Orphan sat in the middle of a circle of children with her hands being held by white, "I consider them my brothers and sisters even though we are not related by blood." he said with a smile.
It was very nice that White thought that way, Orphan looked at them one by one, "Hello, I'm Orphan." she greeted them with a small wave, some returned it while others didn't. It made her feel a bit awkward.
White gave Orphan a sudden tug to the floor, "I want you to lie down with us again!" some children nodded to his ideas, while others did not make a sound. They probably did not trust her, which made sense though since they were old enough to have their guard up.
"W-wait, I know you guys don't have real names but White told me you all had code names, can you tell me what they are?" she wanted to call these children what they were comfortable with, otherwise Orphan would have to keep referring to them as 'children'.
The girl who brought her to the room crossed her arms and tried to keep herself warm, "Yes we don't have real names, we just don't have any care for that. It's a bit unnecessary to address each other that way."
A little girl the age of seven raised her hands, "I want to introduce myself first!" she looked Asian, with the small eyes, black hair, and pale skin, "My code name is Coocoo!" there was just one weird thing; she had purple eyes, "You're wondering about my purple eyes aren't you?" she asked with a bright smile.
Orphan was a surprised, "Well, yes.... why are they colored that way?" she was truly wondering. Asians.
Coocoo giggled and pointed at her purple irises, "I have a special disease that only girls can have, and this turns your eyes purple after a few months of being born. Side effects include no period but still being fertile, there were more but I don't remember. It does not make me die or anything, and it does not hurt me at all."
That was a very lucky disease to have, Orphan wished that she had it too, "That sounds very rare..."
Another boy the age of twelve raised his hand excitedly, "I want to be the next one to introduce myself!" he cleared his throat and straightened his face expression, "My code name is Joke." his hair was curly, light brown, and a small part of it was tied to a small pigtail, his eyes were black, and he had pale skin, "Try to be friends with me and you will laugh to death before you hear a thing." there was silence, "I was just joking... don't take it so seriously."
Orphan laughed a bit and covered her mouth, "I'll keep that in mind, Joke." what an entertaining child.
A thirteen year old boy on her right caught her attention by waving slowly, "Hey, in this place I'm called Second, it's pretty lame but they're stuck with it."
With a grin on her face, Orphan said, "So you're like second in command because you're the second oldest? Is that why you're called 'Second'?"
Second sent her a killer handsome boy smirk and clicked his tongue, "Right you are there, beautiful."
He was quite the charmer wasn't he, and he probably broke a lot of hearts too, "I guess I'm next," it was a twelve year old girl, "My name is Silly..." she had black hair that shined as blue in the light and grey eyes, she gave of a mysterious aura around her.
Joke slung his arm around Silly's shoulder and pinched her cheek with his free hand, "She's like my twin sister since we both grew up together our whole lives!" Silly didn't seem to mind the small pain she felt from Joke's minor abuse.
The oldest in the room, the girl that brought her here, flicked Joke's head and said, "Cut it out," after he stopped she cleared her throat, "My name is Oldest." well Orphan saw that coming.
Orphan let out a nervous laugh and caught the sight of the silent boy who has been sitting in the very back for a long time now, and she still did not know of his name, "Hey," this caught his attention, "What's your name?"
Second chuckled and combed his hair with his fingers, "His code name is Silent, I'm pretty sure you would know why... he doesn't say much."
Silent stood up and started to walk away from them, did Orphan do anything that would make him uncomfortable around her presence? Maybe she shouldn't have asked for his name, which was a bad move for her.
"Don't mind him," Second said, "He'll come back. Just later."
Oldest asked her a question, something that seemed to be going around her head for a long time now, "Why did you name Youngest?" Youngest? Was that his code name before Orphan had named him White? Makes sense.
White clapped his hands and jumped up and down, "Orphan named me White because I asked her to give me a name, I thought you were there! It's weird that you don't remember!"
The eldest of them all rolled her eyes and crossed her arms once again, "I know, youngest, I saw what happened but she did not have the authority to give you a real name. It's a very unnatural name if you asked me, 'White'."
