Be My Escape..

Chapter 3

"So you can't contact your dad?" The lady driving us up a rocky, winding road asks us. She introduced herself as Ms. Nelson. She has tan skin, chocolate hair twirled in a bun, and dangling earrings. Her wide rimmed glasses brighten her cocoa eyes, filled with warmth from the moment we'd met her.

"We already told you, Ms. Nelson. Our dad left when my mom was pregnant with Lily." I reply, annoyed. She nods her head, curls sticking out of her bun bobbing.

"Are we almost there, Ms. Nelson?" Lily whines.

"Yes. I'm sorry to say that Ray- Or whatever his name is, has been arrested." She softly tells us, staring through the rear-view mirror.

"Don't be sorry. We never liked him," I reply, smirking. I felt something was up with him. He never seemed.. Right.

Ms. Nelson nods her head, seeming to understand our situation.

I jerk up as we hit a large rock, bouncing our car a bit. She pulls up on a gravel road to a rusty orphanage.

"Well, here we are," She informs us, clicking her seat-belt open. We do the same, stepping out of the small, red car.

"Do you know how long we'll be here?" Lily squeaks, eyeing the large building. Its dark red brick, with a small white patio out front. Some of the shutters hang off, a few hits away from dropping. I swoop up our backpacks. We'd packed before we left for the hospital, with pairs of clothes and a few essentials.

She hurries us inside, and a fat, grouchy lady at the front desk eyes us. Her lipstick is smeared on weirdly, some hanging off of her lip. Her ears and nose are large, and her hair is short and curled on top of her head. The black mark beside a tin pencil holder tells us her name is Helga.

Why am I not surprised? 

She eyes us and points down the hallway, where small bulbs light it and doors dot each wall. Ms. Nelson leads us to our room, Room 412, and opens the large, peeling door. Dusty tiles mark the large room's floor. Two white desks are pushed in between two bunk beds set against the right and left wall. Ms. Nelson ask's if we're okay here, and we mumble a yes. I'm sad to see her go; she's very nice. We give her a hug and thank her, and her heels click away.

We notice two more girls already using one of the bunks. One that seems my age, and one that seems to be Lily's. They look up and wave with smiles, telling us to get settled. I walk over to the cold metal structure of it, and two plastic blue matresses fill each bunk. I rip out our large blankets, tucking them on.

"Um, Hi," Lily greets shyly, setting some items on a desk. I wave to them, turning towards the large closet. I take out my clothes, hanging them all neatly on my end.

One girl with black hair and, well, black everything but skin, introduces herself as Carly.

I introduce Lily and I.

The other girl, she seems to be peppy and happy, turns to us from painting her nails and says she's Sarah.

Their beds are already made, and they've decorated their side neatly. She soon finishes with her nails, and tells us to follow her to dinner.

"It's not that bad," Carly tells us with a wink.

We manuever our way through many other girls, sneakers squeaking against the floor. A few minutes later, our two new friend's open a large door where many girls are already sitting around tables and talking with their friends and eating what seems to be spaghetti. Carly pulls me into a line, where black trays are sitting in a pile for us to pick up. I snatch one, moving further up into the line. I get to where they're serving the spaghetti and bruised apples or cheese-bread.

If it's real cheese.

The lady in a hair-net scoops a small amount of the noodles drenched in sauce, and slaps it down in the middle of my tray. I grab the cheese bread and a small box of fruit punch and hurry to catch up with the other girls.

We find a rickety empty table, and grab some of the plastic chairs to sit around it. We set down everything, and begin eating slowly.

"So how long have you been here?" Lily asks the girls.

"Two years for both of us. We're sisters, but we're as different as the sun and the moon," Carly shares, sneaking a look at her peppy sister, Sarah.

"Just because i'm not dark and I don't wear bla-"

"Don't start with that, Sarah!" Carly hushes through her food, bits of spaghetti hanging from her mouth.

Sarah just rolls her eyes, and smiles again.

Sarah just now seems to notice our bruises and my stitches, and jerks up.

"How in the world did you get those?"

"Sarah, be considerate."

She turns to us with a smirk, eyeing the wounds.

"But really, how did that happen?"

"Long story made short, our mom went crazy." I say, and I surprise myself by actually giggling.

Giggling.

"She tried killing us," Lily says bluntly, twirling her pool of golden hair around a finger. (Most people would think it's cute, but I know my sister. She does it when she's trying to finish up or avoid a subject.)

Sarah and Carly break into laughter, doubling over. They notice we're serious, and stop. The corners of my mouth turn up, knowing that we probably sound weird.

"Oh, um, sorry," Sarah appologizes. Carly nods in agreement, resent on her face.

"It's okay. You weren't the one attempting to hurt us, so don't be sorry." I tell them honestly, eating more of my food. I finish it really quickly, mostly because I didn't eat much today.

"Anyways, let's get you settled back in our room. You could be here a while," Carly commands, standing up.

"Okay. Let's go," Lily chuckles, standing up too.