"Children!," Nancy hollered from within the dining room. "Children, please come to the dining room for an important announcement! I know that it's very late, but you will not want to miss this!" Alex stood next to her, shuffling her feet nervously. The sounds of numerous footsteps filled the entire building as about a dozen children filed out of their rooms, mumbling sleepily while rubbing their eyes. It was understandable, considering that they had just been woken up in the middle of the night. Alex shivered with anticipation upon seeing how many children were filing into the dining room and taking their seats. Nancy noticed how nervous Alex was and placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, giving her a comforting squeeze.
"It'll be alright," she whispered into the girl's ear. After all the children had entered the dining room and were obediently sitting on their chairs, Nancy cleared her throat. "Children," she announced. "I apologize for having to wake you all up so late in the night, but I have some special news for all of you." The children murmured amongst themselves. None of them noticed Alex silently standing just behind their caretaker. Said caretaker cleared her throat again to silence the children. "Everyone, I would like you all to meet our newest member of the family, Alexandra. You may call her Alex for short." The children finally noticed a new kid hiding behind Nancy. Nancy stepped aside and gently pushed her forward.
Alex stared at the children. The children stared back. After an awkward silence, Alex slowly waved her hand with a small smile. "Hi, I'm Alex," she said, wincing at how loud her voice sounded as it echoed across the dining room. "It's nice to meet all of you. I hope we can all be friends." Then, she put her hand down and waited for their reaction nervously.
If Alex was worried that they were the type of children to gang up on the new kid, she was instantly proven wrong when everyone at the dining table got up from their seats and crowded around her, asking numerous questions like, "What's your favorite food or color?" or "Are you an alien?" Alex was both surprised by how friendly the children were and afraid of all the attention she was getting. Nancy noticed this and let out a sharp whistle, causing everyone in the room to go still. "I'm glad that you are all so eager to make a new friend," she said, "but the fastest way to scare someone off is to overcrowd them." At that moment, the children realized their mistake and smiled sheepishly, apologizing for their behavior and going back to their seats. Alex blinked in surprise. The children here are VERY friendly.
"As you all know, Alex is new here," said Nancy, "so make sure to treat her respectfully. I will not tolerate any bullying under my roof, understand?" She gave the children a stern glare, causing them to wilt and nod. Alex couldn't help but be in awe of her. Nancy was friendly and kind to all the children but was also not afraid to be stern with them. "Good," said Nancy, smiling. "You can all go back to bed now. Tomorrow, make sure to welcome her in the dining room during breakfast time." "Yes, Nancy," the children chorused, then got up from their chairs and neatly filed out of the room instead of pushing and shoving like most other children. After everyone besides Alex and Nancy were back in bed, Nancy smiled down at Alex. "Let's get you a new room, okay?" Alex smiled back and nodded. "Thank you, Miss Nancy."
Nancy chuckled. "Please, just call me Nancy," she said. "Everyone calls me that, even the children. I don't want our relationship to be hindered by formalities." Alex slowly nodded, though she had no idea what Nancy just said. Nancy took Alex by the hand and led her down some corridors before coming across an empty room. Inside the room was a small bed, a chest, and various toys. "This is where you'll be sleeping," said Nancy. "If you ever need anything, I'll be in my office." Giving her one last smile, Nancy left the room and walked back to her office, leaving Alex to get accustomed to her new room. The girl picked a ball off the floor and tossed it into the air a few times. Then, she walked up to the bed and jumped on it a little.
Alex laid on her new bed and stared at the ceiling. An unpleasant feeling rolled around in her stomach. She didn't know why, but it felt like a large piece of her was missing. Did it have something to do with her memories? She squeezed her eyes shut and tried her best to remember what happened right before she ended up in front of the orphanage. For some reason, she just couldn't remember. Nor could she remember anything before that. If Alex didn't know any better, she could've sworn that she just popped into existence. But she knew that wasn't the case. Alex may have lost her memories, but she still had these strange feelings telling her that she wasn't supposed to be here, that she had a family once. She was sure of it. She just couldn't remember their names, faces, or even their voices.
Alex sighed and curled up into her blankets, continuing to stare at the ceiling. "Alex," she whispered to herself, testing out her new name. "Alex. Alex. Alex." A small smile grew on her face. She liked that name. Pretty soon, her eyes grew weary and she fell into a deep sleep. Her last thought before falling asleep was wondering what tomorrow was going to bring.
Sadly, when Alex woke up the next morning, she still couldn't remember anything apart from what happened last night. Sighing, she fixed up her bed and went down to the dining bedroom for breakfast. It was just as crowded as last night. Nancy wasn't there, probably in her office doing some paperwork, but there was no need for her to keep the peace. The children were eating and chatting noisily, which was to be expected, but they weren't running around and making a mess like most children do when there is no adult supervision.
