1 Bitter-sweet beginnings
Hi! I'm Ebony, a rather ordinary 18-year-old who, until a couple
of months ago, lived on a small, ordinary island called Rainy Isle
(no one's quite sure why it's named that; it rarely ever rained there!)
The only thing about me that's somewhat out of the ordinary is the
fact that I don't have parents. No one really knew anything about
my biological family; just that I was found abandoned at the beach
when I was just a year old and taken to child-services the same day.
The orphanage I was sent to became a permanent part of my life;
no one wanted to adopt me, so I never left the place.
However, my life was about to change. You see, my orphanage
followed a very strict rule; once a child turned 18 -a legal adultthey would have to leave the establishment and make a living for
themselves. On my 18th birthday, just 3 days from when my story
takes place, I would have to do the same.
Not that I looked forward to it. The orphanage was all I knew,
and while "Sunshine Home for Kids" didn't give me a very bright
and sunny life, it had been my home for 17 years. Despite that, I
knew that leaving would be for the best. I had never been able to fit
in with the other kids; playing in the sandpit made me suffocate;
running was an absolute nightmare; animals scared the life out of
me, and the only subject I was good at (marine biology) wasn't
taught to us at school, so my grades weren't the best either.
It wasn't that I was clumsy or talentless; it's just that all my
talents were more suited to water than land. I could swim faster than
all my peers, hold my breath underwater for quite a long time, and
I knew everything there was to know about the ocean.
When my last day at the orphanage arrived, all the caretakers
consoled me with messages like, 'this will help you find your true
self' and 'you can't learn about the world without exploring it', and
while their words didn't make me feel better, they gave the situation
a sense of finality. I realized there was no going back, so I would just have to tough it out. Besides, my life had been hard enough as
it was, what more could fate throw at me? My life was just
beginning, and I would be sure to enjoy every moment of it.
