Hard Enough Life
Caught
"Dakota, hurry up and bring me the bucket. This rain ain't gonna wait for your slow sorry ass." Said the head of the Dallas Orphanage. "Yes ma'am." Dakota said, obediently. She walked as fast as she could, but her aching bones and back slowed her down. "Girl, I should put a hurtin' on ya. Your nothing but a no good lazy bitch. You'll never get adopted or married, ya hear? No human in their right mind will love ya. You's trash." Dakota gritted her teeth and handed The Head the bucket. "Thank you. Now go get me another. Or maybe I should ask your sister to get it. At least she can do things properly." She slammed the bucket down on the ground, causing Dakota to jump a little. "What's your problem girlie? Scared? Gonna cry to your mama? Oh no, I forgot. You have no mama." Laughing like a mad woman she stood up, towering over Dakota's small frame. "Girl, I want ya's to clean the guy's washroom, ya hear me bitch?" she yelled in Dakota's ear. "Yes ma'am." The Head patted Dakota's shoulder. "Good dog. Now hurry up before I beat ya over the head with my whip." Dakota ran as fast as she could to the men's washroom, locking herself in.
Three hours later, at 4:57 Dakota finished cleaning the washroom. Her hands were red from scrubbing so hard, and her back hunched over. She made her way over her room, which she shared with six others girls. Tori-Ann her sister, Darci, Raquel, Christine, Haleigh and Ami. She threw herself onto her mattress, which was located in the eastern corner of the room. Beside her bed was Ami's. Ami was lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling. "Hard day?" she said, continually staring at the ceiling. "Yeah. The Head made me do everything today. I swear, the lady hates me." "She hates us all kid." "I know that but she's always out to get me." Ami turned over on her bed, lying on her side to face Dakota. "Listen, I know this is gonna sound crazy but why don't we all get rid of her once and for all?" Dakota stared at Ami quizzically. She knew her friend had some issues of being a little rebellious and outrageous, not to mention plain evil. But what was she implying now. "What do you mean get rid of her? You wanna tie her to a chair and throw her in the basement?" Ami smiled slyly. "No, something much worse." She sat beside Dakota on her bed and started to whisper in her ear. "Let's burn this place." Dakota jumped up, shocked. "Are you insane? I'm not going to jail at 16 for burning down this place. Why the hell should I do that?" Ami shrugged. "It seems logical." Dakota shook her head. "It seems like you're not thinking at all." Ami stood up and went to the door. Just before exiting she looked at Dakota one last time. "Think about how she treats us. Remember, some of us ain't orphans. Just remember and think." She left Dakota alone with her own thoughts. Should she burn it down? It's not like no one would miss it. But on the other hand, she didn't want to go to jail for something so stupid. She continued to ponder the idea in her mind. Sleep was starting to overwhelm her body. She couldn't resist it. Her eyes were shut tight before her head reached the pillow.
"Aw look at my big sister." Tori-Ann cooed. "She's so cute." "That's disgusting Tori." Haleigh said, sitting in the corner of the darkened room. "Well can't older girls be cute?" she said defensively. "No. Cute only implies to the young, not the old." Raquel said. "You're all wrong." Tori-Ann sat on the bed beside her sister. She gently shook her shoulder to wake her up. "Dakota wake up. It's after 7 pm." Dakota jumped up out of her bed, shocking Tori-Ann, who fell to the floor. "Ami I'm taking your advice." Ami grinned and rushed to her closet. From it she grabbed a bag and opened it to reveal lighters, oil and a gun. "Planning for awhile?" Dakota said. "Yeah, since I came here, meet the head and ran away." "What's going on?" Christine asked. "We're burning down this place." Ami said calmly. "No big deal." "Oh ok……WHAT?!?!" Christine said. "We are burning down big place that the head calls home." Dakota said, slowly. "With her in it." Ami said. All the other girls in the room looked at Dakota and Ami shocked. The only person who didn't care was Haleigh who continued sitting in her corner. "That's so bad." "We really don't care." Said Ami. Dakota took the gun and ran to the door. "Where are you going?" "I'm getting rid of the head. Warn the boys about us leaving ok?" Dakota ran to the head's office, with Ami cheering for her in the background.
Dakota knocked on the wooden door that was half on the hinges. Inside she could hear the head singing along with the radio. She rolled her eyes and pushed the door open, revealing the head dancing in her bra and underwear. The head gasped. "Perverted girl. Get outside now and don't expect no breakfast tomorrow, ya hear me?" "I ain't getting no breakfast from ya tomorrow anyway. You'll be dead before midnight." "What you talking about? You can't hurt me or this building." Dakota smiled. She took the gun from behind her back. "Your present ma'am." She shot her once in the heart and then twice in the face. The head fell dead to the ground, blood seeping on the floor. "And now, to finish my task." "Dakota, we're all outside." She heard Ami yell. She ran outside to join them.
"We your stuff, and we came out here." Ami said. "I can't believe we're actually burning down this place." "Rob said. "It was a waste of space." Matt said, pulling up his Randy River hoodie. "Ok are we set to burn this place?" Dakota asked Ami. "Hell yes." Dakota smiled and took a stick of fire from Ami. "This is what we think of Dallas Orphanage." She said, before throwing the stick onto the wooden building. It set ablaze so fast and quickly, they all just stared in awe. "You do realize that Dakota is guilty of manslaughter and we could all get arrested?" Raquel said. Ami shrugged. "We don't give a flying fuck. We just want out." "What are we gonna do now?" Tori-Ann asked her older brother Jason. He didn't say anything. Just then they heard sirens. 'Shit. Those blasted cops. The always show up when things are good and ruin everything." Said Ami, obviously pissed. "Let's run then." But they were too late. The police caught them, took them all to the police station and gave them a choice. Jail or Camp Green Lake.