Thunder roared through the orphanage shaking me awake. My breathing was unusually unsteady.  The rain pecked as the window like a swarm of bees stinging a predator. The wind howled against the trees, as if threatening to hurt anything that comes in its way. This dangerous symphony sang all the way through the night, leaving me sleepless, and cold.

Shivering, I nuzzled my body further within my quilt. The urge to get out of my bed and stretch simmered through my body, but I choked it down, not wanting my siblings to wake. I felt stuck in a daze,  for my dreams clung to me like a past memory. Shouts and whispers still rung in my ears flashes of the dream soared through my head.

BANG!

I jolted up in my bed shivering rapidly, though i was no longer cold, but afraid. I glanced around the room, checking if my siblings have woken up, but no sign. Could that have been a gunshot? I pondered. No, it  was to muffled, Could it have been someone in the corridor? No it was too loud. I racked my brain for possible explanations to this situations, when muffled shouts started coming from the wall behind me.

“They’re only thirteen years old John!” a voice said, it sounded feminine, yet harsh, though very familiar. “That's way too much pressure to be put on their hands! And to think they have to- to- UGH! Its completely barbarick! How could you possibly let them-?”

“That would be enough of that Martha. We both know this isn’t my choice, to make them do this, but I must!” The second voice said, his voice filled with aggravation and boredom as if this conversation was talked about a million times before. My Breath hitched, that was definitely Uncle John, I could pinpoint his voice anywhere, but why was he arguing with Nurse Martha?  

“But there has to be another way!” Nurse Martha argued as if demanding another solution. “They’re so young.”

Uncle John sighed. “This is the only way, it's what she wanted.”

“Who cares about what she wants, the children are fine here! And besides, have you even told them yet?

Silence.

“So you didn’t tell them? You were required to tell them when the first warp appeared! That was about 4 years ago!”

“So you wanted me to tell them the ‘completely barbaric’ act they have to commit at the age of 9? And you kept blabbing about how their too young!  I was simply waiting for time Martha!”

Now it was Nurse Martha’s time to get silent, I imagined her face to be stroke with bashfulness seeing that Uncle used her words against her.

Someone cleared their throat. “Well. Seeing that it's about 5:00, I suggest we should hurry and make breakfast for the kids, before any of them wake up.” Nurse Martha said, her thick british accent hulting the conversation.”

As soon as I couldn’t hear their voices I skimmed through their conversation each word I managed to memorize. ‘They’re only thirteen years old John! That's way to much pressure on their hands’ ‘It's completely barbaric!’ Wait… I’m thirteen what does this situation have to do with me? I tossed and turned, in my bed. Finally I shot up from it, unable to sleep, and made my way to the dining.

When I got to the room, Nurse Martha and Uncle John had their backs against me seeming to argue in hushed voices. I cleared my throat to get their attention.

Nurse Martha whipped her head, “Oh hello sweetheart, Why are you up so early? After all, it's only 5:30” I knew that tone, that tone masks her fear with false concern..

“Couldn’t sleep,” I said, trying to cover up my lie.

“Oh dear, do you want some early breakfast?”

I shrugged in response, taking a seat at the table. It took Martha a couple minutes to finish up my breakfast, but I never grew bored, I stared at my guardians, trying to at to see if they would crack from my pressure.  I waited in the lounge after eating, and getting ready for school, around 7:00, Althea and Peter stumbled into the dining, meters apart.

“I don’t understand the reason you’re even here in the first place!” Althea roared, pushing her seat with such force the ground to vibrated.

“Gosh, how many times do I have to tell you this! My, Mom, Works, HERE!” Peter retorted.

I watched the two of them bicker, and I couldn’t help but observe, that Peter’s once cobalt eyes turned into a deep royal sapphire.

Peter Francis, the indifferent child of Nurse Martha, he just so happens to go to our middle school. He had curled brown hair, with few strands poking free. His olive toned skin were rich with freckles, and surprisingly  quite tall for our age. He loves basketball, a little too much. Once after school, he got so mad at himself when he lost a game, he kicked his ball so hard, it shattered our principal’s window. But on top of his bad grades and temper,  he gets random headaches at least twice a week. Nurse Martha tried making him go to the hospital, for a proper check up, but him being Peter, he denied his need for help.

