1 Chapter 1

I hate living in that goddamn orphanage. The staff are endlessly rude to the other orphans. They were even mean to Lil' Billy, the nicest kid in the whole orphanage. Now that I'm turning 18 in about a week, the staff are all talking about kicking me out because I'm gonna be an adult. I talked to the other kids earlier today about my birthday, I told them what I had been planning for years. I had told them about how I had been stashing food from my part time job, so that I could run away on the night of my birthday. I had gotten a lot of canned food ,and a bag to take them in. I didn't have much since the staff taxed me saying it was rent, but enough to last a long while. Since I still had time, I planned to look around town for somewhere to stay after I ran away. On the third day of the week I ended up finding a junkyard, and looked around for anything useful. I found an old trailer that was really beat up, but if I cleaned up the inside of it, it would be live-able. All I would have to do is find a generator to give me power while I live here. The main reason I wanted power was so I could cook my food. I didn't care about the internet and such because I had grown up without it. A few years back, one of the other kids at the orphanage got a job and worked enough to get a phone. The staff +"confiscated" it but I saw them selling it to a pedophile looking dude on the street. For the rest of the day I decided to clean up a little before heading back to the torture chamber. When I got back my stuff had been outside in the dirt. At this point I was used to it so I packed up the stuff and went to my room. The next morning, I went to the scrap yard. I was happy to have something to do since the week before I quit my job. So when I ran I wouldn't feel guilty by messing with other people, after all, the people I worked with were incredibly nice. So I quit and was very bored and tired but the staff wouldn't allow me to stay there and relax. By the time I had gotten there it had already been noon, and the sun had been directly in the center of the sky. I used today to look around the scrapyard for anything useful to fix the trailer. I found lots of scrap metal and there was even a nice rug. The best was actually a broken down generator. I honestly have no idea how to fix this but I do know someone who does. In the orphanage one of my best friends, Raquese, and I got along well with him since we were the older kids. Don't get me wrong I like all of my fellow orphans ,but the little ones can be annoying. Raquese though had been a fan of engineering since he was little so he knew the ins and outs of cars and well, anything. I proceeded to head back in the dusk moonlight. It might be weird to say this since I'm in the scrap yard but it was truly a beautiful sight to see. As I got back, I quickly went up to Raquese's room before someone noticed me coming in later than I should have. When I got in the room Raquese stared at me and said "What's got you so jumpy today." I then told him about the generator and where I'm going to live, and the fact of me needing his help. He quickly jumped at the offer of knowing where I'll be and being able to help. The next morning he ran into my room screaming "GET UP CARTOR!" I then ended up on the floor very tired. In a weird series of events, Raquese picked me up and threw me back onto my bed, which is paper thin by the way. The pain from my body hitting the bed frame woke me up almost instantly. I just yelled "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!" He just shrugged it off as if he was innocent. Before we left for the scrapyard we each got our bowls of cereal from the kitchen. After we finished eating our food that tasted like sandpaper, we left. When we got to the scrapyard I showed him the generator. When he saw it he looked like a kid on Christmas. He sent me to go get supplies to fix it after giving me a list of the cheapest but most needed things. As I left all heard behind me was his excited laughter. As I walked to the hardware store I thought about how nice it will be to live alone and be free to do what I want. I was quick in the hardware store only grabbing what had been on the list. I hurried back to see Raquese hard at work. He seems to have found a bit of what he needed from the scrap piles. I gave him what I had got and went off to the trailer to clean and fix things up. After cleaning for a bit I had pretty much finished, I just needed to paint some things and fill some holes in the roof. So to take a break I traveled a bit to find stuff. The best thing I had found out that nearby was a portapotty. This was a very good thing, because I didn't have a water system in the trailer. I also found an old switchblade laying in a pile of scrap metal. The blade had very intricate designs that seemed to be hand carved. The designs showed a long dragon that was spitting fire. I loved the look of it and put it in my pocket for later use. After a while of looking around the scrap yard I started to head back towards the trailer, and see how Raquese is doing on the generator. When I got back, he had already finished putting in one of the new parts and he had duct taped