After getting some chicken salad from a nearby bar, she searched the room for an empty seat. A few kids saw her coming and waved to her. "Come sit with us, Alex!," one called out. "No, come sit with us!," said another one. Alex smiled at them shyly but walked past them and eventually found a chair in the corner of the room, away from everyone else. She felt guilty for rejecting their invitation when they were just being nice to her, but she just wasn't ready to interact with so many people her age. Now that she thought about it, that was pretty strange. She used to be so hyper and extroverted before...wait a minute! She was starting to remember something! Alex settled her breakfast tray on her lap and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping to conjure up any more memories. A few kids nearby looked at her strangely, since it looked like Alex was trying to let out a long pent up fart and rocket herself through the roof.
Unfortunately, all Alex could remember at that moment was that she used to live with adults all the time, which explained why she was so comfortable around Nancy but nervous around children her own age. Sighing, Alex took a bite of her chicken salad, which turned out to be surprisingly good. She took a few more bites eagerly, and even went back to the bar for seconds. Once she settled back down in her chair, she looked around the room of chatting children and sighed again. Even though there were so many other people with her, she still felt so sad and lonely. With no memory of how she got here, this was unfamiliar territory.
Alex was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice one kid straying from the crowd and walking towards her, nor did she hear his footsteps growing louder. It wasn't until the boy tapped her on the shoulder that she jumped in her seat, nearly spilling her leftover salad. She turned to face the boy, who had brown, messy hair, jade green eyes, and a slightly flat face with his nose a little higher than normal. Despite having a pretty punchable face, he had a smile that quickly put Alex at ease. "Hey, I didn't mean to scare you," he said. "I was just wondering why you were sitting here all by yourself. Don't you want to eat with the rest of us?"
"That's okay," said Alex, smiling back. "I'm just eating alone because...I'm a little nervous meeting all these other people." "That's how I felt when I first came here," said the boy, grinning. "Heck, everyone's felt like that on their first day. It's pretty tough going to a new place where you don't know anyone. That's why all they need is someone to help them get comfortable here." The boy held out his hand for a handshake. "My name's Aiden, by the way. What's yours?" Alex took Aiden's hand and shook it. "My name's Alex," she said. "It's nice to meet you."
On that day, Alex made her first friend in the orphanage. Aiden helped walk her around the orphanage and introduced her to two of his friends, Gill and Maya. Maya was shy just like Alex was, though they quickly warmed up to each other, while Gill was a jokester who loved giving high fives to everyone he came across, hence why Alex's hand became swollen red by the end of the day. All in all, they were very nice people. "Everyone here is nice," Aiden answered when Alex asked him about that. "We're all orphans, so we know what it's like not to feel loved or wanted. That's why we have this sense of community even though we don't know each other, you know? And even if some new kid does come around and start acting like hot stuff, Nancy is always there to set them straight. She's cool like that."
As Alex hung out with Aiden over time, her confidence began to grow. A few weeks later, instead of sitting alone in the corner like she usually did, she started joining the other children at the dining table, always sitting next to Aiden, Gill, and Maya. Pretty soon, the four of them were inseparable. They even decided to call themselves by a new name. The four friends voted and the name "the Ocelots" won out, even though Gill was very adamant on "the Blaze Rods." After a full year has passed, Alex became a completely different person. She had turned from a shy, introverted girl to a loud, brash tomboy. She had replaced her pink dress with a normal shirt and shorts, and had even cut and styled her hair into a pixie cut. Nancy's yells were heard all over the orphanage when the caretaker discovered Alex in the bathroom with piles of hair around her feet and a pair of scissors in her hand. "Scissors are for construction paper only, not for hair!," Alex remembered her yelling. "Count yourself lucky that you didn't gouge one of your eyes out in the process!" Nancy turned out to be very protective of the children, as well as super intense when she gets mad. Alex never went anywhere NEAR a pair of scissors after that incident. She'd prefer to keep both of her eyes where they belong, thank you very much!
Other than that, Alex's new life in the orphanage was pretty uneventful. She had plenty of fun with her new friends, but every day was pretty much the same. She got up in the morning, went down to the dining room to have breakfast and catch up with her friends, and they played together in the fenced off yard just outside of the back of the building for the rest of the day. Since there was not much to do in the orphanage, that was all they could do. There was, however, one exciting day that occurred, possibly a little too exciting for their tastes.
On a few occasions, Nancy would take all the children out on little field trips. Everyone looked forward to those days because they added a bit of variety to their otherwise monotonous lives. On that day, Nancy took the children to a nearby candy store, much to their delight. All the children lined up neatly and quietly with no pushing or shoving as they filed into the store. A few people saw them behaving so well and congratulated Nancy on taking such good care of them. Nancy, who wasn't really used to praise, slightly blushed. "It's nothing, really," she said to them. "All they need is some love and care, that's all." Finally, everyone had picked their candy from the store. Alex got herself a cherry flavored lollipop, Aiden got a pack of bubble gum, Maya got a strip of licorice, and Gill got a chocolate bunny covered in gold paper.