This angered the little boy, and so he started to throw her weak small punches with his soft tiny fists, "You wrong! White is not weird, it is a unique and special name that not many people have!"
Sitting on the carpet was Orphan watching the youngest and oldest have a small quarrel with each other, maybe she could get them to stop but the other siblings weren't doing anything about it. Was it natural for them? Maybe this happened every day, so Orphan guessed that she should not put it to an end just to be safe.
The fourteen year old girl forced White to sit down back to his place in the circle, "Okay fine, you can keep the name but I will still call you 'Youngest'... It is strange calling you something else after using the same code name for four years."
White lied down on the carpet and jiggled around like a caterpillar, as laughter flooded from his mouth, "Big sister gave up! White wins! Big sister zero and White one thousand! The evil villain loses and the hero is the winner!" he yelled oh so victoriously.
Orphan resumed her position on the floor. Her hand made contact with the icy wood, and it was then she felt colder than ever. She supposed that the winter storm outside the cottage was growing stronger. With that in mind, she took White and placed him on her lap in order to make him warmer, and wrapped her arms around him.
She rubbed his back in circular motions as she basked in the small amount of warmth that emitted from the toddler's small body. Orphan felt as if that the other children needed no help from her hand, because they had already cuddled up with each other to create body heat.
Looking around, it was obvious that it was not the greatest of places for a child to rest. She stood up while carrying White in her arms and realized that she too was not wearing any shoes, the full force of the freeze hit her feet and chilled her to the bone. With slow and steady steps, she made her way out of the room slowly.
Stopping Orphan from her tracks was the sound of the eldest's voice, "Where are you going?!"
"I'm just trying to take White to a warmer room." White was quickly falling asleep, and so the young adult had to adjust his position since his head was sliding from her shoulder.
The teen went away from her warm position and walked quickly to Orphan, "There's nowhere else in here that's warm, put him down!"
The older woman felt a small sting of annoyance fill her heart as she faced the teen, "A young girl like you is not ready to handle the leadership for these children, you act nothing more than an arrogant girl."
Said girl let out a mocking laugh, "And a stranger is more responsible for my siblings? No, now come back here youngest!" she demanded to White.
In Orphan's arms, White stirred awake from his near slumber and tightened his hold around her neck, "No..." he was still drowsy, and his objection surprised the teen, "I wanna go with Orphan."
Their argument stirred the attention of the other children as they crumbled the small ball of warmth to come closer to the three. The eldest grabbed White's foot and pulled, "White, listen to me!"
Orphan slapped her hand off the toddler, "As an adult, I don't want any trouble with a child. Let's just sort this out in a normal way, okay? With no fighting." the rest of the siblings had already formed yet another circle around her, but it felt more threatening than welcoming.
Second decided to interrupt, perhaps to prevent any future words that could harm the other, "Eldest, let's just stop this... Orphan is right, you are being a bit immature about this thing."
The eldest calmed her breathing, she had not realized that her breathes had become quicker, and glared at Orphan, "I'm not immature, Second."
A bit smug in his ways, Second smirked at his sister and came closer till he was right next to her, "Those are the exact words of an immature girl, Eldest. What's the harm of letting White go to a warmer room anyways? Orphan just wanted to help." it made Orphan feel a bit happy that Second had referred to White with his new name.
Embarrassment covered her being, and so the Eldest puffed up her chest and looked away, "So be it, go find a warmer room or whatever. It's not like we've tried that already." the other children started to follow Orphan, she had already started to walk away.
With his older sister's hands in held in his own, Second slowly led her to where the others were going, "See what happens if you make peace with the beautiful woman?" Orphan heard that, "Let's just wait and see what else she has in store for us." he left her alone and caught up with the rest, "So, where are you taking us, pretty?" he asked with a wink.
Orphan chuckled at his eccentric way of speaking, and once again adjusted White to a comfortable position, "Oh you know, just exploring to see if we can find something." in truth, she remembered that there was an underground cellar that held a warm heater, and perhaps they would be able to get it working if there was still a bit of coal inside.
"You look a bit squirm-ish holding White, want me to carry him for you?" Second asked oh so gentle manly.
