A Lonely Life: Section 1

Nina woke up one morning with a startled scream from a bad dream. She was not in her own bed but in another, one unfamiliar and cold and hard. She sat up and looked around. The walls around her were cold and uninviting. They were brick, or maybe concrete. She couldn’t know, she was only around four at the time. She had tears in her eyes and she couldn’t remember why. She looked around her, quicker, as she clutched her teddy bear and her baby blanket to herself. Why wasn’t she wasn’t at home? Why wasn’t she with her parents? Why hadn’t her parents come to her when she yelled out? Everything was mushed together and she didn’t remember the day before at all.

She crawled from bed and went to the door. Her feet got instantly cold as they pressed against the tile floor of the room. The floor was white, the walls brown, the small tiny window frosted over as a sign that it had been a chilly night. She was in her normal pajamas. She drug her teddy bear and blanket with her silently as she tried the door. It opened with a loud metallic squeal as the hinges worked in the cold air, trying to adjust to the temperature. As the door opened she looked down the hallway. There were so many doors, all the same. The walls the same color too. She tried to wrap her head around what was going on.

As she gathered her courage she stepped into the hall. The lights were on and they were blinding as she’d just woken up. She tiptoed next door and knocked on it. Her teeth chattering as she hoped the one who answered could help her out. She waited and waited and the little boy who opened the door just slammed the door back in her face. She let out a soft whimper at the sound of the door slamming. She wasn’t used to that behavior. Her parents had been very loving people and had always welcomed her into their arms when she was scared. This strange boy did no such thing.

As Nina went down the hall she kept getting the doors slammed in her face, she couldn’t seem to find anyone who would tell her where she was. She started to cry and sat down on the cold tile floor and wrapped her arms around her legs and just put her head in her lap. She just wanted to feel her parents arms around her, she felt alone. Alone wasn’t something Nina had ever felt before, but she knew it was something she’d feel from now on. Her parents weren’t there, weren’t there anywhere. If they had been, they would have come to her and calmed her down. They would have been there, rocking her and telling her it was okay. Had she done something wrong? What was going on?

Nina heard a door open from down the long hallway and she just stayed where she was. She didn’t want to talk anymore. She didn’t care. She just wanted to curl up in between her parents like she used to when she had a bad dream. This was the worst dream she’d ever have. She just wanted to wake up, back in her own warm cozy bed that was placed in the corner of her room, piled high with stuffed animals.

She felt someone wrap a blanket around her gently and she could feel the eyes of this person on her as he knelt down beside her. He couldn’t have been much older than her at all, maybe a year or two. But she couldn’t tell. He had kind eyes as she looked up and met hers. They were a baby blue and they were bright. He had a kind smile on his face as he gently rested a hand on top of hers. The young boy finally spoke. His voice was quiet and shy but it was rehearsed, as if he’d said it multiple times before. “Hello, my name is Adam. You’re at the River Orphanage. How about I help you back to your room?”

Nina would nod slowly. This boy was the nicest person she’d met here. She looked at him with her own blue eyes. She clutched her teddy bear and baby blanket to her chest as she stood up slowly. Her body was shaking with shivers from the cold air and the cold surfaces that surrounded them.

Adam would slowly lead her back to her room, opening the door for her. He was slightly chubbier and one could tell that he was taken better care of than most of the other kids here. He must have had some sort of connection here. As she crawled into bed, Adam would speak again.

“I know you’re scared and alone, but know that you’re safe here and you’ll find somewhere fantastic to live, with a great family.” With that he walked out and shut the door, his footsteps fading into the background as he retreated down the hall. His words confirmed Nina’s worst fears, she was alone. Her parents were no where near here and she was somewhere that a new family could just take her? What sort of place was this? She curled up under the blanket and buried her face in her teddybear and let her tears fall freely as she cried herself back to sleep.



