Essence left the orphanage that day with her new parents. She followed Lucky out to their limo and got into the backseat with Charles and Lucky. Then Miles, the limo driver, started the car then drove away from the orphanage. Out the back seat window looked Essence. She stared back as the only home she ever knew disappeared into the distance. Half-saddened, half glad to finally leave, Essence turned around and looked forward towards the sites ahead.
She felt the car stop and she sat up. Looking around she blinked a few times before she realized that they were in front of a big house and that she must have fallen asleep on the way here. She opened the car door and got out and looked at the house. It was big! Bigger than the orphanage, 3 times bigger. 'These must be nice people,' Essence thought to herself as they walked into the house where they were greeted by a man who opened the door for them and offered to take their coats. 'This must be the butler' Essence said in her mind. A young girl in a maids uniform appeared in the hallway a few steps ahead of them. The maid smiled at Essence and curtsied. Charles went into a room that Lucky told her was his home office. Lucky smiled at Essence, "This is our butler, Tyler, and this is your personal maid, Annie. Annie will you please show Essence to her room. I'm going to go freshen up for dinner," And with that Lucky turned around and walked down the hall to a suite of rooms. Essence turned back to Annie and followed her up the stairs, to the left and three doors down the hall Annie opened the doors to the biggest room Essence had ever seen. It was as big as all the girls' rooms at the orphanage put together. "Wow," Said Essence as she walked in and looked around. "Is the room all right miss?" Essence had almost forgotten that Annie was there. She turned to Annie and smiled, "Its perfect! Tell me Annie how old are you?" "I'm 16 Miss." "Miss? Just call me
Essence. Do you have any brothers or sisters?" "Yes. One brother named Hunter. He goes to the same school a me. I assume you'll be going there as well. Now if you'll excuse me I better get back to work before I get into trouble." She smiled as she turned around and left the room. Essence laid back on the bed and closed her eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The weekend went by fast. Lucky took Essence school clothes shopping both Saturday and Sunday.
Lucky told her that she would be attending a public school for now. I was happy to hear this because I knew that at private schools you had to wear a uniform and I liked wearing what I wanted. Lucky dropped me off at the mall and gave me $400 and said to buy whatever clothes I wanted. I smiled to myself as I went into the mall and looked at some of the clothes at a store. After about two and a half-hours of picking out and trying on clothes I had bought all the clothes I felt I needed for school. I still had a lot of money left so I called Lucky and told her I was ready. I was waiting outside when the limo came by and I got in and went home. I went straight up to my room and put away my clothes then I went back downstairs and out the back door into the garden. The garden was huge and in the middle of the garden there was a little maze. Being curious and wanting to know where it lead I followed it. I walked through the maze for what seemed like an hour until I finally came out at the other end. I stood by the maze and looked up at the house that was now before me. It was big. Not as big as Charles and Luckys house but it was still big. The house looked like there was someone living in there and I could see smoke coming out of the chimney.
"Who are you and what do you think you are doing?" I heard someone ask and I turned around quickly to see a boy about my age with light brown hair and blue eyes. "Well?" He asked me when I didn't answer right away. "I'm Essence, I was just looking around and I saw the maze and ended up here." I answered. "Oh. your Essence. My sister told me about you. I'm Hunter. This is our house." He said pointing to the house behind him. "You should get back Essence. Its getting late." "I guess it is. Well bye then." "See you at school." He said and smiled as he walked to his house and went inside. I smiled to myself as I walked back through the maze and into the house. Lucky and Charles had gone out tonight so I ate dinner alone and then went to bed early.