It's Not All Roses | Editing

Chapter 3

Rosa:
I sat on the floor with Lucas as we played snaked and ladders. Rolling the dice, I was about to reach the end. A four. Yes! My piece moved to the last space as I jumped up in victory.

"Ha, I win," I yelled, as Lucas started to pack away the game.

"Well done," he said reluctantly, before he looked at the time on his computer. "Geez, it's nine o'clock, you've been her for four hours." 

My heart sank. My smile faded.  My whole world was over. I frantically gathered all of my things and shoved them back into my bag. Biding my goodbyes to lucas and his mum, I ran out of the door as fast as I could.

The navy blue above blanketed the sky, portraying thousands of stars. A half moon above shone down, giving light onto the roof tops. However, the roads were lit up with lamp posts, shiny on the road.

Cars zoomed past making a harsh wind blow past my cheeks. The sound of arguments and drunken songs rang out from the pub nearby.

I speedily past ran several people who were still walking back from pubs. As I pushed them out of my way, they gave me horrid looks. Some of them called me names, I'd rather not repeat, especially not to younger audiences. 

Finally, when the orphanage was in sight, I approached the large window. I searched desperately for my supervisor through the glass, but she was no where too be seen.

Inside, the lights were out and the room was blanketed in darkness. Not a single person made a sound, and there wasn't any movement to be found. The sink was filled with dirty dishes, and the table was stacked with crumbs. Unsurprisingly, they had all eaten already and gone straight to bed.

Which meant curfew was up. Which meant my supervisor knew I wasn't there. Which meant I was dead.

Suddenly, I was dragged backwards by the hair on the back of my head. Attempting to resist, I scraped and clawed at the evil witches hands. I kicked and pulled away, as I was almost jerked off of my feet. However, all efforts were in vain.

She dragged me back into the orphanage, showing absolutely no maternal care. Resentment flared in her evil, dark brown eyes with intensity. Her black hair was tied back into a messy bun, sitting flatly on top of her head. Smoke blew out of her nostrils as thought she were a firery dragon. 

Her right hand clutches the back of my head, tugging at my fraying hair. She dragged my head, pointing my gaze into her ugly face. A few tears stung in my eyes but I pressured them to stay. Crying in front of an evil witch is the same as bleeding in a sea full of sharks.

"Where were you?!" She spat, stomping on my foot, making me squeal under my breath. "You missed curfew by over an hour! So where were you?"

My heart felt like it was racing at a million miles per second. The world surrounding me felt like it was spinning and the only feature in focus was my supervisor. Her malicious smelling breath was all I could smell as she breathed down my neck.

"Well! Where were you?!" She screamed, as a little bit of spittle flew onto my face.

"I um I, well, I went to a friend's house, we uh, we were working on a project for school." Stuttering, I stared straight into the devils eyes, as my hands started trembling.

She realised her grasp and for a few seconds I thought I was in the clear. I was so very wrong. Without giving it a second thought, she slapped her hand across my face. As I stumbled backwards in shock, I collapsed to the floor. My cheek became red as it started to burn.

I attempted to climb back on to my feet but my supervisor kicked me back onto the floor. As I pressed my hand against my still burning cheek, the monster staring down at me crushed her foot against my arm. In pain, I let out a faint squeal, trying desperately not to wake up the other children asleep upstairs.

"You stupid liar!" She screamed, not giving a single care for the children asleep upstairs.

With shooting in my right arm, I yanked myself up and glared straight into the eyes of a beast. Steam rushed out of her ears like a teapot, as her face blew up with red rage.

"I'm not a liar! I was at a friend's house. We were working on a project for school." Before I could say another word, my supervisors fist met my face. Her knuckle landed straight into my right eye, making tears trickle down my face.

This time I had been expecting some sort of punishment, so I stayed upright instead of falling to the ground. My left eye throbbed in agony as tears dripped onto the floor.

"How dare you. Your as dumb as you look!" She shoved my shoulders, attempting to make me trip over. However, for once I managed to keep my ground. "For that little stunt you've just pulled, until I say otherwise you are doing all of the chores."

"Whatever! I don't care." I spat, turning away and towards the stairs. My eyes widened in surprise at what I had just done. I felt so much more powerful than I ever have done. Out of everyone I know of in the orphanage, I didn't think that anyone had ever spoken to my supervisor like that. However, my good spirit was destroyed within a few seconds.

"No one will ever want you!" I stopped in my tracks at the bottom of the stairs. Her words stung more than a knife. Teardrops hung in my eyes as I waited for her to say something else. Waiting for her to take it back. For her to tell me that it wasn't true. That someone will want and love me more than anything and anyone. However, that never came.

Her words hurt so much because I knew they were true. I had been in this stupid orphanage for sixteen years and not one person had even considered adopting me. My entire life, only one woman had ever shown me any amount of love and affection.

The first supervisor I ever had, had been so nice to me. She used to tell me that when my mother left me, she was crying so much. That she had promised to return and one day her problems would be resolved so she could come back for me. That hope died ten years ago when she left. Once she left, an evil witch took her place and the next ten years were hell with her. But all of that is in the past now and now no one will love me.

Without turning back to look at the demon, I crept back upstairs. I ran into my room where three others girls younger than me were fast asleep. There were two bunk beds with stained white sheets. All of the beds had a girl younger than ten in except for one which belonged to me. I put the green plastic bag next to the bottom bed next to the ladder.

Placing my head in my hands as I sat on my bed, I rubbed my now sore eyes, day dreaming about someone finally deciding to adopt me. I dreamt about going back to school and seeing Lucas. About him being super nice and caring towards me, but I felt as though that wouldn't last. Just the same as every other one of my friends didn't last.

However, I picked up a mirror and decided that none of that would happen tomorrow at the very least. There was a faint blue ring around my eye that was definitely going to become a black eye by tomorrow.

Sobbing silently, I stashed my mirror away and lay under neath my covers. I lay my head against my pillow imagining what would happen if I did go to school. I imagined getting asked a million questions by both students and teachers.

For a moment I thought it may be a good thing. The police or social services would be called and we could get a better supervisor. But that thought was interrupted by the fear of being called a liar. Who would believe me over a very respectable lady who takes care of children without parents. No one would believe me. I would be called a liar and they would probably assume that I just got in to a fight with someone.

One of the girls started snoring as I began to drift off to sleep. These poor children were growing up the same unfortunate way I did. If I could, I would change it all so that they all got an amazing childhood. The kind if life I wished for. But there is very little I would be able to do.