It wasn't uncommon for someone to come in to ask for a baby to adopt. It wasn't uncommon for younger children to be adopted either. But once you hit 13 years old, your chances go out the window, possibly for good.
Unfortunately, my chances were thrown out the window a few years ago. I only have 3 years left in the system before they decide to kick me out for good.
I looked out the window in my room for a split second before I shut the blinds. The yard below was filled with hopeful children waiting to be adopted. Meanwhile I, along with 3 other teenagers, was stuck up here. Mrs. Bitch, as we called her, kept us up here so that there would be no way anyone could adopt her slaves. We had never been allowed to leave the orphanage. We had chains on our ankles unless we were cleaning. We were barely fed. We had nothing but the clothes we got from Mrs. Bitch and ourselves to keep warm.
It still wasn't as bad as where I was before I came here a few months ago, but it's getting to be that way.
I turned around to face the other teenagers. Theresa, John, and Seth all looked at me with fearful eyes.
"We're going to try and get out soon. I promise," I said, "If we don't make it, or if Mrs. Bitch doesn't get reported, I'll take the blame." I was tired of being here, I was tired of watching the other teenagers suffer with me.
"But Mari-!" John spoke, standing up. John and I are best friends. We are the same age and look nearly the same. If both of us hadn't known our parents, we would have said that we were siblings. And, I'll admit, I had a little bit of a crush on him.
"Stop John, don't you want to get out of here?" I mumbled as he came over and took my hands. My stomach fluttered a bit, and I thought I was going to be sick.
He looked at me with hurt eyes and nodded. We were the oldest here. Theresa and Seth had just aged up, and it wasn't uncommon for the growling stomachs to be theirs. Unfortunately, they were punished every time Mrs. Bitch heard it. I had learned before I came here to do that.
"Then let me do this. When we hear her bring the first guest through, we have to start screaming and pounding on the walls. Got it?" It didn't take me more than a second to cross the room since we lived in a really tiny room. Most of the younger children don't even know we're here. But I was tired of it. "What day is it?"
"Monday," Theresa spoke up. She was a young Nigerian girl, her parents had adopted her straight from Africa and tried to use her as a slave. Once the police found out they arrested them and brought her here. What a cruel twist of fate for her. She was tiny, with brown hair that didn't want to sit still.
"Alright. Just have to wait another four days," I whispered. Friday was Adoption Day.
Today was the day.
Luckily, Mrs. Bitch still hadn't found out about our plan. But we were all exhausted; she had us clean the entire house all night. The good news, the place was spotless.
Seth and Theresa were asleep in the corner, the younger of them tugging desperately at the chains in her sleep. John and I sat on the floor, counting down the minutes on our shared alarm clock.
"What's gonna happen if we make it out?" John asked.
I continued to look at the sleeping pair, "I don't know. We'll be sent to a different orphanage, that's for damn sure," I said.
"You're right... Mari, there's been something I've been meaning to tell you..." John sounded extremely nervous.
"What is it?" I finally looked at him, only to find that he had tears in his eyes. I blanked for a second, unsure of what to do.
"I.. uh... I really like you," He whispered, "but I know you wouldn't want a freak like me."
I scoffed, "Honey, have you met me? I'm the queen of freaks!" I giggled, looking at him. He stayed quiet, not meeting my eyes. "There's something else, isn't there?"
John nodded.
"I'm scared," He finally whispered.
"I am too," I sighed, taking his hand in mine.
It was a petty romance. It was sure to be broken. We had met in torment, we would move on in torment. That's how life works. You meet someone, you think they're the one, you break up, you move on. And it sucks ass.
The sun reflected in the window suddenly shone in my eye. I covered it, groaning, and looked at the clock.
11:58 AM.
Two minutes until adoption day started. I stood up, stretching for a mere second, before moving to wake Seth and Theresa up. It didn't take much effort. They bolted up, Theresa gasping and Seth looking around frantically.
"Two minutes guys," I whispered. Mrs. Bitch was sure to be downstairs, getting the younger ones ready to go home. She hated working here. It showed in the way she treated us.
The four of us looked at each other, hearts pounding. It was an odd feeling. Your stomach feels like its churning over itself more times than a washer or dryer. Your legs quake, sometimes your heart beats hard enough that it vibrated your clothing with each beat. Your ears feel like they are flushing between hot and cold, and your face feels empty. I gripped John's hand. If we screwed this up, we were sure to die. Luckily for us, there were four of us and one of her. We could have easily brought her down if she had fed us properly. As soon as I heard the girls shouting their hello's, I immediately dropped to start trying to get the chains off of myself.
"What are you doing?!" John whispered, kneeling next to me.
"If we get the chains undone, we can run faster!" I whispered. Theresa and Seth dropped and all four of us got to work.
Because the chains rusted at some point, I was easily able to pull mine off. I hurriedly tried to help Theresa, she was essential to our plan. John yanked his off and helped Seth.
"And you'll see here that this is where the children sleep-" The old hag's voice floated in.
"Theresa, now!" I said. She immediately started to scream. John and I hid behind the door where it would swing.
The group outside stopped talking.
"If you'll give me a second," the hag said sweetly, I could hear the venom in her tone.
I gripped John's hand, trying to steady my breathing. The door swung open and Mrs. Bitch immediately went for Theresa. I looked regretfully at her before rushing out the door.
I came upon a large group of men. Dear God I hope they aren't all together! "Please you have to help us, she's been abusing us horribly and keeping in that room and she's kept us chained without food please you have to help us." It was all one breath. One of the men, a tall-ish lanky man, came over to me while the rest of the group sat in stunned silence.
"What do you mean?" He whispered.
John came running out, dragging Seth and Theresa behind him.
"Please, she's abused us, at least call the police," I pleaded, near tears.
"Already on it!" A heavily tattooed man said from the back. I sighed in relief before I heard a scream of outrage from the old hag.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?! Get back into your room before I beat you!" She seemed to forget that we were in a room full of witnesses. The man that talked to me first pulled me behind him, the rest formed a protective circle around the rest of the kids.
"Too late, bitch," I spat from behind the man.
"The police are on their way," the tattooed man said. Now that I noticed it, a lot of them were tattooed. I gulped.
"No!" She screamed, trying to run off. The man protecting me and two others ran over and tackled her.
I took a shuddering breath before being nearly tackled by my roommates.
"We did it," John whispered.