Chapter 1
Enola has always been alone. That's what she liked.
At least, what she had grown so used to that she felt she liked it.
She stood at a train station with nothing but a worn backpack slung over her shoulder. Dirty, plain brown hair was pulled underneath a mangled, old blue hood of her sweatshirt and a pair of glasses took away from the beauty her eyes held. The pair of dark blue eyes scanned the station, blank. Enola was short, understandably so. She was extremely fortunate that the station was empty so that she could see. Not only that, but then nobody would question what a 6 year old girl was doing all alone.
Enola wouldn't have answered them if anyone had bothered to ask anyways. She was used to the questions, strange or even dirty looks. She was used to the twinge she felt every time she saw a family. She was used to how tangled her hair got. She was used to being teased by the other children playing because of how tattered her clothes are. They had stopped once she never responded.
Enola never really spoke either. Why would she? Nobody ever listened to her. Yelling stop never got them to do so. Crying never got her what she wanted unlike other children. No one kissed or held her when she was hurt, which was often.
Scratches and bruises lined her arms and legs. No one offered to help her if they saw her the way she was. Not even the officer that passed by her every so often. He didn't even glance at the girl.
Off in his adult world I suppose... Enola thought tiredly. She had long understood that older people saw themselves as superior to those younger, poorer, or uglier than themselves. That, she reasoned, was why she was so low on the status bar so that she was not noticed. That, when she WAS noticed, was because the person wanted to be recognized as superior. Human contact for Enola didn't go past that. It just simply was. For a six year old, she was sharp. She had been forced to be simply because she needed to live. She could see what others could not and read what others chose not to. Enola also came to be able to understand what was a lie and what was truth. People had become books to young girl. Unwelcome books.
Humans were ugly creatures in the eyes of 6 year old Enola. Bitter towards each other, hateful towards those that are different, unwelcoming to change whether bad or good. Enola had also long discovered that a family was nothing to yearn for. From what she gathered and observed, siblings always seemed to hate each other. Mommies and daddies always argued and some even hit each other or their own flesh and blood. This confused little Enola. Because, even with this knowledge, her heart still yearned and there was an emptiness of being alone that hadn't been filled. At least, not yet.
Enola continued to look around but what she was looking for was no where to be seen. She huffed and blew her hair out of her face.
Where is it? It was just there a few hours ago. She thought irritatedly.
Then there it was.
Enola leapt across the tracks and sprinted over her find. On the ground, there was a small cardboard box. Enola peered inside and there sat several bundles of fur. She noted that there was only 2 now. The two smallest and unattractive of the bunch that had been there once. One was a rich, dark gray while the other was a pitch black. They were snuggled together, trying to use the fur they had to keep warm. To her, they were a beautiful and welcome sight. Now she wouldn't have to choose and they were a beautiful pair. Enola pulled out a bag with a mess of coins. It was all she had left of her scavenging that day. She was about to put it in the box but noticed a small note.
Enola was never taught to read but had figured out the system of weird scribbles on her own. Some words were still not understandable to her such as exceptions but she had picked up the small words. Small words like free.
Enola smiled.
Adina the grey and Alem the black both looked up and blinked sleepily as Enola picked up the small box in her arms and ran inside the train that had just arrived. Completely unnoticed. No longer completely alone.