Wild

I always hoped for greatness. Maybe it’s my upbringing, or maybe it’s just a part of me that is imbedded into my personality. Who knows? I can’t decide whether my life is good or bad. I think that it’s good. First of all, I should start with the basics. My name is Moonstone, no last name. I’m 5ft. 9in., 14 years old, green eyes, chocolate brown hair. There, description. Before I start, I should give a little background information.

My life used to be…unpleasant, to say the least. I’m not traumatized or angry at the world. I’m not a psychopath. In fact, I used to be pretty quiet. I’m not shy or anything, I just kept my mouth shut in fear of Madame Millicent. She is the only one who I believe has had any legal claim over me. It’s not bad, since she really just brushed me to the side. I could do whatever I wanted when I had free time.

Even though this might sound great, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I had no friends and no personal connections with anyone else. It’s fine though, I’m used to it and I can rely on myself. No one needed me and I didn’t need anyone. I’m probably being boring so I might as well get started.

I’ve been through a lot and experienced more wonders that most people will have in a lifetime, and I’m not even that old. I wish that I could have had more experiences when I was younger, but there’s no going back now. It’s not like I was lazy or anything, Madame Millicent just kept me from having a real childhood.

She was like a cross between snake and one of those curt librarians who won’t stand for any type of misbehaving. At first glance you would be terrified of her, tight gray hair pulled up into a bun, and a frowning face except for when someone was coming to inspect the orphanage, then she was the nicest person. She has always been odd. She was probably one of the strangest people on planet Ethar. She never liked me, which is pretty important in what happened to me. Now, when people find out I’m an orphan, they ask how my parents died, to which I say:

“They didn’t die. They couldn’t take care of me, and no, I haven’t met them.”

I prefer not to think about my parents. I don’t want to fall into the trap of thinking that everyone that I have ever met hated me. Besides, I don’t even remember them, so why does it matter?

The day everything changed, I was sitting on my rickety, twin-sized bed in the basement and thinking about what I would do once I got out of the orphanage. The basement was small, and my drawers were cardboard boxes that I had stacked on top of each other. I had a scratchy, bluish-grey blanket on my bed and a lightbulb with a pull string. No light fixture—just the bulb for light.

The one thing that I was excited for was what I might do when I got out of the orphanage. Maybe I would become an author or a scientist. That one appealed more to me. Maybe I could find a way to help other people. Maybe I could be a doctor, but that one didn’t seem right. Being an artist could be fun, but I never had any chance to develop an artistic ability. A cook would definitely work, I was good at it, but I didn’t enjoy it. A maid or janitor just didn’t appeal to me, but I would take the job if it was offered to me until I started my real career path, whatever it might be. Maybe I would just settle down with someone. I pushed that idea out of my head. All my life I had been told that I wasn’t wanted, and even though I didn’t want to believe it, all evidence pointed to it. I best forget having a love life. I don’t even know how to maintain a relationship. I don’t even know the rules.

While I was still deep in thought, Madame Millicent yelled down the ladder at me.

“Get up here now! We need to go!”

“Why do we need to leave?” I yelled back.

“Don’t question me girl or you’re going to find yourself in hot water.”

“I’m always in hot water,” I mumbled to myself. I climbed the ladder and followed Madame Millicent out the door without a word. Was I scared of her? I’m not going to lie—yes, I was. We loaded into her car and started driving.

“Do you by any chance know what is going on?” she asked me after a couple minutes of silence.

“Why would I? You just pulled me out of my room at nine thirty in the morning. Don’t I usually have a schedule?”

She glared at me. “You have an offer for… classes with a high-class doctor.”

“Classes?” I asked. Is she sending me to school? Why would she do that?

“Yes, classes. The doctor was interested in your work at the orphanage and how you, as he put it, ‘tend to do things right.’ Obviously, I disagree with him, but he seemed eager to have you.”

I raised an eyebrow. I didn’t know that anyone on the outside was even aware of my existence, much less chose me to take their classes. Something felt off to me about that, but I decided not to mention it. Instead, I asked about something else.

“What is his name?”

Millicent rolled her eyes at me as if I was asking the most irritating question that had ever been asked. “His name is Dr. Fealin.”

I nodded quietly and turned to look out the window without another question.

She took me into town. The ride there was quiet and uncomfortable and filled with an awkward silence. Anyone riding with us probably would have said anything just to end the tension. When we finally got into town, we began to look around. She had already told me that we would not be buying anything. She never bought me anything nice at all, which wouldn’t be a problem if she didn’t buy all the other girls fancy clothes and jewelry, while sticking me with all of her hand-me-downs. They weren’t even the other girls’ hand-me-downs, just her old and scratchy clothes (none of them complement my green eyes, which I find annoying for some reason). She told me that this was a way to show me what the world thought of orphans like. Her attitude wasn’t anything that I wasn’t used to.

As we walked downtown, we passed the largest fountain in the city. It was completely marble, with floral patterns that danced around the stone. This fountain is the centerpiece of the entire city. It’s literally right in the middle of the town. Learning things was difficult, because I was not allowed to go to school. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s to hinder my chances of actually having a successful future.