"How very nice of you, of course." Orphan handed White into Second's awaiting arms and stretched, it was a bit of a relief.
White recognized who was holding him and made a smile, "Big brother Second..." he whispered.
Silent quietly held Second's shirt tightly in between his fingers as they walked. This piqued Orphan's interest, did the boy only favor the Second? It made sense, after all, the eldest did not have the prettiest personality.
This boy was the strangest one among them all. He had straight black hair that covered what seemed to be orange and green eyes, two colored eyes? That was rare, but having the other color to be orange? That was super rare. It was another thing that made Orphan curious, she wanted to know the reason why his right eye was made in that color.
After a few more minutes of walking, they finally arrived to their destination. This orphanage was a big one. In the original world, it was a very well-funded place for children without parents, but it never gave any happiness to Orphan.
"Now I'm very curious as to where you've brought us, Orphan. I've never seen this part of the cottage before..." Second said with eyes of surprise, "I was so sure that we had explored the whole place."
With a small airy laugh, Orphan opened the door to reveal a cellar, "Well, I guess you haven't ventured enough." inside this cellar were an abundant of different varieties of wine, all aged perfectly through the decades. It surprised her, "Wow... I didn't expect this..."
"You are aware that we are under aged right? We can't drink alcohol." the oldest said as she looked around, "Are you some beat down alcoholic useless woman?"
Ignoring her insult, Orphan looked around for the heater. There it is. It was quite old fashioned, the one that used dark coal and fire.
Purple eyes shined when Coocoo's eyes came upon the potential heat source, "Is that what I think it is!? Oh my golly it is what I think it is!" she excitedly tugged Second's sleeve and jumped up and down, "It's a heater, big brother! A heater!"
"It's a miracle!" Joke ran towards the heater and knelt in front of the machine, "This is a blessing sent by the holy chunks of gooey chocolate up above!"
Wiping her hands on her white dress, Orphan gathered some coal that was scattered all across the floor, "Do any of you know how to start a fire?" with her teeth, Orphan ripped a part of her sleeve.
Silly raised her hand, "May I... do the honor...?" she talked so strange, as if she was speaking in slow motion, "I have matches..." she reached in her pocket to take out a box of matches.
"Wait what, you had matches the whole time and you didn't tell us?" The oldest started to complain, "Do you not remember the countless times we had almost froze to death?"
The matches were handed to Orphan, "You would've told me... to waste them when we could've... used them for times... like this..." it's true. The eldest would have told her to use the small matches one after another each winter until of them were gone.
With the ever so satisfying sound of a match stick sliding over the rough side of the box, the small flame had burst into life. Using the match, she set her sleeve on fire and threw it into the heater. In no time, the coal had started to catch on and soon the room was warm.
"This is the best thing that has ever happened to us during the winter time, thanks Orphan!" Coocoo yelled as she heated her hands above the fire.
Joke nodded as he and Silly leaned against each other's backs, "I feel as if we are not going to die this winter."
Orphan closed her eyes as she too decided to rest on the floor. The warmth was truly a relief during the cold. Suddenly, she felt a small bundle sit on her lap and lean against her chest. It was Silent.
"What a great idea, Silent!" Second said taking his place on her left, "Last time you had made the most effective of pillows, it would be quite a treat if you allow us the pleasure to sleep with you once again."
"Yay!" Coocoo yelled. Silly, Joke, Cookie, Silent, Second, and White were now sleeping on her, all were comfortable. Save for Orphan.
Of course, she noticed the brooding teenager who was still staring into the flames with anger in her eyes. Typical, but understandable, "Oldest... are you not going to sleep?" Orphan asked, but there was no answer, "If you're not, why don't we talk?" from the corner of her eye, she saw Second's eye peek out from his sleep.
Oldest hugged her knees and looking in her direction, "What's there to talk about?"
"Well... how do you guys usually spend your time?"
She looked up in wonder, "Oh... well during the spring we pick the fruits from the trees once they've bloomed." Oldest licked her lips, and Orphan could tell that she was starving.
