I was on top of the world; had a cute girl at my side, an enemy out of the
way...oh wait; I'm getting way ahead of myself.
It's the funniest thing, as days went on, me and Serena had gotten closer
and closer. I would sneak out to the garden and get her flowers, and she
would blush when I pecked her on the cheek. It was the cutest thing you
ever saw. We didn't have much, but we were always giving each other
sentimental things. We didn't want what happened to our parents that
we loved to happen to us. So, we started giving each other things so that
if we were ever separated, we'd have something to remember each other
by. I still remember the way she looked when she showed me the clay
figure she made me.
"Darien." Serena said with a toothy grin in her sunflower dress. By this
time, she had begun to lose her teeth. So you can imagine the cute
picture she made with her front two teeth missing.
"Y-yeah?" I asked as we sat at our window in silence, just looking at the
sunset. I noticed that she had been quiet for a while now; I could tell she
was hiding something.
"I...I made this for you." She said as she shoved a piece of clay into my
hands. "It's...it's my heart." She said shyly.
"Y-your h-h-heart?" I asked. "H-how did...did you t-take it out?" I asked
to her.
"I didn't take it out silly." She told me. "But it looks just like my real
heart...this way you'll always have my heart even when you sleep."
"Th-thank-you." I replied with a blush.
"So, what did you do in art today?" She asked me.
I knew what that meant. Serena was always excited to see what I did in
art class whenever I had it because she knew that I always made
something for her. Every time we had art, I would bring her my creation
and she'd put it in her special box with all the rest so that she could save
it. I had always enjoyed the way her eyes would light up when I showed it
to her. Then she would sit there and listen attentively as I explained in
detail about how I made it. Sometimes I would add special parts and tell
her how I was thinking of her when I made that part. Well, it so happens
that that day I had made her a charm bracelet. That piece of work had
taken me a while to create, more than one day in fact; but I was very
determined to make it for her.
"Well, I-I made s-some-something f-for y-you." I said to her. "S-something
f-for yo-your arm. T-to wear on-on y-your hand." I continued. "Cl-close y-
your eyes."
"O.K." She said with a wide smile as she closed them. From that point
everything went too fast for me to think. Within minutes the charm
bracelet was out of my hands and into the hands of my enemy, Richard.
"Well look at what we got here guys." He said to me. Immediately
Serena's eyes popped open to see the bracelet dangling from Richards
hands. "Retardo made a girly bracelet." He mocked with a laugh. "You're
such a girl, Retardo."
"G-give th-that ba-back!" I attempted to sound stern.
"Wh-what you going to do about it?" He said as he taunted me, swaying
the bracelet back and forth.
"Leave us alone!" Serena cried out. "You're nothin' but a big bully!" She
said as she stood up with her fist at her sides.
"Look, the fountain's gonna cry again...better give her the bracelet
Richard."
"You heard him...give me back my bracelet!" She cried out, the tears
threatening to come.
"You want it? Try and get it." He replied. I could only sit back and watch
as he taunted her, holding the bracelet so that it was always out of
reach. I could see tears escape from her eyes as she would repeatedly
jump and try to reach it, but never could. Gathering all the courage I
could muster, I finally stood up behind her and reached for the bracelet.
Unfortunately, Richard wouldn't let go all too easily. You can just picture
what happened next. I ended up falling to the ground with only a piece of
string in my hand, the beads had fallen to the floor, the other half of the
string in Richard's hands. "You better not ever do that again Retardo." He
commented before he left me behind on my rear and on the floor. Serena
tried to wipe her tears as she began to haphazardly pick up the beads
that were scattered from the ground. Her eyes were a puffy red when she
finally came over to me and gave me the beads.
"Can...can you fix it?" She cried softly to me.
The way she had looked at me that day nearly tore me apart. It was
almost as if Richard had placed his hand in her chest and physically
pulled out her real heart. That night, as we sat on the roof in silence,
looking at the moon, I decided that I would give her my most special
treasure; the locket my mother had given me. My mother had told me
that I should hold that locket until I found someone special to give it to,
and then I was to give it to him or her so that they would always have it
to remember me by. It was a beautiful golden star locket that played
music, and until now not even Serena knew that I owned it. At first she
refused to take it, but then I told her that it would just replace the
bracelet that broke until I could fix it. Every time I got close to getting her
to accept the gift, she would always tell me how she didn't have
something to give me that was this good. So in the end I convinced her
that one kiss a day on the cheek would make up for it, and she agreed to
the exchange with a smile.
