The Little Orphaned Girl

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or any of its characters.

This is a request from Charismatic Beauty. Thank you for the idea.

It was not like this from the beginning.

Susie Tanaka, a five year old sweet bubbly girl, thought as she tried to look out of her bedroom window. The window was high and she was short. The girl stood up on her tiptoes, her long curly strawberry blond hair falling on her large greenish hazel eyes, her mouth open as she tried to look out. Failing again, she gave up and sat down on her bed.

She could remember a few moments of her life of the time when she was even younger. Her mother used to tell her bed time stories. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, and many more. Susie would cuddle up to her mother to go to sleep, and her Mama would tell her stories, and sing songs to her. Beautiful songs about the differently coloured flowers, the white beautiful clouds, the playful rains, and many more.

All that changed though.

A few months before she turned five, Mama had started acting strangely. She started drinking some clear thing which smelled a lot. Susie hated it. The smell was so bad that Susie did not want to be near the drink, and she certainly learnt not to bother her mother after she had had that thing, the hard way.

Mama had started shouting at her, sometimes even beating her. One day she even said, "You witch! You look just like your father! That good for nothing man had to go and die and he has left me with a burden for a lifetime!"

Susie did not know what burden meant, but she was intelligent enough to understand the change in her Mama's demeanour. Tears had brimmed up in her large eyes and she had started to cry. Mama had angrily locked her in her room for this for the whole day. Without food, without water.

After that incident it was hell for Susie. Mama would drink that thing, get angry, and take it out on her. Susie thought about her father. Daddy had died when she was one year old. She had seen her photos though, and she had to admit that they did look similar. Daddy had the same greenish hazel eyes as hers, which were so warm that Susie could not help but smile. Even though her Daddy was with God, and so much away from her, Susie felt that he was much closer and nearer to her than anyone had ever been. Why did Mama suddenly hate her? She looked like Daddy earlier as well.

Susie jumped as someone knocked on her door. She did not know it but she was crying. She quickly wiped her tears away, knowing how much Mama hated them. She ran towards the door and opened it.

"What were you doing?" Mama asked angrily. Her blond hair were tied in a bun. Her brown eyes glared at Susie. She was dressed in a pink ankle length skirt, a white shirt and a pink jacket. Susie thought that Mama was surely going somewhere.

"I was on the bed…" Susie said, her voice faltering as she saw the look on her Mama's face. It had…softened. She actually smiled.

"Come on Susie, get dressed," Mama said. Susie looked at Mama at disbelief. Was this real? She pinched herself.

"Ouch!" she cried. "Careful, Susie," Mama said. So this was real! Susie beamed at Mama and hugged her, then ran to her little closet. She turned to look at Mama but only now did she notice.

Mama had two suitcases.

"Why are holding the- the-" Susie found it difficult to say suitcases. She searched for a substitute and found it. "Why are you holding the bags, Mama?"

"We'll go on a holiday," Mama replied.

"YIPEE! Holiday?! Really Mama?!"

"Yes, Susie."

Susie jumped up in the air, screaming happily whereas Mama set out to pack Susie's clothes, toys and other things. She stopped when she saw Daddy's photo, his dazzling smile. A single tear fell on the photo but she wiped it away and packed it with the other things.

Meanwhile, Susie found herself a green lace frock falling till her calf. Mama braided her hair and Susie put on her green sandals. She twirled, holding her frock, a couple of times when Mama called out, "Hurry up, Susie!"

Susie ran out of the house and to the yellow car. She looked back at the house. It was painted in white, had two floors with a colourful garden. She had played a lot here. Played with birds, the squirrels and even a mongoose!

Susie got into the car and Mama started driving.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Shadow Ridge," Mama replied.

Susie had never heard the name before but she smiled. It would be a good place, if Mama thought so. The earlier differences were already fading away.

So Susie fell asleep on the way. She was woken up by a jerk as the car came to an abrupt halt. Susie opened her eyes sleepily and looked out. Why had they stopped there?

The place was gloomy and dark. It was full of buildings, all of them old and dusty. Forget about a holiday resort or any other place like that, she could not even see a candy shop!

"Where are we, Mama?" she asked curiously as she looked out. She was not liking it at all.

"Just come out and I will tell you," Mama said. Susie opened the door of the car and stepped out. It opened at the door step of a big building, part of it made of brown stone, and the cement part painted in white. It had an arch shaped door and two stairs led up to it.

Mama set down the two suitcases next to her and then got in the car.

"Mama! Where are you going? What is happening?"

Mama did not reply; she started the engine.

"Mama stop! Mama don't go! Mama! MAMA!" Susie cried out as Mama drove the car away. Susie ran after the car, tears streaming down uncontrollably.

"Mama come back! Mama I'm sorry! I'll be a good girl! Mama come back! Come back Mama! COME BACK!" she howled as her tiny legs carried her forward, after the car. Mama neither stopped nor replied.

"MAMA!" Susie cried, "AAHH!"

She had stumbled on a stone and fallen down. She had hit her knee and blood was oozing out of the cut.

"Mama! MAMA! MAMA!" she cried out. Her eyes could not stop crying. Was she so bad, that Mama had to leave her behind, alone? Did she trouble Mama so much that she did not even say a word as she left her there? What was Susie's fault? Was it that she looked like her father, or that her father had died just one year after her birth?

The car turned at the corner and disappeared.

"Mama…" she sobbed and lowered her head. Her tears fell on her injured knee.

"Dear, dear…" she heard someone say.

Susie looked up to see who it was. A woman in her middle ages was looking down at her. She had kind blue eyes, her black hair were tied in a braid and she was looking down at her kindly.

"My- my Mama- Mama- has- has –g – g- gone away! She- she- h- has – left- left me- me- b- b-b- behind…" Susie stammered as she hiccupped as she tried to stop crying, "Wi- will- she- she- c- c-come b- back?"

Her eyes were full of hope and it gave the woman a lot of pain to shatter it. But she had to do it.

"No child. Your Mama will not return."

Susie's eyes turned momentarily blank. Her tears stopped. She just stared at the woman, but her eyes were distant.

"Don't worry," the woman said and lifted her up, "You have got me. Everything will be all right, honey, everything will be all right." She carried the child back to where the two suitcases were. Susie did not protest, she did not say anything. The woman quietly took her inside the building with the suitcases. There was a name plate on the door that Susie had not noticed.

It read 'Shadow Ridge Orphanage'.