The night is extremely cold. The frigid air blasting against my scarred and bruised feet were making this already miserable night even worse. You'd think that after getting kicked out of your home so many times, you would get used to this lifestyle, but I guess not.
The poorly paved roadways were cutting blister after blister into my hands and legs as I lay in this alleyway. I didn't have any time to grab the few clothes I had before I was thrown out on the street, so I was only given a speck of warmth by my brown tarp-like board shorts and the once white, blood-stained t-shirt I had on my back. Not to mention, it looked as if a storm was coming so I wouldn't even be dry for much longer.
I'm sure the only reason I am still somewhat mentally stable was because of my two companions. Minx was surprisingly calm for a bird in a storm. But then again, I can't remember a time when she wasn't as stoic as a rock. Her bright neon green and blue feathers shimmered in a regal fashion as she sat perched on my head. On the other hand, Clay was fervently trying to bite my hand off as he freaked out in the anticipation of the storm. He never was one for getting his cream and black hair wet in the first place. He was currently using my body as a pillow and a tarp as his soft pig form squirmed underneath my body.
You know, I kind of feel bad for them both. I never liked seeing them in harsh predicaments, especially not when I caused them. Well I sort of caused it. It's kind of hard to explain, but I will try my best.
To start things off, I'm an orphan. My parents left me at a doorstep in the poor town of Clemence with nothing but the blanket wrapped around my soft tiny form. The owners of the house were a newlywed couple that weren't quite ready to take care of a child so they dropped me off at the town orphanage. The small cramped building didn't have many people living there, to begin with. In total there were about seven kids living here and with the one matriarch of the orphanage included, that got us to a grand total of eight people living in the 'quaint' building.
I spent my first three years of life there and somewhat enjoyed it. Overall I was a happy person. I enjoyed being myself and having fun. I had a smile that drew people in and made them laugh without ceasing. I made almost instant friends with everyone there and had an overall good time with them.
But then disaster struck. It happened on my third birthday during my pseudo birthday party. As I addressed before, nobody in the town was rich. Heck, for the most part, we all struggled to keep food on the table altogether. The orphanage only got a six silver stipend from the United Kingdom's Treasury and that had to be spent throughout the course of the entries year. I say all that to say that my birthday party was nothing spectacular. I had a cake made out of leftover potato starch and water with a 'candle' made out of old straw from Mr. Taylor's horse's stable.
We were all together celebrating when we heard a large boom sound followed by the sound of breaking glass. We all followed the matriarch under the table to wait for the storm out. We stayed there for a good half hour before leaving the small space. Just as we had all gotten out from under the wooden structure, another larger boom shook the entire house. A smell of smoke quickly permeated the house as the roof and door caught on fire. The matriarch tried to rush us all out but it was too late. One more enormous lightning bolt struck the house and then everything turned pitch black.
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When I woke up the next day, I was in the town infirmary. The largest room in town, save for the mayor's office, was sparsely decorated and only had a waist-high length cabinet sitting on the wall next to me. It had a few basic medical tools littered about inside. I tried my best to sit up and found it surprisingly easy. In fact, nothing on me hurt at all. You would think that after being hit by lighting I would at least be sore but apparently my body could care less about common sense.
I slowly stood from the cot I was laying in and walked to the door. As I went to open it, the door started to swing open on its own. on the other side was the village physician. She was standing there with a large frown on her face.
"Finneas, why are you up out of bed! You need to rest. Your body needs time to recover."
"But ma'am, I feel totally fine."
"B-but how? you were struck by lightning!"
" I dunno," I said with a cheeky smile that melted her heart instantly.
"okay child, let me check you out real quick."
She led me over to a sitting stool and told me to sit down. She ran me through a series of different diagnostics and exercises before letting me take a break. There was a confused look on her face as we finished up. After sitting in silence for a few minutes I finally decided to say something.
" so... um, how did it go?"
The lady turned to look at me with an odd look in her eye.
"Surprisingly, you are perfectly fine. Nothing is bruised, cut, or damaged in the least. Very peculiar, that for sure."
"that's great, ma'am! Does that mean that I can go and see everyone at the orphanage now?"
The curious look in her eyes quickly changed to one of sadness.
She looked me in the eyes and said "I'm sorry but when the lightning struck the building, everyone else but you were killed."
I was silent. I stared at her in disbelief for many minutes. I was hoping that this was all a joke and that she would start cracking a smile or something. But that smile never came. As I realized that all the people I called family for three years are gone, I started to ball my eyes out. I don't know how long I was there for, but it felt like ours. I cried until I couldn't cry anymore.
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After I was done crying, I was led out by the physician to a waiting area where she left me to go talk to some other adults. After a while, an older couple came to get me and took me to their home. Once we got there, they took me to a closet-sized room where they said I would be staying from now on.
After a couple of days, the initial pain wore off. Don't get me wrong, I will always be sad about what happened but I'm just not the type to let bad situations drag me down. I got up the next day and got straight to work. You see, my new guardians are nice and all but they aren't really capable of taking care of me seeing as they can't even take care of themselves. Ed and Edna live off of the small stipend they get from the Kingdom without doing any other kind of work. I had to cook, clean, and tend to all other daily duties in order to pay for me living there.
But all in all, it was better than nothing so there was no real use in complaining. I slowly got used to this kind of life and was even sort of comfortable with my parental figures. This type of life was going pretty well. But as we all know, there is always a calm before the storm.
The old couple died.
It came out of nowhere. While yes they were not in their youth they were still very capable and had shown no signs of deterioration.
I was shocked, but not really sad. While I was still an upbeat person, having your loved ones taken away from you can really harden your heart.
This Became a growing pattern for me. For ten years I was moved from home to home in Clemence town. And everywhere I went something bad followed. I would get comfortable in a home and then it was all stripped from me. From disease to random, sporadic fires, every household I was in was left to ruin. Slowly but surely, people stopped accepting me into their homes and I was given the detested name of Disaster Child.
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And that's how I am here today. In the cold alleyways of a poor village. My last Guardians were ranchers who decided to ditch me after their whole flock of cattle died in one night. They kicked me to the curb without a second thought and told me there was a dagger awaiting me if I was to ever return.
But then again, this is all irrelevant now that I am a homeless teenager. No one was going to so much as give me a second glance after hearing about my story. The ranchers were my last chance and now I have nowhere else to go. I was trying to formulate my plan for the future but it had started to pour down excessively and I am too tired to think. I decided that I was going to try my best to get a good night's sleep and hope that I could come up with a better plan in the morning.
I snuggled tightly to my companions, Clay laying under my stomach and Minx under my chin as we put forth our best effort to gain warmth for the night ahead. I tried to dream of my happy place but I don't think I have one anymore.