Even through the exchange and replacement of her bracelet by the
locket, Serena was still weary of being attacked all the time by Richard.
So one night, we devised a plan.
"You got the water Darien?" Serena asked me.
"Y-y-yeah...right-right h-here." I said to her as I handed her the cup of
water. "Are-are y-you sure we...we sh-should do this?" I asked her
nervously as we headed towards the room where the boys slept.
"Yup, we have to go through with this Darien...you thought of it." She
began. "You can't back out now, it's now or never." She finished.
"Oh, o-ok." I replied as we approached Richard's bed. I did my part and
watched out to see if anyone was coming as Serena poured the warm
water slowly right on Richard's pants and between his legs on the bed.
When she was done she quickly pulled me aside.
"I'm going back to my room...we'll see what happens in the mornin'." She
said before quickly slipping away. Without another thought I slipped into
my bed that night with thoughts of what would happen the following
morning.
"Ewwww! Richard peed in bed!" Exclaimed one little girl amongst the
crowd of children.
"I did not!" I heard him retort.
"Did too!" Another in the crowd yelled.
"Richard's a pee-pee boy, Richard's a pee-pee boy!" The girls began to
chant.
"I am not."
"Richard's a pee-pee boy, Richard's a pee-pee boy!" They continued to
chant until Carol finally came to see what was going on.
"What's going on here?" She said sternly causing everyone to straighten
up and quiet down.
"Ms. Carol, Richard peed in his bed." One little girl cried out.
"Richard, is this so?" Ms. Carol asked. Richard just looked on with a
blank face.
"I didn't do it...honest." He replied.
Ha! Not so tough anymore are ya?
"Come with me." Ms. Carol said as she led him out the room, the echoes
of laughter following him in his wake. Henceforth Richard became known
as the pee-pee boy.
For a while, everything was all right. I continued to make Serena pretty
gifts, and she continued to kiss me on the cheek in gratitude. When
Serena became eight and started going to a public school, things got a
little boring again. In case you are slightly confused, here at the
orphanage, kids don't start going to a public school until they're eight
years old. I think out of the whole orphanage, besides all of the pre-
schoolers, I was the only one who didn't go to Crossroads Elementary. I
had to go to a special school for children that were slower than others, as
Ms. Carol would call it. I knew better though, it was a school for retarded
children. I never felt so alone as I did whenever I went to that school; I
had to ride that special bus, with the special children so that everyone
would know that I was stupid. And to make things worse, everyone at the
orphanage that was my age, were learning cooler things like math and
reading; I was learning how to make cool artsy stuff, not that I really
minded, I liked making stuff for Serena. But I wanted to do the things
that they were doing, but the teachers always reminded me that it would
take too long to teach me, and that I was too slow to learn; even Serena
was learning how to read. Everyday she would come home from school
and tell me about her day; she told me about her new friend Molly who
she talked to at school and all the cool stuff that she colored in her art
class that she had made from me. I would always listen attentively, as
she would show me what each picture meant, and then I would carefully
place the picture in my special box as not to wrinkle it. Then one day I
wasn't so attentive, and she immediately caught on to me.
"What's wrong Darien?" She asked as I turned away from her to look at
the sun shinning through the window.
"N-n-nawthing." I replied as I sagged my shoulders.
"You can tell me...isn't that...isn't that what-what a girlfriend is for?" She
asked nervously as she twirled her thumbs and looked downcast at
them. I turned and looked at her sad dejected figure and at once began
to speak.
"I-I...it's ju-just thawt I-I waunt to-to learn h-how to read l-like y-
you...and I-I wish thawt I c-could g-go to a sch-ool like y-ou."
"I wish you could go to...but if you want..." She paused as she looked up
to me. "I can teach you what ever I learn in school...and then you can
learn with me." She replied softly.
"R-r-really!" I asked her incredulously.
"If you want to...I'm not that smart...but I can try."