some tubes together that were previously cut. Raquese talked about how "This is gonna take longer than I thought man." He worked on it for the rest of the day but didn't finish it, so we went back to the orphanage to sleep. Today is Friday. There are 2 days till my dream of being away from these devilish adults. It is sad that I need to leave the other kids here. I got up and went to Raquese's room, and He wasn't there. That's a surprise because raquese is always in his room. I asked Lil Billy where Raquese was, He said that Raqurese got up early and went to the scrap yard. I kinda could guess that saying he loves fixing things but he must be tired. I grabbed some food for him and I and left towards the scrap yard. When I got there I saw him passed out in the dirt. All I could think was "That looks more comfortable then the beds at the orphanage." I woke him up and put the food next to him. The first words he said was "What time is it?" I just looked at the watch I had gotten yesterday while searching around and told him it was noon. I asked him what he had accomplished while he wasn't passed out. He responded with a "shut up" and the fact he finished the generator. We had finished our food and started looking inside. "It looks like crap." Raquese stated and I finally got to use a reply I have been wanting to forever "So an upgrade." We both burst into laughter. We then got to work on the trailer, after all the generators needed to be tested. Raquese turned on the generator, then listed off the electrical things inside and I checked them . "Microwave", "Check" "Stove", "Check" "Fridge", "Check" "Freezer", "Check". It all worked. My plan was almost complete now all I needed to do was officially run away. We hung out in the scrap yard for a while before heading back to the orphanage for the night. Tomorrow I will just enjoy my final day at the orphanage. This might be one of the last times I see Lil' Billy. I started packing so that when I leave I'm not crowded and not making a load of noises while escaping. So I grabbed clothes and other little things I had gotten over the years and left. I got in the trailer, unpacked and enjoyed a little time to myself. I then went back and got myself some sleep. On the morning of Saturday I got up and went downstairs to get food. As I finished I heard screaming coming from one of the staff. She was yelling at Josh, one of the little boys who recently came into the orphanage. His parents died in a car crash, we were all used to hearing these stories since we all had either dead parents or were unwanted. When I got closer I could make sense of what she was actually saying. "HOW DARE YOU TRACK MUD IN HERE YOU ANIMAL, YOUR PARENT HAD THE RIGHT STATE OF MIND TO DRIVE INTO TRAFFIC WITH YOU THERE!". I quickly got in the way as she was about to slap him. I shouted "How dare you say that to him, not only is he 7, you're also saying he caused the accident, you're a horrible person." She stormed off and yelled when she was out of sight. I then turned around and asked if Josh was okay. "Thank you for helping me, why is she so mean?" questioned Josh "No one knows but all of them are like that. Just be careful and polite around them, then they won't do anything to you, also your welcome." I advised. I then walked him to his room after cleaning his shoes and the mud spots on the ground. I told Raquese about what happened and he said he would help Josh with learning the ropes around here. We then just relaxed for the rest of the day. I told him when he turns 18 he could move in with me, and we could make a house for all the kids in the orphanage. We even talked about suing the staff of the orphanage for all the stuff they had done to us. We enjoyed the day relaxing the entire time and if the staff tried to get us outside we would slam the door and say "Bros before abusive Hoes." We ended up passing out in his room. It was Sunday, my B-day. I woke up to balloons everywhere in the room. When I stood up Raquese was already holding a box tied with rope. He screamed "OPEN IT". So to shut him up I grabbed it and sat there for a few minutes struggling to open it so I just ended up taking out my switch blade and cutting the rope off. I opened it to see a thing of gasoline. I was surprised and confused. "You do know that I'm not an arsonist, right?" He started dying of laughter. "You idiot it's for the generator, it's not like it is free." "Oh yeah, I almost forgot that the generator needs gas." I put it back in the box and left the room. As I left I was crowded by everyone saying happy birthday. This is exactly the attention this morning I didn't want. I said hi to everybody and knew the loud noise wasn't a good idea this early I had to hurry and leave because the staff had been on the way. I got to the scrap yard and just really hung out for the rest of the day. I ended up falling asleep on my new bed because it was just too comfortable. I was later woken up by really loud rumbling sounds. I looked out the window and still saw the scrap yard. But when I looked towards the city, it wasn't there. Instead, in its place, a giant redwood forest. The only thing that could come out of my mouth was, " WHAT THE FUCK!"