I was originally inspired to write this once I started reading Zbluez's Chasing the Greatest - a story I highly suggest you read.
The title is liable to change.
/ / /
Fate is not something one should laugh at. Just as life is not something one should take for granted, or how one shouldn't hold themselves above all else and think bad things can't happen to them.
Because they can; because they inevitably will.
Especially if you think they won't. That's when it hits the hardest and when it hurts the most. Those bad things can sometimes break even the strongest of people. And it's the truly strong people that eventually recover; people others may not have considered strong at all.
The rest?
Well, the rest never recover unless they're lucky enough to have someone who cares enough to pull them back up from the depths in which they've fallen.
Often this is true in many cases when it comes to orphaned children; many of those kids are never truly the same as they once were.
In some cases that's good, in others, not so much.
/Flashback/
My six (almost seven) year old mind had never really registered snowstorms as inherently dangerous; they were fun, well, in moderation. Snow meant snow-creatures, snowball fights, and in some cases snow days.
Too much snow meant nothing but a blanket of white as far as the eye could see. It meant you would be cold and wet after spending some time outside. And it brought a seemingly unnatural silence to the world.
"Isn't it pretty outside, Kay?" Mother was turned slightly in the passenger seat up front, "It's like a winter wonderland, ne?"
"It's like a blank canvas," my tone was light – a lightness probably too light for a six year old – and contemplative, "it can make you feel so many different things."
A hum came from mother in the passenger seat and I saw a smile cross my father's face in the rearview mirror. It made me wonder if I shouldn't have said what I had; was what I said bad in some way? Or did they just not know how to respond?
Silence slowly filled the car, the sound of the heater humming loudly and the whistling of the winds sounding faintly from outside. The chill from outside leaked across my skin as I placed my forehead against the widow to watch the swirling snow covered scenery pass by.
Screams suddenly filled the silence. The car jerked and skidded as it hit a patch of ice, my body was jerked towards the opposite side of the car, my seatbelt tightening uncomfortably around me to lock me in place. My eyes left the spinning scenery outside to find the front of the car where mother was still screaming and crying and father was jerking on the parking break.
A nasty crunching sound echoed over the screaming as the front right side of the car slammed into a tree before whipping around again. In that moment all sounds and outside movements halted in my mind as mother's head slammed into the dash, blood streaming down the plastic and weaving through my now silent mother's hair.
There was a jerk and probably a loud sound to accompany said jerk, but my mind was too far gone in shock to register it.
Then there was pain.
And after that pain; nothing.
/ / /
That was seven months ago. Seven long months ago. And I was seven now too.
It was also one of those horrible incidents like what was spoken of above. The accident left me orphaned. It also changed me, probably more than you'd think a seven year old could change. I've also developed a hatred for snow.
The other kids think I'm odd for disliking the snow. Not that they know why I hate it, or even how I ended up here. Most of them avoid me, not that I'm surprised.
When you're different it's not a bad thing, no, but it's different when you're a kid. The kids that are different are treated different. Being marked as 'different' or 'freak' as a child sets you up for a hard childhood in most cases.
I was fine with that.
"Hey, Kay! What're you doing all by yourself?"
Because I wasn't truly alone.
"Just thinkin' Ky," I stood up and dusted off my shorts, "Is Hanna waiting?"
"Yeah, so come on!" Before I knew it the shaggy blond haired boy was pulling me along behind him.
Ky, real name Kyle, was the first kid to approach me after I got here. He's three years older. Making him ten, and his younger sister Hanna is my age. I don't think I realized how much I craved human interaction before those two gave it to me.
In a way, they were my saviors. Not that they realized that.
"Ky, quit draggin' Kay around like that!" Hanna was standing hands on hips with a stern look on her face.
It was ironic considering she was the most childish out of us three. It was also why she was labeled 'different' as well; to most she seemed to have split personalities.
Ky waved her off after letting go of my arm, "She's fine. No harm done."
"So, what exactly are we going to do today?" It was best I intervened before a tantrum of sorts erupted; Hanna was odd that way.
"Well," Ky drew out the word, a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Old Miss Crowe made some cookies a while ago."
Hanna popped up from her seat, a grin on her face, "They're chocolate chip too!"
The corners of my lips twitched up and I began shifting through the pictures in my head. It was a special thing I've always been able to do with my mind. I figured it was a bit like photographic memory in a way – yet not quite the same.
Memorizing maps, floor plans, and the like were no problem; they were just reformatted in my mind. It was memory when it came to those things, but with others things it gave me a different view of things in my mind. In math, providing I really did understand the material, it was like having a calculator in my head. Things like history played like a picture book - not that what we were taught always stuck, for most subjects studying was still required unless I was interested in the topic. I suppose it's rather needless to say, but my mind is rather abstract in the way I think on most things.
And my special ability is how we're going to get those cookies.
Hanna clasped her hands together, "We need a plan! And a good route!"
"Man," Ky grinned, "I'm so glad they kept the orphanage's old floor plan in the library."
He scrunched up his face for a moment, "Why were we in the library that time again?"
"School work." Was Hanna's reply.
"Oh, right."
Hanna turned to me and tugged at my sleeves, "So how're we gonna do it Kay?"
I grinned as she started to bounce on the balls of her feet, "The vents."
The siblings froze and blinked, exchanging a look, "Vents?"
"Mmmm," I nodded, "Yeah, the air vents. Almost all of them have a branch leading to the kitchen."
Ky frowned, "But aren't air vents small?"
I hummed, "A lot are. You do know the orphanage wasn't originally built to be an orphanage, right?"
The siblings shared another look and shook their heads, considering the way it was now it was hard for them to believe Rolling Oaks had been anything other than an orphanage.