From that day on whenever Serena came home, she would show me the
letters and teach me how to pronounce them; everything was going well
until one day the scariest thing of all happened. It was the one thing that
we had never expected to happen.
When Ms. Carol came to our usual playing spot, I wasn't sure what to
expect. Both Serena and me looked on incredulously as she knelt down
to the ground in front of the two of us.
"Excuse me, Serena." She began. "There are some people here who would
like to meet you." She said in a soft singsong voice.
"Can Darien come too?" She asked innocently. Ms. Carol winced inwardly
as Serena's comment; she had this look on her face as if she was hiding
some unbearable truth.
"No sweetheart, just you." Ms. Carol replied.
"When I finish can I come back to play?" She asked. Neither of us noticed
how Ms. Carol ignored that question, but merely stood up and continued
as if it was never heard.
"Come on Serena...they're waiting."
"D-d-don't wor-ry S-Serena." I told her. "I'll-I'll wait f-for y-ou at da win-
dow." I said to her with a smile.
"OK, but don't cheat!" She smiled as she stood up from the game we were
playing and took Ms. Carol's hand.
It was the last time that I ever seen her at the orphanage again.
I waited for hours in our favorite spot for Serena to come back; but she
never did. But I was always hopeful, I merely assumed that whatever
they needed Serena for was taking longer than they expected. I went to
bed like all the rest and was the first one up the next morning and
dressed. I waited outside the door of the girl's bedroom for Serena to
come out but she never did. When all the girls were seemingly gone, I
poked my head into their quarters to find it empty.
So I did the only thing I could do; I went to Ms. Carol.
"M-ms. C-Carol." I began as I stood in her office. "Wh-where where's S-
Ser-ena?" As soon as I had spoken the words, she sighed.
"Sit down Darien." She ordered, and I numbly complied.
"Serena...Serena's been taken to a home...because a man and a woman
came in the other day to...to take her to a nice place because...because
they wanted her."
"Is-is sh-e gowen to c-come b-ba-ck?" I asked nervously.
"No Darien...she isn't coming back." Ms. Carol replied with another sigh.
"B-but sh-she has-has to c-come b-back!" I cried out. "Sh-she l-left
her...l-left her sp-ecial b-ox." I finished. "Sh-she can-can't l-le-ave with-
without her-her sp-ecial b-ox."
"I'm sorry Darien...but her new parents didn't want her to take anything
from the orphanage with her."
"B-but she-she waon't rem-mem-ber m-e with-without her sp-special b-
ox!" I cried out as I immediately stood up from where I was seated.
"She won't forget you Darien...I promise...you just have to...to
understand that..."
"I-I waunt S-Ser-ena!" I cried out as I began to awkwardly through things
off her desk. "She-she's m-my on-ly frend...she-she's m-my g-g-girl-
frend!" I continued to cry out as my anger lashed out of me.
"Darien stop it!" Ms. Carol cried out as she ran to the other side of the
room to stop my tirade.
"I waunt h-her b-ack!" I cried as I allowed my fist to fling every which
way. But instead of yelling at me, and telling me to go to my room as she
did other children when they were bad, she merely held me as I
continued to kick and scream, tears streaming down my face. "Br-bring
S-Ser-ena b-b-ack!" I continuously cried, my fists still swinging until I
finally had no energy to fight anymore. Eventually I slipped to the ground
and curled into a ball with my thumb in my mouth. "I-I...I waunt S-Ser-
ena." I continuously cried out until I fell asleep right there on the floor of
her office.
Serena was gone, and there was nothing I could do about it. She was the
only one who understood me, who I knew I could talk to and not ridicule
me. From that day forth I didn't talk to anybody at the orphanage; I went
to school as usual, made Serena a gift as if she was still there, and then
took her special box from our hiding spot and placed the new gifts in it. I
would sit in our special spot as usual, go to the roof at night as usual,
but I would sit silently and not say a word. Ms. Carol repeatedly tried to
get me to speak to her, but I wouldn't. They even tried to get a child
psychologist to try and talk to me, but even he didn't get anywhere.
Eventually, they all just gave up hope as I continued to shrink into the
shadows and into my little corner of the orphanage. Without Serena here,
there was no reason to speak anymore, no reason to hope, no reason to
laugh, and no reason to play. Once again I was alone, with no one to call
my own.
way...oh wait; I'm getting way ahead of myself.
