"You're the girl with the large inheritance, right?" The boy said walking towards her and almost shoving his chubby fingers in her face.
Who was this kid? I asked myself as I stared at his fingers that almost poked my eyes out.
•
Third Week.
"Timon, what the heck??"
"Yeah, real smooth way to introduce us to the new kid," A girl behind him with bushy dust coloured said contemptuously.
The boy seemed confused.
"What?"
The girl with blue hair walked towards me and stretched her hand,
" Hi," she stretched out her hand.
" I'm Ramone, I take it, you're Elliam?"
I took her hand and nodded, I felt a little disturbed from random people asking about me.
" Hey, I'm Dusty,"
I turned to look at the girl, she really did looked like a dusty. She had bushy grey hair like dust, grey green coloured eyes and had a cold, dry expression on her face, I don't know how to explain but those were the first two adjectives that came to mind when I looked at her.
I looked closer at her and noticed that there was was a horrible cut, literally, on her right index. What was there was a bad looking stump.
I gulped and responded smiling.
"I'm Morani,"
She had dark black spiky hair with white stripes and blue eyes.
"I'm Imma,"
It was a boy who looked eleven with blonde hair and fading blue eyes. Imma, Morani and Dusty all looked the same age, while Ramone looked at least two years older, Timon, was the youngest of the group.
As they all introduced themselves, I noticed Timon boiling by the side.
"What the heck, guys?! You all get to introduce yourselves but I don't?! Not fair!"
"Pipe down, hot head, even if it were possible for you to become a gold digger, at least guise your intentions,"
Morani said breezily.
I coughed, trying to hide my sniggering.
Timon screamed.
" How dare!! You call me a gold digger!"
Just then someone yelled.
"Skittles! Get in here!!"
They all looked towards the direction of the voice attentively and ran that way immediately.
"See you at breakfast then!" Morani shouted.
"Bye!" Said Imma.
I watched as they all ran, half dazed.
I wasn't a person who connected well with just everyone and I was at first determined to not have anything to do with anyone but still it was a good thing I didn't had to talk much with these people. Who knows? Maybe we'll be lifelong friends in this horror tale house or something.
While thinking I felt sudden a tap on my shoulder and almost jumped out of my skin.
"Gah!"
"It's okay, it's just me," it was Moriah. I sighed in relief.
I looked at her, she was looking critically in the direction where they'd left.
"What?"
"What were you doing with them?"
"I was just introducing myself," I said frowning.
" Introducing yourself?" Then she shook her head contemptuously.
"Elliam, you shouldn't make friends with children like that,"
"Why not?" I asked although I knew why.
"You and they are not on the same level, come with me," She said and pulled me away.
She pulled away to a group children of varying ages, none less than nine.
Although talking to them wasn't bad, it became apparent that they were bullies and jerks to others as time and again, a person would say something bad about another non-present and they would all laugh or a person would trip a passing child carrying dishes and she would fall and they'd all cackle again as the head cook came out and pulled painfully on the child's ear. And I wondered what separated these kids from the others.
I was soon to find out anyway as the younger children were rousing from their sleep and breakfast was finally ready.
When I was seated near Moriah and the kids she introduced me to, it was impossible to see the obvious disparity in table arrangement.
Ours and four others were made of strong sturdy wood, carved and decorated, theirs were old shaky tables, so unsteady they didn't rest their arms on it for fear of felling it.
And in the food too; ours was corn oats and milk with bread, theirs was the same but looked light and watery and their bread looked hard and dry.
..
When I asked( I made sure to ask one of the kids Moriah introduced me to),
I was told that, 'those children' were the ones met as a baby in front of the gate, the ones found loitering in garbage cans on the street, the illegitimately born ones, the ones who really had no support in the world.
The Mother Goose's Home for Homeless Children which claimed to be dated back to the early twenties was originally named Stronghold's Etiquette Boarding School for Noble Children which was mainly for children of high class to train them for the upper class of society.
It was only because through the ages less and less orphanages thrived, and soon there was no better orphanage in town and the government paid them to take charge of the homeless children that they changed the name and took the part time job of being an orphanage.
I went around the vicinity, looking at the way it was situated.
The entire hold was inside a forest and was suspiciously and closely surrounded by large walls and locked in by a huge old gate.
Beyond the gate was the front house, the first place a visitor would encounter before entering the main orphanage, then there was the large space between the front house and the orphanage.
The orphanage itself was a dark towering castle, fourteen floors high, it looked like Maleficent's castle.
It was medieval looking, and was built with huge gravel like block, not like anything used to build these days.
The interior was too like a castle, living there made me feel like I had traveled back in time to the days of Leonardo da Vinci.
There was no sign of technology there whatsoever, no phones, tablets, televisions, gas cookers, cars, electric fans, nothing.
They were banned too as the ones I had were kept at the front house.
Huge wonder how Nomen got in contact with them when they had no single contact with the outside world.