Shakespeare's Secret

Chapter 1: Apples and Pastries

   Dear Readers,

Thank you for stopping by to read my new short story: Shakespeare's Secret. I have always appreciated Shakespeare's writing background and decided to write a fictional story that included him, yet an adventurous and witty character: Lizz. When you have finished reading the first chapter, who was your favorite character?  As a reminder: my story, characters, and plot are copyrighted and plagiarism will NOT be tolerated.

P.S. Sorry about any grammar or spelling errors, once again I am still editing. Constructive response is greatly appreciated!

-Kat

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   The sunlight streamed from the small window, touched my eyes and danced across my face. As my eyes came into focus, I looked around the room. My eyes came glanced around the small room I called home. It smelled of unwashed bodies that had been crowded around one place for too long. 

   No danger in this except for suffocation in the small room and if you called Master "Blade" Cladette dangerous. They called him Blade because of a rumor that he diced up a Copper's hand with a knife so bad that the Copper begged him for mercy, which Blade gave none of. Blade had then freed himself and left the poor man to nurse his wounds. He was certainly not the nicest man in town. Sometimes I wonder why he runs the Orphanage for Better Boys. Blade probably just needed a crew and some servants that he didn't have to pay for. So "Better Boys" indeed. The only orphanage in town and it was only for boys. 

     Oh sorry speaking of Better Boys, you must think me very impolite of me to not introduce myself, I am Lizz. But my full name is Elizabeth. I know it's a lot so try and keep up. I never knew my parents long enough to remember anything about them. My parents must have been able to convince Blade to take me in. Sometimes I wonder that if I weren't here, where would I be? 

      There isn't much for a girl my age to do or become, other than sewing, cooking, and learning the daily chores from mother. Only thing is, I don't have a mother or any other women to learn from. There is the other option to get married to a rich Duke or someone like that, but there is no fun or true love in that option. At Better Boys I could at least become an apprentice to a man that could teach me something. Much more interesting. Also the authorities can't know I am really a girl if they do I'd be out on the streets or in some pretty dress waiting on a rich foreign prince. It doesn't do me much good because if I "get any ideas" Blade warned that I would be kicked out and he would tell the authorities. So I tried to lay low around the authorities which means no major steals except for what is needed.

     It was about six in the morning. The sun was up and so was I. I counted about thirty sleeping bodies in the small crowded room I resided in. I identified the sleeping bodies of Will, Ben, Daniel, Prowler, Kyle, Jay, and Max at the corner of the tightly fit dormitory for the older boys at the orphanage. Blade would be shouting at them to get up in half an hour. and I would very much like to leave that misery behind. 

     It was my turn to get the boys' breakfast. Well not really, but I couldn't stand staying here any longer than necessary, so Master had assigned me to get the breakfast most days. That's probably the nicest thing he's ever done, but it just means more food for him and more work for me. At least I was free when I had to go. I looked down at my clothes. Hand-me-downs. The clothes that I had worn before were in tattered ruins now.

    I had kept my complaints silent and unknown, but Max had noticed my apparel. He reasoned that I needed to blend into the crowd if I were to continue my picking without discovery and couldn't have my clothes practically so dirty and torn that I looked way too under-nurtured. Blade agreed with Max, not wanting the authorities on his tail. I didn't know exactly how old I was but everyone said I looked thirteen or fourteen. They gave me some clothes from Will that he had grown out of, but they weren't much better.