Chapter 1
The darkness of the night had always appealed to me. It had always felt like there was a clean slate and I could do whatever I wanted. But morning would always come, and I was shoved harshly back to reality by my life. I long for those moments when I had a moment to think throughout my day. But that small victory was always short lived when the noises of those suffering around me reached my ears.
We all thought of being saved from our life, but we also all knew that when our time of being saved would come was going to be death. No one out there was going to rescue us. We are on our own. The days drag on and we long to be locked in our room. When I say room, the term is applied very loosely as it is just a cage outside. No walls. No warmth. It’s a surprise that we haven’t all died from the cold. Everyone huddles for warmth but me.
At night, I look out across the dark night and hope for a better life. I rarely sleep. Not like the others. I go to sleep well after them and wake before them. I have never understood why they sleep so much. They always seem so tired, but they sleep so much.
l see movement from the comer of my eye. I look over to see what it is. It looks like a wolf.
That’s odd. I had never seen a wolf here before. I had heard about them, but they had always said that there were no wolves out this far. They always laughed when they talked about the wolves.
I followed its movements with my eyes. It was moving very slowly. Everyone in the camp was inside so I was the only one who saw it. It stopped and looked behind it. I looked at the bushes where it was looking. More wolves came out. They were all moving slowly toward the master’s house. That’s odd too. No one was allowed near the master’s house unless he was with you. I had only ever seen women go inside with him.
As I continue watching, I hear something behind me. I look around towards the noise. There are wolves everywhere. They were surrounding the area. One of the wolves sniffed at a door to one of the homes. My eyes widened when it opened the door with its mouth. I watched it walk inside carefully. I kept my eyes on the door so I could see when he came out. It seemed like forever until it came back out. It looked like its mouth has turned red. I probably just missed the colour in the different light.
What is going on? There were wolves everywhere now, coming in and out of the homes. I look beside me at the others sleeping soundly. I don’t understand. Why are they here? I look back up to see what the wolves who were moving towards the master’s house where doing. I jump back when I come face to face with a big black wolf. What the hell. I bring my hand up to my chest to calm my racing heart.
I stare into the wolf’s eyes. It feels like I know him. Like we have been fiends forever. I look around and all the other wolves have stopped near the master’s home. They seem to have finished raiding the camp. Now they are just looking at the black wolf at my cage. I look back to the familiar brown eyes. The wolf cocks its head at me but then turns away and walks towards the house.
What the hell? The wolf then opens the door just like the other one had. He goes in.
Everything had been so quiet. But when the wolf goes into the master’s house, the night erupted in screams. I grab the bars of the cage with my hands. He must have woken the master and scared him.
“What’s happening?” I look towards the boy who spoke.
“I don’t know” I tell him. I look back towards the house where master was still screaming.
Beside me I can hear the others crying. The screams suddenly stop, and I keep my eyes trained on the door to see if the master had killed the poor wolf. I see the wolf walk out and look around at the other wolves. They all howl and run off.
What the hell? Most of the wolves left after the howl. Not the black wolf though. He has a few other wolves with him. I keep my eyes on him. They all trot over to the tree line and disappear. I look back to the others where they are still crying Why are they crying?
I hear rustling noises coming from where the wolves disappeared. A tall man walks towards the cage He is big. As he gets closer, I can see his eyes. They are the same brown eyes as the wolf. That’s weird, I still feel like I know him. He gets closer to the cage door and all the others move to the other end of the cage. I keep watching him move. He comes to the door and looks at the lock. His hands move quickly over it and then he opens the door.
“How did you do that? I ask. He looks at me.
“How about we just say that someone left the key in the lock” he says back.
I shake my head, “they would never do that. I see them lock it every night” I tell him. He just smiles at me. I frown at him and look to the others in the cage and back “What are you going to do to us?” I ask.
“We are here to save you. None of these men will ever hurt you again” he says firmly
“Did you kill them?” I ask.