"What about in summer and autumn?" Orphan let the questions continue to flow, for the tension in the air to disappear.
"In summer we would go into the village to employ in small jobs for us to earn money... the fruits would have already been picked by other people by then, and so we would need to buy our food. During autumn, we would gather as much food as possible so we would not starve."
"Have you ran out of food?"
"Yeah..." the eldest said in a whisper, "We have..."
That did not sound like good news, not at all, "I see..." that was all she could respond.
The second, who was eavesdropping on the entire conversation, stretched and faked a yawn, "Why don't we all just hibernate until the winter ends and spring arrives?"
Orphan was a bit awkward with all these children sleeping around her, and perhaps she would not be able to sleep. Nonetheless, she agreed with his request. It was not long until she had started to feel woozy and her eyelids heavy, with those feelings she started to succumb back into reality.
When she had woke up under the fluffy covers of her blanket, she felt as if she had not slept a wink, "Ow..." although her bed was one of the most expensive, it was not the right one for her. Perhaps she should arrange a refund.
She felt her stomach rumble signaling that she had not eaten, not for a day or so, "I'm hungry..." living alone, she had gotten used to the fact that talking to herself helped her stay on the rate of being a sane person.
Orphan brewed herself a cup of coffee and looked at her clock that hung above her TV, she had b, and she had slept almost the whole morning. It was almost lunch time, nearing the afternoon. With her coffee done in a jiffy, she went to her living room to sit on her black leather sofa and turned on the TV.
There was nothing interesting going on other than a weather report saying that the storm would end after a few more hours, it too was snowing in her dream. She wondered if she would continue to sleep inside the dreams with children she had just met.
Even though she had drank coffee her body had already grown immune to its effects, and she still felt sleepy and tired. Sleeping in her room did nothing to get rid of her fatigue. She turned off the television and lied down on her sofa, figuring that the furniture would be better to sleep on.
Orphan woke up the second her clock had ticked to 3PM, and stood up to go into the shower. After that, she ate a vegetable salad that had probably been in her fridge for almost four days, got dressed, and decided to go for a drive.
Her job gave her more than enough money to support herself, but the company that she worked for was not well known. It was only a small technology company that focused on the use of house hold materials, the kind that required passwords and detection. Even though she had been through it a long time ago, the bombardment of paperwork still made her feel exhausted.
Driving through the snow covered roads she stared blankly in front of her, contemplating life. Surprisingly, she caught a glimpse of a boy with blonde hair and green eyes and slammed on her breaks causing gravity to pull her forward.
The cars behind her honked and beeped in annoyance as she searched frantically for the same boy, "W-where...?!" she parked her car to the nearest place and went out, black fur coat and all.
She ran around the streets trying to catch at least one look at the same boy, but there was nothing but small shops that sold fruit and alleyways. She kept running and thought of herself as insane for looking for a boy that she met in her dreams.
Collapsing on her legging covered knees she panted on the sidewalk, listening to people whisper, "Are you okay, Miss?" said a young child's voice.
Looking up hopefully she expected to see White's innocent face, but was met with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, "Y-yes... I'm fine..." she stood up and dusted her coat, "There's nothing to w-worry about... I thought you were someone else..." the boy didn't look like he was with anyone, "How old are you?"
"I'm ten years old..." he turned and went inside a random alleyway, "I'm going to go home now, bye bye."
The business woman felt ridiculous for running out her car in search for a figment of her imagination, and assuming that a boy two times his age would be White. She went back to her car and resumed her driving, freezing. Perhaps a small drop into her office would do her some good.
Her creativity was insane, she thought, or perhaps it was just her that was insane. She wouldn't be surprised if she was. She chuckled to herself, many times had she thought of killing herself yet why was she still alive?
Her thoughts returned to the ten year old boy, his clothes were torn and he did not wear any shoes. Where were his parent's? He should be properly taken care of. He reminded her of the children in her dreams. Why did he head into an alleyway speaking as if that was the way to his home? Maybe he was a street boy with no shelter.
When she arrived in her workplace, she went inside her boss's office. It was not a surprise to see him still working. Orphan came up to him and said, "Hello sir, what do you want to do today?"
