Chapter one\ Meeting Fawn
It was Fall, and the leaves had turned their colors. It was about 7:15 in the morning, when, " Wake up ya lazy sack o' bones!!", the voice was hideous and scratchy. Yet it was from a women, infact a very beautiful women. Perfect body and everything! Except for a perfect heart and pure soul.. It was a SATURDAY for crying out loud! But from Fawn's perspective, it was just a normal day like none other. Or so she thought.
Mrs. Bateise screamed a horrendous scream, trying to tell the girls to shut up while all of them moaned, it wasn't as bad as usual. Either the mam was in a good mood, or her voice was starting to cut out again. But Fawn, she didn't moan or groan. No, she got up as soon as her body had let her. She was content, not happy, but just content, about waking up earlier than everyone else in the city. Fawn thought that the mam made them wake up earlier than others to make the most of the day. And plus, it was Fawn's turn to do the morning chores. The mam usually didn't make her do anything much because she was such a respectful and well responsive child. In fact Fawn's behavior was so statured, that mrs. Bateise herself quite respected the young girl as well.
Fawn stretched a little bit. The beds there weren't as comfy as the ones she had slept in, at the motel the one time when they were on a trip to the dentist to get their teeth a good checkup. You see the machines had cut out on the dentist, and the whole place got overrun by some weird foam, and they were all forced to evacuate. So the whole orphanage( really just the mam) decided to spend the night at a fancy motel.
Any who, Fawn folded her blankets into a neat little square, then folded her pillow in half to set it on to the other folded bed materials. While all the other girls just jumbled their blankets together, then plopped the pillow on top. Fawn didn't really understand why everyone else did the exact same thing, except her, so one day she asked.
"I still say it was Danny who messed up the place." Heighty, the eldest girl(beside the mam) said snobily right before Fawn turned her around, not knowing that Heighty's followers, Matty and Sierra, were right in front of her as if hiding from Fawn. But not really. With Fawn only being 7 and Heighty being 14, made a huge difference in size when they looked face to face. Not so much with her colleagues. Matty was only 10 and Sierra was half a year older than Matty. So Heighty really was the eldest of them all.
"Oh, look!," Fawn turned around as if expecting to see something, but quickly turned her head around back at Heighty after realizing that there was nothing behind her," It's the baby deer!" Heighty exclaimed scoffingly, then stood up as if proud of what she had done and said. "Whatcha want little orphan annie?" She questioned a little irritation in her voice.
Though Fawn had the orange hair alike Annie from the movie, it wasn't poofy nor were Fawn's eyes blue like Annie. And her teeth weren't necessarily as straight as the actress who played Annie's were. Fawn's canine teeth were practically squeezed into her mouth, it almost looked as if she were a vampire. But she wasn't, nor was she ever... Anyway, Fawn had never liked that title, but all the orphan girls always nicknamed her that. Even the mam jokingly called her by that name once, Fawn was not amused. Instead she stormed off to the bed room, it was literally the room with ALL the beds for the girls her age range, locked it shut, then bawled her eyes out. Nobody called her that name since. Well right up until Heighty once again renamed her,'Little Orphan Annie'. Still, Fawn didn't allow the phrase to get to her, and instead went on with her plan.
"Fawn by the way, also it's come to my noticing that I always do everything neater, why is that?" And to this day Fawn could resite each word that came out of each of the girls' mouths, which were,
"Because you're retarded!" Heighty's words stung her instantly, as if being suddenly shot by an arrow in the heart,
" 'Cause you're an idiot!" Sierra added on, only making it feel as if another arrow had plunged into her soul,
" 'Cause you're stupid!" The final insult that Matty threw at Fawn, made it feel as though the arrows that were already within her were being twisted around without remorse.
Fawn came back to reality, at the touch of Mrs. Bateise's hand sympathetically upon her shoulder. It was all a flash back. Fawn realized that she had been silently crying to herself, and had felt a final tear run down her cheek, to only land upon her lips. She licked her lips, trying to be as not messy as possible. But it was too late, her whole face was practically painted with tears. The mam took out a tissue from her tissue pocket, and tried to wipe away most of the salty tears that made Fawn's whole face a bright red. The mam knelt as she did so.
"You OK sweetheart?", the mam asked once finished, still with that wonderful scratchy voice that was softer than usual. Fawn loved to hear that voice, that voice meant that she was safe, that she was protected, and that she was..cared for. Fawn wouldn't use the word 'Love', just because she felt like it was too strong of a word for some odd reason. Still with that thought in her head, she nodded, wiping away tears that the mam missed. Fawn looked up at the wall clock that said 8:18 am. Fawn's eyes grew giant with a mixture of shock and terror. The mam saw this and quickly turned Fawn's head towards her, and still with the sensitive but now a little more stern voice said,
" It's OK my deer, I kept the food nice and hot for you, just in case you were late since I didn't see you in line today." The mam's voice lowered along speaking as if losing her words as she spoke. Fawn wasn't petrified because she hadn't eaten, it was because of how long she had replayed the flash back that astonished her. It had lasted over an hour! Fawn smiled contently, giving the mam some reassurance. Oh, but the day wasn't over yet.
Fawn went down the flight of stairs that led into the living room. She loved that room because it had the only TV in the building, and on that TV was her favorite show, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. She went through the living room towards the Dining room, looking at the TV as if thinking that it was going to turn on..any moment now. But by the time she had gotten to the doorway, not a flinch occurred on the blackened screen.