It's the funniest thing, as days went on, me and Serena had gotten closer
and closer. I would sneak out to the garden and get her flowers, and she
would blush when I pecked her on the cheek. It was the cutest thing you
ever saw. We didn't have much, but we were always giving each other
sentimental things. We didn't want what happened to our parents that
we loved to happen to us. So, we started giving each other things so that
if we were ever separated, we'd have something to remember each other
by. I still remember the way she looked when she showed me the clay
figure she made me.
"Darien." Serena said with a toothy grin in her sunflower dress. By this
time, she had begun to lose her teeth. So you can imagine the cute
picture she made with her front two teeth missing.
"Y-yeah?" I asked as we sat at our window in silence, just looking at the
sunset. I noticed that she had been quiet for a while now; I could tell she
was hiding something.
"I...I made this for you." She said as she shoved a piece of clay into my
hands. "It's...it's my heart." She said shyly.
"Y-your h-h-heart?" I asked. "H-how did...did you t-take it out?" I asked
to her.
"I didn't take it out silly." She told me. "But it looks just like my real
heart...this way you'll always have my heart even when you sleep."
"Th-thank-you." I replied with a blush.
"So, what did you do in art today?" She asked me.
I knew what that meant. Serena was always excited to see what I did in
art class whenever I had it because she knew that I always made
something for her. Every time we had art, I would bring her my creation
and she'd put it in her special box with all the rest so that she could save
it. I had always enjoyed the way her eyes would light up when I showed it
to her. Then she would sit there and listen attentively as I explained in
detail about how I made it. Sometimes I would add special parts and tell
her how I was thinking of her when I made that part. Well, it so happens
that that day I had made her a charm bracelet. That piece of work had
taken me a while to create, more than one day in fact; but I was very
determined to make it for her.
"Well, I-I made s-some-something f-for y-you." I said to her. "S-something
f-for yo-your arm. T-to wear on-on y-your hand." I continued. "Cl-close y-
your eyes."
"O.K." She said with a wide smile as she closed them. From that point
everything went too fast for me to think. Within minutes the charm
bracelet was out of my hands and into the hands of my enemy, Richard.
"Well look at what we got here guys." He said to me. Immediately
Serena's eyes popped open to see the bracelet dangling from Richards
hands. "Retardo made a girly bracelet." He mocked with a laugh. "You're
such a girl, Retardo."
"G-give th-that ba-back!" I attempted to sound stern.
"Wh-what you going to do about it?" He said as he taunted me, swaying
the bracelet back and forth.
"Leave us alone!" Serena cried out. "You're nothin' but a big bully!" She
said as she stood up with her fist at her sides.
"Look, the fountain's gonna cry again...better give her the bracelet
Richard."
"You heard him...give me back my bracelet!" She cried out, the tears
threatening to come.
"You want it? Try and get it." He replied. I could only sit back and watch
as he taunted her, holding the bracelet so that it was always out of
reach. I could see tears escape from her eyes as she would repeatedly
jump and try to reach it, but never could. Gathering all the courage I
could muster, I finally stood up behind her and reached for the bracelet.
Unfortunately, Richard wouldn't let go all too easily. You can just picture
what happened next. I ended up falling to the ground with only a piece of
string in my hand, the beads had fallen to the floor, the other half of the
string in Richard's hands. "You better not ever do that again Retardo." He
commented before he left me behind on my rear and on the floor. Serena
tried to wipe her tears as she began to haphazardly pick up the beads
that were scattered from the ground. Her eyes were a puffy red when she
finally came over to me and gave me the beads.
"Can...can you fix it?" She cried softly to me.
The way she had looked at me that day nearly tore me apart. It was
almost as if Richard had placed his hand in her chest and physically
pulled out her real heart. That night, as we sat on the roof in silence,
looking at the moon, I decided that I would give her my most special
treasure; the locket my mother had given me. My mother had told me
that I should hold that locket until I found someone special to give it to,
and then I was to give it to him or her so that they would always have it
to remember me by. It was a beautiful golden star locket that played
music, and until now not even Serena knew that I owned it. At first she
refused to take it, but then I told her that it would just replace the
bracelet that broke until I could fix it. Every time I got close to getting her
to accept the gift, she would always tell me how she didn't have
something to give me that was this good. So in the end I convinced her
that one kiss a day on the cheek would make up for it, and she agreed to
the exchange with a smile.