Though  he is one of my bestfriends, which kinda clashes with Althea, as she is to one of my best friends. Althea, is a whole different story. She is the exact opposite from Peter. Uncle John says when he found her at the orphanage entrance, she came with her full name Althea Erika Andrews.

Ally has blue tipped, curly, shoulder cut hair, her black roots peeking out from the dye. Her amber eyes rarely displayed anguish which always surprised me when she argues  with Peter. She loves the outdoors, or in her words ‘mother nature’s womb’.

If looks could kill, Althea would be have been buried alive by now. No doubt about that. Fortunately for them, Uncle John spoke, breaking their fight.

“You two better hurry up, Adalea is packed and ready and your bus is coming in 20 minutes.”

Their finally concluded, making them pick up the pace and shove their food down their throats. In the meantime, I began to start questioning my guardian, hoping to get at least one answer to my questions.

“Uncle, when is Luke, Carson and Ashlee going to school? I mean, when will their bus come up today?” I asked, starting off subtle. He didn’t answer, but instead glared at me in my spot. He knew that I knew the answer-it was 8:20, but I managed not to crack. He turned on his heal then stutted out of the kitchen. Not one word uttered from my lips. I took that as an immediate  sign to head out. Grabbing my bag, I shoved my best friends out of the door.

The road in front of us was empty, no yellow vehicles anywhere. “We’re late!” I shouted. Throwing my hands in the air.

“Chill Addy, the bus isn’t even here you dirty sneak.” Peter chuckled, shaking his head at me.

“SHH! Do you want to blow our cover? And besides, I can’t handle anymore fighting.”

🌻🌻🌻

History was a bore. No emphasis in that. If you enjoy the subject, good for you, but I for one, never saw the point in it. I mean, I don’t need to know who lives and who dies in the revolutionary war, now do I? I’d rather be reading in the orphanage instead of wasting my time. But with all honesty, I would like history we learned about the weird mystery of a kidnapped president or something, not repeating wars. Instead of taking notes, I doodled across my page, impatiently waiting for the shrill bell to free me from this misery.

🌻🌻🌻

I stumbled toward the cafeteria door, navigating my way to Althea and Peter.

“What took you so long?” Althea asked as I took my seat across from them.

“Hall traffic. Anderson is still at my tail, so be prepared to be bombarded in a couple minutes.” I replied.

Liam Anderson, otherwise known as my psycho lab partner, who just so happens to be a spoiled rich kid. I managed to piss him off by ‘not cooperating with him’ on one of our experiments. Though he was the one not doing anything. Let me just state this now, science, is not my forte. So I tried to complete the experiment on my own, while Liam slacked off with his buds. Now he blames me-as per usual for our bad grade. But his greatest “achievements” yet, were stuffing me, Althea, and Peter into our lockers all by himself, and getting suspended from school 3 times from sticking up fights in the span of 4 months.  You’d think I would be afraid of him. But I’m really not. I mean it's kinda hard to be afraid of someone who you know you’re better than.

With the simple roll of Peter’s eyes, we continued to choke down our food. Not uttering a single word. A pounding sound grew louder and louder, but I already knew who those footsteps belonged to.

“OI!” Anderson yelled tugging my shoulder so I would face him.

“Yes Lee?” I said in a mock tone, knowing it would irritate him. Liam, his face flushed red, shoved a chunk of papers towards my face.

“What is this?” Liam spat

“An F?” I deadpanned.

“I know that!”

“Then why were you asking me?” I paused “ I really overestimated your intelligence Lee. We learned how to read the alphabet in Pre-K.”

Anderson’s face went from pink  to deep crimson in a matter of seconds.

“WHY YOU!” he screeched.

I glanced at his rigid fist close up on my face, it was as if all time slowed down. I quickly dodge his punch. But as fast as Anderson turned red, a flaming sensation  of pain pounded through my blood, causing me to skrich out in agony.

“What the he-”

“Addy are you oka-”

“Of course she’s not okay Althea! She's literally glowing! Look at her!”

Then, as quickly as it came, the pain escaped my body, relief washing over me like a soft blanket. Breathless, I rubbed my eyes, as if trying to wake myself from this mess of a nightmare. My eyelids instantly grew heavy, as if ten pound weights tried pushing them down, as everything went into a blur. Muffled voices echoed through my head like distant movements. My head sunk to the floor, as everything around me, went blank.