Chapter One: Alone

I was alone again. Naturally. What had I expected? The previous years had shown an inevitable pattern of such rejections, and I had learned to trust my instincts. The people had been kind, but it was a detached sort of kindness, as one expected another to show for a child that was not their own. They had, in fact, given me everything I needed and much more, but I could see it in their eyes, the way they regarded me as something to be treated as foreign, kept at a distance. It was their eyes that gave them away. From the first moments of my life with them, I knew that I wasn’t wanted. It was only a matter of time before they shut me out.

Well, what’s past is past. After so many years, I learned to live with it. To forget the past. To move on. I was always on the move. I knew that they would come after me and find me again, but I had already learned the ways of the street and how to survive.

As I cowered in an alley, straining my ears for the sound of footsteps and sirens, I heard a different sound. A new sound. I had heard the whistle of the wind in treetops, the chirp of crickets in the grass, the pounding of feet in the snow and the sounds of the street. This was different. I hurriedly scanned the alley, trying to locate the sound.

The alley was dark and full of empty bottles and trash. As I looked through everything, keeping a keen eye out for anything useful, I also looked for the source of the strange sound. Finally, I found her.

She huddled in the back corner of the alley and looked up sharply as I crept silently forward. She sniffled, and I realized that the sound I had heard, was crying. She glared at me and then looked away. I looked at her curiously. I’d never cried before but I had seen little children doing it and I wondered why. What kind of release did they find? Was it a way of escape? I found it much better and easier to look at the situation and assess it logically, rather than escaping from reality.

This world had taught me to be cruel, and it was hard to feel love for it now. Yet, I felt a stirring in my cold heart at the sight of this girl, alone, and crying. I knew I would gain nothing by helping her but I couldn’t just leave her here to be hurt even more or worse, to face death by starvation. Maybe she would be helpful, I hoped.

Cautiously, I approached her and sat down beside her. She stared at me and stopped sobbing. I realized that it had probably been a long time since anyone had shown her kindness or given her any attention. Her hair was cut short but tangled. Her wild green eyes made her look piercing and a little dangerous. Her clothes were black and used but not very dirty. She looked like she was starving though, but I knew how to get food.

‘C’mon, let’s find some food,’ I said as I stood up, not looking back to see if she was following.