"Gosh, the rain is just hammering down tonight." Mei sighed, looking out the window. Lien looked over at her; they were in their room.
"Yeah, I guess. But, eh, that's nature." Lien responded with a shrug. Mei turned to her with a pouty look.
"Gosh, Lien-Jie. You can be as stoic as Hong sometimes." Lien snorted at this and threw a pillow at the younger girl. Mei smiled and tossed the pillow back, soon walking away from the window and taking a seat on her bed, her eyes not leaving the window.
"You know, usually I'm fine with this kinda weather," Mei started, tucking herself into bed, "but it seems so dreary tonight..."
"I was just thinking that." Lien agreed, also tucking herself into bed. The two shared identical sighs, Lien soon turning off the lamp light next to her. "Goodnight." she said in her native tongue.
"Goodnight..." Mei said back, also in her own native tongue. However, besides falling asleep, Mei just laid on her bed, looking up at the ceiling and allowing her mind to wander. She finally fell asleep, but with a chilling feeling inside.
Young Mei sat alone on her bed in the prison-of-an-orphanage she was currently living in. She had been passed along orphanage to orphanage for as long as she could remember and this place was no different from the rest. The only difference was that many children who had stayed at this orphanage had been adopted.
The door to Mei's room was suddenly kicked open and the door hit the wall with a thundering BANG! "What're you still doing here, you little slime ball!?" the warden shouted, stomping into the room. "Dinner is starting in three minutes!"
Mei shook, cowering in fear. She had been at the orphanage for nearly two weeks, but still hadn't remembered the schedules. The little Taiwanese girl didn't have anyone to turn to for help or guidance.
The warden grabbed Mei's frail wrist with his massive hand and dragged her with him, despite her protect. The seven-year-old would've followed on her own, not needing to be dragged.
Once they reached the dining hall, the warden tossed Mei towards an empty chair. She landed hard on the ground with everyone gaping at her. Even if some other kids wanted to help, they were all fearing what the warden would do to them.
"Listen up, ungrateful brats!" the warden's booming voice echoed throughout the room, gaining everyone's attention while striking fear. "Tomorrow's adoption day!" Every child in the room's eyes widened at the news. They knew nearly everyone had gotten adopted from the rundown orphanage and they were excited to leave the godforsaken place. "So every last one of you better be on your best behavior, or else! Now eat your blasted food!"
With that, the children's meal was pasted out. The food was just horrid. Mei couldn't hide the look of disgust went the bowls of 'rice' was passed around and cringed when looking at it. How could someone burn rice like that?
Right as a bowl of rice was about to be handed to Mei, who was seated at the farthest end of the table, the warden smacked his hand on the table, emitting another thundering sound and silencing everyone. The children turned again to the Taiwanese girl.
"You should know the rules by now;" the hateful man sneered at Mei, "if you're late to a meal time, you do not get a meal. Now just sit there and keep your mouth shut."
Mei watched the man retreat with a wicked glare. Even if the food was horrible, she was still starving. Oh how she hated the man and wanted to do unspeakable things to make him suffer.
The seven-year-old Taiwanese girl hungrily watched the others eat while they tried to avoid eye contact. They really did feel bad, but were all too intimated to do anything. All but one young boy, even younger than Mei. The little boy, who was sitting next to her, offered a half bowl of rice to the Taiwanese girl.
"I'm not really that hungry." he said softly. "You can have the rest. Sorry it is not much." Mei stared wide-eyed at the boy. She then gave a sincere smile, receiving the half full bowl.
"Xie xie." she thanked, quickly eating the rice before she was caught. The little boy gave a wide smile.
After dinner, the children were dismissed to do as they pleased for another two hours before curfew. At that time, Mei and the little boy, whom she soon learned was named Hao Cun, were enjoying each other's company.
"I can't wait to be adopted." Hao Cun excitedly said, hopping up and down from his seat on his bed. Mei giggled at the five-year-old. "I hope my new baba (dad) and mama (mom)are really nice!"
"I'm sure they will be." Mei said. "I'm sure they will be the nicest people in the world."
"Do you think they'll adopt us both!?" Hao Cun asked with innocent sparkles in his eyes. "We could be siblings, Mei-Jiejie!" The little boy hugged Mei as she was a bit taken back. They had talked for a little less than an hour and the little boy already felt that they were like siblings. Mei smiled at this and hugged back.
When it was time for bed, Mei said goodbye to Hao Cun and left for her own room. She had learned many things about the little boy, like how his parents abandoned him because he had a walking disability and asthma.