"Is everyone enjoying their candies?," asked Nancy, receiving cheers and nods of affirmation. "They're the best!," hollered Gill, biting his bunny's head off. Nancy giggled. "Alright, we're going to the park next. Make sure not to stray from the group, understand?" "Yes, Nancy," everyone said in unison. Suddenly, a man in a blue uniform ran into the town square. "Attention! Attention, everyone!," he announced, grabbing the attention of everyone nearby. "I am Officer Jones, a police officer! Everyone needs to evacuate right now! There will be more cops coming soon, so make haste!" Most of the crowd stared at him while some of them grumbled, angry that their day had been ruined. As everyone began to evacuate, Nancy looked around in concern. "I wonder what's going on," she said. "Children, follow me. Don't get lost."
Nancy weaved her way through the crowd and towards the police officer while the children closely followed her. "Excuse me, sir," she said, tapping him on the shoulder. "Why does everyone have to evacuate? Why are more policemen coming?" "Ma'am," said the officer, tilting his hat in reply. "I'm afraid there's no time. You and your…" He looked at the children. "...fifteen children need to evacuate with everyone else, pronto." "Officer, please," Nancy said sternly. "If this has anything to do with the children, I have a right to know." Officer Jones opened his mouth to protest, then sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Alright," he agreed. "Guess it couldn't hurt. We got reports that a robbery just occurred not too far from here." "What? A robbery?," Nancy asked in alarm. "Yes, ma'am," said the officer. "That's why we're evacuating everyone. We don't know where those criminals are right now. They could be hiding anywhere. That's why we're trying to get more cops on the scene." "I understand," said Nancy, nodding. "I'll be sure to keep my guard up and notify you if I notice anything suspicious."
"Good," said the officer, then looked at the children. "Now did you make sure to do a headcount? It's easy for someone to get lost in this town." "Don't worry, officer," Nancy replied. "My children are very smart and obedient. They won't-" Suddenly, she stopped. Her heart leaped into her throat and her face grew pale. Something that the policeman said earlier didn't sound right. "Ma'am?," the officer asked worriedly. "Are you alright? You look awfully pale." "Officer," Nancy whispered. "Did you say that there were...fifteen children with me?" The officer nodded hesitantly. "...yes, that's what I said." Nancy took a shaky breath and tried to hold back a scream. "...there's supposed to be nineteen of them…" She quickly turned around and frantically did a headcount. Then, she did it again to make sure that she wasn't hallucinating, although she wished that was actually the case. Alex, Aiden, Maya, and Gill were missing.
Nancy began to hyperventilate while the children and Officer Jones looked at her in concern. "They're gone...oh god, they're gone!" "Ma'am, calm down," said the officer, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Panicking won't get you anywhere." Nancy seemed to slightly calm down, though she was still visibly distressed. "I lost them...why did I take my eyes off of them?" "Don't blame yourself, ma'am," said the officer. "This town is easy to get lost in. Look, I'll notify the other cops and tell them to be on the lookout for those missing kids. You and the children go back home and stay there until this situation has been resolved."
Nancy shook her head. "No. I can't just abandon them like that." She gave the officer a pleading look. "Please take the children back to the orphanage on the other side of town. That's where they live. They'll be safe here. I'll stay here and help with the search." "Absolutely not," said Officer Jones. "It's too dangerous. If you come across those guys, they could-"
"Listen to me!," Nancy suddenly growled, grabbing Jones by the front of his uniform and pulling him towards her. "I am NOT, nor will I EVER, leave them behind! While you take the children to the orphanage, I am going to participate in this search party whether you like it or not. Do. You. Understand." Usually, such an action would have warranted an arrest, but after staring into the eyes of an angry mother hen, Officer Jones felt all the fight leave his body, as well as a little bit of urine. "O-of course, ma'am. Could you...let go now?"
Unbeknownst to either of them, Alex, Aiden, Maya, and Gill had wandered away from the group in the midst of all the chaos. Why, you may ask? Because Aiden thought he saw someone walking into a nearby alleyway and decided to go check it out, dragging his friends along for the ride. Maya was clearly not on board with the whole "going after a suspicious man in an alley" thing, especially since the inside of the alleyway was ominously dark, which only made her more frightened and anxious. "Guys, we shouldn't be here," she whispered. "We need to go back to the group. Nancy told us not to wander off." "Come on, Maya," Aiden taunted, pushing forward. "Where's your sense of adventure? Or are you afraid of the dark?"
