Personal Umbrella
A Kanda Yuu love story
Jessica had never known love before. She had been a scrawny orphan until now.
She wondered why she had been found. It couldn't be coincidence. Of course not. But it wasn't fate either. Fate's hand brought destruction, not mercy.
Internally, she thanked whatever divine force had redeemed her. Thanks to that force-whichever one it was-she could play piano, she had someone who loved her, and she was washed and fed every day. She was no longer a poor begging orphan; she was Jessica, the best friend of Miss Victoria. She wasn't a nobody.
She was awoken from her reverie when she heard Miss Victoria laughing. She watched from her secure tree. She was waiting for a signal. Miss Victoria was going to smile and twirl her hair around her finger, and Jessica would jump out of the tree and run over to ask her to play.
Jessica was confident that this was going to work. She didn't know how, but Miss Victoria was very smart. She'd promised Jessica a home. She'd told her that after this, she could have her own things. Her own clothes even!
Jessica shifted on her branch. The prospect of being treated like a lady excited her. She would have her own clothes! She was in awe of this simple part of ownership. Jessica had never had her own things; she'd been born in a large mansion, yes, but as a maid's daughter. She was shoved onto the streets when she had shown no desire to be civilised, insisting on helping the boys when they tended the gardens and adventured through the bushland.
Jessica scrambled down the tree as she saw her mistress curl three ochre curls around her slender fingers. She came to an abrupt halt when she saw who Miss Victoria was talking to. The nun from the orphanage! Jessica didn't like this. Not at all. She had seen the nun before, collecting orphans from the streets. All street children were in constant fear that they would be taken.
She took a few steps back as she saw the nun smile.
Of course she smiled; she reminded herself, she was glad to have another filthy beggar child for her vile orphanage.
"Ah, Victoria, this must be the child you spoke of?" The nun said. Jessica found herself hating her voice. And she'd used Miss Victoria's name!
"Yes, Augusta, that's her. Just as I told you, quite savage." Miss Victoria was glaring at her. Jessica was quite scared. Was this part o the game?
"Indeed. Quite uncivilised. Wearing breeches!" The nun exclaimed. Her smile seemed to be quite cruel, or was it just a trick of the light?
"How soon can you take her?" Miss Victoria asked. Jessica sensed venom in this sentence. But venomous or not, she still found it confusing.
"W-Where? Where are you taking me?" She was scared now. Away from Miss Victoria? That would not do.
"The orphanage, child, where else would I send a disgusting child such as you?" She sneered.
"The orphanage? But…You promised I'd have a home!" She cried.
Miss Victoria laughed bitterly.
"Yes. But I never promised it would be very nice." Miss Victoria's lip curled.
Suddenly, Jessica hated her mistress. She suddenly seemed to be extremely repulsive, like an animal that had just eaten its young. Jessica had the sudden urge to run. As far away from this filthy creature as possible. Her ochre coloured hair was dull, as were her forget-me-not blue eyes. The former had lost its shine and the latter its sparkle.
Suddenly, Jessica lost all of her previous desires to be like Miss Victoria.
---
Sad music rang out across the orphanages dining hall. The orphans glanced repetitively at the piano placed near the door.
Playing upon it was a young girl of about ten. She wore a snowy white shirt and grey vest with a skirt to match. A vivid scarlet ribbon adorned her collar, and she wore laced two-tone shoes on her slender (but nevertheless long) feet. Her creamy pale blond hair was fixed into a secure knot at the back of her head, her bangs neatly framing her periwinkle blue eyes. She was not beautiful of course; she was too sombre for that. Stoic, yet her eyes bore more emotion than those of the other orphans.
There were many rumours that circled around this girl. Many orphans told a wild tale about how she had attempted to escape five years ago. Others claimed that she had once been a cunning thief. All of these rumours were true, of course. But there was one that sparked the interest of the orphans most of all. This rumour was said to have been a first-account of what the girl had told orphans years ago.
The tale itself was about all of Jessica's misdeeds. It was a rather long story that she had told an orphan three years before, when the orphan had asked why she had lost all hope of escaping. The tale ended after her twentieth beating, also her twentieth failed escape. The children were in awe of her skill, her daring, and her recklessness. Many said that it was because of being a thief that she had been so tricky to catch in the beginning.
No matter how many rumours or stories were told about Jessica Abfangher Crucis, they were all based on solid fact. This, however, just put the children in more awe of her than ever. Something Jessica did not wish to be part of.
***
The small town had been sweltering, yes, and there had been reports of bushfires on other areas of the bush-mainly nearer to Adelaide-but there was no doubt in anybody's minds that the fire had been an act of arson.
The fire had been set behind the orphanage, and before anyone had realised any danger, the three-storey orphanage was ablaze. In the process of the fire forty orphans were burnt to death, and twelve were critically injured.
However, the strangest thing about the twelve injured is that they were all reported as severely injured, yet when a doctor was sent to tend to them, they had all disappeared.
Years later, many children told wild tales about the twelve. Most of them told that they had been taken to lab, where scientists replaced now-useless body parts with arms and legs of metal, allowing these children to have strength beyond belief.
But, it is with these tales, rumours and theories that our story begins. Our story of Jessica Abfangher Crucis (which, incidentally, is a name given to her by the church-besides her Christian name, of course) is not over yet. It has barely even begun.
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A/N:
Hi, guys. PROLOGUE of The Lotus-Trapped Heart.
You should also be able to find it on DeviantART. My dA is Re-thinkYourLife. Or just search "DGM Kanda love story" and it should come up.