Dreams of Stars (A Once Upon a Time/Jiminy Cricket fanfic)

Dreams of Stars Part 14

The carriage ride to the orphanage was long. Kaelin stared silently out the window the whole way, unable to feel anything anymore except a dull, throbbing grief. Every mossy tree that passed took her farther away from her home and from Jiminy. Farther, farther, farther. The last person who really cared about her was sinking farther into the distance.

Kaelin didn't even think about what the orphanage would be like. She was too busy replaying all her memories in her mind. They came back to her in a jumble, out of order in time. Her mother. The rainbow path. Meeting the cricket. Four Feet. No Feet. The grumbling, old watermill. Going on that quest with Jiminy had been a beautiful experience, but did it all matter now? In the end, they had not reached their goal. It had all become meaningless.

The carriage stopped for the night, and Kaelin slept, covering her ears to block out the noise of crickets in the woods. When the sun peeked over the horizon the next morning, they set out again. By sunset, they arrived at a large, plain, wooden shack with many windows.

The orphanage was uncreatively built: a huge rectangle with two floors, divided into various rooms. On the lower floor, there was a reception, a dining hall, a kitchen, a storage closet, and a few bedrooms for the workers. On the upper floor, there was one, big bedroom for all the children. Behind the building, there was a dry, featureless yard with two, small outhouses. Still, being used to simple settings, Kaelin didn't mind the plainness of the place at all.

When the man who had brought her from the village signed her in, the woman behind the desk hardly glanced at her. Then the woman led her through to the dining hall, lecturing her on the orphanage rules all the way. Kaelin was still too distracted to hear anything she said, but in any case, she had always been a good, quiet girl, so she didn't have any fears that she might break the rules.

The woman left her alone almost immediately, and Kaelin stood looking around the empty dining hall, wondering what to do next. She saw through the windows that there were kids playing outside. Not wanting to meet any of the other children, she went to the corner, sat down, and leaned her chin on her knees. She wasn't going to cry again. In fact, she didn't even know if she would ever be able to cry again. Right now, she just felt empty.

After a while, the back door opened, and a little boy came in. The boy was about Kaelin's age, maybe little younger. He had slightly curly, black hair and earnest, black eyes. As soon as he saw Kaelin, he walked up to her and held out his hand for her to shake. "You're new here, aren't you? What's your name?"

Reluctantly, Kaelin stood up and took his hand. "I'm Kaelin," she replied.

"I'm Geppetto," the boy introduced himself, "I'm pretty new here too, so maybe we can be friends."

Kaelin looked up in surprise at the name. "Geppetto," she repeated. A tiny light of hope began to burn in her chest.

"Yeah, I know, it's kind of unusual," Geppetto said with a sympathetic grimace, "But I like it. It's my name, after all."

"Yes, it's nice," Kaelin responded absently. Jiminy Cricket was looking for Geppetto. As long as she remained here with Geppetto, she might someday see him again. For the first time since Jiminy left, she smiled. "Okay, let's be friends."

Geppetto smiled back a little. Despite his simple friendliness, he seemed sad. Kaelin knew why, too. She knew what had happened to him. But then, she was sad too. Surely everyone here was sad.

"So, what do you wanna do?" Geppetto asked.

"I don't want to do much of anything right now," Kaelin admitted, shuffling her feet.