Cold Hands

Chapter One

/Wynter/

Looking out the window of the orphanage I live in, I see another family pulling up to the steps of the orphanage, the hope that I once had of being adopted and feeling wanted had died a couple of years ago, I mean, who would want a 17 year old boy who looks too small for his age, I never had eating problems but I guess my body just doesn't want to grow anymore.

"Wynter?" I look back and see Sister Sprouse peeking from the door of my tiny room, just enough to fit a bed, desk and closet. "Are you not coming out to meet the lovely family outside?" Sister Sprouse inquires.

"What's the point Sister Sprouse?" I confess in a meek whisper, why should I keep my hopes up only to be rejected time and time again? I'm used to it anyway, every time a family visits St. Lucious' Orphanage, everyone would be called down to meet the family and hope to finally have a home and a loving family, not that the nuns don't care for us, they're actually great and life here isn't at all awful, but it's just different when you actually have a family of your own.I look up and see Sister Sprouse looking sadly at me and offers her hand. She pulls me up after I take it and I follow her to the backyard. "I wonder why parents come all the way here to adopt" I tell her, it's true though, St. Lucious Orphanage is away from the city and in the woods, there's a dirt path that connects us to other places, the orphanage may be in the woods but it's like we have our own village here, there are also other buildings and houses by the woods but the 

orphanage is actually a bit within the woods.

"Well, this orphanage has a good reputation and I guess people trust this orphanage" hmm trust, I trust this orphanage too, I feel safe here, there's something about the nuns that make me feel like I belong, and do I really belong here? Was my life really just meant to be an orphan?Sister Sprouse interrupted my train of thought by handing me some homemade brownies, the orphanage has its own bakery right beside it, this bakery helps the nuns pay for things and give us our weekly allowance if we're good children. We all like to help around in the bakery, it helps us relax and feel useful, having the orphanage is definitely better than being homeless so, we also try to help it be better.

"I don't know what to do with my life anymore Sister Sprouse, it feels like there's almost nothing for me in this world." I confess to my favorite nun, I love all the nuns in the institution but Sister Sprouse had been my favorite since she's the one who found me wandering the streets at night when I was 4, a feeling told me that my parents weren't coming back, I didn't know how I knew though but I turned out to be right. After Sister Sprouse brought me to the institution, we all saw the news, my parents had been murdered that night. The institution had been trying to find any family member I had, but they always came empty handed, it's like my parents never had existed at all.

I feel Sister Sprouse's soft fingers wiping away my tears, unbeknownst to me, have fallen. "There's so much more to this life than you can ever imagine Wynnie, trust me, you will find out soon, there's nothing for you in the world you think you knew, but I assure you there is." not knowing what to say, I just gave her a simple nod, she then smiled my way and we nibbled on the delicious brownies she brought in a comfortable silence.

"Sister Sprouse, have you seen Wyn-" Mother Irene stopped as soon as she saw me, I gave her tiny smile and her confused expression softened as she spoke to me. "Is everything alright Wynter?" she probed. Everything's fine Mother Superior, Wynter just felt sad and I didn't want him to be alone, Sister Sprouse answered for me.

"Very well, you two must come inside soon though, it's almost supper." the Mother Superior finished after walking inside, probably to play with some of the children or help Sister Armanita or Sister Minty with cooking.

Sister Sprouse and I, stayed a little while and finished the rest of the brownies she brought out before heading inside. No words were exchanged the remaining time we were there, it was enough for me to be with someone I know who loved me and wanted me here.