My One Sided Love Story

Vending Machine Consequences

Chapter One: Vending Machine Consequences

We crept through the halls, trying to be as quiet as possible. The marble underneath our feet echoed everything from the sound of our steps to our breathing. I glanced at my twin brother, my best friend, Taylor. This orphanage was our home, and every night we snuck out to steal from the very people who 'took care' of us. 

We were headed for the Guardian Lounge, a place of mystery among the orphans. This was where the volunteers or paid workers came to relax after their shift. 

With Taylor and his noisy shoes on my heels, I silently pulled the Guardian Lounge door open and slipped inside. Taylor stared at the illuminated machine, as if in a trance. He walked towards it, casting shadows across me. His curly, black hair blocked my view of the Vending Machine. 

The Vending Machine was the only thing that kept me going every day. Taylor and I would sneak in and steal food from it, then go back to our room and eat our food in peace. The crappy snacks were better than what we were being fed. 

In the mystical Vending Machine were chips, cookies, sodas, cliff bars, tea bags, and other food. I hadn't had food like that since last night when we snuck in and stole food from the Vending Machine.

I was pretty handy with a lock pick since one of my previous foster parents gave me one. He taught me how to pick even the most complicated locks. The knowledge he passed down to me has certainly been useful.

Taylor lifted his hand over his shoulder so I could see, and motioned for me to come closer. I stood next to him, basking in the color-sucking light of the Vending Machine. This machine was the reason Taylor and I was so pale. I dug in my pocket for my lock pick. My hand did not find the metallic object. 

"Fuck," I slurred under my breath. I had forgotten the lock pick in my pillowcase, where I used to stash it. 

'What?' Taylor mouthed in the darkness. Instead of responding aloud, I motioned to him with my hands.

One of my foster parents had a deaf spouse, so they taught me all the sign language they knew. Once Taylor and I were reunited, I taught him all I could remember. 

Taylor's eyes widened after I signed to him. 'I'm going to go get it. Wait here.' I signed. Taylor shook his head feverishly, but I did not listen. I sprinted to the door and slipped out. Once in the hall, I ran as fast and quiet as I could back to our room. 

"Shady, wait!" I heard Taylor call out loudly. I ignored his protest and continued running until I reached the old wooden door. 

I pulled the squeaky door open and entered the room. In the dark, I found my way to my bed. I flopped down stomach first onto it. After shoving my hands in my pillowcase, I clasped the metal lock pick. 

I had pulled away from my pillow just as the door creaked as it opened. I quickly dove so I was on the other side of the bed, blocked from the view of whoever had entered.

Heavy footsteps shook the hardwood floorboards beneath my hands. I heard a whack, and a thud as a body hit the wood of the floor.

"The hell was that for?!" a voice, Taylor's voice, exclaimed. The other person grabbed Taylor by his curls and pulled him up off of the floor. 

"Where's your sister, huh? Where's Shady?" another voice growled lowly. It was Miss Grace, the founder of the orphanage. She was a cruel, lonely woman who hated children and teenagers alike, despite that her job was caring for them.

Miss Grace didn't have many rules for us, but if you broke one, the consequences were great. She would either put you up for a speed adoption, meaning you have to be adopted in the next twenty-four hours or you are thrown out, or she just throws you onto the streets.