Even through the exchange and replacement of her bracelet by the
locket, Serena was still weary of being attacked all the time by Richard.
So one night, we devised a plan.
"You got the water Darien?" Serena asked me.
"Y-y-yeah...right-right h-here." I said to her as I handed her the cup of
water. "Are-are y-you sure we...we sh-should do this?" I asked her
nervously as we headed towards the room where the boys slept.
"Yup, we have to go through with this Darien...you thought of it." She
began. "You can't back out now, it's now or never." She finished.
"Oh, o-ok." I replied as we approached Richard's bed. I did my part and
watched out to see if anyone was coming as Serena poured the warm
water slowly right on Richard's pants and between his legs on the bed.
When she was done she quickly pulled me aside.
"I'm going back to my room...we'll see what happens in the mornin'." She
said before quickly slipping away. Without another thought I slipped into
my bed that night with thoughts of what would happen the following
morning.
"Ewwww! Richard peed in bed!" Exclaimed one little girl amongst the
crowd of children.
"I did not!" I heard him retort.
"Did too!" Another in the crowd yelled.
"Richard's a pee-pee boy, Richard's a pee-pee boy!" The girls began to
chant.
"I am not."
"Richard's a pee-pee boy, Richard's a pee-pee boy!" They continued to
chant until Carol finally came to see what was going on.
"What's going on here?" She said sternly causing everyone to straighten
up and quiet down.
"Ms. Carol, Richard peed in his bed." One little girl cried out.
"Richard, is this so?" Ms. Carol asked. Richard just looked on with a
blank face.
"I didn't do it...honest." He replied.
Ha! Not so tough anymore are ya?
"Come with me." Ms. Carol said as she led him out the room, the echoes
of laughter following him in his wake. Henceforth Richard became known
as the pee-pee boy.
For a while, everything was all right. I continued to make Serena pretty
gifts, and she continued to kiss me on the cheek in gratitude. When
Serena became eight and started going to a public school, things got a
little boring again. In case you are slightly confused, here at the
orphanage, kids don't start going to a public school until they're eight
years old. I think out of the whole orphanage, besides all of the pre-
schoolers, I was the only one who didn't go to Crossroads Elementary. I
had to go to a special school for children that were slower than others, as
Ms. Carol would call it. I knew better though, it was a school for retarded
children. I never felt so alone as I did whenever I went to that school; I
had to ride that special bus, with the special children so that everyone
would know that I was stupid. And to make things worse, everyone at the
orphanage that was my age, were learning cooler things like math and
reading; I was learning how to make cool artsy stuff, not that I really
minded, I liked making stuff for Serena. But I wanted to do the things
that they were doing, but the teachers always reminded me that it would
take too long to teach me, and that I was too slow to learn; even Serena
was learning how to read. Everyday she would come home from school
and tell me about her day; she told me about her new friend Molly who
she talked to at school and all the cool stuff that she colored in her art
class that she had made from me. I would always listen attentively, as
she would show me what each picture meant, and then I would carefully
place the picture in my special box as not to wrinkle it. Then one day I
wasn't so attentive, and she immediately caught on to me.
"What's wrong Darien?" She asked as I turned away from her to look at
the sun shinning through the window.
"N-n-nawthing." I replied as I sagged my shoulders.
"You can tell me...isn't that...isn't that what-what a girlfriend is for?" She
asked nervously as she twirled her thumbs and looked downcast at
them. I turned and looked at her sad dejected figure and at once began
to speak.
"I-I...it's ju-just thawt I-I waunt to-to learn h-how to read l-like y-
you...and I-I wish thawt I c-could g-go to a sch-ool like y-ou."
"I wish you could go to...but if you want..." She paused as she looked up
to me. "I can teach you what ever I learn in school...and then you can
learn with me." She replied softly.
"R-r-really!" I asked her incredulously.
"If you want to...I'm not that smart...but I can try."
From that day on whenever Serena came home, she would show me the
letters and teach me how to pronounce them; everything was going well
until one day the scariest thing of all happened. It was the one thing that
we had never expected to happen.