“Yes”
“Okay” I say and i get up and walk out of the cage. He looks at me weirdly. “What?”
“You don’t care that we just killed these people?” he asked.
“Nope” I exclaim. “I have been here for years watching them beat every person in that cage
and many more. They deserved what they got.” I turn and walk towards the men standing in the tree line. “So, where are we going” I ask one of the men.
“Back to our home. You might like it there” one of the men said.
I look back towards the man trying to coax the children out of the cage with no luck. I walk back over to the door of the cage, “come on. They seem nice and it’s not like they could treat us any worse than master” I tell the children huddled together.
The man’s head snaps to me and watches me for a moment. I make a weird face at him.
“You seem a lot older than the rest of you” he says to me.
I smile, “Yes, I have been here for longer than all of these children and have watched a lot of children come and go. They kept me around because I always seemed to survive their attacks and can work a lot harder and longer than anyone they have brought in.” I tell him. I walk into the cage and take the youngest girl’s hand. “Come on, I will look after you.” I hike the little girl onto my hip and gesture for the rest to follow me.
“They seem to listen to you” the man with the brown eyes says.
“Like I said, I’ve been here a long time. I help all of the children settle as much as I can when they first get here.” I stop and look at him. “Why do I feel like I know you?” I ask him.
He smiles, “how about we get going. It’s a long walk to the cars, do you think they will be able to make it?” he asked me.
I look towards the children who have stopped behind me, “they are weak, but they also work until they collapse every day. As long as it’s not too far, I reckon they should be fine.” I tell him. “Why didn’t you answer my question?” I look to him. He just smiles at me again.
He starts walking into the tree line and I follow him with the little girl curled against my chest. We walk for what feels like ages. I turn to look at how the children are going and see that they are starting to fall behind a bit. “How far are the cars from here, I don’t think they will make it much further” I tell the brown eyed man.
He looks back at us and then his eyes return forwards, “we are almost there”.
I look ahead of him and see a couple of vans parked in the middle of a clearing. I sigh in relief. We are finally here. When we get to the side of the vans, I open the back of the first one and sit the sleeping girl on one of the seats. I instruct one of the older girls to sit with her in case she wakes ups on the drive. I help the rest of the kids get in before I go to get in as well.
“Wait, I want you to ride with me” said the brown eyed man. I look to him.
“Why?” I ask him.
“I want you to come with me to meet the man who organized this rescue” he tells me. I look
back towards the vans and then back to him.
“Okay” I follow him towards a black car in front of the vans. How will everyone else get back? There are not enough seats in the vans” I ask him as he opens the passenger door for me, “They will run” He turns away from me and heads to the driver’s side and gets in. I look around at all the people and get in. He starts the car and drives slowly down the road. I turn to look behind us at the vans following.
I look towards the brown eyed man driving. He doesn’t take his eyes off the road, so I just sit back and watch the trees fly by out my window.
It fells like ages until the scenery changes and houses come into view. I sit up straight and look around to see people walking around in the early morning sun. They all seem to be smiling and laughing. Nothing like the camp. Everyone here seems to enjoy being here. I watch as we drive past all of the people us to a big house at the end of the street. The road curves around a big tree and connects back to the road leading up to the house. The car stops but I can’t take my eyes off of the big house in front of me.
My door opens and the brown eyed man stand in front me of waiting for me to get out. I step out of the car as another man goes around and gets in the car and drives off. I look up and see the two vans drive down another road not to far from where we are.
“Where are you taking them?” I ask him.
“To the orphanage. We will get them settled and then go through and see if they have any family left to go home to, otherwise we will see about transferring them to another facility.”
He says as he turns and walks up to the door. I follow him and walk through the door.
“Come with me and don’t speak until someone speaks to you” he looks as me, “okay?” he asks. I nod to him to let him know that I understand. He nods back and walks further into the house.
