Someone I don't know sent me a bit of a story and here it is:
The rain was pouring down outside. Lightning struck every few seconds and thunder pounded on their ears. As the rain patted against the window, the brother and sister watched for a car. The one that would take them to safety.
They were in the house alone, just the two of them. Their parents had been taken away earlier that morning. The kids were not sure if they would ever see them again. They were shaken up and scared.
"Ali, its getting cold." the brother looked down to his ten year old sister who was starting to shake, "you still have a leaf in your hair." he smiled and wrapped a blanket around his sister.
"Jason, where is mom and dad?" the little looked up to her brother with her big brown eyes.
"It doesn’t matter, they didn't love us anyway." Jason's smile diapered as he thought about his drunken parents.
Between sniffles Ali said, "They did too, Just not like other parents..." her voice trailed off as she realized that her brother was right.
"Ali, enough." he put his hands on her shoulders and took her to a very large chair and made her sit down.
Ali kicked her feet, back and forth, in and out. Her long dress swished with the motion. Ali kept kicking until she got too tired and just sat there waiting for sleep.
* * *
Ali was shaken awake by a large hand. The hand shook harder and harder until her eyes started to flutter open.
"Ali...Ali, wake up." it was the voice of a male, "time to go." The hand stopped shaking and Ali could feel the hand pull the blanket off her lap.
She opened her eyes and saw a large man with a curly beard and brown hair. He had a frown on his face as he folded up the blanket.
Ali looked around the room. Everything was pretty much the same except that now the front door was wide open. In the door way Jason and a lady stood. The lady must be Dolly, from the orphanage agency. The man must be George, her assistant. They were talking in a low voice.
The man was walking towards Dolly and Jason; the man must be George, her assistant. He nodded to her and headed out the door. Why did he do that? Is there something wrong? Jason looked at Dolly with a strange, confused, look on his face; he then walked over to a desk that sat in the corner.
The lady looked up with a grim look upon her face. She studied Ali for a minuet, and then said, "Come here ." Without even, making sure that Ali followed, she turned and walked out the door.
Ali rose from the chair and hurried toward her brother who sat waiting for her at the door. He smiled as she trotted towards him.
"Ready for a new home?" he asked her as they stepped outside.
The rain had stopped but everything was dripping wet. Puddles in the road stretched from one end of the road to the other side. Near the side walk sat a green 2 door car.
“Well hurry it up." Dolly yelled to them.
They stepped slowly off the porch, careful not to step in the puddles. Ali held her brother’s hand tightly, not wanting to let go.
“Wait,” Jason stopped at the bottom of the stairs, “We will stay together right? I won’t leave her.” Jason glared at the lady.
“Sure, sure, now get into the car.” George opened the door and pushed the seat forward to signal that they should get in.
Ali could tell he was unsure about that answer. He looked back at the small house. The very house where their nightmares became reality. The place where his parents shoved him and Ali aside and ignored their tears because they were drunk. Then he glanced at the tree he and his sister had slept in many nights because of them.
If he believed them or not he still had no choice; he had to go with them. Jason took a step hesitant forward toward the car. He squeezed Ali’s hand as if to make sure she was still beside him.
Jason nudged Ali closer to the car. Slowly he slipped his hand out of her grasp. He left a piece of paper in her hand as his fingers were leaving he hand. He nudged her again closer to the car.
Ali was confused by his actions. She looked over at her brother, but he pushed her on. She could tell in his eyes that that paper was important and that it should be saved for later.
Slowly Ali climbed into the car, Jason not to far behind. George and Dolly were already in the car, buckled and everything. Dolly starred back at them threw the mirror.
“Oh, do hurry up!” Dolly screeched from the passenger seat.
Jason climbed all the way in and shut the door with a click. He reached up for the seatbelt.
“Could you buckle up?” Gorge said sarcastically as he started the car.
“Getting to that!” Jason rolled his eyes at the back of George’s head.
Ali was already buckled up. As soon as Jason was all strapped in as well, she grabbed his hand and held on tight. She looked up at him, searching for an emotion. No emotions were in his blue eyes. Ali looked away.
The car was silent for 15 minuets as they drove down the dirt roads. They all just stared out their windows, as if they where searching for something more. Ali never let go of Jason’s hand no matter how sweaty it got. He gave her the comfort she needed to stay sane.
Ali was very fidgety. She kept playing with her seat belt. She was uncomfortable with the silence and she had something on her mind. That much was noticeable.
“Where are mom and dad?” Ali said threw the silence.
