Young Writers Society

Lydia

Lydia Newman was not known for being shocked or having trouble processing things that occurred but this time things where different. This was like nothing she had ever seen in her life.
When Ollie's words finally processed she replied, "I-It was Raven. She went into a coma or shock or something, and her eyes where glazed white! Then, when Nero came into sight she started shrieking all kids of stuff and she pulled skeletons out of the ground." Lydia shivered, suddenly and strangely getting cold, "Then she used some sort of invisible force and she choked Nero. Then María stood up for him and she choked her also. Then...then Miss Willow stopped her before she could choke all of us."

Ollie
"Oh, lassie, that sounds terrifying," she replied, "But you have to take pity on her. Even if she was being, ah, difficult." Lydia looked up at Ollie.

"Why take pity on that creepy girl?" Ollie smiled and put a hand to the girl's forehead.

"Because Raven is the reason this place exists," she said, "Now go to sleep, dearie. You'll need it."

Lydia

She gasped and wondered how Ollie supposed she would fall asleep with a cliff hanger like that. But...prehaps she understood.

"So...do you mean to say that Miss Willow found Raven and took pity on her? So she created this orphanage for other kids like Raven." She paused, calculated, and resumed, "Raven would quite possibly have been the first peculiar child Miss Willow has met because Miss Willow can go between decades and Raven can, well, raise form the dead."

She looked at at Ollie with curiosity, "Is this true?"

Ollie
Ollie smiled and nodded.

"Indeed lassie. Raven inspired Miss Willow to make this place for peculiar children."

Nero Sapienti:

When he awoke, something was wrapped around him. He didn't open his eyes. His body was on high alert, and he had learned it was wise to listen in on what was going on before showing he had awoken. He tried to remember what could have gotten him into this situation.

As his mind became more clear, the memories came flooding back. The orphanage...Miss Willow...Lydia...María...I slapped a kid...She-she started to somehow strangle me...She must be insane...I must be insane too. Or dead. I probably died of suffocation...But being dead feels strangely alive...Heh, that's funny-God, I really must be insane... Before his vision had gone black, he had remembered hearing someone cry out. But who? Who would care enough for him to try and stop the creepy little girl when she was incredibly powerful?

Someone was speaking. Keeping his eyes closed, he listened in.

"Is this true?" Lydia's voice. What was she asking about?

"Indeed, lassie. Raven inspired Miss Willow to make this place for peculiar children." Another girl. This one had a heavy Scottish accent that put his British one to shame. He hadn't heard the term "peculiar children" before. Was that just a nice way of saying this place was for monsters like him? And if they were talking about the orphanage...

He opened his eyes upon realizing he was very much alive. He glanced down at the thing wrapped around him. Thick, green vines prevented him from moving. He struggled, but it was to no avail.

He glanced around the room. Lydia and a girl with curly brown hair were sitting on what appeared to be a bed. His gaze turned to his left. And there, trapped in vines just like him, was María.

His mind flashed back to the point when he had gone unconscious. STOP! Please put him down! The voice that had cried out had been hers. But why? Why would she do something as stupid as that? He didn't understand why someone would care about him that much, especially since they barely knew each other.

They were most likely trapped because of how they had acted towards Raven. After all, she seemed to be Miss Willow's favorite. "María," he whispered, trying to not draw attention to himself. "Wake up, María."

Her dark brown eyes slowly opened.

María

María thought she heard Nero whisper her name, but she didn't respond. She shut her eyes again and turned her head away. It couldn't be possible. Surely both of them were dead.

But . . . they weren't?

Gracias, Señor. Pero . . . ¿por que?

She had thought that she could do something good for once, something impactful, for someone who was like her. Someone who had actually cared to notice. María was a complete failure.

She could feel tears gathering behind her eyes. Even though she was weak, her mind knew what her heart wanted.

Though she wasn't strong enough to do it completely, she faded . . . again.

All she was good at was running away from her problems.

Lydia

"Oh." Was all Lydia could muster as a reply to Ollie. She was tired, weak and in shock. Somehow, she had pieced together Miss Willow and Raven's past but that had drained all of her mind power and she sunk to the floor, closing her eyes and falling into a deep, dark sleep which included screaming Raven and the two new kids almost getting killed.

After an hour or two, Lydia woke up screaming. Her dream had been so realistic. She had been in the clutches of Raven and the scary girl had sent her skeletons oppon Lydia to tear her alive, until she was only bone like them.

When Lydia realized that it had been a dream, she stopped screaming and thrashing. She looked around to find Nero bent over María who seemed to be unconscious but Lydia couldn't see her face.

Either way, she was embarrassed.

Ollie
"Awake!" Ollie turned back to her patients and smiled kindly.

"How are ye doin, dearies?"

Ollie
Ollie saw that they were trying to get free of her vines.

