Not Alone For Christmas

Chapter 2

In the past year since Ralphie had come to the orphanage, Petra had been feeling a little happier. She enjoyed his company and he enjoyed her company. Eventually, they both became really close friends, the exact opposite of what Carter had told Ralphie to do. Carter and the boys knew fully well that if Ralphie was going to leave anytime soon, then Petra was going to get depressed again.

It was Christmastime again in the Justice Orphanage. Around this time, lots of families liked to come in and adopt a child or two to make them happy, and leave more space for new children. This year, with a total of 200 kids in the orphanage, 85 kids were adopted, with only 3 more new kids, and Petra nor Ralphie were one of the lucky kids who were adopted. Petra was used to this by now, but always saw the hurt look on Ralphie's face.

"It's alright, Ralphie," Petra would say, "A family'll come for you soon."

Ralphie would try to say the same for her, but she never had a hurt look on her face anymore. She was like she had grown immune to the feeling of rejection, to everyone's fear. But, she didn't always keep herself locked up in her room.

It was Christmas Eve again and no new kids had come for the past two weeks, but, as Petra made her way down to meet Ralphie by the kitchen door, a new family walked in. They gave a disgusted look to Petra, who saw her unkempt hair and bags under her eyes. Mrs. Guthery had seen the faces of the parents and felt bad for the girl.

After about 30 minutes of choosing, the family had chosen to take Carter Adkins, making everyone that Petra had known before she got there were gone. She had spent more time at the Justice Orphanage longer than anyone else. Petra almost cried at the thought, but Ralphie was there to comfort her, patting her shoulder and giving her a side hug.

"Remember what I told you about Petra," Carter said as he said goodbye to Ralphie, "Don't get too attached to her. She'll miss you too much when you're gone."

Ralphie nodded. He turned his head to see Petra, leaning against the doorframe, waiting for Carter to say goodbye to her.

Carter walked over to Petra and gave her a strong embrace. Petra returned it and started to sob a little. She hadn't know Carter as well as she'd gotten to know Ralphie this past year, but she was still a friend, and she'd miss him too.

"Don't worry, Petra," Carter's last words to the young girl were, "You'll find a family soon."

Petra gave a little smile, but it quickly erased when Carter walked out of the orphanage. She knew she wasn't going to get adopted. She's starting to get older and parents usually want the younger ones to raise on their own.

"Come on," Ralphie said behind her, "Let's eat something."

Petra turned around and smiled at her friend.

"What do you think there is?" she asked as they walked into the kitchen.

"Hopefully there's no applesauce," Ralphie said smiling, "You know what happened last time."

Petra gave a hearty laugh at the memory of Ralphie's incident with the applesauce: him tripping, spilling the first bowl, him spilling it in him the second time, and spilling and him going face first into the applesauce tray.

Ralphie nudged Petra in her shoulder, trying to get her to stop laughing, but soon stopped. He had never really heard we laugh, ever. She was always locked in her room, all depressed and alone.

In the past year, everyone was now used to seeing Petra more often in the kitchen, and everywhere, in fact. Some people had been at the orphanage for numerous years and had never matched the notorious name of Petra to the face of a blonde headed, blue crystal eyes, and now 14 year old girl.