Chapter Two
By Melody A. Flores
My hands were sticky as I shaped a miniature house from mud. It was 3:40 P.M.; classes were over and I was playing with Gabriel outside. After class, we were allowed to either go play in the lot behind the orphanage that had a small ‘playground,’ which really was just some swings and an old rusted slide, or we could stay inside the orphanage’s library - an old dusty room with some used books.
“Hey, could you pass me some sticks?” Gabriel asked me, pointing to the small pile of twigs beside me.
“Sure,” I gave him a handful. Gabriel was carefully leaning twigs on each other for a roof on top of a small square of mud that resembled a house.
“Hello boys, is everything okay here?”
We both looked up. It was Mr. Fennek, the supervisor of the children who decided to go outside after class. He would just walk around the fenced lot, making sure kids weren’t causing trouble or picking fights.
“We're good!” Gabriel smiled.
“Alright.” He said in his usual dry manner, walking over to a couple of kids that were yelling at each other. Mr. Fennek didn’t really pay much attention to the kids unless we were causing mischief. I couldn’t help but wonder if Mr. Fennek would even notice that we weren’t there when Gabriel and I got adopted.
Ms. Lauren and Mr. Grace's conversation had been repeating in my mind over and over ever since I had woken up. I debated if I should tell Gabriel or not. I didn’t want to worry him ahead of time, but I knew he would be just as upset as me when he learned about our soon-to-be separation.
Just thinking about it put a knot the size of a soccer ball in my stomach.
The only way we could stay together was if a family wanted both me and Gabriel, but chances of someone wanting both of us before Monday were slim.
Why, oh, why couldn't we have been put in an orphanage that took kids until they were eighteen?!
I wished that we weren’t in any orphanage at all!
Then, inspiration struck me like a hard-packed snowball to the face.
We didn’t have to be in an orphanage if we didn’t want to..!
“Hey!” Gabriel yelped as I grabbed his arm and pulled him into some bushes where Mr. Fennek couldn’t see us.
“Quiet!” I hissed into his ear.
“What's wrong? Why'd you drag me here?” Gabriel asked once we were safely hidden in-between the bushes.
I took a deep breath.
“So, Gabriel, you know how I’m going to turn fourteen in two months?” I said.
“Yeah?”
“Well, this orphanage only takes care of kids until they turn fourteen. Then, they send them to Scottsbluff,” I held my breath.
“What!? How do you know!?” Gabriel asked, eyes wide.
“Well, do you see any kids older than thirteen here?"
"Well, no," Gabriel admitted. "But how do you know that they send them to Scottsbluff?"
"Last night, I sneaked out of the room and I accidentally overheard a conversation between Ms. Lauren and Mr. Grace-”
“You broke the rules?” Gabriel gave me a disapproving look.
“Yes! That isn’t the point though! The orphanage is going to separate you and me into different families!” I rushed on.
The air was suddenly thick with silent devastation.
“What?” Gabriel gasped.
“They’re going to separate us!” I repeated. “But it’s going to be okay though. Tonight, we’re going to run away.”
“Run away?!” Gabriel blurted loud enough for the whole orphanage to hear. Luckily, there seemed to be some sort of riot outside between enemy kickball teams. It was loud enough to drown out Gabriel’s shout. Still, though, I covered his mouth with my hands.
Realizing my hands still had mud on them, I put them down.
“Sorry.”
“Yuck. It’s okay,” Gabriel said, wiping the mud off his cheeks with the back of his hand.
“Still though, run away?! You’re crazy!” Gabriel’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Look, Gabriel, it’s either that or being separated and probably seeing each other only once or twice a year,” I gave him a pleading look.
Gabriel hesitated.
I honestly couldn't blame him though. He had just been hit with a truckload of news, and then been asked to run away from the only home he had known for years.
After a long pause, he finally spoke. “Fine…I guess I'll have to trust you on this.” He gave in.
I grinned.
“But only because I don’t want to live in a family without you!” He said, grinning wearily.
A few moments of silence passed.
“Should I pack to run away?” Gabriel asked. He always wanted to be prepared for everything.
“Yup! Do you still have that napsack that you brought when we got put in this orphanage?” I asked him, referring to a knapsack that had contained clothes and some other small things that Gabriel had brought from our old home to the orphanage.
“Of course!” Gabriel said, looking at me like he could hardly believe that I had even thought for a minute that he might have thrown it away. After all, it was one of the last things we had from our life before our parent’s accident.
“Good. I have my knapsack, too. Pack it with your clothes and whatever else you want to take with you. I’ll do the same,” I instructed.
“Alright,” Gabriel agreed.
“Be sure to pack a jacket too,” I added, remembering that winter nights - and sometimes even days - were pretty cold.
Then, we crawled out of the bushes. Mr. Fennek was already rounding up kids so that we could head into the orphanage. In the winter, the kids that had chosen to play outside had to be inside the orphanage by 4:00. The days were very short this time of year.
As soon as I was inside the orphanage, I ran to the thirteen-year-old’s room, locked the door, and got my knapsack from under my designated bed. I stuffed my knapsack with my clothes from the giant wardrobe that housed all of the thirteen-year-old’s clothes.
Knock knock
Someone was rapping on the door.
I quickly slid the knapsack under my bed and went to open it. It was Michael, one of the kids who slept here.
“Why was the door locked?” He said curiously as soon as I opened the door.
“Um, I guess I just locked it by mistake,” I lied as I moved aside to let him in.
He asked no more questions and left as soon as he got what he wanted.
I sighed with relief.
Going to my bed and taking out my knapsack once more, I made sure I had all the clothes I needed.
After double-checking that all my things were in order and hiding the pack under my bed once more, I walked down the hallway to the eight-year-old’s room to check on Gabriel. He had his knapsack out, and a pile of clothes on his bed.
“Oh! Hey, Josiah!” He smiled up at me when I entered the room. “I forgot to ask you outside, what time are we going to leave?” He asked nonchalantly, as if planning to run away from an orphanage happened every day.
I thought for a moment.
“At midnight,” I answered decidedly. There wasn't a particular reason for us to leave at midnight, it just sounded like a good time to leave.
“Okay,” Gabriel turned back to his knapsack.
“See you soon,” I said, leaving the room, looking both ways in the hallway to make sure nobody had heard us.
I went back to the thirteen-year-old’s room and sat down on my bed.
I smiled.
Everything was ready.