Change, Memories & Love

Chapter 3 ~

*Darcy Anne’s POV*

I keep sliding backwards until my back hits the wall. Or, so I thought it was a wall. Walls don’t breath, I think as I turn around. There is Madam Kingsley, giving me one of her infamous icy stares. I squirm under her glare. As she finally looks up, I give a sigh of relief. “Back, in line! Now!” she snaps. All the orphans scurry back to the red line drawn on the floor, to show us a “straight line”. I think I know what a “straight line” looks like, I think as Madam roughly throws me back in line by my hair.

After all the other kids are in line, the five guys begin to walk down the line, examining each of us on the way. The other two men stand on either side of the line. The way they guard either side, makes me feel imprisoned. Snapping back into reality, I notice that the five other guys are about six girls down from me. Just the thought of them looking at me, makes my heart begin to race. But not in a good way; more of a scared-to-death way. They come to a stop, two girls away for me. The breath gets caught in my throat as they are too close for comfort.

Seconds pass before they start to continue down the line. I can feel the sweat drip down the side of my face as they pass me. Thankfully, me being as short as I am, they don’t notice me. They’re probably too tall to notice a small girl like me. Not to mention they probably don’t have the brains to notice, either; without thinking I stifle a laugh at that thought. Only one second too late, my hands fly up to cover the sound of my existence. But when you’re in a silent room, even the smallest sound can be heard. All heads snap towards my spot. The eyes of the five guys all widen as they realize they missed someone.

In a matter of seconds, they are all crouched down in front of me. By the way they all have the same goofy smile; I can tell that they have already fallen in love with me. Mostly every adoptive couples and families do. But then, Madam Kingsley usually finds a way to talk them out of it and make me feel even more hopeless. Also for the first time, I finally get a good look at them. Other than the fact that there are five of them and they’re all boys, they look nothing alike. The one in the front-right has side-swept sand brown hair and sea blue eyes. In the middle, there is a guy with curly brown hair and green eyes. Although they may be green, they look like a greyish-green compared to my vibrant green ones. On the left side of him, there is a guy with a big friendly smile. He is the only one with blonde hair, although it is obviously bleached. He has icy blue eyes and clear braces over his pearly white teeth. Behind him, there is yet another guy. He looks like he is the one in charge. He has a buzz cut and comforting brown eyes. Right to his left, there is the last guy. The last of the five has olive skin, a blonde curl in his quaff, and the most welcoming brown/hazel eyes, I have ever seen. I swear my breath gets caught in my throat, yet again. He has the same eyes as my first and only friend, Jayce. He moved to Canada a year after I met him, though.

They continue to stare before the one guy in the middle with the curly hair, reaches out towards me. But just as he lifts his hand within 30 centimeters of me, I flinch. They all stare at me as if I’m an alien. Scared of what they might do next, I start to back up. “No. No, I’m not going to hurt you, honey,” he tries to sooth me. I whimper at the name he called me. My parents, if you can even call them that, used to call me that when they were about to harm me. With pain written across all of their faces, they stand back up and continue on down the line.

After they finish, they go off into Madam Kingsley office. But, not before Madam Kingsley shrieks at us to go back up to our rooms. Rooms, more like prison cells, I think as I make my journey up to the room I share with my other abusers.

It’s been an hour, an hour and yet they aren’t done in her doomed office, talking to the witch herself. What could be taking so long that they’re still in there? If it were me, I would want out of there as soon as possible. My thoughts are soon interrupted by the sound of the door opening. I lift my head to see who it is, though I already think I have a good idea of who it might be. My thoughts are correct as I notice that the people at the door are indeed the five guys from downstairs. Not to forget the two bodyguard-like men.

Yet again, all the girls run up to them and try to get to them. But much like earlier, they two men have already made a wall by the time the girls get there. The one thing I notice that is different than earlier is that the five guys are not looking at all the other girls in the room. They are staring directly at me. They walk closer to me as the other two men hold back my crazed roommates. When they finally come to a stop in front of me, the one with the buzz cut and the blonde one sit down on either side of me. I stare at the one with the curly hair, afraid that he might try something, again.

We stare at each other for another minute before the one with the side-swept hair clears his throat to say the words that I’ve been so frightened to hear, “Sweetie, we’re going to be adopting you.”