"Wha-! I-I'm not afraid of the dark!," Maya denied. "Gill and Alex are the ones who are afraid of the dark!" "Huh?," asked Gill, looking up from his half eaten chocolate bunny with a clueless expression on his face, as well as some melted chocolate smeared on his lips. He was so busy gorging on his candy that he hadn't been paying attention to the conversation or was even aware that they were walking through a sinister alleyway. "I'm not afraid of the dark either!," Alex boasted, trying to save face. In reality, darkness was one of her biggest fears, no matter how much she wanted to deny it. That was why she always kept a night light in her room, though she'd rather die than admit something like that. "See?," said Aiden. "They're not afraid either. We have nothing to worry about." "Why are we even going after this guy?," Maya whined. "Because I wanna see what he's up to," said Aiden. "You guys saw him too. He was super suspicious looking. He even had a fedora and a brown trenchcoat and everything."
"Wait, we're following someone?," asked Gill, finishing off the chocolate bunny and licking his fingers. "Is that why we're in this alleyway?" "Of course we are," said Alex. "Weren't you even paying attention?" Gill shrugged. "I was too busy eating," he answered.
Maya rolled her eyes and was about to lecture Gill on the dangers of junk food when Aiden suddenly stopped and held out his arm. "Shhh," he whispered. "Do you guys hear that?" The rest strained their ears and barely heard what sounded like a whispered conversation. "We're getting close," said Aiden, walking towards the source of the noise. "Aiden, wait!," Maya hissed, but was promptly ignored. Alex, Maya, and Gill had no other choice but to follow Aiden's lead. They stopped at a corner of the alleyway and peeked around it. Standing just a few yards from them were two men dressed in filthy clothes. One of them had a grizzled beard, a missing tooth, and was wearing a fedora and trenchcoat. The other man looked much younger, with little whiskers on his chin, sunglasses, and a beanie. Between them was a large bag filled to the brim with gold, diamonds, and emeralds. The two men were taking various gems and ingots out of the bag and holding them in their hands while gloating over their prize.
"Oh man, look at all of this!," said the younger man, sifting through the precious gems with his bare hands. "I've never seen so many diamonds, emeralds, and gold ingots in one place before! We're rich!" The older man chuckled. "We're better than rich, Jimmy," he said. "We're gazillionaires now! With all this money, we could do whatever the hell we want. Buy fancy armor, get ourselves some ladies, move to another country, you name it!" "Heh, yeah!," Jimmy agreed. "You're right, Hank. We don't have to worry about going hungry ever again. No more sleeping on the streets, no more scrounging for resources...we can live like kings!" He laughed and patted the side of the bag with one hand. "Who knew that robbing a bank would be so rewarding?" The four kids hiding around the corner silently gasped. So THEY were the ones who committed that robbery! THEY'RE the criminals everyone was looking for!
"There's just one problem, and it's a pretty big one," said Hank, scowling. "There's cops all over the place looking for us. Guess we didn't do such a good job covering our tracks. It's only a matter of time before they find us. We won't just be losing all this money, Jimmy. We're gonna spend the rest of our lives rotting in a jail cell if we're not careful." "Oh yeah," Jimmy murmured, scratching the back of his head. "So...how do we get out of this one?" "...I actually have no idea," said Hank. "We're too well known. If one person so much as spots us, we'll have the entire police force chasing after us with torches and pitchforks. We gotta be clever about this. If we get caught, everything we've done up to this point will be for nothing."
"Well...we got all this treasure now," Jimmy reasoned. "Can't we just bribe them?" Hank snorted in annoyance. "Yeah, that would actually be a good plan...if it's not for that stuck up, self-righteous prick, Officer Jones. Any other policeman could be convinced to turn a blind eye when they're being paid enough, but not him. He'll arrest you on the spot, then beat you up for 'insulting' him. I heard some poor schmuck tried bribing him with a nether star, a fucking nether star! You have any idea how priceless those are, Jimmy? You can only get them by killing a wither, and only someone with a death wish would wanna do that. Anyway, he arrested the guy and refused to accept the nether star. Fucking bastard, looking down on everyone from his high horse…" "Well, we gotta think of something, Hank!," cried Jimmy. "I don't mind getting my ass thrown in jail, but we NEED this loot! Our last attempt at robbery didn't go so well, remember?" Hank winced and rubbed his chin, which had a large bruise on it for some reason. "Don't remind me. Sheesh, it was just an old man and his two little girls. I didn't know Mr. Smith could punch that hard…" He sighed. "Calm down, Jimmy. We'll think of something."
"C'mon!," Maya whispered urgently. "We should go back to that police officer and tell him where they are." Aiden was about to argue that he wanted to wait and see more, but decided to throw the girl a bone for once. "Okay, fine," he whispered. "Let's go back." Suddenly, Gill let out a loud belch that was far louder than what was possible for an eight year old boy. The noise echoed throughout the entire alleyway. "What the hell was that?," Hank hissed, jerking his head towards their direction. "Dang it, Gill!," Alex groaned. "...I thought it'd be funny," said Gill.
