Chapter 2 A Jounrey's Beginning
Elsewhere, on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, there stood an orphanage called Hannigan's Orphanage. Many children looked out the second-floor windows, waving goodbye to their oldest member, who was an 18 year old woman named Sydney.
The young woman had brown hair tied into a high ponytail hidden under a navy blue hat. She was also wearing a tattered yellow dress underneath a forest green coat, black stockings, and old, worn boots, along with a purple scarf, blue mittens, and an aged necklace that read "Together in Paris" on it.
Apparently having spent her whole life in the orphanage, Sydney was finally being forced out now that she was all grown up.
She was followed outside by the owner who ran the orphanage, Miss Hannigan.
"I got you a job in the fish factory!" She pointed down the street. "You go straight down this path, and when you get the fork in the road, go left…"
But Sydney was too busy waving goodbye to the other orphans. "Goodbye!"
"Are you listening to me?" Hannigan snapped, noticing the girl wasn't paying any attention.
"Bye, everybody!" Sydney's smile faded when she noticed Hannigan glaring at her. "I'm listening, Comrade Hannigan." She said in a bored tone.
Hannigan then grabbed Sydney by the scarf. "Oh, you've been a thorn in my side since you were brought here!" She groaned, as she dragged her towards the front gate, nearly choking her. "Waltzing about and acting like the Queen of Sheba instead of the nameless no-account you are!"
"Bye!" Sydney called back to the other orphans again, who kept waving goodbye. Hannigan then went forward to unlock the gate.
Unable to handle this, Sydney unraveled her scarf and let Hannigan pull it off.
"For the last fifteen years, I've fed you, I've clothed you, I've educated you, and…"
"Kept a roof over my head." Sydney finished in a bord tone.
As Hannigan opened the gate, she narrowed his eyes, as she wondered something. "How is it you don't have a clue as to who you were before you came to us, but you can remember all that?"
"Well, I do have a clue to…" Sydney started to say, as she pulled out her chained necklace charm around her neck.
"Ugh! I know!" Hannigan snapped. She yanked Sydney's necklace and read it. "'Together in Paris'. So, you want to go to France dressed in rags and without a penny in your pocket just to find your family, huh?" She asked with a sarcastic smile.
"Mm-hmm." Sydney nodded, smiling back.
"You know, I stopped looking for my family a long time ago! Like you'd even know who they are or what they look like!" Hannigan smirked.
"I don't," Sydney admitted.
"Then why are you looking for them?" Hannigan asked her in a mean way. "When they should be looking for you!"
Sydney just shrugged at the question.
"Little Miss Sydney, you're a smart girl. You need to let go of these little girl fantasies and take your place in life! In life and line!"
Hannigan then threw Sydney's scarf in her face.
"And be grateful for who you are – Sydney, the Orphaned girl whom nobody wanted to adopt. Together in Paris!" Hannigan laughed, as she slammed the gate shut. She then went back to the other side of the gate, closed it, and continued laughing.
With that, Sydney made her leave down the road with a depressed look on her face.
After about a mile of walking, Sydney came to rest at the fork road Miss Hannigan told her to go. "Be grateful, Sydney!" She mimicked the caretaker's words. "I am grateful. GREATFUL TO GET AWAY!" She shouted down the path she had come from.
Ever since she came to that orphanage ten years ago, Sydney hated it from the very beginning. The caretaker was always hard on her, nobody wanted to adopt her, and most importantly, she had no memory of her life before coming to the orphanage. The only clue she had was the necklace that read, "Together in Paris."
Coincidentally, it was the same necklace the grand duchess Sydstasia was wearing during the revolution ten years ago.
Sydney then turned around to face two signs. The sign pointing left read "Fishtown Market", and the sign pointing right read "St. Petersburg".
"'Go left' she says," Sydney said. "Trouble is, I already know what's left. I'll be Sydney the Orphan forever."
Just then, something came to her. "But if I go right,' She guested down the path to St. Petersburg. "Maybe I can find…" She then looked down and touched her necklace. "Whoever gave me this necklace must have really loved me." But then she shook her head. "But that's just crazy! Me? Go to Paris?" Sydney then became lost in thought of what to do and sat down on a log. "Send me a sign! A hint!" She shouted, tilting her head skyward. "Anything!"
