"Wake up Pain!"
Pain stood up immediately he heard those words. He jumped right off the bed he was laying on and accidentally hit his head against the wood of the upper bunk.
"What the?" he rubbed the red spot on his forehead as his eyes opened. "Shit!"
The discomfort he was feeling from the collision couldn't be compared to the confusion wrapping his mind.
Pain closed his eyes and reopened them, but he saw the same thing. He looked down at his hands with widened eyes.
"Sister Hilda said we won't get to eat breakfast until we all finish our chores," said an annoyed voice beside him. It belonged to a slim girl with short blonde hair of about 6 years.
"Ruby?? How is this possible?"
Pain reached out to touch the girl's head when she smacked his hand away.
"Stop acting weirder than normal and go clean the toilets," she ordered before walking to the door to leave.
"Wait. What year is it?" Pain asked, almost falling out of the bed in an attempt to chase her.
"Year? It's Tuesday." The girl sent Pain a suspicious glare before walking out the door.
Pain stood looking around at the little room he was in and everything in it. His mouth opened so wide an elephant could fit inside. He was the only one in the room.
"Could I really have gone back in time?" he asked himself, taking steps towards the window opposite the bunk. "Could I?" he suspected, staring at a face he had almost forgotten reflecting on the glass.
This place was Pain's room from his time in the orphanage. He could remember every detail as if it was yesterday he left. He was back in his 7-year old body.
"Nah! That's not possible. It's either those scientists are playing a trick on me or I'm finally losing my mind."
Just then, the door opened and an old lady dressed in walked in. Pain remembered her. She was one of the old Sisters who ran the orphanage- Sister Hilda.
"Pain, why haven't you done your chores?" she questioned, walking closer to him.
"I don't have to do shit because this isn't real. It's all in my head so go do some old people stuff and let me be," Pain said waving his hand for the Sister to leave.
At this time, he had already gotten used to a lot of people at the orphanage calling him Pain. He hated everyone but the one girl who didn't.
"How dare you?" the Sister roared, while taking off her left slipper.
Pain turned back to the window unbothered. He wondered when the scientists were going to be done with whatever test they were running on his mind.
Twwaahhh!
Pain fell to the ground after being kicked in the leg by the Sister. Before he knew what was going on, beatings rained down on him from the all-powerful rubber weapon the Sister wore as a slipper.
It's been a long time since Pain got beaten with the slipper but he hadn't forgotten the hurt it could deliver. The scientists could do a lot of things, but replicating the exact amount of hurting the slipper can cause wasn't one of them.
The thought of fighting back came to him, but then he remembered he was in the body of a 7 year old. There was only one thing he could do.
"I'm sorry Sister!! I'm sorry!" Pain pleaded while getting his ass handed to him on a rubber platter.
A minute more and Sister Hilda stopped.
"You have five minutes. Five minutes to get those toilets clean or I'll peel the skin off your lips and feed it to the chickens," she threatened after finally letting Pain go. She wore her slipper back then walked out the door.
"Wow. That changes everything," Pain noted, rubbing his swollen ass. "I must've really gone back in time." He smiled.
'I have a lot to do but right now, I should finish up my chores,' he thought as the scary image of the slipper resurfaced in his mind. Sister Hilda sure knew how to scare a kid.
Quickly, Pain went about doing his chores, starting with washing the toilet downstairs. It took him an hour to finish up, but he did everything with a smile on his face. Sure, it sucked, but Pain never thought that one day, he be back here. Free from the Slave Master and his heartless scientists.
When he was done, he joined the others for breakfast. They were having scrambled eggs and toast.
"Are you alright, Tim?" asked a girl with blue eyes seated opposite Pain on the dining table. "You seem… off."
"I'm fine, Chloe," Pain answered with a smile. "The food is amazing."
Chloe was his favorite person in the orphanage. She was younger than him. Pain couldn't remember when last he ate food this great. At his cell in the slave prison, he was given tasteless food that was barely enough to satisfy a squirrel.
"Enjoy your meal children. This might be your last together. A nice couple would be taking Pain home today."
"Wait! What? Who's going to massage my back if Pain gets adopted?" said a tall teen wearing a yellow basketball jersey, just joining them.
The others laughed but Pain who was the butt of the joke.
Immediately those words left the Sister's mouth, Pain suddenly lost the appetite to eat. His heart started to race and one question pondered on his mind.
"What's today's date??" he inquired, standing up in a hurry.
Everyone stared at him for a while before a little girl spoke up.
"It's November 31st," Chloe answered.
'Shit!'
"Nevermind." Pain pushed his plate to Chloe then bolted upstairs. He paced around in his room, lost in thought.
Today was his last chance to change his fate. Last time, he had screwed up the adoption with the couple coming today so they changed their mind about him. If only he knew that the next day, the devil disguised as a rich do-gooder would adopt him into his legion of slaves, he wouldn't have done that.
By all means he had to be perfect today. By all means, he had to leave this orphanage today. Adopted by a nice couple preferably.
Since he had nothing else to do, Pain had his bath and put on the best clothes he had; A blue Ironman shirt and a brown pair of khaki trousers. He even combed his black hair to make him look even more attractive.
The others were surprised at how seriously he was taking the adoption. This was the first time Pain had ever shown any interest in getting adopted.
When he was done dressing and packing, he went out to sit on the bench in front of the house. His plan was to charm his way into getting adopted with a good first impression.
"What are you doing?"
Pain looked back and saw little Chloe watching him from behind. She was wearing a pink gown that made her look very pretty. Although she was just 5 years old, Chloe was the only person that was nice to him in the orphanage.
The others didn't want to associate themselves with a boy rejected by his parents at birth and hated so much he was named Pain. She calls him Tim because she felt it was a better name. She wasn't comfortable calling him Pain.
Unlike the others whose parents gave them up directly to the orphanage, Pain was found in a dumpster as an newborn infant then brought to the orphanage. He was a couple of hours away from being dead.
"I'm going to miss you, Chloe," Pain said, turning his head back.
A loud horn could be heard not far off as a small green car was driven into the compound. The car caught Pain's attention and he was so fixed on it he didn't notice Chloe walk up to him.
"I'm going to miss you too, Tim," she confessed, hugging his left arm, with tears gathering in her eyes.
Pain rushed to the car, forcing his arm out of her grasp. With a broad smile, he opened the door of the lady in the vehicle.
"Good day madam," he greeted politely.
The lady walked out with her bag on her shoulder. She didn't expect the boy she had chosen to adopt to be this smart.
"Thank you, dear. How are you?" she asked, returning the smile.
"I'm fine madam. The entrance is this way."
Pain led them both into the orphanage. He could already tell that they had a favorable opinion of him. Now all that was left was the signing of the adoption papers.
In a few minutes, the couple had signed the papers. Officially, Pain had become Damon Shelby. After saying his last goodbyes, he left with his new parents with a smile on his face.
As Damon sat in the back seat of the car as his dad drove them home, only one thought was in his mind and heart, 'This time, no one is going to stop me from enjoying the pleasures of life.'
Damon was smiling as he looked out the window at the amazing view of New York City. Tears filled his eyes and he couldn't hold them back. Not long after, tear drops began to fall down his cheeks.
"Are you okay, son?" his mother asked, turning back, getting worried.
"Yes, mom," Damon nodded.
'I'm better than okay. I'm free.'
{< Enjoy the coming years, boy. Your suffering isn't over yet. >}