A new shade of darkness

Samantha McGinty – She is five years old when the story starts. She has long, black hair and slightly reddish eyes, for an unknown reason. She lives in an orphanage in London, where she discovers her powers. One day, she gets adopted, and a whole new world opens.

"thoughts"

´Parsletounge´

Chapter 1: Magic?

"Alright girls, time to get up!" the woman yelled. With an almost inaudible sigh, she got up and walked to the public bathroom of the girls' dormitory. Like almost every day, the other girls had gone downstairs for breakfast already, which gave her all the privacy she wanted. After freshing herself up, she too, quickly walked downstairs for breakfast.

Samantha McGinty, now five years old, lost her parents about a year ago in a car crash. Or at least that's what the doctors told her. She did not believe it. First of all, her parents barely drove in the car they owned. The second reason why she did not believe it is because there were no witnesses and no one ever wanted to speak about it. Every time she tried to speak about the death of her parents, people seemed to look frightened.

"Hey Sam, how're you doing? I don't think there's any breakfast left for you! But then again, what did you expect? Freaks shouldn't eat much, so they can't make children!" a dark-haired boy said.

Gregory Duncan, thirteen years old, was a bully, harassing Samantha every day. And why? Only because she has weird powers, which almost feel like magic. "It has to be magic" the voice inside Samantha said. "But it can't be! Magic does not exist!", Samantha replied. Samantha's inner voice gave a loud sigh inside her head and said: "Then how were you able to make it look like Gregory wet his bed without getting even near water, which you'd need?". And to this, Samantha had no answer, she really had no clue.

"At least I can sleep nicely, without peeing in my bed! That's for two-year-old children, little Greg!" Samantha spat back. Greg, his face turning red, opened his mouth to reply when suddenly, the orphanage's head mistress spoke up: "Children!" Everyone in the room looked at her. "Today, we will be visiting the local zoo! The animals have missed you, it has been too long!", she said with a smile. "Finish your breakfast quickly, we will be going there in one hour so we arrive early!". She didn't need to repeat herself, the children happily finished their breakfast, eager to visit the zoo.

Samantha however, wasn't so happy about the upcoming visit to the zoo. The zoo is where she had

lost her parents. A criminal attempted to pickpocket her parents while they and Samantha were admiring a large snake.

Her parents noticed the man, and attempted to apprehend him, so the police could take him away. Unfortunately, the man was prepared. He took out a knife, and stabbed both of her parents multiple times. By the time paramedics arrived, her parents bled to death, the man escaped. The weird part is that the man's luck was short-lived. Samantha had a weird, scary dream of the man falling off a staircase and breaking his neck. The next day, she saw the man on the news, in a report saying that he broke his neck after falling off a staircase. "This isn't real" Samantha thought. Yet, it felt real back then.

Alas, the hour passed, and they arrived at the zoo. Samantha unfortunately relived some of her memories, but she managed to keep quiet about it and everyone did not pay any attention to her whatsoever.

Wandering around, she arrived at the "home" of a large cobra. Examining it, Samantha realized it was still the same cobra she admired with her parents, one year ago. Small tears formed in her eyes, which she quickly brushed away. Suddenly, the snake came towards her, nearly pressing its head against the glass wall. "Hello there, never thought I would sssee you again here". Samantha froze, unable to believe her ears. "Did that snake just talk to me?" "Ehh .. c-c…d-do you understand me?" she asked the snake. To her own surprise, Samantha heard herself hissing, instead of speaking normally. She took a quick look behind her, but luckily, there were no people near her.

"Yessss I do, it hassss been long since I last met a ssssspeaker". Samantha looked at the snake with a surprised expression, then decided to talk with the snake. "Oh well, whether this is real or not, at least this will be the best trip to a zoo in my life!...Maybe magic does exist, after all!".