“Your parents, hmm, I believe they went to court.” Dolly said without the least bit of care at all, “Now we don’t know anything at all about you kids and you past, do tell us.” Behind those words you could hear that she really didn’t care.
Dolly turned toward them slightly. She was waiting. The children were not sure if they should tell them anything at all. She coughed a little to urge them on.
“Our parents were drunks,” Jason started, “They never cared for us, we were forced to take care of them and ourselves.”
“I knew that!” Dolly rolled her eyes in disgust.
Jason continued again like she never said anything, “they would scream at us, we felt unloved.’
“That much I figured out.” Dolly was getting sick of this, “Ali what is in your hair?”
Ali reached up and felt her hair. A small oak tree leaf crinkled under her fingers. Ali pulled it out of her hair. Her eyes started to water as she looked at it.
“We, umm, had to in trees sometimes when they started throwing things, like last night.” Ali said threw sobs, “the neighbors heard them last night.” Ali’s face was red now, she almost couldn’t speak.
Jason glared at Dolly and George, “we get up with the sun when that happens and head inside. We make breakfast together and wait until they got up.
“This morning our parents didn’t come down stairs at their normal time. I was about to go look for them when the phone rang. Ali,” he looked over at his red eyed sister, “she answered the phone. They told us everything; where our parents were, and about you guys.” Jason stopped waiting for them to reply.
Dolly sighed like she was tired, “And now you are on your way to a big building together in an old stinky car.” She turned against her seat belt to look Jason in the eye, ‘Now tell me this, was there anything more that your parents did when they were drunk?”
“That,” Jason snapped at her, “is between me and my sister. You don’t need to know.”
The silence started again. No one said anything for the rest of the long trip into the city.
* * *
“Keep it down George!” Ali could hear Dolly yelling at George threw the car door. They had made it to their destination. She looked over at Jason, he was asleep.
“How are we going to get just her out? That boy won’t let her go.” George argued.
“Look,” Dolly pointed to the car and Ali shut her eyes, “they are asleep, just grab her.”
“Yes Dolly.” George turned toward the car.
He unlocked the car door closest to Ali. Ali, careful not to let him see, slid closer to her brother. George was bending down into the car and reaching for her.
Ali was so very scared. She wanted to scream her lungs out but that just didn’t seem right. She didn’t know how to save herself!
Her hand found her brothers. She rested it on top of his searching for comfort, but none came. She wanted to wake him. To maybe pinch him. Some how she thought that would just lead to more trouble.
A hand stared to wrap around her shoulders. It was pulling her out of the car. She could no longer touch her brother’s hand. What now?
“AHHH!” she screamed. Her eyes shut afraid of what might happen next. Then she turned her head toward her brother and looked at him. He needed to wake up, he just needed to!
It was too late. Dolly had put earplugs in his ears. She had seen. She must have seen Ali slide closer to her brother. There was no way that Ali’s 10 year old voice could get past the earplugs. Dolly was looking up at Ali. Her face was tight and grim.
Ali started to wiggle, she twisted and turned. Her dress had gotten caught on the door when George had pulled her out and now was being torn. The more she wiggled, the more the dress ripped and the tighter George held on. Ali gave up the squirming and tried to reach for Jason. She was too far out of the car.
George pulled her to her feet, Ali’s tears dropping to the ground. HE turned and slammed the door shut; he was agitated by Ali’s fit. The noise was loud. It was loud enough to break threw the earplugs and wake Jason. His eyes shot open, ready and alert. He stared to look around frantically looking for Ali. Of course she was not in the car. Jason looked out the window to see Dolly, George, and Ali outside. Dolly was too quick for him; she shut the door as Jason unbuckled himself.
The doors were locked up in the front. Jason crawled into the passenger seat and pulled at the lock. It would not budge.
“Safety locks. Only unlocks from this little device.” George waved the keys in front of the window, teasing Jason.
“Stop it!” Ali cried. She could not bare it. She pulled against Dolly’s strong grip.
Jason looked around. He found an umbrella on the floor ha started to bang it against the window. He made little , but none of them broke very deep.
He was trapped; he had no way of rescuing his poor sister. Jason scolded himself for falling asleep. All he could do was watch in horror as Ali was being led by both s to the big brick building before him.
The sign on the door said, ‘Brick Wall School for Orphan s.’ Ali couldn’t take her eyes off of it. It was like it was screaming the truth at her. It screamed the truth that she was an orphan and this is her horrid school and home, forever. This was one of the worst things she ever encountered. Ali peeled her eyes away from it and looked back at Jason in the car. Jason was at the window yelling and still pounding at the window, at her but she could not hear. She saw his hands were turning colors, pale white, and then red. He was bleeding. She could not understand but she did know that he loved her and that was all she needed to know.
