She woke up to find herself breaking cold sweat in her sleep.
"No one can get to me now. Not anymore." She said to herself, holding herself together with her arms wrapped around her knees.
The abandoned warehouse would echo a creak from the slightest breeze. But the abandoned office was able to shelter her from most of the cold air outside and the had the least amount of cobwebs and signs of rodents living in. It could be seen that since she left the orphanage, she had to force herself to be independent.
She dared not to wish for things that was not possible. Things like a family. Having a bed. Eating three meals a day. Going to school. Everything any other girl her age would have taken granted of. She envied those children. But at the same time. She knew she was different. She only had her instincts to survive and make judgement on things she never understood.
Lately, she had a feeling that someone was watching her. It didn't help where she currently lived is an abandoned warehouse. Xiao Bai used to love hearing horror stories the most. So even when she herself is an easily scared girl, she would still read it to him. Stories of abandoned warehouses, vengeful ghosts and killers on the loose. Her suppressed fears of what happened in the orphanage and her circumstances now constantly came to haunt her in the form of her nightmares. Even though the police had officially closed the case, ruling it as a tragic accident.
In fact three months had gone by since the incident and time had made people move on. A funeral was arranged for the dead and many of the townsmen came to grieve. The police investigated, but settled into closing the case as an accident after discovering the true faces of the people that represented all things holy and good to the town. The commissioner, who was revealed to be the father of the pastor announced his retirement shortly after. All the children from the orphanage was arranged to social services, entering into the foster care system. No missing persons file was ever opened, not when only one third of the children in the orphanage were accounted for in numbers compared to the documents the orphanage held. Everything had been buried when the coffins laid to rest.
She learnt all about this from the newspapers she delivered each morning for the local news outlet. She would often read the news and drank a small carton of milk that was left over from delivery. The job was well underpaid. But she valued each dollar that could buy the basic necessities she needed and survive through her own abilities. Life was indeed hard, but she was nonetheless striving forward.
Often times she wondered to herself if it was better to give up now. But whenever she had the thought, a certain small boy's smile and voice that called her big sister reminded her to live on. That's right. She said she would find Xiao Bai. So she had to live on.
The autumn wind banged on the industrial sized windows to the point she could no longer sleep. Forcing herself to sit up from the warm sleeping bag on the office couch, she could only vaguely make out the time on the clock. Three thirty in the morning. It was a little early, but she no longer had the urge to sleep and got ready to head out to the news outlet.
When she left, a figure in the darkness walked towards the abandoned warehouse.