Seven children who have been in the orphanage system for almost their whole lives decide to make a change and take their future into their own hands. They run away and find a better life than what they have in the orphanage.
Excerpt:
This is the story about 7 orphans, the people around them, and their adventures inside and out of an orphanage just outside of a little town. To go forward, we must first go back to see how everything started, and meet our characters.
First we’ll start with Ms. Hencherlan, the orphanage owner. All she wanted was to care for the children who were thrown into the orphanage system, she adored children. When she turned thirty-‐three, she purchased a building just outside of a little country town. She added bunk beds, tables, many chairs, lamps, a few television sets, board games, bought food and the necessities, like shampoo, soap, just things like those. She also fixed up the backyard the backyard was so large; she even had a pool installed. When she thought it looked fun and welcoming, she put up her sign, and put up flyers to show that she was in business. She didn’t expect new orphans to come flowing in right away, so she used that time to make sure everything was perfect, she went back to the store and bought some clothes of all sizes, and some dolls, and toy trucks. Within a few months, she had about nine orphans in her care. They were all under the age of thirteen, all but one had dark or medium brown hair, it was more of a golden brown color, her name was Nicole. After a while she invited her husband to come look at the orphanage, to see all her progress. He came, but he didn’t really seem impressed with all she had done for these children. He thought her idea was childish and that it was unrealistic. They fought over it for several hours, each having a different perspective on the subject. Then he just got up and left, and that was it, they were over. It broke her heart that it happened this way. After a few days of sorrow, she got up one morning and just woke up feeling like she didn’t really care anymore. She became sour, and she was very much strict. She marked the pool only for her, it was off limits from then on. The orphans had to take care of themselves, until a day or two before corporates came to check up on the orphanage. Those were the days when they could go in the pool, and actually just have some fun. Unfortunately, it didn’t last but for a few hours each month. And this was the start of Ms. Hencherlan’s sour life. She didn’t want to see the orphans much, so she usually kept to herself in her room, or stayed out all day around town, or sometimes out of town. She began drinking occasionally, and she met a man named Saul Ligorini. The two hit it off, they were great friends, he was seen at the orphanage a lot. They both had an unattractive personality, so they were like a power couple. They made the life at the orphanage just that much worse. By this time, there had been twelve more orphans brought into the orphanage, so they all took care of each other like family.
For the orphans, we’ll start with Carla, when she was about one year old, her father had left her mother, and she couldn’t keep up with her payments, so she had no choice but to give Carla up for adoption. Through her years in the orphanage she became bitter, but she was determined to not let anyone hurt her like that again. She became close to Ms. Hencherlan, but that was the only person, and she became kind of a teacher’s pet. She always played by the rules, and she dressed as if she was in a private school of some sort. She was always thinking about what she would say before she would say it; she wanted to have perfect speech. She took care of herself, she brushed her teeth twice a day, brushed her hair about seventy-‐five times on each side for silky smooth hair, and she kept herself clean and poised and dignified. She would occasionally help Ms. Hencherlan with meals and getting the other orphans to bed, and waking them in the morning too. Ms. Hencherlan would also hold school in the orphanage so that the children were getting an education. Carla was at the top of the class, she always read books, no matter what the genre. At one point, Carla was brought home, she wasn’t adopted yet, a couple wanted to see how she behaved. She cleaned their whole house, made them breakfast, lunch, and dinner, did what she was told when she was told, and didn’t misbehave in anyway. The thing was, the couple just couldn’t believe it, this little nine year old was perfect, but she was just too perfect, they wanted a little more of a challenge. They took her back, and adopted one of the other girls at the orphanage. From that day on, Carla became absolutely horrid, she was moody, she always corrected others, but she stayed the same when she was around Ms. Hencherlan.