"Hope ya didn't ferget her mornin' chores, little one." The mam said in an amusing scruffily southern way. But no, Fawn hadn't forgotten about her chores, but couldn't help but also remember her shortness after hearing the mam say 'little one'. It's true, she was very short for her age. In fact most of the grown ups that came to the orphanage would look at her and say in a baby voice,
" And how old are you? "
"7", Fawn would always answer blandly. Then the the adults would curl their lips in, as if trying to suck the words back into their lungs that they had said. Fawn knew that they always felt guilty afterwards, but Fawn enjoyed it because she hated it when they had to have her tell them her age, or would just flat out ask if she was four or five. HATED it! Most times after they failed in guessing her age, they didn't choose her and instead chose another girl, or just went home childless. Sure it made her feel powerful, but it also made her feel horrible. She didn't know why, but she just didn't like the feeling of knowing after a hundred tries they didn't have a child, and then after fifty more trips, fail at finding a child multiple times, to once again go home..childless.
Fawn and the mam went into the the ginormous dining room, most would say that it was a school cafeteria, Fawn would say it was the old kitchen of a wealthy couple that could never make a child, and that their hearts were pure gold and their souls, as generous as god's came. And that when Mrs.Bateise was younger she was a fantastic baby sitter, and that she also loved money, so when she came across the rich couple's mansion, she was in thought that they had a daughter that they had no time for and that she could take care and nurture the young one, all the while getting paid in the process. But when she knocked on the door and asked if she could babysit their daughter, they told her that they didn't have any. But they surly did see her passion for little girls and that she really wanted to care for them, so they bought out the whole apartment building that she lived in and gave her their giant dinning room, while also giving her the talent and license to become an orphan carerer. Sometimes Fawn's imagination just went wild.
Fawn ate, then did the chores, which were to do the dishes, organize the kitchen, clean up the dining room, then taking the five ginormous overfilled bags of trash out to the dumpster in the darkish yet brisk morning atmosphere. Fawn did it all in ten and a half minutes flat, "Almost alike Rainbow Dash." Fawn thought as she smiled at her own thinking. The smile faded away as she entered her favorite room, the living room. She saw that the TV was still off, so she immediately snatched the remote, sat unto the floor, then flicked the black screen on. It turned onto a nature documentary, so Fawn pressed the guide button to scroll down to the Hasbro channel. She could see at the corner of her eye that some, probably most, of the girls were giving her the stink eye or a dirty look, but by then it didn't bother Fawn. Actually, at that point she thought that it was a natural response. But when she got to the place where the show would be, more generally the channel would be,...it wasn't there.
Fawn's legs shot up immediately, she flipped through the channels some more with eyes big and bulbic, hoping, praying, wishing, then hoping some more that it had just been moved. When she got back to where the channel would be normally, her hands swung to her sides, and with her mouth slightly open in shock and disbelief. The remote felt like a thousand pound rock in her hand, and it slipped out and clanked on the emerald tiles. She clenched her hands into fists, "Nooooooooooo!" The scream she let leave her mouth was horrifying, it would nearly make your ears bleed, and make it feel as if a few organs not to mention your soul jump a little then get moved by how screechy and heart breaking the cry of Fawn had been.
It had been a few days since Fawn had discovered that the show and really the whole channel had gone missing, and it wasn't long before everyone else noticed as well. For Fawn it felt as if a few years had passed instead, she seemed a little unresponsive and emotionless, too.
Thursday had come along, when all the girls herd a very loud banging on the double doors. Everyone's heads perked up, that including Mrs.Bateise's, too.
"Go to your rooms girls, now." The mam order immediately, more serious than ever, her eyes not moving a centimeter away from the front doors. All the girls jumped up as quick as they could and hurried to their age rang rooms, all of them except one certain little girl. Fawn. For the first time in days, she showed some kind of emotion besides robot emotion, curiosity. She hid behind a rather large, hot pink couch. And peeked only one eye out,"Besides, all ya need is one to spy on someone." Her first thought in hours had bubbled up. The mam got up pushing her rolly chair back, only inches away from the wall, and the wall was six feet away from her desking area! She was steaming, no doubt. In a fast way, the mam walked to the double doors, took in a deep breath to brace herself, whether it be the popo, the president, the childcare services, or a bunch a crazy people, more likely criminals. Still hesitant, she swung open the double doors after hearing it be banged on a second time.
On the other side of the door were two well dressed men, one taller than the other, both wearing black shades and hats that covered their heads to the point where you couldn't see a strand of hair. But they were both averegly sized 20-something year old men( and its not that kind of sentence, sheesh). The taller one extended his hand to the mam, it had a fancy like white glove covering it. The mam cleared her throat then with the most smooth and flirtatious voice ever heard,
"Well you're one to get straight down to business? " looking him up and down while leaning against the frame of the door. The man put his hand down and slightly blushed.
"Please professionalism Mrs... I'm sorry what was your name again?", he asked. Losing the act but still keeping the voice up said,
"You can call me Malalaya, Malalaya Bateise." Then instead of the taller man talking, the shorter one spoke up with a rather deep voice which actually kinda scarred Fawn, the second emotion since a long time.
"Well, Mrs.Bateise, we need to have a word with you and the little one, over there."
