WOLF MOUNTAIN

Chapter 1: A Hard Time

I have never been beat up this many times before. Hmm… 20 times in 1 week. My orphanage is really bad. I'm getting out soon. Not when someone adopts me. I mean running away. I'm covered in scratches and bruises. That's why I'm running away and soon.

"LAURA! GET OVER HERE AND CLEAN UP THIS PLACE!"

See what I mean?

"Laura, why didn't you come when I asked you to?"

"I did."

"DON'T TALK BACK TO ME LAURA!"

"Sorry ma'am. I'll get right to it." Maybe.

Blah, blah, blah! That's all she says! Blah, blah, blah! The wind blew through the window. I closed my eyes. A few leaves came in. It was a good thing I closed my eyes and my face was already dirty so it didn't matter. We don't even wash up every day. I still wanna leave.

"LAURA STOP DAYDREAMING AND CLEAN UP THIS PLACE!"

"Fine."

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TALKING BACK TO ME?"

"Not to." It doesn't really matter to me though.

I still cleaned, but also was dreaming about a whole new place. There was another breeze of air. I closed my eyes again and got hit with a few more leaves. The window was broken. It wouldn't shut. We're freezing at night since it's the room that we sleep in. The area here is always windy. We're freezing. Me and the friends I've made here are very nice and they're always looking after you and others. Some of their parents couldn't take care of them anymore or died in plane crashes or car crashes or just a sickness. It's sad to hear stories about the new orphans, but it's fun to make new friends. I'll miss them when I run away to another place, far away from here.

"KEEP WORKING!"

"Sorry."

I mean far, far away from here.

"I'm finished."

"GOOD! You are better at cleaning then all the others. With all these tears and food crumbs that those kids sneak in, but your still the oldest and the most responsible, but there's more cleaning to do in the other room…the bathroom."

"Okay." Oh no the last time I cleaned the bathroom I got sick. Literally. "I'm finished with cleaning the bathroom." Finally finished. At least it wasn't as a mess as when I got sick.

I hope I don't have to clean anything anymore. At least for the rest of the day, maybe just later. I really want to know what happened to my parents. I was just five years old at the time. That's one of the reasons why I'm running away. I have to steal the address of where my house is, so I can find some clues and find out what happened. Maybe someone will find me on my journey to Wolf Mountain. My dad tamed wolves. We had a pet wolf pup that my dad tamed to be a dog because we found him, his parents died. We named him Snowball. He lived in the North. That's why we named him Snowball. He died of a sort of disease that he had when he was a puppy. It came back when we thought it was gone. I miss him. It's nighttime now and I'm getting into bed. All the girls wanna tell ghost stories. They want to every night. I don't listen, it gives me nightmares because some are true and it's mostly about their parents dying and seeing their ghosts. When I was dreaming, I knew what I wanted to do at Wolf Mountain. Tame the wolves to be my friends. It won't be too hard. I hope. It could be dangerous. Very dangerous. It's scary to think that I'd be taming wolves day and night. I've been to Wolf Mountain before. This morning I was still thinking about Wolf Mountain and thinking how to escape. I'm going to leave overnight. I mean tonight. Right then. No changing my mind about it. I brought a little bag downstairs to put scraps of food in. I had an old bow and arrow from my dad. I had it when I was a baby, but the one I had as a baby was made of foam. My dad called me Cupid. I thought I looked stupid with a foam bow and arrow so my dad gave me the other one when he left me here. He and my mom. I'm still trying to figure out the mystery. I put as much food I could hold in my little bag. For a little bag it was kinda big. It was elastic. I had about enough food for my journey. A year supply probably if I only had one meal a day or just when I got hungry. I miss my parents and I know all my friends do, too. I feel bad for all of them. I have never told anybody about the escape except for my best friend, Lily. It's a girls only orphanage. Unless I look out the window. The only cute boys I see are the boys that sell some food or old toys for new food or new toys. I think it's smart of them to sell, but I never had a chance to have my own money. I only have about two things. My stuffed animal dog and enough clothes. When I leave in my clothes pack I have a rope. I'm going to climb out the broken window, so I don't have to worry about closing it. I am going to put an extra pillow under my covers, so it looks like I'm sleeping. And on the pillow there'll be a note that says

I left to find a real family. I'm tired of living like this. You take no good care of me. And when my parents dropped me off I remember the only thing ,that is if my parents dropped me off or just someone found me, what I remember is my parents saying or someone saying to take care of me.