To get around this small problem, I would borrow the other girls’ textbooks in the middle of the night and read the passages in them. Science textbooks tended to be the most interesting and math textbooks seemed to make the most sense. I didn’t see the point in the history ones. They were filled with old stories that were supposedly true. How do we know that Ralph Hanter was really the first person who ever crossed the Shimmering Mountains? What if there was another person who had done it five, ten, maybe twenty years before? And why does it even matter that Ralph Hanter was the first? What can we learn from that? Cross a mountain range that no one else has? English textbooks were just terrible. There were so many rules that I had to remember. I tried to read those books, I really did, but they just didn’t make any sense.

When I told Madam Millicent about the fountain, she seemed reasonably surprised that I knew this, seeing as she had no idea that I even had access to textbooks. l always try to learn what I can whenever I can learn it.

We perched on the edge of the fountain, and I saw that a stranger had left their journal, which was full of stories and drawings, on the rim of the fountain. Madame Millicent walked away from me and started browsing through a jewelry store. I enjoyed reading the journal, as it was very well written, and the drawings were astounding. I noticed that all of the writing in the notebook seemed to revolve around animals and the natural world. Everything was fantasy, except for a few stories about family and the struggles of an average couple who fought against all odds to be together. They defied their own parents to be with one another. The story didn’t end well for everyone, but the couple got to stay together. I thought it was a very sweet story. I had trouble deciphering if they were true stories or not. I actually didn’t know if the couple was average or not, I had never seen one in public. At the very end of the notebook was a beautiful drawing of a young lady with pink streaks in her hair, a man with one blue eye and one green eye, and a baby. It seemed like a picture of a family, and I couldn’t help but look at it wistfully. Then I saw a note in the notebook: If you ever need help, go to Aqua, she invents and there is nothing she can’t do.

I didn’t know who the note was for, but it was definitely not for me, although I decided to remember the name and occupation. I didn’t know where I would find her anyway. I found a pen that was wedged between the pages and left a note in the notebook, saying I enjoyed reading it, and that this person should continue writing. I also said good luck with their partner if that story was real. At the same time that I set down the journal, Madame Millicent returned with a fancy-looking diamond bracelet. I eyed it but didn’t say anything. I didn’t even know where she came about the money to buy such a thing.

After walking around town aimlessly and browsing through expensive stores, I felt apprehension growing within me. I tugged at my hair, a habit I’d developed long ago that helped me cope whenever I felt stressed or nervous. No one could see the bald patch that hadn’t grown in. Madame Millicent noticed that I was pulling and slapped my hand away from my head. Her slap hurt worse than the actual pulling. She didn’t like my habit and often complained about long strands of hair in the kitchen, which she blamed on me. It wasn’t a valid complaint because I always vacuumed the kitchen after I was done there. I didn’t really like having long hair, but if I asked to have it cut, it was all going away, and I didn’t want that.

Madame Millicent didn’t talk to me at all and I didn’t want her to. All she was going to say was how terrible of a burden I was and how she hoped that I never found happiness so I could see how despicable I was. Even though I knew what she was saying wasn’t true, it still hurt. I couldn’t tell anyone about the verbal abuse—there was no one to tell. I just decided to grin and bear it. Every time I had another insult thrown at me, I reminded myself four more years, or however many years I had until I was an adult. I couldn’t wait until I was an adult and could make my own decisions.

While I was walking through the town, a girl who was passing by with her mother waved at me. She seemed to be about my age, but I never got a good look at her. Her mom also waved at me in a friendly gesture, but she seemed tense for some reason. So did the girl once I looked again. Maybe crowds made them uneasy. We kept walking, but I heard who I assumed was the girl’s dad meet up with his family.

“Hey, girls! How are we? Did you make any new friends while I was gone? Did you go looking for me?”

“Dad, keep it down, I don’t want you attracting everyone in Starton.” That was the name of the town.

“Are you embarrassed by your father?” he teased.

“Neither one of us are embarrassed by you, Firebolt,” her mother spoke up. “We’re just uneasy.”

“Ooh, I like that nickname. It’s longer than my actual name, but it sounds cooler. Firebolt—sounds like a superhero name or something.”

Both of the women giggled a little and that was the last I heard from them. Today’s theme was me feeling lonely and deprived of a family apparently. At least that girl had a family. I smiled and felt a small wave of sadness wash over me. I tried to keep myself thinking about things that could have been. I heard Madame Millicent mumble beside me.

“Sappy. Leave the sweetness at home.” She was referring to the family we had just passed. I didn’t respond.

After maybe two hours, she brought me to a fancy-looking house, maybe even a mansion. She looked at her watch and quietly cursed. I was too curious to not ask about what was wrong. I expected her to tell me we were late for something, but she told me that we were too early. It escaped me how you would be mad about being early for something. She must not have been too worried about it because she knocked on the door. The gates surrounding the mansion rattled and creaked as they swung open. I stared through the gate at the lush grounds, green lawns as far as I could see, perfectly manicured. Flower gardens bursting with blooms in every color of the rainbow painted the landscape, lined the walkways, and decorated the house. What meeting could we possibly be at such a magnificent home for? Madame Millicent grabbed my hand and pulled me through. I felt another wave of apprehension as I was led inside.