Jannet Mitchell

It was night and young Jannet was tossing and turning in bed when it all happened. Her whole world came shattering down. Back then, she did not really know what was happening but she quickly hid under her bed because the one thing she knew was that something was fishy. Her heart was beating fast when she heard guns being fired. She peeped through the keyhole but could see nothing so she gathered up all the courage and stepped outside. Her jaw touched the ground and her heart skipped a beat realizing what had been going on. There she saw two dead bodies. Both her parents were dead and blood was everywhere. She ran back in her room as fast as she could and sat down in despair knowing everything was hopeless now. She wanted the ground to swallow her. The world became dull. The trees that looked so colorful and lively some minutes ago looked dull and dead now, the birds' chirping was music to her ears some minutes ago but now it was very unpleasant. She wanted to scream till she could not anymore, wanted to cry till there were no tears but she just, she just could not. Her life was meaningless. Suddenly two men dressed in all black came in her room. They were tall and slim and they looked like inspectors. When they saw Jannet there, they were shocked and one of them came up to het with a kind but concerned smile.

"Watcha doin in the house, child?"

"This is my house, sir"

"You must be placed in an orphanage, come with me"

She heard but only the first 7 words because that made her realize one more thing. She was an orphan now. She did not want to move anymore. The thought just completely left her in wonder. All the horrible thoughts started swirling her mind as if her parents' death wasn't tragedy enough. One of the men there, grabbed her arm and dragged her along. He pushed her inside a car and then he signaled the other man to drive the car and away they drove, leaving behind the house full of sad memories. It was a long drive of 2 hours approx. The driver finally stopped the car outside an old large building. They took her there and pressed the bell. An old lady with a stick came outside. She looked grumpy and Jannet's blood ran cold. Was she to live here with her? Once again, horrible thoughts ruled her mind. The lady escorted her inside where she found many children of her age and older and younger than her. There were babies too. The lady was the matron as she expected her to be.

"Welcome to the orphanage. I am the matron here. My name is Mombaka. What's your name?"

"I'm Jannet"

"Very well, Jannet, let me tell you some of the rules here before you get started. You'll have your daily chores that you will have to do every day just like all the other kids do here. You will be served your meals at a fixed time every day. The chart is hung over there. You can have a look at the timings" She pointed her finger at a wall where a white paper was hung. "Miss the meals and you miss them. First three days of every kid here is an exception. Use this time to get used to everything around you" Saying that she left.

Jannet went up to the chart and acknowledged the timings. A girl older than her age took her to her room. It was like a dorm which was shared with four other girls excluding her. They all were already in their beds when Jannet arrived. They looked about the same age as Jannet. She quickly started fitting in. The girls talked about everything and anything. Jannet started liking all the girls there before they all fell asleep and only snores were heard.