* * *
Ali was lead into a large marble hall. The three of them were alone in the hall. Ali studied the area around her as they keep walking. Most of the walls were marble and every so often a door would be on them. This pace seemed so empty and lonely. It made Ali want to cry. Also on the wall, as an attempt to make the building more warming were pictures and paintings. Ali studied each one carefully. Some were of flowers and others of the city. Nothing was very impressive.
Foot steps. They were coming that way. Suddenly Ali was afraid, terrified. She wanted to bolt out of the room and back to her brother. Of course she new they would never let her. She kept rocking back and forth trying to calm her self. It did not work.
A tall, skinny lady appeared. She looked like a witch with her large nose and a zit on it. She wore a long ugly purple dress that reached the floor. She looked like she was in her sixty’s maybe older. Just like Dolly this lady had no emotion.
“Hello, Ali is it?” The lady looked down her long nose at Ali.
“Yes, I’m Ali.” That was all she could spit out. Ali wanted to run more than ever now. She wanted deeply to push all of them out of her way and flee.
The Lady looked over Ali as if seeing if she was good enough. She actually walked all the way around her, slowly. Then, when she returned to her front she studied her face a little closer.
“You are ten?” she didn’t wait for an answer. “I am Headmistress Nessle. You will not refer to me anything but that.”
Ali nodded her head. Her mind was struggling to concentrate. Out of the corner of her eye she watched George whispering to Dolly and Dolly getting upset about whatever it was they were talking about.
“How could he escape?” Dolly was whispering quite loud, loud enough for Ali and Mrs. Nessle to hear.
“Is there a problem?” Headmistress Nessle questioned.
Jason. Ali took off for the door. She shoved past Dolly and George. She shoved the door open and ran down the stairs to the car.
“Yes…” Ali whispered, “He is safe.”
The door of the car was wide open. On the pavement was ragged ripped up umbrella. He pried the door open and climbed out. HE had been very intelligent but not very strong, but he did it, he escaped. That was all Ail was concerned about at that moment.
“Ali we have much to cover. So get in here!” Headmistress Nessle called form inside.
“Don’t worry we’ll find him.” Dolly lied. Ali shot her a mean look as she climbed the steps to the school.
“Yeah, right.” Ali grumbled.
“Now she closed the door shutting Gorge and Dolly out, “You are in room 507 on the 5th floor. Take the stairs” She pointed to the large marble stairs to their right.
“Change into the clothes in the closet,” She continued, “Dinner is in 10 minutes. You must be on time.” She looked down at Ali as if waiting for something.
Ali turned and headed toward the stairs. She didn’t look back even though she could feel Headmistress Nessle’s staring at her. She walked on as if she had been here many times before.
The large stair case climbed up and up, never seeming to stop. They were beautiful, but when she reached the bottom of the second floor stairway they turned to wood. They were strong but just not as pretty. At the bottom of the third floor, Ali was tiered and as she looked at the stairs she wondered if it was safe.
She took one step up and the wooded creaked loudly and she immediately stepped back. Ali looked around for help but no one was around. She looked up at the stairs and sighed. She stretched her leg out far and skipped the first step. The second step was not as creaky and it felt safe. By the time she got to the 5th floor she was quite scared of the stairs and she only had 4 minuets till dinner.
She walked down the hall a ways till she found her room; 507. She looked at the front of the door; it had a gold plaque like she saw on the other doors that read the room number. Ali twisted the door handle and shoved her shoulder against the door, it opened smoothly.
The room before her was simple. It had three beds; a larger one and a bunk- bed against the wall next to her. Against the far wall with the large bed was a wardrobe, and the closet was also next to her on the opposite wall. The bunk-bed had sheets on them and a pile of dirty clothes. The large bed had a blanket on it also but that one had nothing on it.
Great I have a messy roommate. Ali thought as she walked over to the large bed; her bed.
The room seemed very old and empty. Not like a home at all, Ail didn’t like it. It was very big compared to her old room at home. She sat down on the bed and found that it was very stiff and the blanket was ruff.
Ali looked into her hand. She still clutched the note Jason had gave her. She lifted it up. It was crushed not but it was still in one piece. It wasn’t anything special, just a regular piece of paper. Ali started to unfold it but stopped, she couldn’t do it, not now.
A loud voice came over the intercom, “Attention, dinner in 3 minuets.”