"It was originally a sewing factory doubled with storage space," I flipped through the blueprints in my mind, stacking them so they made a 3D figure, "They just added walls, plumbing, and other necessities when they turned it into the orphanage. The air vents are also larger, like the ones you see people crawling through on TV."
"So you'll lead us through the vents?" Ky looked towards the doors and around the gardens to see if anyone was listening.
"No."
He furrowed his brows, "But I kinda wanted to go through the vents!"
"It won't work if we all go," I crossed my arms, "The vents might not hold all three of us at once."
"I don't care who goes!" Hanna whined, "I just want cookies!"
Ky rushed to get his sister to quiet down and we both glanced around to see if anyone was around to hear her. That was the problem with Hanna; she was still just seven, a kid. Sure, I was seven too, but I was more mentally mature than she was. I understood better than she did how important it was to keep quiet in these situations.
"You'll get cookies, Hanna," I chided, "You just have to wait. We'll bring them to you."
She pouted, but acquiesced and waited for me to explain the plan to Ky.
"So," he leaned forward eagerly as I spoke, "this is what we're gonna do…"
/ / /
We really were lucky that there were sturdy tables and chairs placed in some of the hallways, otherwise it might have been harder for me to climb up to the vent. Glow sticks were wonderful things too; they'd last me the whole trip to the kitchen and back.
"You ready for this, Kay?" Ky whispered, waiting for my response before placing the grate back on the vent.
"Absolutely," I carefully patted my glow sticks and backpack, "just be ready for when I get back."
He nodded in response and I was off, the scraping sound of the vent cover being placed back on a whisper behind me. We'd chosen to do this later; it was nine. When I got back with the goods we would have enough time to split the cookies and get to our respective rooms before check time.
"Psychedelic," I murmured as the red, blue, and green colors from the glow sticks refracted off the metal vents.
"Mmmm," I zoomed in on the blueprints in my mind, "Left here…"
"Straight then left."
There it was, the grate for the kitchen's vent. Before I got close I stuffed the glow sticks in a pocket on my backpack and continued moving forward when the glowing was concealed. The lights were off and only the dim moonlight lit the kitchen; and reflected off of a metal dome next to the microwave.
"Bingo~" I murmured gleefully as I gently removed the grate and placed it to the side. My socked feet hit lightly on the counter just below the vent and I shuffled over to the dome, pulling out a pair of gloves and a plastic bag.
It took roughly five minutes to package all the cookies and get everything situated; now I just had to get back.
The back trip was quicker since I had run the path once already; albeit in the opposite direction. And once at the vent to the hallway I glanced around and pushed a small piece of paper through the grate to alert Ky that I was back. A shuffling sound followed shortly after and Ky squeezed out from behind a couch to help me down.
He grinned, "Mission complete?"
I was certain my expression mirrored his, "You bet."
We shuffled to the room I happened to share with Hanna and said girl jumped to attention when we came in.
"Cookies?" Her tone was expectant and her eyes were shining.
I dumped the loot on our table and grinned as she jumped up and down in excitement. After double checking we found there were twenty-four cookies, which meant we each got eight. He split them in a hurry, Ky jamming his in his hoodie pocket as he left, bidding us goodnight.
The doorknob jiggled shortly after he left and Hanna and I stuffed the cookies in a drawer and shuffled under our covers.
"You think I didn't hear that shuffling?" The teasing tone alerted me to who it was right away. It was Gabe; our favorite caretaker here at Rolling Oaks.
I peeked over my covers, only one eye open. "Are you sure it's not just age getting to you, Gabe?"
"Oh ha ha," Gabe's tone was dry, but his eyes were laughing, "Well, whatever it is you two – and undoubtedly Ky, too – have been up to it better not have been illegal."
Hanna pouted and I just smiled, "Nothing illegal. Now shoo, Gabe, we're trying to sleep."
His quiet chuckles were the last thing I heard before I actually did fall asleep.
/ / /
Miss Crowe was throwing a fit this morning about her missing cookies. Her face was red and she was spluttering as she ranted to some of the caretakers.
"All gone! Every single one of them!" Miss Crowe slapped the counter with her spatula, "And I just don't see how; the doors weren't tampered with."
"All the cookies were gone, you say," it was Gabe and his tone was amused as he searched out our little group.
"All of them!"
One of Gabe's eyebrows rose and the corners of his lips twitched, "How strange. A shame, too. I rather like your cookies."
Ky grabbed Hanna's arm and the three of us slunk off to eat breakfast, Miss Crowe still ranting behind us. Hanna might not have realized it, but Ky and I understood that Gabe knew now what we had done. Not that he had any proof, and I was fairly certain he wouldn't try to guilt it out of us.
It didn't mean we didn't feel bad – not necessarily for Miss Crowe, but for lying to Gabe. As we ate our breakfast I thought back to the cookies; I still had a few remaining. Why not give Gabe a present later?
"Quit playing with your food, Ky," Hanna chided, now in her 'mature mode.'
Ky scowled and viciously bit the 'head' off of his bacon soldier.
I sat up a bit straighter as I caught Gabe say something about going back to his room for a minute to Kara, one of the other caretakers.
"Hey, you guys," Ky and Hanna looked over as I got up, "I'll be back in a minute, alright?"
Both nodded as I turned and hurried back to my and Hanna's room, making it there in no time. I pulled a little plastic bag from a drawer and stuffed my three remaining cookies inside before rushing out again.
"I hope he's still inside," I peeked around the corner before hurrying over and placing the bag on the ground. With two sharp knocks I was off again and peeking around the corner.
His door creaked open and he snorted in amusement as he squatted down to pick up the cookies.
"Well thanks, little cookie ghost," he called, "I do love these cookies."
/ / /