looking tux and carefully parted hair. He looked happy, but his happy came out as a mixture of a smile and a glare. It confused me, but I would rather stare at my soon-to-be-mother anyway. I thought she was a beautiful angel, and as I blushed once I realized I had just thought it. She laughed and got down on her knees to my level.