Chapter VII
I woke up the next morning feeling uncomfortable. I lifted my head off of what looked to be the Monopoly board and felt the side of my face sorely. I had slept on the ground of Toms room, but the strange thing was I couldn't remember falling asleep. I assumed I must have passed out during the night and Tom just never bothered to help me to my room.
I looked around the room for Tom; he was sleeping peacefully in his bed tucked under many layers of comfy blankets.
"Yah couldn't have given me a blanket? Thanks, Asshole." I left the room feeling bitter and sore.
It was Saturday, the best day of the week. No chores, no homework, and lot's of free time. Though, at an orphanage free time, at times, could be a curse. These were the moments where you had nothing to do but think. Unpredictable thoughts ran through my mind in the quiet, that's why I didn't like it quiet. If you looked up talkative in the dictionary it's meaning and synonym would be Mishka; while its antonym would be Tom.
I thought about the Magic world and about my father. I missed him, I missed it all. I resented the ministry and my family for not bothering to find me. Young people, like myself, had a trace on them so the Ministry could keep track of them. It would be easy to find me, yet it appeared they didn't bother. I felt bitter, and then a warm thought popped into my head. At least I had Tom.
I was interrupted when I heard someone bellow outside the girls bathroom, "hurry up, Mishka!" When I exited the bathroom Tom was waiting for me already changed and showered himself.
"Where were you this morning?" He snapped.
"I got changed and ready, is that alright with you?" I snapped back.
He was glaring defensively, "Next time you'll wait until I wake up, and then you'll get ready in my room."
"Why do I have to wait and get read in your room?" I was starting to get sick of his over-controlling attitude.
"So I can keep an eye on you, you have a habit of getting yourself into trouble. I can't let that happen now can I?"
"And why can't you?" I crossed my arms over my chest in a defiant position.
"Because, you idiot. You're of use to me, and if you get a detention for breaking the rules or hospitalized by getting into a idiotic fight, like last night, then it'll delay my plans."
"What plans?"
"None of your business." He snapped.
I pursed my lips and hmphed. I told Tom everything. I never kept secrets, and I realized that this didn't work in reverse; like so many other things in our relationship. I was frustrated by how far out of the loop I was being kept, it really wasn't fair.
"Come on," he urged. "I want to get to breakfast before it's all gone." He started to walk away but I didn't follow. I was adamant that I wouldn't let him push me around anymore. He turned the corner and walked out of my sight and I felt myself feel uneasy. I ran to catch up with him reluctantly, not wanting to be left alone.
"Tom, tell about how you ended up here." I asked while we ate our oatmeal.
"What does it matter?"
"Please," I urged.
He shrugged and broke eye contact, looking down at his bowl blankly. "I never knew my mom, she died giving birth to me. My father was never in the picture, or so Mrs. Cole tells me."
"Oh," I muttered. The conversation got brutally quiet after that and I felt I had to make small talk to ease the invisible tension between us. "How old are you, Tom?"
"Eleven, you?" He said devoid of any interest what-so-ever in the topic.
"… It's May… so I'm eleven. I guess I kind of forgot about my birthday. It was last week." I shrugged not really caring about the celebration at the moment.
"How do you forget your birthday, are you really that slow?" I shrugged, I was getting use to Tom's insults. They felt more like icebreakers then actual malicious slurs.
"Well my father died, and then my mind got a little preoccupied while avoiding Amy and the other bullies."
"You act like your life's so tough, it's no worse then anyone else's." he muttered.
"Whatever, Tom. You asked, I just told you the truth."
"It was rhetorical, insults tend to be rhetorical." I didn't bother arguing the case, I let it drop and the silence filled between us again. After breakfast Tom dragged me outside and away from the orphanage.
"Where we going?" I asked him.
"I want to show you something."
"But we're getting pretty far away from the orphanage, and we're not supposed to be on the streets."
Tom stopped abruptly in the middle of the sidewalk, and I followed suit. Grown-ups began to move around us as they quickly traveled to their jobs. "Do you really care if we break a couple of rules?" I thought about it and shook my head no. "Then hurry up."
