Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
PART ONE
POP! The noise of the mourners hurriedly opening their umbrellas broke the heavy silence as rain began to fall from the cloudy sky. It wasn’t raining much yet, though it usually didn’t much in Lockridge, Arizona. The reason for the sudden rush: it had been a distraction, something to break the silence.
Patter. Patter. Patter patter patter. The rain picked up, causing me to open up my own umbrella, a neon blue thing with millions of rainbow polka dots spattering the top. Miss Donna had gotten it for me last spring for my birthday. She’s kind like that - always thinking about everyone all the time.
Splunk. SSShhh. Splunk. SSShhh. The mourners, mostly other children at the orphanage I live at, the rest just people she was close to, began to line up and bury her shovelful by shovelful. A smile began to pull at my lips as one of them struggled to make the decision to either put her umbrella down and get wet, or to attempt to shovel dirt with one hand.
The smile disappeared as a troubling thought entered my head. Miss Donna was dead. Miss Donna, the head of the orphanage. What was going to happen now? I shook my head, only hoping the new head was going to be as good as the former was.
I remember when the head of the orphanage was not Miss Donna. It was when I was about two or three, just arrived at the orphanage. A weathered old lady had walked down the stairs, grabbed my arm, and began to lead me to my room. The only thing I really remember about her was her cruel voice, telling me to scrub scrub scrub the walls clean.
The shovel was handed to me, the wet wood bringing me back to the present. I nodded to whoever gave me it in thanks and walked over to the partially covered burial site.
Squelch. Squelch. The sound of mud being stepped on replaced the sound of umbrellas as people began to say goodbyes and head back to their cars.
Unfortunately, I was wearing the best shoes I had, the pair of red flats I had bought two weeks ago during the orphanage’s trip to town. I didn’t have to look down to know there was most likely mud covering the sides.
Taking in a big deep breath of air, I struck the shovel into the ground. Splunk. I picked up some dirt, blinking the sudden blurry tears out of my eyes, and emptied the shovel onto the wet dirt already covering the coffin.
SSShhh.