His eyes looked up from his papers, "Miss Secretary... was not today your day off?" he looked into his computer's bright screen, awaiting her answer.
Orphan looked around and realized that his place was a mess of papers and empty plastic bottles, she started to clean up, "Yes it is, Sir. Being at my home alone is not what I would call a day off, and so I've decided to continue working."
He did not answer, and instead continued to scan the dozens of papers that littered his desk. Her boss was not the type to speak often. As his secretary it was her job to organize, and although tidying up was not exactly what she was supposed to do it was still a form of organizing.
Right next to his desk was another one just for her. Orphan took her place and sat down, looking through her emails and her employer's documents. Her time was spent this way; sitting on her desk in silence as she worked. It was always like this.
Until she decided to break the silence, "Sir, may I recommend a branch project? Besides... household appliances."
He paused whatever he had been doing to take off his glasses and clean them, "What branch project do you have in mind?" his voice was thick like velvet.
Orphan stood up from her desk to take the papers that he had finished reading, "Perhaps you would be interested in starting the build of various orphanages around the city... although maybe you would not consider this as a true project." as his secretary she had to do some research in his backstory, and found out that he too was an orphan such as herself.
This had sparked a reaction from her boss, since he had placed his spectacles on his desk to look straight into her eyes, "What made you suddenly think of this idea?" he did not object the second he had heard of it, that was a good sign.
The documents were neatly placed inside folders, all marked with labels, "Sir, I had been taking a drive around the city, and realized that there were more children in the streets than there were books in a library..." it was not a lie. It was not a secret that there were a dozen of orphans.
He nodded, not asking any more questions, "I see..." his chair made a small sound from when he left it to stand, "Secretary, check my emails to see if I have any business meetings and if I do have any of them I want you to reject them all."
Quickly, Orphan retrieved his jacket, "Here you go, sir." he slipped his arms inside the sleeves and began to walk out the door, "Goodnight sir."
"Goodnight."
After staying a little bit longer inside his office to reject all of the meetings, Orphan looked at her watch to see that it was almost midnight. Taking her own coat, she decided that she had been working enough.
When she returned to her home she ate a small bit of the left over vegetable salad for dinner, and went to bed after throwing her files on the floor, "Time to sleep." it did not take long for her to go back into her vivid dreams.
She woke up in the same room with the same heater, but this time it was not burning with flames. The other difference was that none of the children that covered her was no there, where did they go? Not even White was there to greet her. Orphan looked out the broken glass window of the large cottage to see that it was night time, probably the same time she went to bed.
Orphan left the room and silently walked through the halls in curiosity. The children in her dream might not exist anymore since dreams were over all unpredictable, she did not understand why she felt a tinge of sadness as if she was afraid of the thought.
She arrived in the room that she was once held in when she was younger. Unlike the hard stone floor and wallpaper walls, she saw the same thing she woke up to when she had come into this orphanage; a straw bed and the same wood you would see everywhere around the counterfeit orphanage.
Placing herself on the bed, she lied down. It was only a few minutes of resting until she felt something rough under her move, "What..." and then she was pushed onto the floor, tumbling around the cold, "Ow!"
"You should really look before you sleep on something..." said the voice of a boy, "You could kill somebody, or is that your goal?" it was Joke.
She rubbed her back which, was the first one that reached the ground, "Oh, sorry Joke. I didn't mean to lie down on you." she sat on the floor watching Joke peak out from underneath the pile of straw.
"Don't worry, Orphan. I'm just the finest cushion the world has ever known, the kind that anyone would love to sit on!" he shook with laughter in his place on the makeshift bed, "I love it when I say something funny! Don't take it seriously though, I don't wanna be sat on."
Orphan giggled and sat on the bed right beside Joke, "Why are you in here?" she asked.
He popped out from under the straw bed and pointed at himself, "Me? Ever wondered why the cat died? It's because it was so curious! Haha!" again his streams of laughter echoed through the small room, "I love myself... ha... ah ha... ha... ha... I'm so funny... I was just told to guard you, that's all."
ns 15.158.61.21da2