Jimmy turned his head around the corner and spotted the four children. "Well, look what we have here!," he sneered. "Run!," cried Maya. Unfortunately, Jimmy was much faster than them, as well as stronger. He grabbed Aiden and Maya with one arm, then grabbed Alex and Gill with his other arm. "Looks like we got ourselves some peeping toms, Hank!," he announced, walking back to him while the kids struggled in his arms. Hank leaned in towards them with narrowed eyes. "I've seen you kids before," he growled. "You were in that group following the librarian. What the hell do you think you're doing here?" "Hey, Nancy's not a librarian!," snapped Alex, taking that comment as an insult. "W-we were just leaving," Maya said nervously. "R-right guys?" "Uh, yeah!," said Gill, playing along. "We just got lost. We sure are lucky that you were able to find us, mister. But we'll go back ourselves, so you don't have to escort us."
Aiden, however, felt his pride take a blow from what they were saying. They weren't lost! He was the one who led them here! And why did they have to sound so afraid? Aiden wasn't afraid of anything or anyone! If there was one thing that Aiden couldn't stand, it was having his ego being deflated. "We're not going anywhere!," he announced, ignoring the scared and angry looks he was receiving. "And we don't need the cops to take you down! We can take you on all by ourselves, right guys?" "AIDEN!," Alex, Maya, and Gill screamed in frustration.
Hank chuckled in amusement. "Well, well, well," he said. "Looks like we not only got ourselves some kid spies, but also some brats who are way over their heads. Listen here, boy." He leaned in towards Aiden's face until their noses were almost touching. "I don't think you know who you're dealing with. Me and Jimmy are pretty desperate men, kid. And desperate men are bound to do desperate things." He gestured to the large bag of priceless jewels sitting on the ground. "See this? We've committed murder for much less than this. In short, we're not to be trifled with. Get the picture?" At that point, Aiden finally realized that he may have been a little over his head, just a tiny bit. "T-t-there doesn't have to be any hard feelings between us," Alex spoke up nervously. "We can just go our separate ways right now. Just let us go and we won't tell anyone we even saw you." "Y-yeah, we won't tell anyone! Promise!," said Gill.
Hank and Jimmy both chuckled. "Am I supposed to take your word on that?," Hank asked. "After we just threatened your lives? I bet that the moment we let you go free, you'll rat on us to the nearest cop. No, you're staying with us. Besides…" He smirked at Jimmy. "...no cop would wanna mess with someone who has hostages, right?" Jimmy made an O with his mouth as realization dawned on him. "Yeah, that's a great idea, Hank!" He sneered down at the children imprisoned in his strong arms. "Congrats, kiddos. You just became our ticket out of this dump! I sure hope you said goodbye to your loved ones, 'cause none of you are going anywhere." Hank took out an empty burlap sack. "Put the kids in here, Jimmy," he said, holding it out. "And make sure their heads are sticking out. We don't want any trouble from cops armed with bows and a 'shoot on sight' mentality." Jimmy heaved all four children into the air and stuffed them into the sack, making sure that their heads were out in the open. Then, Hank took out a piece of rope and tied it around the opening of the sack, as well as the children's necks. "Jimmy, you take the kids," he instructed. "Meanwhile, I'll carry the bag of moolah."
The two criminals walked into broad daylight with Hank carrying the sack of treasure over his shoulder and Jimmy doing the same with the sack of children. Trapped in a bag together, the children could do nothing else except to cry out for help. A nearby cop noticed them and quickly took out a bow, aiming at them. "Freeze!," he yelled. "Drop the money AND the children, then put your hands in the air! You're both under arrest!"
"Take one step closer and Jimmy here will crack their little necks!," Hank growled. Jimmy grinned and, just to prove Hank's point, reached over his shoulder and grabbed the rope around the children's necks, then began slowly tightening it. Alex, Aiden, Maya, and Gill began choking and gasping for breath, their faces turning purple. "Wait, stop!," yelled the cop, his eyes wide with fear. The rope loosened again, allowing the children to take in deep breaths. "Don't follow us, got it?," said Hank. "And tell your cop buddies that if we see a single blue uniform in our vicinity, the children will be done for!" As the two robbers walked away with the money and hostages, the rookie cop was left standing there and panicking. "I gotta tell Officer Jones!," he cried, running towards the town center where the officer and Nancy were waiting.
Apparently, word spreads fast throughout the police force. As the two men walked towards the town's borders with their hostages in tow, every cop that they came across didn't move so much as a muscle in fear of Jimmy strangling the children to death. "Hey, Hank," Jimmy whispered so that the cops nearby couldn't hear him. "What do we do with these kids once we get far away from town? Do we just turn them loose?" "Don't be stupid, Jimmy," Hank whispered back. "You think those brats aren't gonna go straight to the authorities and tell them where we are? You can't underestimate children these days. They're smarter than they look. Let's just drown them in a lake somewhere. Hopefully, the cops will think we still have them as hostages and stay away for the time being." Alex, Aiden, Maya, and Gill all heard the whispered conversation since they were practically right next to them. They began to get very, very scared. "I don't wanna die," Maya whimpered, shaking her head frantically. "I don't wanna die." "You will if you don't shut your mouth right now, brat!," Jimmy hissed.
