Prologue
"Wake up you lazy girl. We feed and clothe you, is that what we get back in return?" Mrs. Terry the orphanage caretaker kicked me, I was shivering with cold - but this old wretch didn't mind – she made me stay up all night.
I'm sleeping in the storage room, while my colleagues are comfortably sleeping in their rooms.
"Hurry up and go clean the bathroom, when you are finished, scrub the hallway." She yelled; as she banged on the door on her way out.
Since I was a baby Mrs. Terry has been so mean and terrible to me. The least mistake I make, she beats me like a rag doll.
I do all the chores in the orphanage, I clean the bathrooms, wash my clothes and that of the other kids, scrub the hallway and sometimes help the cooks.
I didn't have it easy growing up in the orphanage. I am blind, and have nothing to guide me around. Not even a stick, but I learned the hard way to adjust to my environment.
I bump into things, sometimes people. So I learned to read the patterns of how each and everyone walks in the orphanage. I stay still when Mrs. Terry is coming, because she slapped me one day when I bumped into her by mistake.
Luckily for me, I learnt everything very quickly because I grew up here, so I know every twist and turn in the orphanage. It wasn't an easy task, but I was able to draw a map of the orphanage in my mind.
I move freely in the orphanage, but only when my tormentors are not around.
Mrs. Terry punishes me whenever I don't finish my chores on time, she doesn't give me food, and in addition, she beats me sometimes.
When parents come to the orphanage for adoption, Mrs. Terry makes sure she gives me tons of work so I won't finish before in the evening or late at night when everyone is asleep.
The kids here side with Mrs. Terry. They pour sticky liquids and sometimes water on my way with me being blind, I am unable to see what is on my way I slipped and fell, hurting myself in the process.
It was just yesterday, two of the older boys in the orphanage held a rope, each one holding an end of the rope, and when they saw me coming, they raised the rope a little; I tripped and bruised my hands and knees.
I knew they where two because they high five each other and complimented each other on their success
They laughed at my fate and dumped water on me. Also, it was late winter and Mrs. Terry refused to let me change out of my clothes. She made me wear the wet clothes and continued my chores in them.
Some of the orphanage keepers pitied me through their words, what they say to me, But I don't need anyone's pity.
They weren't in support of the treatment that Mrs. Terry was giving me, but they have no say in the matter.
Most of my abusers have been adopted. I am now 15 years old and nobody wants to adopt a blind girl like me. If a parent wants to adopt me, Mrs. Terry always tells them that I have an incurable disease – which is a lie – so that they won't adopt me.
Thank goodness I made two friends; Abigail and Cornelia, however, they are quite younger than me. They help me with the chores whenever Mrs. Terry isn't around and they sometimes sneak me some food when I'm under punishment.
The new kids are terrified of Mrs. Terry just as I am. They consider me as an older sister and I consider them as my younger siblings.
Lately, Mrs. Terry has been wearing a troubled look on her face, as if the whole world of problems has been dropped on her head, at least, that's what Cornelia told me.
The caretaker who looks after her husband has resigned and is moving back to her hometown. I once heard the kitchen staff whispering among themselves as I scrubbed the floor.
Soon, Mrs. Terry will have to leave the orphanage because the illness of her husband has worsened; and there is nobody to look after him. She isn't happy with the turn of events, but she has no say in it.
We are getting a new caretaker; she will be here day after tomorrow. I don't know how she will treat us. I pray she will treat us better than Mrs. Terry.
This just the prologue read further to know what happens to Amelia
