This work is purely a work of fiction. Any reference to a place or person is entirely fictional as well as any scenario portrayed in it. Do not attempt to replicate any scenes from it.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter One
Edward clutched the slab of bread in his hand and ran off as fast as he could. He didn’t want the nuns to see him take the food and try to stop him. It was a rarity that any food would be left around at the orphanage without an adult guarding it from prying children’s hands. Most of the children living at the orphanage were constant thieves because they were always hungry and couldn’t resist any food left lying around. Passing the empty kitchen today Edward was fortunate enough to find some bread lying on the table. Like any hungry child, he couldn’t stop himself from taking it. When he was sure nobody was following him, he stopped running. He would have run a bit further, but that would have required strength and Edward lacked strength due to the meager food allowance he received from the orphanage. Food had become scarce and expensive leaving the nuns to buy what they could afford, which was not much.
He always wondered how his life could be so dreadful and thought of his parents. When he was younger he had asked whether his parents were dead or alive. One of the nuns had tried to explain to him how he had ended up at the orphanage. She had said
“When the floods came to New York in 2110 your mother just disappeared, like so many New Yorkers did in to the flood waters. We don’t know what happened to them; possibly they all died or got washed away to the sea. Your father had been very unhappy at losing your mother, but he had tried his best to bring you up on his own for a while. Unfortunately with food and jobs both being very hard to get, he couldn’t make ends meet. So he had finally decided to try his fortune at Orleanais. Orleanais is a colony set up by the United States before it became a poor nation. Now it sits out there all alone by itself without much governship which has made it a very dangerous place to live and your father didn’t want to risk taking you there, so he asked us to look after you until he returned.”
Edward hearing this became overcome with joy with the thoughts of having a family and how his father would return for him one day. Sticking to this dream for so long that almost every morning he got up hoping that this would be the day his father would come to take him away from this place. He knew his father wanted him back. Hadn’t he tried his best to bring Edward up on his own when they had lost his mother? However, his father never came back.
As time went on without his father coming to fetch him, Edward began to blame the nuns in his mind’s eye for what was happening. Supposing his father had come for Edward, but the nuns had refused to give him back. Supposing the nuns had moved from the area where his father had left him and now his father couldn’t find the new place. Slowly Edward began building up resentment against the nuns, convincing himself that it was their fault his father couldn’t take him away.
Edward knew he should be grateful he at least had a place in the orphanage. There were so many orphaned children running all over the city without a proper home, food or clothes. They stole whatever food they could because nobody could spare food from their needs. But how could anyone be grateful for such inadequate care?
As he was thinking this Edward saw his friend Teddy walking towards him.
“Hey Eddie, got any food?” this was the inevitable question any street kid one met asked.
For once Edward had some food, but he felt guilty to share it with his friend Teddy because he knew he was depriving his other friends at the orphanage of their meager allowance. But as he looked into Teddy’s hungry and starved eyes, he couldn’t lie.
Silently, he pulled out the bread from his pocket and held it out to Teddy.
An incredulous smile lit the starved eyes, “You have bread! It was said almost reverently. The boy put out his hands and grabbed the bread, stuffing it into his mouth in one go. It was not a moment too soon.
A crowd of street children who had seen the bread pass hands came up running, trying to be the first to reach Edward and Teddy. Instinctively grabbing Teddy by his hand, Edward took to his heels and ran as fast as he could to avoid the inevitable fight for the bread. Teddy tried to swallow the bread quickly whilst running with Edward. As he swallowed the children chasing them saw there was no more food and they lost interest in it. Abandoning the chase they left to look for other food. Edward knew in his heart the real reason they did not pound him in the ground for eating the food was that they were just too weak from hunger. He walked a few more steps with his friend, but decide to part with him around the corner.
Saying goodbye to his friend, Edward knew he should go back to the orphanage, but all he could think of was getting into trouble for stealing the bread. This hounding thought was not an attractive one and gave him no incentive for him to go back. So he dawdled along the streets his feet taking him to his favorite place in the city almost without him even realizing where he was going.