The dream started over once again, she was laying in her bed at home. Just like how she’d gone to sleep last night. Her mother had tucked her in and her father had kissed her forehead. She closed her eyes as the door closed and fell to sleep pretty quickly afterwards. There was a commotion downstairs and she woke up when the door slamed open downstairs. Angry voices filled the house and she could hear the explosions of the surrounding objects in the house as the duel resumed. Her mother ran into the room, quickly pulling her from bed and hiding her in the secret hiding place with a bag that had already been packed. She held her long pointer finger up to her lips to motion to stay quiet before shutting the door, moving the small bookshelf back in front of the hiding place. Nina sat quietly, tears filling her eyes at what she had done to get a grounding in such a strange spot. The strangers had found her mother, who had been standing at the window. Nina could see just the lights as she clung onto the teddy bear and her baby blanket tight. The reds and greens made her jump but she stayed silent. Soon the fighting was over, the strangers retreating and with the silence she fell asleep.



Nina snapped awake once more. Her face was wet with sweat and her eyes were watery with tears. It was morning, the dim light coming in through the small window which had bars over it. She pulled the blanket tighter and watched as the day formed into a deep grey sky filled with clouds. The large clouds ready to burst, letting down a waterfall of rain. There was a knock on the door and she looked at it. She didn’t want visitors. Nina just wanted to lay in bed, never moving until her parents came. She knew this would never happen, her nightmare played over and over in her mind as she laid still and quiet. She knew her parents were probably gone, the strangers seemed angry about something. Nina was alone and she had only one hope of staying alive, to trust the boy who had told her she would be safe here. He’d also mentioned that she’d find a fantastic family? This worried her more, she didn’t want a new family, she wanted her parents back.



As time went by, Nina started to become used to her new environment. She would never call in home willingly but she knew that being hard headed only made things worse in the orphanage. Adam and her had started to become friends, slowly but surely Nina had started to open up to him and tell him about the night she had arrived at the orphanage. He had filled in a couple blanks for her but he wasn’t that big of a help when it came to that. Being the same age, he hadn’t really understood what had been going on when she was brought in by some people. The best he knew was that the lady had red hair, she was tall and strong and she had been crying. This woman had even started crying when she handed Nina over, requesting that she be allowed to tuck her in at least. Adam told her that the lady and the man that had accompanied her were allowed to put her to bed, though it didn’t last long. The woman was escorted out by the man who was comforting her as much as he could, saying they would see her soon enough and that when they did they’d have to explain the situation.

They left that cold night, bundled up and Nina hadn’t seen them since. But she often thought about them. She couldn’t remember much about the woman or the man herself, though she was sure that they’d been friends with her parents. Nina spent a lot of time at the library with Adam. She enjoyed getting out of the house with all the other kids who looked as her as though she was dangerous. The stares they sent her way when she was at the house mimicked those of one that a lion would give to prey before attacking its next meal.

One afternoon, Nina and Adam were sitting quietly in the library, looking up old records of the town and taking down notes on anything that had to do with her parents. There wasn’t much there but she finally found what she’d been looking for. The mention of family friends who had buried the bodies. Kenna Vesta and Justin Rockston were their names, the picture that was beside the names made her stomach tie up in knots. The picture was exactly like how Adam had described them and she poked him, pointing at the picture. Her eyes told the whole story of what she was yearning to hear. When Adam nodded she looked back at the picturing, memorizing the features of the the two. She looked at Adam and she had already made up her mind. She was leaving the home, she had to find these two. She needed to know about her parents.

“Adam, you know I have to leave now. I’m so close to finding everything out. All the information. These two know my parents, they knew me.” Nina whispered to him, she didn’t want to leave him but she knew she had to make this voyage on her own.

Adam stared at her. He clearly was not happy with this idea, his words proved that Nina’s thoughts had been correct about him not being thrilled.

“Nina, you’re not leaving. You’re fourteen! You won’t even make it there before you get caught, and you don’t even know where there is!” Adam kept his voice low since they were still in the library but Nina could tell by the hissing sound that he was not going to let her leave easily. She’d need to sneak out at night if she was going to even get past his parents. Now she’d just have to wait later, until she was sure he was asleep.