The wind still howled outside the tree house,but had calmed down quite a bit since the night before, Angel remained unconscious. Danny woke up slowly, blinking sleep from his eyes. turning his head slightly, he saw Daniel and Xiwang sitting close to Angel. Daniel had no shirt on and Xiwang was wrapping his shoulder tightly with some sort of gauze.
"What happened?" Daniel asked quietly, startling both of the children.
Turning towards him, Daniel smiled tightly, "We've all had our fair share of injuries, this one happened a couple moths ago, it's almost healed. Every so often, if it's hurting me, Xiwang wraps it for me. I'll be all good in a couple weeks... Hopefully.
Xiwang whispered quietly in his ear but Danny overhear it, "You may never fully get over an injury like that." She said.
Patting her arm comfortingly, Daniel whispered back, "I know."
Turning towards Danny, Xiwang shook her head, her uneven black hair bobbing back and forth. "We might as well fix you up a bit while we have the herbs out. Walking over to him, she sat cross legged next to him and Daniel sat on the other side.
"Ouch!" Danny complained as Xiwang rubbed some sort of paste over the gashes across his chest.
"Don't be such a baby." Daniel laughed, shaking his white-blond hair out of his eyes..
"Look who's talking." Xiwang teased, poking her brother in the ribs.
"Hey! I am not a baby!" Daniel frowned.
"Oh yeah? I seem to remember you crying quite last time you were injured."
Shaking a finger at her, he remembered that she couldn't see the gesture and rolled his eyes in exasperation. "One: I didn't cry."
"No, but you whined quite a bit."
Ignoring her, he went on. "And two; I have every right to be a baby while Momma's trying to fish a bullet out of my shoulder."
"What?!" Danny gasped and the children glanced at each other, they had quite forgotten he was listening. Frowning at them, Danny demanded an answer, perplexed and concerned. "What is this place? Why do you guys keep dancing around questions? Can't you please answer me honestly. What really goes on here?"
"We have never lied to you." Xiwang's voice was quiet.
"We just have never told you what you want to know." Daniel whispered as well. "And we really aren't supposed to talk about it-"
"Well…" Xiwang turned towards Daniel, "We could tell him our stories. As long as we only tell ours."
Frowning in concentration, Daniel nodded. "Alright, I suppose we could do that. Do you want to tell or do you want me too?"
"You. You are a better storyteller than me, I like listening to you talk."
Letting out a short laugh, Daniel nodded. "Alright. And thank you for the compliment, if you meant it that way."
"For once I actually did, now get on with the story already!"
"Okay, okay, I'm getting to it." Chuckling, he turned back towards Danny and started his story.
"Angel rescued both of us. We are sort of like refugees. Once a year, Momma makes a journey to either Russia or China. During the summer, she can cross the small strip of ocean between Alaska and Russia. Then she flies down to China or to some part of Russia. I was the first rescue she ever made.
Did you know that eighty percent of Russia's population lives in the orphanages? I was one of the eighty percent. I never even knew my mother, she tried to murder me before I was born. Do you have any idea how many abortions are born alive? I was one of those abortions, but I was lucky. Instead of killing me like most doctors do when a baby is born alive, they saved me. But my lower legs had been burnt off from the abortion chemical.
Once they were sure I would live, they sent me to the orphanage. A lot of children in Russia are missing limbs because of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. Arms or legs or fingers. A lot of us are missing something. But we are hidden from society, and few of us ever get adopted. No one cares about us, no one loves us. We are alone. When orphans are sixteen, we 'graduate' the orphanage. We have no idea how to get a job, how to survive, what to do. Most of us become addicted to drugs and alcohol, and few of us live to see thirty. I decided to leave the orphanage early, I couldn't stand it anymore. And I knew no one would ever adopt me. Who would want half a person?" Daniel's voice broke at this point as he choked on old hurts that had become deep scars inside his young heart.
Gulping back tears, he continued, "So when I was ten years old, I ran away. I don't know if anyone ever searched for me. They may have never noticed since their were so many kids in the orphanage, or they may have just not cared. Either way, I found myself alone on the streets. I got into trouble, I smoked and drank alcohol. I had no money, so I started stealing food just to survive. Then Momma found me. I was almost dead by that time, starving and alone. She saved me.
I chose a new name. Daniel after the person in the Bible. I wanted to be named after a great hero. Now many think of great heroes as Samson who was super strong. Or David who defeated a giant. But I learned that true power does not come from strength, but from faith. I am not strong, I am not extraordinarily brave, but I have faith. Faith to move a mountain.
Her second rescue was Xiwang. Xiwang was a child slave in China. Child trafficking is huge down in India/China/Bangladesh. Her parents didn't have any money, so they sold her as a slave and she was sold thought six different countries. Moving from hostel to hostel as she was bought and sold over and over again. At one point, a man clawed her eyes -blinding her- after that happened, her owner was going to put he down like a dog, because she had no more use for him. And no one would want to buy her anymore.
That day, hours before she would have died, Angel broke into the hostel and rescued her. She chose a new name, Xiwang because it means HOPE."
When Daniel fell silent, Danny looked at the two kids in shock. "That really happened?"
Daniel gripped Xiwang's hand tightly. "Yes. Few people care to see what happens outside their comfy homes. People, CHILDREN, are dying every day. And no one cares to notice us. It's like we're ghosts. Xiwang and I, we are the voice for those who don't have one."
Looking deeply into Xiwang's destroyed eyes, Danny gulped, holding back tears as for the first time he was able to pictured what had happened to the young girl. And he silently wished he didn't know, but at the same time, he was glad he did.
Okay guys, I'm sorry. I know all of this is disturbing. I am trying to raise awareness. I want you to know that all that stuff in there is true. When I went to Russia, I went there as a missionary. And I have seen things that are terrible. Terrible and true. It really happens. In the Russian orphanages, children will start drinking alcohol and smoking as young as six years old. When the kids "graduate" most of them end up dying young because they have no idea how to survive, they are never taught how and they will end up overdosing on drugs. I've seen these things! I have seen the hopelessness.
Child trafficking is a huge problem. Children: some as young as 5 or 6 years old are sold as sex-slaves all over southern Asia. God has given me a mission in life: and that is to rescue them. Next summer or fall (depends on if I have the money by then) I am going back to Russia for a year or 2 to work in an orphanage. And after that I am traveling down to India/ China/ Bangladesh to rescue child slaves. This is life or death. Children are dying every day! And no one is doing anything about it. I am going to change that. I want to change the world, save lives. And the first step is to raise awareness. That is why I created those two OCs, I use them all the time as symbols to raise awareness and tell people what really happens in these places. It breaks my heart.