LivLiv: Hey readers! Today my family is getting the house ready for sale, as it's going on the market later this month. I'm moving up north by the end of the summer to go to school, and my parents are moving there, too. Life is good.
PLEASE READ:
Alright! Chapter two! I really like re-editing the stories. It's a lot of fun :)
Let me know what you think in a review. Reviews encourage me to keep writing, so if you want to read more of my story, please review.
ALSO:
I posted a link on my profile for the map of Little River, so if you're interested, it's just a couple clicks away!
In Little River...
Chapter 2: Masterpiece
"I am no masterpiece where innocence is painted green.
Isn't it strange to think that you created all of me?"
- Meg&Dia
I run up the old, squeaky staircase of The Carnation House to the large bedroom. It has twelve neatly made little beds lined up on the four walls. I am alone in the room. Most of the girls who stay here like to play outside or in the craft room downstairs, but I don't mind being alone. I've always been alone. The nun's raised me that way. When I was in kindergarten I didn't have friends. The nun's taught me the alphabet and the colors of the rainbow or whatever else you learn in kindergarten, here, at the orphanage. You'd think that I would have turned into a Mother Theresa for being raised by nuns instead of a 'skanky hippie', but I was a runt as a kid and grew up... very differently, I guess. I always scraped my knees, bad-mouthed the nuns and skipped dinner. Now I play guitar on the beach and wear 'skanky hippie' clothes. No wonder no one has adopted me. I was an adventurous kid, very independent too. Then I met Utau in middle school, and boy, were we a 'match made in heaven,' as the nuns would put it. Yeah, we're different, but we're two sides of the same coin. She's the Mayor's daughter, living a very regal life. Well, compared to mine, that is. Utau doesn't know that I live in an orphanage yet. If I told her now, she'd get mad at me for not telling her before. I'm just not comfortable with people knowing yet.
Yaya and I have always gone to the same school, but we didn't become friends until middle school. She isn't really my best friend. She has her boyfriend, Kairi. She doesn't really need Utau and me to have fun and stay sane.
I seat myself in my bed, staring at the arched ceilings. I'm lucky. I reassure myself. I have a best friend, I'm alive and healthy, I'm somewhat good looking, I have dinner every night, I have a job, a warm bed to sleep in, I'm lucky. But why am I upset?
I sit up, looking around the room that I already have memorized from being in it all of the time. The walls are a light pink. The 12 small, iron beds have the same white comforters covering them. At the end of each bed is a small treasure chest filled with possessions from parents, or toys from their previous home. My box has nothing like that. It has presents from Utau, jewelery, memories from school, money from my job at the cafe, makeup, CD's, and some clothes. The only thing I have left from my mother is my pink hair and yellow eyes.
The 12 beds in the room are never all occupied. We usually have 10 girls at once. Orphanages aren't that popular anymore. In "Annie" and "The Cider House Rules," the orphanages have over 50 kids living there. I guess it's because those movies are based from the 1930's and 40's. After and during the Great Depression, most people gave up their children because they didn't have any money to feed them and clothe them. Or the parents died, like mine.
The girls that live in the orphanage are rarely adopted and get dropped off here seldomly. The oldest orphan here - except for me - is 11 years old.
"Amu." a soft voice calls. I look over to see a cute girl standing in the doorway.
"Hey Misa." I reply. Misa is 5 and has the cutest blond curly hair. She was recently orphaned.
"Are you going to eat dinner?" She asks, her voice muffled from holding her blanket up to her face.
"No, I'm not very hungry." I tell her.
"That's not healthy!" She exclaims, running to my side.
"You're right. It isn't healthy! But I had a big lunch at the cafe." I reason.
"Oh... I've never been to the cafe." she crawls onto my bed and seats herself in my lap. She's very comfortable with me, and me only.
"I'll make sure to take you someday." I say cheerfully, wrapping my arms around her. "Why aren't you with the other girls?"
"They're mean." she says bluntly, the sadness clear in her voice.
"Naw! They're just shy! It isn't often that we get a new girl, they just don't know how to act."
"Amu, when did you come to Carnation House? Are you an orphan, or are you working with Mother Superior?" she asks, changing the subject slightly.
I laugh at her question. As if I'd come here on my own! "I'm an orphan too."
"When did you come here?"
"When I was a baby, my mother left me here." I answer.
"Why? Did she die?" She asks.
"She didn't want me, I think." I look away.
"I miss my mommy." she cries, with tears brimming in her eyes.
"Hey, don't worry." I hush her. "She's in heaven now; she has beautiful wings and she walks on pink clouds!" As much as I hate to say it, and especially to Mother Superior, but I really do believe in God. Not the God that the nuns tell me about, but in a different way. I tell the girls that their parents are walking on pink clouds because it's much more... happy. I believe that God doesn't let anyone be alone. You always have someone. "She's watching over you to make sure that you are smiling."
"She is?"
"Yes."
"Cool!" she laughs, smiling again. "Why don't the other girls like me? I haven't done anything wrong."
"You should have more confidence in yourself. Have you ever talked to them? Shared your toys with them?" I ask.
"N-no."
"Well now, there is your answer." I smile. "Don't let them pick on you. Just be their friend."
"Thanks Amu." She gives me a quick kiss on the cheek and skips out of the room.
»-(¯`v´¯)-» Olivia Lively »-(¯`v´¯)-»
I walk down the creaky steps of the Carnation House to get ready for mass at St. Andrew's, the church next to the orphanage. I attend this mass on my own. I like it better that way. Morning masses are just too early. And crowded. I don't want a lot of people to know I go to church and live in the orphanage. As I reach the bottom of the staircase, I can here some of the nuns in hysterics, coming from the kitchen.
"No! This should not be allowed! We have young girls here! We don't need another bad influence. We already have Amu." One of them justifies. Yeah. Thanks.
"Mother Superior has lost her wimple! What is she thinking letting a teenage delinquent boy serve his community hours here?"
"I heard that he drove the Mayor's car off of the dock." Sister Marie Claire gossips.
"He's quite the Lothario too."
"Oh! I don't want him here! He'll disrupt and disturb the peace!"
"Community hours?" I ask the nuns, casually leaning on the door frame.
"A boy that lives in town got into some trouble, so he has been charged with 100 hours of community service, and Mother Superior volunteered to have him work here!" Sister Anne explains.
"Here? What is he going to do here?" I question, curiosity getting the better of me.
"Well, we need someone to clean out the gutters and complete other work that our old bodies can't do." Sister Marie Claire says.
Noticing the time on the clock above the stove, I nod and run out of the kitchen into the front foyer. Mother Superior is talking to Officer Dan.
"Well, it's nice to meet you. What may your name be?" she asks the boy hiding behind the cop. I can't get a direct view of him.
He says nothing, so I stretch my neck to see who it is. He lifts his hood, and I see his face. I might go into cardiac arrest because standing on the porch of the Carnation House, is Ikuto Tsukiyomi.
"Oh, Hello Amu." He greets with a smirk.
"You know this boy?" Mother Superior asks, clearly unimpressed that I'm acquainted with a young offender.
"Unfortuantely." I answer. She looks shocked.
"Amu! Be more polite to our guests!" She scolds.
"He's not a guest! He's a criminal! You are insane for letting him here!" I whine.
"You better get to church and hope that God will forgive you!"
I storm off of the front porch, pushing Ikuto out of the way. I follow the tree-lined path to the church, frustrated and tired.
LivLiv: Have a good one, as always!
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