Sydney then knelt down towards the signs, feeling hopeless.
But just then, as if on cue, a small blue snail with red eyes, and a pink shell with a red swirl and purple spots appeared, and saw Sydney's long scarf. The snail playfully tugged the scarf, making it land on top of him.
Sydney noticed her scarf in the snow, and fell over on her back as the snail pulled it away. "Hey!" She tried to grab it, laughing a little. "Hey! I don't have time to play right now, okay?" She then sighed. "I'm waiting for a sign."
The snail inside Sydney's scarf meowed and continued to pull it, and began to slither away with it down the right path.
"Give me that!" Sydney demanded. She followed her scarf, and tried to tug it back. She began to say with annoyance, "Would you please leave me al…"
But the scarf tugged back.
"Stop! Give me that!" Sydney tried to hold on, but the girl ended up getting spun around in a circle, until she tripped and fell into the snow on her abdomen.
The snail hiding under the scarf revealed himself to Sydney, and the girl just shook her head, now annoyed as the snail pointed to the end of the sign to St. Petersburg. "Oh, great. A snail wants me to go to St. Petersburg."
Just as the cat meowed, Sydney looked at the sky and wondered. "Okay…maybe it could be a sign?"
Just then, the snail's advice gave her an idea. Maybe Sydney really could go to St. Petersburg to find what she was looking for. "Okay..." She agreed. "I can take a hint."
As the snail meowed, Sydney just stared down the path to St. Petersburg.
A small gust of wind blew some snow along the path, and Sydney looked on with a smile as she started singing, taking her first step forward.
"Heart don't fail me now,
Courage don't desert me,
Don't turn back now that we're here,"
Sydney picked the snail up in her arms, as her spirit was now quite high, for she had gained hope to find her family and identity.
"People always say,
Life is full of choices,
No one ever mentions fear,
Or how a world can seem so fast,
On a journey to the past!"
Sydney set the snail down, and the meowing animal jumped up to play with falling snow.
As Sydney and her new friend walked on, a sleigh pulled by a troika of horses moved past them, and the people in the sleigh waved to the girl.
"Somewhere down this road,
I know someone's waiting,
Years of dreams just can't be wrong,"
As she traveled through a village, many people stopped what they did and waved as Sydney and the snail happily made their way down the path.
"Arms will open wide,
I'll feel safe and wanted,
Finally home where I belong,
Well, starting now I'm learning fast,
On this journey to the past!"
The snail watched as Sydney kept on hopping down the road. She looked back at him, and twitched her head, gesturing him to come along. Grinning, the snail gladly followed Sydney.
Sydney and the snail then encountered a family of aardvarks – the Read family – working in the snow by their hut. DW saw the snail and ran over to play with it. Arthur followed, and the two children laughed as the snail meowed and let DW and Arthur chase him playfully. Sydney then took the blob by its side, indicating that it was time to move on. Mr. and Mrs. Read came by to check on their children, and DW happily waved goodbye to Sydney and the snail.
"Home, love family,
There was once a time I must've had them, too,
Home, love, family,
I will never be complete until I find you!"
Sydney and the snail rested a little bit by some trees, and two squirrels and a rabbit looked at the girl with curiosity. The little snail meowed, making the squirrels and rabbit run away. Sydney just shrugged and motioned for the snail to come along, skipping along the path.
"One step at a time,
One hope then another,
Who knows where this road may go?
Back to who I was,
On to find my future,
Things my heart still needs to know!
Yes, let this be a sign,
Let this road be mine,
Let it lead to my past,
And bring me home,
At last!"
Sydney finally came to a stop at the edge of a hill upon a lovely view and skyline of St. Petersburg in the distance. This was it. She was finally off to discover her past, where she had come from, and return to her long-lost family.
I'm really happy I was finally able to write this chapter, because we are finally introduced to Sydney (myself playing Anya), and Gary the snail (from Spongebob playing Pooka) I'm also hoping to upload the next chapter some time this week, because I can't wait to sing my favorite song "Once Upon a December"!