Adopted:

Two years after that a young woman came to the orphanage, we were told to line up, as it was very important. Matt stayed very far away from me. He hadn't told the leaders of the establishment about me, he had claimed it had been a wolf attack. He had told Patrick and Christopher to stay away from me. In exchange, I hadn't hurt Matt again. The important lady's name was Mary Lou Barebone. "I am looking for a boy who should be around seven now, black hair and blue eyes. His mother's name was Esmerelda." She told Mrs. Hilts (the headmaster.) "Hmm. Sounds like our boy Credence...why are you looking for him?" Asked Mrs. Hilts. I tensed when she had said my name. "I knew his mother and wanted to take care of him...for Esmerelda. Dear Elda...so dear to me. My best friend you know…" I was terrified I didn't know this woman, but she looked sort of familiar I had a feeling it was bad familiar. "Well, let me check your credentials and if everything is right you should take Credence home with you!" Mrs. Hilts told Mary Lou. She then turned to me. "Credence... Honey...Mrs. Barebone is gonna take you home...how does that sound?" I may have a bad feeling but anywhere was better than here. So, I nodded rapidly. "Uh huh, ok Credence darling'." Mrs. Barebone took me out and led me out of the orphanage. She took me to a taxi outside. I had never ridden in a car before. "Come on in boy." She urged slightly nicely. I jumped up into the car I was still quite small for seven. We drove for a couple of miles. Mary Lou didn't say much. "You can call me Ma." She told me without saying a word. "Ma...where are we going?" I asked her. "The Second Salemers Preservation Society." She told me. "What's that?" I asked. "Well...it's a place where we gather to talk about things concerning witchcraft and how to destroy it...you and my daughter Chastity will hand out leaflets." We pulled into a small house with a picture of fire surrounding a post and another showing a woman breaking a wand. I recognized the wand, my mother had one. I bit my tongue to stop from telling Mary Lou, she seemed like she might understand, but she sort of scared me. A girl about a year older than me ran up to greet us. "Ma...I will take Credence to his room. Mother. Modesty is hungry again." Chastity quickly said grabbing my hand and leading me inside. She led me to a small room. "This is yours...and don't ask many questions and you'll avoid the belt." I nodded. "You don't say much, do you?" Chastity asked. "Not much...unless I need to." I answered. "Good." Chastity said nodding. She had already moved on, but my thoughts stayed on one thing "the belt." What did she mean by that? My first thought was a new belt... (but I knew it couldn't be just that.) I sat down on the bed staring at nothing for several minutes then I cried myself to sleep.