GS Note: Well, I don't know if I'll have a chance to say it again, but GO CANADA! Win, win, win, gold, gold, gold! Our ladies hockey team beat the Americans, you can too! Damn, guys do you know how obsessive hockey is? I gotta work during the game tomorrow so I'm taking my walkman to listen! Our school was announcing the score for Canada vs. Belarus and I listened on the bus. I went from from, yea, hockey, to YEA HOCKEY, in like, 2 days! Wish Canada luck, if we win gold again we are officially number one in hockey in the world! Our ladies beat the undefeated Americans and I can only hope our guys can too! Oh yea, and uh, thanks for reviewing peeps!

Chapter 5

Coming Clean

Maxwell Church. This was a place I would know well. I looked around, unimpressed by what I saw. I may have lived in less then desirable conditions but this place seemed more like an abandoned building instead of a Church. If I had known there were buildings like this, I would have started to sneak into houses more often. There was so much useless, dirty junk around I could have easily hidden myself in here for days and no one would notice if I stole something.

"I'm sorry for the mess," Sister Helen noticed my look and brought me back to reality. "Myself and Father Maxwell, the man you met, were just assigned here. We haven't have a chance to clean up."

I nodded stiffly, I was unused to having people address me.

"I can give you a bit of background," Sister Helen waved a hand to a couch that was oddly placed against the wall and stood out as it had been cleaned. She sat down and unbuttoned the tall habit she wore around her head. I stood still as she pulled it off her head. I was mesmerised by the long blonde hair that fell from it. She sighed in relief and ran a hand through her long hair, separated it.

"Well come a sit," she patted the cushion beside her on the couch. I slowly walked forward and settled uncomfortably on the plush surface. I bounced experimentally but stopped when she started to speak. "The Maxwell Church building is almost one hundred years old. It was a house for an extremely rich family but was converted to be a Church about fifty years ago. Then St Joseph's opened about twenty years ago and this Church was too small to hold the Catholic population while St Joseph's was huge. I'm sure you must have seen it. Maxwell Church fell to disuse until Father Maxwell, who's great-great-grandfather first built this house, decided that this place deserved a second chance. So he requested help from my organisation and they sent a nun, that's me. We arrived a few weeks ago."

She smiled as the memories hit her. "I thought Father Maxwell was crazy, this was an old run-down building with no hope of becoming a Church! I helped him but this place wasn't making progress until about a week ago. That boy outside, the one that was standing with Father Maxwell, came to us during that bad snowstorm. We found him curled up on this couch here. He didn't have a name but was so polite and kind. We decided to keep him for a few days until the police could find a home for him," her voice turned wishful. "I'll miss him. He still doesn't have a name though, he said he would get one when the time comes." She looked off to the wall, dreamily. "A boy that young shouldn't have to live on the streets like he did."

She turned to me again, a curious expression on her face. "So, what's your name?"

My throat was mysteriously dry. I swallowed and looked at her with large, imploringly eyes. "I dun' 'ave un."

Sister Helen looked at me with a shocked expression. Ashamed I looked to my feet in their oversized boots and felt oddly out of place in this building. It made me nervous. I felt her shift on her side of the couch and flinched, expecting harsh words or a stinging slap.

"I never knew things were this bad," she had leaned back on the couch and looked imploring at the ceiling. "How many kids are out there without names or homes? We've found two in a week, how many more are we destine to find?"

Suddenly she was struck with an idea. She bolted up straight and I jumped off the couch, scattering to the opposite wall. She grinned wildly and said loudly," Maxwell Church has found its purpose!" She turned to me, smiling and it unnerved me. "Come on, nameless one, let's get you a bath to warm you up!"

I followed her to the end of the room. There was another staircase here too, where is led I didn't know as it was too dark and steep to see. On the wall beside the stairs, though, was a door. Sister Helen opened it. I stepped inside curiously, it was bright, chilly and yellow. I suppose it had been a private bathroom, there was a bathtub, toilet and sink with a counter.

"You can take a bath now then eat. How does that sound?"

"C'n I not have th' bath?"

"No," Sister Helen chuckled. "I'll start it, you take off your clothes."

With that, I froze. There was no way she expected me to actually just take off my clothes! I grabbed her wrist, my hard, red hands grasping her thin, white wrists.

"No!" I said firmly and shook my head. She looked at me surprised.

"You need a bath-"

"Not takin' m' clothes off," I said firmly and tightened my grip on her hand until my filthy fingernails ground into her skin making her flinch. She looked at me shock and a tingle of fear in her eyes as I glared at her.

"All right," she said slowly. "I'll just fill up the tub, then you can get cleaned off while I make you some food."

I nodded and released her as she turned the handle on the bath again. I occupied myself with looking around. The counter was well over my head but I saw a shiny thing on the wall above it. Sister Helen finished with the tub so it was half way filled with clean, warm water. She left after showing me how to lock the door, which I did as soon as she was out. I looked up at the wall over the counter again. I wasn't about to let my guard down now and I wanted to know what was up there.

I climbed up on the toilet and then onto the counter. It was a mirror. I got a look at myself. Sure I had seen my reflection in puddles or glass but never this clear.

My hair was long and disleveled, mud and sticks firmly caught in it. My face was so layer with dirt you couldn't tell my skin colour. My face was thin and my eyes looked out from hollow cheeks. My ears were tipped with blue from the cold and when I reached to feel my face it was numb and leathery. I hurriedly jumped down from the mirror shaken and went to the water.

I did kick off my boots, it was too awkward to stand or kneel by the tub in them. I carefully stepped into the warm water, hissing as my cold skin warmed up too fast. I stood there, wiggling my bare toes as I started to feel in them for the first time in weeks. Stubborn dirt started to reluctantly lift as I knelt down in the water, careful not to get the top of my shorts wet. My knees and legs screamed in protest but I just gritted my teeth as I was filled with the pain and pleasure of hot warmth on cold skin. The water was starting to get dirty but I scooped some up in my hands and gulped it down. Again and again I plunged my hands in and greedily drank the clean water. I'm sure it wasn't sanitary as my hands were filthy but it was the cleanest water I had in a long time. After I was satisfied, I placed my hands in so I was on all fours in the heavenly water.

Slowly the needle-pain in my body started to leave as the skin loosened for the water. The rest of my body chilled compared to my legs and hands so I developed goose bumps. I realised now, why people took off their clothes for a bath, your body could be all one temperature.

I wasn't too sure about the lock though, so I settled for the half-in half-out sensation. I splashed water on my face and arms, years of dirt lifting off for the first time. I knelt in the tub for a long time, until the water was brown with dirt and cold. I stood up to get out when there was a knock at the door.

"Are you all right in there?" Sister Helen asked, concerned.

I swear, I almost cried. She sounded like she cared, like she cared about me!

Me. Little me.

"Yea," I answered in a gruff, unused voice. Things would be different now, I hoped anyhow.