"Dearies, no," she said, "The vins ain't trappin ye. They are helping you heal. I am takin some of my own energy and givin it to ye. Don't fight. I'll take care of ye." The boy looked up at Ollie, his eyes defensive.

"Are you going to threaten me too?" he asked snidely. Ollie shook her head.

"No, dearie," she said, "I'm a tryin to heal ye." She took his hand and his fingers were surprisingly cold. She smiled, closed her eyes, and began to chant.

"Eisdibh rium spioradan air an talamh . Heal seo a h-uile balach agus a caithream."

Lydia

She looked at Ollie and decided that she trusted this person. She had seemed caring and trusting before Lydia had fallen asleep and she also seemed like a nice person. So why not trust her?

"Okay Ollie." She said calmly. She hoped that the other two would trust Ollie. María probably would but there wasn't a good change

Ollie
Ollie looked Lydia. The little one was young and she had lots of life to live. Ollie smiled sadly.

"Hello Ollie," said a voice from behind her. Ollie turned to find Raven standing behind her.

"Hello Raven," she said, "How are you feeling?"

"Terrible," she said sadly, "I ruin everything." Ollie took the little girl by the shoulders and looked into her dark eyes.

"You don't ruin everything, lassie," said Ollie, "People just son't understand you. You need to work on your pride. This is what has brought you down." Raven shut her eyes and bowed her head.

"You don't understand, Ollie," she said, "Everywhere I go, people treat me like death. I'm just bad at making friends." Ollie smiled and led the girl next to where the boy was laying.

"Now relax, dearie," she said, "I will clear all of the dark thoughts and pain." Vines began to wrap around Raven and she closed her eyes. To Ollie, the girl looked almost... angelic. All of the trouble disappeared from her face and she began to look like a normal little girl. Color began to come back to her face and arms. Raven's face lightened and she smiled. For the first time ever since Ollie could remember meeting the girl, she smiled.

Nero Sapienti:

He felt horrible.

More horrible than when his mother called him a monster. More horrible than when he stole from a store the first time. More horrible than when he first pretended to be an orphan.

He had overheard the vine girl (Ollie) and the little girl (Raven) talking. And as the conversation progressed, the guilt grew and grew. There was no doubt - Raven and him were more similar than he had thought before. Though she hadn't used the exact words, she believed she was a monster.

One who could never have a friend.

One who could never have someone to spill their secrets.

One who could never have someone who would gladly offer their shoulder to cry into.

"I'm good now," he told Ollie. With a nod to acknowledge his statement, the vines returned into the ground.

His feet felt as heavy as lead as he made his way over to Raven. The two stared at each other, guilt clawing at his heart as he did so. He didn't look away from her black eyes when he spoke.

"Nero," he awkwardly started. How was someone supposed to apologize? "That's my name. Not shapeshifter. I'm Nero Sapienti." He shuffled his feet, shoved his hands into his pockets. "I don't know how to act around other people. Only last year did I run away, and that's the thing with running away - you don't interact with people, or they'll send you back to where you came from."

He offered her a weak smile. "Pretty pathetic excuse, I know...I shouldn't have gotten angry at you. I've never had someone close to me like your parents were to you, so I thought it was stupid...But it's not. I mean, I might not get scared of women who look like my mother, but I'm terrified of being in small spaces. So if you want to scream at me every time you see my face, I get that. And if you want to strangle me because I'm a horrible person that hits little kids when angry, I guess I can get that too."

He stared down at the floor. "...So I'm sorry for everything I said."

Raven
Raven looked into the shape- no Nero's eyes and felt her heart soften for him. She began to smile, then cry. She was shaking and her dark heart began to lift. It was the first time in a long time she had a brother like figure. She sat up, the vines letting go of her. Raven ran over to Nero and hugged him. Hugged him like a brother.

Ollie
Ollie smiled as the two hugged each other.

"Now, that's what I'm talkin about," she said, "Ye see, I don't just heal physical wounds. I can hear emotional wounds as well." She went over to Nero and touched his shoulder.

"I can feel that ye have a lot of pent up emotions. Come to me, please. At least once a week if not more. I can help ye."

María

María listened to Nero and Raven reconcile, and she smiled, since her face was turned away. She was happy for them, truly. She saw at least a little bit of herself in both of them, even Raven. But she wondered what it was that could make two people who had hated each other before just suddenly become so friendly.

She wished she knew the secret. If that was all it took for them to make up, then her attempted mediation was utterly pointless.

Embarrassed, upset, miserable, sad. María was unhelpful. ¡Tonta! ¡Soy la chica más tonta del mundo!

María could feel her strength returning, but she closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep again.

She couldn't bear the thought of facing anyone at the moment. Maybe everyone would leave her alone, at least for a little, until she collected herself and did her best to pretend to be fine.

She hoped that none of them could read minds or that girl named Ollie didn't try to sense her emotion.