Aiden twisted his head to look at his three friends stuck in the bag with him. Maya wasn't the only one who was on the verge of tears. Gill's bottom lip was quivering even though he was trying his best to hide it. Alex, for all her brave talk earlier, looked like she was about to soil herself. Her face was pale and sweat was pouring down her face. Her eyes were also slightly red and glimmering with tears. Aiden's hands clenched into fists at the sight of his friends giving up so easily, as well as the situation they were currently in. How was this fair? They just wanted to get some candy, and now they're stuck in a sack with two men plotting to drown them in a lake! They were going to die soon and they hadn't even been adopted yet! Still, Aiden refused to let those criminals have their way with them. Although he didn't want to admit it, he was deeply terrified himself, but he refused to let it show. He had to save himself and his friends somehow. He just needed to think of something before they're completely out of town.
Fortunately, just before the criminals were about to step outside of the town's borders, they stopped in their tracks upon hearing a loud and angry voice. "Stop right there!," yelled Nancy, storming towards the two men with Officer Jones and a few more cops trailing right behind her. Hank sneered at the sight of Jones, but smirked at Nancy. "So you're the woman who's been leading those children around town," he said. "Well if you're smart, you'd let us leave town with four of your kids, or Jimmy will make it very hard for them to breathe." Jimmy narrowed his eyes and grabbed the end of the rope tied around the children's necks, almost daring Nancy to make a move. Nancy hesitated for just a moment, but did not lose her bravado. "And if YOU two are smart, you would release those children, return the money you've stolen, and turn yourselves in," she retorted. Jimmy barked out a sarcastic laugh. "Ha! Are you hearing this, Hank? Turn ourselves in? She must think we're total idiots or something."
Hank only raised his hand to silence his partner. Even though they clearly had the upper hand in this situation, something about this didn't feel right. "You sound pretty confident of yourself, missy," he said warily. "Tell me, why do you think we'll give in so easily, especially when we're so close to winning? Know something that we don't?" Nancy narrowed her eyes. "You two may be grown men," she said icily, "but still children on the inside. And I know exactly how to deal with children." Then, she decided to use her secret weapon, the same one that never failed to bring order to the orphanage, the same one that brought Officer Jones to his knees: the dreaded death glare. As ridiculous as it sounded, Hank and Jimmy found themselves unable to tear their eyes away from that god awful glare. It was like staring into the pits of hell itself. And fortunately for Aiden, that was just the distraction he needed.
Aiden took the opportunity to lean in and chomp on Jimmy's ear as hard as possible, causing the man to scream in pain. The scream was enough to snap Hank out of his trance, but before he could even do anything, Aiden had already escaped from the bag and was clawing at his legs with his fingernails. Alex, Maya, and Gill also got out of the sack and began attacking Jimmy simultaneously, who could only lay on the ground while moaning over his bleeding earlobe. Hank managed to grab Aiden with both of his hands - the kid was surprisingly strong - and was about to break him in two when an arrow suddenly flew from Officer Jones' bow and lodged itself into his arm, causing him to scream in pain and drop Aiden.
Nancy quickly ran forward and scooped the children up before running back to safety. Hank was now down on his knees with an arrow in his arm while Jimmy was lying unconscious with various bruises all over his body, thanks to the ferocious attack from the kids. "Tie 'em up, boys!," Jones ordered. Four policemen ran towards the two men and easily overpowered them before tying their wrists behind their backs with rope. "Take them away," said Jones. "Lock them up and make sure they never see the light of day again." The cops nodded and began dragging the wounded man to a nearby police carriage. Meanwhile, Nancy was fiercely berating the children while being more angry than she ever was. "What were you four thinking?!," she yelled at them. "Why would you run off like that?! Do you have any idea how worried sick I was?! Those men were no joke! They were willing to KILL people to get what they want! What would have happened if they...if they…" Suddenly, Nancy fell to her knees and began to sob from all the stress and fear that she experienced today. Alex, Aiden, Maya, and Gill shuffled their feet nervously, not used to seeing their beloved caretaker break down like that.
"You, uh…," said Officer Jones, also incredibly uncomfortable by the display. "You kids should, um...apologize for all the stress you caused her today." Without another word, he stepped into the police carriage with his fellow cops and the two criminals locked up in the back, and they rode all the way back to their police station, leaving Alex, Aiden, Maya, Gill, and of course, a crying Nancy. "We're sorry, Nancy," Maya whispered guiltily. "We're very sorry. Please don't cry like that." "We didn't mean to make you worry," said Gill, looking sadder than he had ever been. "Please forgive us." Nancy tried her best to hold in her tears and was failing miserably. Finally, Alex couldn't stand it anymore and hugged Nancy around her neck, which was very out of character for the tomboy. "We're sorry," she whispered, feeling like she was about to cry herself. And she meant every word of that. This was the woman who took them in, who fed them, kept them safe, and gave them a home. And how did they repay her? By putting their lives in danger and worrying Nancy to death just because of their curiosity.
