Hideaway

Chapter 2: Looking above

Chapter 2: Looking above

The orphanage was always a crowded place. Children roamed every corner of the building. Filling the halls with groaning and grunts from the labor they were put through. Children would sew and work with machines as if they were from the time when children worked at mills. Why? Well I would find out soon enough. I freaked out after I saw what looked like dried blood on the floor. My heartbeat was very high. This place looked more like an insane asylum than an orphanage. I was led into the insane place by the officer that picked me up off the street. He knew I was an escaped orphan that needed to be taken away. After all his "hard work" the owner of the orphanage gave him what looked like a dollar bill. Probably so he would hold his tongue about the abusive nature of this place. He then left, never even looking back.

The owner had all the kids including me head to a classroom where she said she would have to explain all the rules to the new girl. I'm guessing that was me. The classroom was small and barely anyone could fit in. I bumped into another kid. "Sorry," I said apologetically. "It's okay," he replied. "What's your name?" "Sylvia." "That's a nice name. I'm Bruce." "Hello Bruce." Suddenly the owner butt in. "Now I don't think we have time for any sort of chit-chat right now do we Bruce?" "Yes Ms. Hamen." She turned to me. "As for you Sylvia i'll let this slide today, but tomorrow you better be on your best behavior. Do you understand me?" I didn't want to answer her in protest, but out of fear I said yes. "Good. Now I don't want any talking while I explain how things work around this place. SIT." Bruce and I immediately sat down upon instruction. We were completely silent as told.

Ms. Hamen got up towards the front of the classroom and started to speak. " Children of this orphanage, we have a new laborer here. Her name is Sylvia. I know I have to explain the rules here again so she knows. First of all, there are many points of the day where you may not talk. The only good time for talking is lunch. You only get ten minutes for that. The rest of the day is strictly no talking. No food is allowed in the orphanage besides the sandwich and cup of water we give you at lunchtime, which you better hope is enough to hold you off for the day, because the day WILL BE LONG." This was not at all like home. Home. Home. I kept thinking it. It rung. H-home. Home. Home..........why couldn't I be there. I went into a series of daydreams about my mom and dad and how nice they were to me. It was such a nice thought. When I got back into reality, I burst into tears. Ms. Hamen could tell I hadn't been paying any attention to half the things she said because she instantly came over to me and gave me a good old slap across the face. "That's ENOUGH Sylvia......," she growled. All the children stared. I was sent to the dorm. Tomorrow, I would have to hope and pray I knew enough to not get into trouble.

A few minutes later, all the children rushed upstairs including Bruce. " Man, you got laid down hard there Sylvia. Sorry about that." "Aren't we supposed to not talk in the dorms and don't you have some type of boy's dorm to go to?" "No. Everyone sleeps in the same room." "That sucks." "Yeah it does." The owner came into the room and everyone suddenly dropped whatever they were doing to dash to their beds. I did the same so I wouldn't get in trouble. She stalked around, her eyes following yours everywhere. All anybody did was stare back at her. Finally, she left. Bruce had jumped into the bed next to mine on the right. On the left was a girl with orange ponytails. She was pretending to snore loudly and was a little on the chubby side. I now focused on Bruce's appearance. He had an Asian-like face with black hair that was extremely big and bushy. I couldn't sleep. I got up from bed and went to the window.

It was a very starry night. All the stars seemed to form images of my parents. They were dead. I still couldn't believe it. A tear rolled down my face as I looked above to the sky. When I went to lay back down in bed. I still looked up. Since my parents were dead, they must be in heaven. They were good people. I missed them. I needed them. Very soon, I fell asleep. My dreams were extremely troubling.