When Ms. Carol came to our usual playing spot, I wasn't sure what to
expect. Both Serena and me looked on incredulously as she knelt down
to the ground in front of the two of us.
"Excuse me, Serena." She began. "There are some people here who would
like to meet you." She said in a soft singsong voice.
"Can Darien come too?" She asked innocently. Ms. Carol winced inwardly
as Serena's comment; she had this look on her face as if she was hiding
some unbearable truth.
"No sweetheart, just you." Ms. Carol replied.
"When I finish can I come back to play?" She asked. Neither of us noticed
how Ms. Carol ignored that question, but merely stood up and continued
as if it was never heard.
"Come on Serena...they're waiting."
"D-d-don't wor-ry S-Serena." I told her. "I'll-I'll wait f-for y-ou at da win-
dow." I said to her with a smile.
"OK, but don't cheat!" She smiled as she stood up from the game we were
playing and took Ms. Carol's hand.
It was the last time that I ever seen her at the orphanage again.
I waited for hours in our favorite spot for Serena to come back; but she
never did. But I was always hopeful, I merely assumed that whatever
they needed Serena for was taking longer than they expected. I went to
bed like all the rest and was the first one up the next morning and
dressed. I waited outside the door of the girl's bedroom for Serena to
come out but she never did. When all the girls were seemingly gone, I
poked my head into their quarters to find it empty.
So I did the only thing I could do; I went to Ms. Carol.
"M-ms. C-Carol." I began as I stood in her office. "Wh-where where's S-
Ser-ena?" As soon as I had spoken the words, she sighed.
"Sit down Darien." She ordered, and I numbly complied.
"Serena...Serena's been taken to a home...because a man and a woman
came in the other day to...to take her to a nice place because...because
they wanted her."
"Is-is sh-e gowen to c-come b-ba-ck?" I asked nervously.
"No Darien...she isn't coming back." Ms. Carol replied with another sigh.
"B-but sh-she has-has to c-come b-back!" I cried out. "Sh-she l-left
her...l-left her sp-ecial b-ox." I finished. "Sh-she can-can't l-le-ave with-
without her-her sp-ecial b-ox."
"I'm sorry Darien...but her new parents didn't want her to take anything
from the orphanage with her."
"B-but she-she waon't rem-mem-ber m-e with-without her sp-special b-
ox!" I cried out as I immediately stood up from where I was seated.
"She won't forget you Darien...I promise...you just have to...to
understand that..."
"I-I waunt S-Ser-ena!" I cried out as I began to awkwardly through things
off her desk. "She-she's m-my on-ly frend...she-she's m-my g-g-girl-
frend!" I continued to cry out as my anger lashed out of me.
"Darien stop it!" Ms. Carol cried out as she ran to the other side of the
room to stop my tirade.
"I waunt h-her b-ack!" I cried as I allowed my fist to fling every which
way. But instead of yelling at me, and telling me to go to my room as she
did other children when they were bad, she merely held me as I
continued to kick and scream, tears streaming down my face. "Br-bring
S-Ser-ena b-b-ack!" I continuously cried, my fists still swinging until I
finally had no energy to fight anymore. Eventually I slipped to the ground
and curled into a ball with my thumb in my mouth. "I-I...I waunt S-Ser-
ena." I continuously cried out until I fell asleep right there on the floor of
her office.
Serena was gone, and there was nothing I could do about it. She was the
only one who understood me, who I knew I could talk to and not ridicule
me. From that day forth I didn't talk to anybody at the orphanage; I went
to school as usual, made Serena a gift as if she was still there, and then
took her special box from our hiding spot and placed the new gifts in it. I
would sit in our special spot as usual, go to the roof at night as usual,
but I would sit silently and not say a word. Ms. Carol repeatedly tried to
get me to speak to her, but I wouldn't. They even tried to get a child
psychologist to try and talk to me, but even he didn't get anywhere.
Eventually, they all just gave up hope as I continued to shrink into the
shadows and into my little corner of the orphanage. Without Serena here,
there was no reason to speak anymore, no reason to hope, no reason to
laugh, and no reason to play. Once again I was alone, with no one to call
my own.