Aiden sighed heavily and stepped forward. "It was all my fault," he explained. "I saw one of them go into an alley and decided to follow him, and I dragged my friends with me. This whole thing was because of me. If you're gonna punish anyone, punish me." Nancy finally calmed down and sighed, putting her glasses back on. "I...don't want to punish anyone right now," she said. "Not after the terrible ordeal you four went through." She grabbed them by the shoulders and pulled them towards her. "You have to promise me something, though," she said, glaring right into their souls. "Promise me that you will never pull another stunt like that again. Promise me that you will all think things through first. Promise me!"
"We promise!," said Alex. "Right, guys?" Aiden, Maya, and Gill nodded and murmured in agreement. Nancy smiled and hugged them tightly. "I think we've had enough excitement for the day," she said. "Let's join up with everyone else in the orphanage."
Fortunately, they had never had a day quite as exciting as that. In the year after that incident, the days went back to normal, more or less. After the other children heard about their exploits with the two criminals, the four friends were hounded with curious questions, which were thankfully put an end to by Nancy. Nancy even started dating Officer Jones for a while, but the two of them just weren't able to hit it off, and instead became good friends. That was just fine with Alex, anyway. In her opinion, no one was good enough for Nancy. NO ONE.
...And if you tell anyone that Alex is obsessed with Nancy, she'll deny it.
After the incident with the two criminals, Alex, Aiden, Maya, and Gill became even closer friends than before. Whenever one of them had nightmares about Hank and Jimmy coming back for revenge, which was sadly very frequent, they could always rely on the others to calm them down and tell them that everything's alright. For another year, they did everything together, which only solidified their friendship. Unfortunately, such happiness couldn't last. Because one day, the unthinkable happened. Aiden, Maya, and Gill had all been adopted by a very rich and well known family. Normally, that should've been enough cause for celebration. But Alex had to stay behind at the orphanage...and say goodbye to her friends forever.
Saying goodbye to her three best friends in the world was the saddest day she had ever experienced. Although Alex knew that Aiden, Maya, and Gill were finally going to become part of a family again, a deep and selfish part of her loathed them for leaving her behind. Still, Alex couldn't bear to separate from them on bad terms. "Don't forget about me...okay?," she asked. Aiden promised that he would always remember her, no matter what. So did Gill and Maya. And if their friendship had been stronger, they probably would've kept that promise.
Instead, what would happen is this. After their tearful goodbyes, Aiden, Maya, and Gill would finally arrive at their new family's house and quickly be enamored by their massive wealth and reputation. Instead of constantly disciplining them like Nancy did, the foster family would spoil them and give them whatever they want, as well as let them DO whatever they want. As a result, the three children, who used to be so kind to others back in the orphanage, would grow up into snotty, arrogant, and vindictive teenagers. In short, they would become bullies. And it won't be long before they attract the attention of Lukas, who would also be a snotty, arrogant, and vindictive teenager. It would only be because of Petra that he'd soon manag to turn over a new leaf. But the worst part of all is that Aiden, Maya, and Gill would completely forget about Alex and the good times they had with her as orphans. And Alex, in turn, would completely forget about THEM. Apparently, their friendship wasn't as strong as they thought. Aiden, Maya, and Gill wouldn't even see Alex again until that fateful day at Endercon, and by that time, all they would see is a total stranger. And sadly, the same thing would be said for Alex…
After Aiden, Maya, and Gill left for their new home, Alex ran straight up to her room and locked herself in. For three whole days, she refused to come out of her room, not even to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It got to the point where Nancy had to bring food directly to her and force her to eat. Many of the children tried knocking on her door and asking for her to come out, and Alex would usually be touched by their kindness, but she was in too much of a terrible mood to care. Finally, near the end of the third day, Nancy had to use her own key to barge into Alex's room uninvited. She looked around Alex's room, which had turned into a complete mess during those three days. Alex may have been brash and reckless, but she was also obsessed with cleanliness. Seeing the room in such disarray only cemented Nancy's concern for Alex's wellbeing. The caretaker saw Alex huddled up in bed, with only a small tuft of hair poking out from the blankets. She was shivering and sniffling, though definitely not from a cold.
Nancy gently approached Alex with a steaming plate of broccoli and mashed potatoes. "I brought you dinner," she said gently. "You didn't come down to the dining room today. Or for the past two days, for that matter. You must be starving." There was no answer. Nancy sighed and placed the plate of food on the little wooden desk next to Alex's bed. "Alex, I am very worried about you right now," she said. "Everyone is. Even Officer Jones expressed his concern when I explained to him what was going on. You can't just hide away in your room forever."
