The Rise of Davy Jones
Prologue
Good evening, and good night, with roses adorned,
With carnations covered, slip under the covers.
Early tomorrow, if God wills, you will wake once again.
Early tomorrow, if God wills, you will wake once again.
English translation of Brahm's Lullaby
Where do parents come from? A question many children of the God's Grace Orphanage had asked themselves. How do some children have parents and others, like themselves, have not even one? Was it possible that they had just fallen from the sky as babies and were taken in by the institute? Rarely was there a child who could recall having ever had a parent. No memories of a Mother's gentle caress or a Father's playful song.
Many of the children didn't last into puberty for the nights were cold, sharing a blanket between two or three, and living in such close quarters gave rise to epidemics that were fatal and unforgiving. But the Orphanage, being funded by the church, and situated in Liverpool, where there was a plethora of orphans to take in, never worried over such matters. Whenever one child was permanently vacated, another was promptly taken in in their place.
One such epidemic of influenza overtook the institute in the dead of winter. The children's bodies, being too numerous to bury, were carted in the dark of night to the port where a man in a dinghy took them out to see and dumped them for a nominal fee. The next day the doors were opened to more orphans, and among them was David.