That night, Mei wished that Hao Cun would be adopted by a loving family. She didn't care about herself; she just wanted his happiness. Sadly, the next day was nothing like what anyone had hoped for.
The next day, the warden prepared the children for adoption day. The morning was mainly spend washing up. After that, the children waited until it was evening time; the time when they were to meet the adopters. Or that was what they had thought.
Instead, when it was nearing evening time, the warden and some other adults in charge forcefully tossed the kids into the back of trucks. The only source of light were high windows that no one could see out of.
"Wait! No!" Mei shouted when she was about to be thrown in. "Let me go! I have to be with Hao Cun!" She continued fighting back, demanding for the little boy, but the adults wouldn't hear it. They kept on trying to silence Mei, but it was useless.
"Just get the brat that crippled kid!" one man finally said. Mei wanted to ever so much to fight and defend her friend, but Hao Cun was finally dragged to her.
"Hao Cun!" Once she was caught off guard, the adults finally tossed her into the back of the truck with Hao Cun and some other kids and slammed the door shut.
"Hao Cun." Mei sighed with relief as she hugged the little, whimpering boy. "Shh, it's okay."
"Mei-Jiejie..." Hao Cun whimpered. "I'm scared."
"It's okay; Jiejie's here..." Mei comforted, pulling away from the hug to look Hao Cun right in the eyes. "I promise, everything will be okay." the Taiwanese girl said, hugging the little boy again. Inside, she wasn't exactly sure that things will be okay. Mei was just as scared and had to put a brave face on.
The ride to wherever they were going was long and very hectic. The road was very bad and rickety, causing much discomfort for the kids and causing them to be thrown around the back of the truck. Many of the children sobbed, knowing full well that they weren't going to be adopted by a loving family, but weren't sure what was really going to happen to them.
When the trucks finally stopped, the doors were opened. Since Mei was one of the last kids to be thrown in the truck, she was one of the first out. The Taiwanese girl looked around at where she and everyone else was. It looked like they were in the middle of nowhere.
Mei and the others were hauled into a very large, rundown house that could've easily been mistaken as a haunted house. "Drag them to the basement when you're done with those ones like the rest of them!" Mei heard the warder shout.
Once inside, she was stripped down to her undergarments and given rags for clothes that could've possibly been potato sacks with holes. After changing, the Taiwanese girl's hands and feet were chained up and she was once again dragged to the basement.
Mei looked all around the basement, noticing she was on a stage. The room was extremely large and was full of people; orphan children and adults. The adults, however, didn't seem like loving people here to adopt, but monsters with interrogating eyes.
Quickly, the stage Mei was standing on was filled with all the other children, all in the same condition she was in. Once the stage was full and all the orphans were present, the warder stepped forward.
"Feast your eyes on the prizes." he shouted. That was when Mei realized that they were going to be sold off like animals. The room was filled with highly esteemed child slave owners and pedophiles willing to pay the satanic warden whatever price.
One by one Mei watched as each child was sold, yet not a single esteemed aristocrat left, waiting to see if there were more worth their price. She was one of the last ones and filled with hopelessness. She wanted to cry, but something sparked her inner rage. The warden was now showing Hao Cun to the crowd.
"This little lam is worth just as much as the last." he shouted as everyone examined him. Hao Cun looked out at the crowd with bulging eyes, mortified. The warden hauled him up by his rags to give the buyers a better look, causing the little boy to whimper again. That was the last straw for Mei.
The young Taiwanese girl started throwing a large tantrum, overwhelming the warden's henchmen around her. "Knock it off, you little bitch!" one growled, but Mei continued on. When the same henchmen grabbed her by her arms, she kicked him right in the nether regions. Down he went and Mei took off running. This also sparked something in the other orphans as they started revolting as well.
Mei had taken off towards Hao Cun and the warden, kicking the demon-man in the same place as the other man. The warden released Hao Cun and the little boy landed on his bottom. Mei grabbed his chained hands with hers and the two started running towards the exit and around the house.
"Why you little‒" the warden began, but was cut off by the sound of police sirens. "Crap!" He started taking off soon after, all the other adults panicking and trying to escape themselves. As panic flooded the basement, the warden chased after the two orphans running around the house in a not very subtle way. Mei and Hao Cun could hear him coming for them.
With heavy breaths, Mei looked back to see if the warden was behind them. Instead, she saw Hao Cun out of breath and struggling behind her. She stopped suddenly and realized that Hao Cun couldn't run well and that if he was running too much, he could have an asthma attack.