"...I can and I will," Alex whispered defiantly. Nancy sighed again. At least she was talking again, so that was progress. "Alex, is this about your friends leaving you?" The bundle of blankets visibly stiffened. "I know it's hard for you," Nancy continued, gently rubbing the top of Alex's head. "It's not easy to lose a friend, let alone three in one day. But you should be happy for them. They finally have a family again." "But I don't," Alex retorted, poking her entire head out of the blankets. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were red from crying. "They have people who love them now, but I still don't. Nobody wants me in their family."
Nancy softly gasped at what she heard. So Alex wasn't acting this way because of her friends leaving her. She was acting this way because...she felt unloved. "Alex, that's not true," Nancy assured her. "Somebody out there DOES want you. And they'll come in time. You just need to be patient." "But I've BEEN patient!," Alex cried in frustration. "I waited so long, but everyone who comes here never even THINKS of adopting me! They don't even LOOK at me! It's always some other kid who gets to be with a new family, but not me! Never me! It's not fair, Nancy! I've already been waiting for so long! Why does nobody want me?!"
"ALEXANDRA!," Nancy snapped. Alex wisely shut her mouth in fear. "I sympathize with you, I really do," Nancy continued angrily, "...but what I won't tolerate is you describing the adoption of other children as being 'unfair.' They deserve to be happy just as much as you." Alex looked down in shame. "And what I also won't tolerate," said Nancy, her voice growing softer, "is you demeaning yourself, thinking you're not worthy of love." She gave Alex a big hug and pulled her closer. "You are worth it," she whispered into her ear. "Just because no one has adopted you yet doesn't mean that it won't ever happen. I don't ever want to hear you say such terrible things about yourself." Alex was still for a moment, then returned the embrace. "Why can't YOU adopt me, Nancy?," she asked sadly. "Why can't YOU be my mommy?"
"Alex…*sigh*...that's now how adoption works," Nancy replied. "Besides, what kind of person would I be to take away someone else's potential happiness? There is a family waiting for you out there, Alex. And I'm certain that with them by your side, you will grow up to do great things." "...but I don't want a new mother if it can't be you," Alex whispered.
Nancy wanted to break down right then and there. That one sentence nearly tore her heart to shreds. She wanted to hold Alex even tighter to her chest, tell her that she'd love to be her mother...but she didn't. Nancy couldn't see herself as a good mother. She just wasn't good enough… "...Would you like me to tell you a little saying?," she suddenly asked. Alex looked up at her in confusion, but nodded. Nancy held up two fingers to form rabbit ears. "If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one." She saw Alex turn even more confused and decided to explain the saying. "It means that if you worry about every little thing, you will not get anything done. My husband told it to me once, and it still helps to this day. Instead of worrying about your chances of adoption in the future, why not be more invested in the present? Why not savor what you have now instead of being distracted by the fear of what you might lose?"
Realization seemed to dawn on Alex. "Yeah...you're right," she said, cheering up. "Your husband's pretty smart, Nancy." "Yes...he was," said Nancy, suddenly growing melancholy. "...oh," said Alex in realization. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." Nancy shook her head. "No, don't be," she reassured her. "Would you...like to hear about my husband?" Alex slowly nodded, letting her curiosity get the best of her. "Very well," sighed Nancy. "My husband's name was James. He was sweet, kind, honest, basically the whole package." She chuckled bitterly. "He worked under a famous archeologist whose name I...can't really remember. He treated James horribly. I kept telling my husband to resign, but James was...stubborn, to say the least." Of course, Nancy didn't mention that one time James decided to bring her along for work. The archeologist was incredibly lewd towards her and even tried reaching under her dress at one point. He relented when James threatened to sue him for sexual harassment.
"One day, he went off with the archeologist and a hired crew to find a lost city...but he never came back. None of them did. They all just...vanished. I used to wait for him every day, hoping that he would come back soon, but...that was many years ago." "...I'm sorry," said Alex, hugging Nancy around her midriff. "Again, you have nothing to be sorry for," Nancy replied gently. "Actually, losing him was one of the reasons why I decided to run an orphanage. He was the breadwinner of the family, and with him gone, I needed some way to support myself. Since I've always wanted to have children with him, this seemed like the most logical choice." "Oh," Alex said sadly. "So does that mean you're…?" She trailed off, but Nancy knew exactly what she was about to say, if her frown was any indication. "Alex, I want you to banish those thoughts from your head this instant," she said sternly. "Yes, there are financial benefits in running an orphanage, but that doesn't mean I care any less for you and every child under this roof. You're all family to me, and even if someone comes over and adopts you, I'll always consider you as my own child." Alex smiled gratefully and the two of them embraced each other.
"Do you feel better now, Alex?," she asked. Alex slowly let go of Nancy and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said. "Thanks for cheering me up." Suddenly, her stomach grumbled loudly, causing Alex to smile sheepishly. "And I think I'm ready for that dinner now."