We walked nearly twenty minutes. The industrial buildings began to thin, as did the concrete. We were now in the country, where grass and tree's were left untouched by the aluminum paradise that we called the city. Tom took a detour and we walked into a forest area where the trees came closer and closer together. Branches swatted me in the face and I consistently stepped on acorns.
"Hurry up," Tom ordered, and continued to walk closer to a cave that was up ahead.
I walked in with him and felt a chill crawl up my spine. I wasn't scared of the darkness that seemed to overwhelm the place or the walls that were coated with a slimy thick substance. I was scared because I knew that whatever Tom was hiding in here, it wasn't good.
"Tom what did you want to show me?"
I felt him grab my wrist and pull me forward. "Sit here," he ordered and guided me towards a flat rock.
"I come here a lot." He told me abruptly.
"What is this place?"
I felt Tom move to sit next to me on the rock. "It's a den where all of my friends are." He said almost inaudibly, distant.
"Your friends?" I felt a twinge of jealousy. I wanted to be his only friend, as selfish at it sounded. I looked around the room, seeing nothing but darkness, and then I heard it; a slithering, hissing noise. Something slithered past my lap and I could feel slimy skin rub against my bare legs.
"T-t-tom, what's on my leg-g?" I stuttered.
"A snake," I held my breath and started to shake in panic. I didn't want to scream and upset it, but the way it was moving across me made me feel sick to my stomach. It started hissing, and then I heard more hissing come by Tom.
"That's strange," he muttered. I felt the snake coil into a ball on my lap and silently lap its tongue in a low hiss.
"What I-is," I stuttered again.
"She likes you." I could see the shape of Tom's hand come out and pet the top of the snakes head. "Snakes usually don't like anyone, but their own kind, and well me, of course."
"How do y-you know th-that?"
"Stop stuttering, you sound like an idiot. You don't have to be afraid of them. Just calm down, she won't bite you. And to answer your question, I can talk to snakes, can't everyone in the magic world?"
"You're a Parselmouth?" I half yelled at him.
"I don't know what that is?"
"It's what we call people who can talk to snakes… it's very rare… it's a genetic trait that only Salazar Slytherine's family is known to have."
Tom was quiet a minute, calculating what I had said as usual. "So I'm his descendent… Tell me about him."
"Get me out of this cave first, I'm getting creped out."
Tom pumped me for information on his family for the rest of the day and by the time we had gotten back to the orphanage it was dinner time. We peered inside the moldy, rundown, cafeteria and saw all of the kids sitting and chatting away over the disgusting leftovers from yesterday. One of the kids made eye contact with Tom and I, it was Dennis and it appeared that his nose was finally back in place. Tom lost interest in dinner and turned around to walk to his room, but Dennis was still glaring at us and then he smiled.
"MISHKA AND TOM SITTING IN A TREE K.I.S.S.I.N.G." Everyone joined in on the rhyme. Tom snapped back around and gave one of the most menacing looks I had ever seen; I could almost see him torturing them in his mind. Immediately the entire hall went silent. Tom grabbed me harshly by the wrist and dragged me to the top of the marble staircase where all of the orphans bedrooms were.
"Go get your stuff and bring it into my room."
"Why?"
"Because, you're staying in my room from now on."
"But."
"No buts, go get your stuff, you have five minutes."
I didn't fight with him, I obeyed his command as usual. I grabbed the few things I had and closed the door quietly. When I walked into Toms room I noticed that he had crafted a makeshift bed on the floor for me. It was poorly made, but I felt a twinge of warmth to see he had made some efforts to accommodate me.
"I cleared the closet for you." He told me and I emptied my stuff into it. The matron yelled down the hallway her warning, and 5 minutes later the lights were out. Tom grunted and put down his book seeing as it was to dark to read. It was silent and the craziness was running through my head again. I didn't want to bother Tom with my questions, he seemed to hate it when I questioned him, but I really had to know something before I fell asleep.
"Tom, if you could have anything in the world what would you have?"
"Everything," he said easily.