Mei looked around and saw an opening under a flight of stairs. "Hao Cun, come here." She pulled the little boy towards the opening, hiding him there and out of sight.
"Mei-Jiejie?"
"Stay here and don't move until it's clear. I'll lead Warden Doo-Doo Head away." Mei instructed with a sad smile. Hao Cun was about to refuse her command, but Mei silenced him and patted his head. "I promise, I won't let anything happen to you here." Once she left and was back in the open, the warden had found her.
"There you are, you little piece of shit!" he shouted. Mei took off running and the warden followed, not noticing Hao Cun.
Mei speedily ran down each and every hallway, the warden not fast enough to catch up. Sadly, Mei was getting tired of running. She turned around another corner and was temporarily out of the warden's sight. In the hallway was a bunch of doors. Hearing the warden catching up, Mei continued running, entering one of the doors.
Once inside one of the rooms, Mei quickly closed the door. The warden hadn't seen which door she entered, but he did hear the little Taiwanese girl enter a room. "Don't think you can hide from me! I can at least get away with one little profit-brat!"
The warden slammed opened one of the room doors; a room that Mei wasn't in. The little girl started panicking, looking all around. She saw a window and opened it, but saw that it was too high to jump. Another door slammed open and Mei started panicking even more.
She looked around the room again and saw a chest. Hastily, Mei opened the chest and saw some blankets folded up inside. She quickly took out some of the blankets and wrapped herself in one. Then, she hid inside the chest, making sure to cover herself up with the blankets. That way, if the warden were to see the chest and open it up, he may not see her.
Right as Mei closed the chest, leaving a slight crack, the warden kicked the door open. He looked around the room, tossing everything around and looking under the furniture. The warden finally noticed the chest. He opened it and just dumped the contents out.
Luckily, Mei was still tightly wrapped in one of the blankets, so the warden didn't see her. She stay perfectly still as the warden walked over to the open window. "Damn it!" he yelled, believing she had jumped.
He then ran out the room to go after her, but was met with police officers. "Freeze!" they shouted. "Come now or we are permitted to use force!" one officer shouted, reaching for his billy club.
The warden, terrified for him life, took one step back before running. The four officers went after him, easily catching him.
After getting him down, the officers hand cuffed him and pushed him outside with all the cop cars. Many of the aristocrats have also been arrested, along with the adults who work at the orphanage.
"Excellent undercover work, Officer Sun." the police chief said to one of the officers who was disguised as one of the buyers.
"Thank you, Sir." he said with a salute. "Um, Sir, were you able to find the two kids who ran off?" Officer Sun asked. The chief rose a brow.
"Explain yourself, Sun."
"Well, Sir, near the end, a young girl was riled up and fought back some of the convicts. She took off to the upper floors of the house with a younger handicapped boy." Officer Sun explain. The chief took a brief moment to take everything in before commanding a handful of other officers to search the house and surroundings for the two children.
Throughout the house, even more footsteps could be heard, frightening both Mei and Hao Cun. Hao Cun pushed himself farther into the unnoticeable opening when seeing many legs and Mei had rewrapped herself in the blankets and hid as before.
For many long hours, Mei was able to say hidden. She had been hidden for so long that she didn't even notice she fell asleep. She had woken up when feeling the chest she was in stir.
"Are you sure she would be there, Shen?" she heard someone say.
"I'm positive, Qiu!" she heard another. "The contents of this chest was spilled out when we captured Mu Peng!" Mei gave a puzzled look to herself. She could've sworn the name 'Mu Peng' was that of the warden's.
As Mei was deep in thought, she hadn't noticed that the two officers had found her. The one named Shen had picked her up, causing the little girl to throw another fit.
"Woah there, Sweetie!" Shen said, putting Mei down, but still holding onto her so she wouldn't run. "We won't hurt you. Honest!" Mei slowly started to relax, seeing that the two strange men were indeed police officers.
"Chief! We found the second child!" the other officer, Qiu, shouted out the door.
"Really!? Great job, Officer Sun!" the chief said, running into the room.
"Actually, it was Shen." Qiu smiled weakly.
"Oh, well, great job, Officer Yue!"
"Of course, Sir!"
Mei watched the three men with confused looks until Shen turned back to her. "Don't worry; we're going to make sure you're okay. My name is Shen Yue. What's yours?" the officer in front of her ask.
"Mei..." Mei answered. Shen smiled.
"That's a very pretty name." He said, then picking her back up. Mei didn't fight back this time. Mei was being lead out, but once they started walking past the stairway that Hao Cun hid under, the little young started to be all rowdy again.
"Woah! Calm down, Mei!" Shen finally put said girl back down and she ran over to the little opening, seeing Hao Cun not there.
"We've found him last night." Qiu said, kneeling down to Mei's height. "When we found him, he had an asthma attack and is presently resting in the hospital." Mei turned to Qiu with a fear stricken expression. "Don't worry! He's doing perfectly fine! We also found a very kind family to adopt him."
Hearing the two great news made Mei's expression soften. She smiled for Hao Cun, but soon started crying for him. Mei was genuinely happy, but didn't understand why she was crying. Qiu picked up the seven-year-old girl and started soothing her.
"Shh, it's okay. We'll make sure to find you a loving home as well. Just as we did with the others." Mei sniffled and nodded her head, wiping her tears.
The officers finally made their way back to the station along with Mei. The little Taiwanese girl was currently sitting in one of the officer's desk, drawing pictures. As she did so, the two officers who were with her earlier were having a serious discussion about her.
"After everything, you want her back in an orphanage!?" Qiu asked.
"We have to place her in another orphanage; it's the way it has to be for now." Shen responded to Qiu, even though he didn't favor the plan either.
"That's enough, you two." Qiu and Shen turned to the police chief, seeing a monk next to him. "Sun, Yue, meet my friend, Shin. He'll be Mei's guardian for now on." he said.
"Don't worry; I'm experienced. There are others in my care as well." Shin smiled when seeing uneasy looks on the two officers' face. "May I meet Mei?"
"She's over here." Shen said, guiding Shin over to Mei. "Mei?" he called, said girl looking up from her drawing. "Come here for a minute. We would like to introduce you to someone."
Mei did as told and walked over the adults. She looked up at Shin as Shin looked down at her. Finally, the monk kneeled down to her height and smiled.
"Hello, my name is Shin. Would you like to stay with me and some others?" Mei blinked, turning her head back at the three officers. They smiled at her and nodded, causing Mei to look back at Shin and nod.
"Excellent. First off, let's get you out of those, um, clothes." Shin said, pulling out a bag from behind him. He pulled out its contents, revealing a pink outfit. Mei looked down at her clothes, seeing she was still dressed in the potato sack.
Mei blushed, taking the clothes from Shin and running to the bathroom. When she finished changing, the little Taiwanese girl reappeared. "Xie xie..." she thanked the monk. She really loved the new clothes.
"You're welcome." Shin smiled. "Now, are we ready to go?" Mei excitedly nodded her head. Before she entered the car ready to take her to her new home, Mei thanked the three officers.
"Oh, one more thing!" the chief perked up, running towards the car. Shin, whom was already inside, rolled the window down. "This is for Mei. It's from Hao Cun." he said, handing the monk an envelope. Shin passed the envelope to Mei, who opened it, revealing a letter and two plastic plum blossoms; one bigger than the other.
Mei looked at the pretty flowers with giddy glee the whole ride, not noticing that she and Shin had arrived at the new place.
Shin helped Mei out of the car as the Taiwanese girl looked all around her. Excitement had filled her, but anxiety also found its way in. The older of the two was able to notice though. Shin stood next to her with a gentle smile. "Welcome home..."
Mei arose from her slumber with a tear in her eyes. She looked at her favorite plum blossom hair clip on the table next to her and gave a soft smile.
The Taiwanese girl sat up on her bed and picked up the clip with the two plum blossoms; one bigger than the other. "I can't believe I forgot... Eight years..." Mei said to herself. "He should be 13 by now..."
As Mei started remembering little Hao Cun and her time before coming here, she started tearing up even more, wiping all her freshly fallen tears.
"Mei? What's wrong?" Mei turned, seeing Lien with a worried look. The Vietnamese girl got up out of bed and walked over to the sobbing Taiwanese girl, pulling her into a protective hug.
"Nothing, just a dream." Mei answered with a hoarse voice.
"It's just a dream, Mei. Don't worry..." Lien said, dejectedly. "It's all behind you now..." Mei sniffled and pulled away from Lien's hug. After wiping her tears again one more time, Mei revealed a toothy smile, eyes still slightly puffy and pink. Lien snorted and smiled back.
Happy New Year! New Year's resolution: update at least one fic a week! fingers crossed, guys! and look! an update! sorry about repeating the whole 'cops' thing, but they are orphans with bad past, right? *dies in corner* I'll try to not make it reoccurring, but no promises... Hehe, started this chapter in 2012, ended in 2013...
Reviews are Loved, please excuse grammar and/or spellings!
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