Every day felt the same. The same creaking, wooden bed with rosy red sheets and covers, the same stupid white wall. They would come in every day and say the exact same words. "Get up! Now!" The only thing that made everything better was my brother, Leo. My brother and I were abandoned at birth, we have no idea who our parents are; all we know is that Leo and I only have each other. It's been this way since we were young. My brother, Leo, was born 5 minutes before me. He's always been the protective older brother. He had to be this way because, from a young age, we realized nobody would care about us. Don't get me wrong, we tried. when we tried to befriend others at the orphanage or help out the caretakers, but every time we ended up just getting bullied, beaten, or punished. This is when Leo and I realized that people were a curse and the only people who would love us were each other.
Now, looking back, I realize that's all we really needed in the first place. As I was staring at my bedframe, reflecting on my past, I heard a knock at the door. I got up and answered it, and there he was, Leo. "Hey, Luna!" He said to me with a hug.
Leo has green eyes that are vivid and sharp which stands out against his jet black hair. His hair always seems unkempt but it naturally fell into place. His outfit that he was wearing reflected the colors of a lion which were deep golds, warm browns, and hints of burnt orange. This made sense because Leo's favorite color was orange. Most of his clothing was either black, orange, or neutral.
He walked in without permission. "Okay, so, I was thinking… maybe we could visit the Eiffel Tower first?" Leo and I were almost 18, and we were now planning what we wanted to do first when we left the orphanage. I chuckled. "Sure, Leo, that sounds great." I looked down. Leo could always tell when something was wrong, I could never hide anything from him. He walked up to me and knelt down. "Luna? What is it?" He asked. I sighed. "I just.." I paused. "What are we going to do? We have no money, no job, and we are going to be kicked out at 18!" Leo got up and picked my head up. "You don't need to worry about that, all that matters is that we have each other! I don't care if we're homeless as long as you and I are together." He smiled. I leaped at Leo to hug him. "Thank you. You always know how to make me feel better."
Leo hugged me back. "You know, sticking together was the most important thing to me." Suddenly, there was a knock at the door." I went to the door and opened it, and there she was, Madame Dufresne. I looked back at Leo, and his face immediately went from smiling to neutral. He crossed his arms. Leo was very much an introvert. Like I said before, the other people here didn't like us very much. Leo didn't talk to anyone but me unless he had to. Madame Dufresne was one of our caretakers, one of the… meaner ones. It was obvious she didn't even like kids. Honestly, I wasn't even sure why she was working at this orphanage. "It's time for lunch. Hurry up." She said, clearly annoyed, and then walked away. I looked at Leo, and he shrugged. "Her problems are her own." Leo then walked out. As I walked out, I looked around me at the orphanage, everything was again the same.
The hallway was narrow and dimly lit, with flickering sconces casting long shadows along the peeling wallpaper. The floorboards creaked with every step, worn smooth from years of footfall. The air felt stale, heavy with the scent of aged wood and dampness. The doors lining the hall were chipped and uneven, each one leading to rooms filled with sparse, mismatched furniture. A sense of stillness hung in the air, as if the walls themselves had grown tired of the quiet.
Leo was far ahead of me; I could see him down the hall. I knew that I should catch up with him because just as much as I needed him, he needed me.
Ever since the realization that no one in this world truly cares about us except for each other, Leo had random outbursts. Mostly when I wasn't there. Like, there was this one night where I woke up to him screaming, holding his head in his hands. He was mostly happy the entire day before, so I wasn't sure what to think of it. When I heard that, I ran up to him and hugged him, trying to calm him down, which, most of the time, always worked.
Before I could think for another moment, I heard commotion near the cafeteria, which immediately caught my attention. My heart sank. I knew exactly what this was… Leo. I ran faster than I ever had before and saw a crowd behind and in front of Leo and a kid named Gareth. Gareth was one of the meanest kids in our orphanage who would basically pick on every kid he possibly could. I pushed past the crowd as fast as I could. "Come on, little Leo, PUNCH ME! Unless you're too weak?" Gareth said tauntingly. Leo stood rigid, his fists clenched at his sides, his sharp eyes burning with barely contained fury. I could tell he was about to do it, he was about to punch Gareth when I finally got past the crowd. "LEO!" I screamed. I put my hand around Leo's fist. "We only have a couple more days in this orphanage, It's not worth it; come with me."
"We can grab some lunch and talk more about when we leave this place, yeah?" Leo looked at me, his rage calming down. He looked more like himself again. "Yeah, let's go." Leo and I started to push past the crowd and get out of there when Gareth shouted. "YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT! RUN AWAY WITH YOUR UGLY FAT SISTER!" Oh no. I thought to myself, I knew exactly what Leo was going to do, and not even I could reason with him. He turned around, ran towards Gareth, and punched him right in the nose! I put my hands over my mouth and shook my head. Oh. My. God. I thought to myself. Everyone who surrounded them made an 'oooo' noise. I looked at Gareth's face and couldn't help but chuckle a little. I mean, he kinda deserved it.
One of the caretakers saw it, ran towards Leo, and grabbed his arm. This is when I realized how much trouble he was in, and followed them. She took Leo into the Matron's office, where I knew he was going to be in so much trouble. I knocked on the door, hoping to get in, and one of the caretakers opened the door. "Hi," I said, looking past her and seeing Leo standing there. "Leo!" I yelled, running past the caretaker, who kept trying to stop me. "You really shouldn't have done that for me!" I yelled to him as the caretaker kept trying to bring me out of the room. He grinned. "I didn't do it for you, I did it for us." Then the caretaker brought me out of the room and said, "Don't try anything like that again." And slapped the door shut on my face. I sat outside the room with my ear to the door, trying to listen to what the matron was saying to Leo. I couldn't hear anything except mumbles. I think I heard something about jelly? Or was that pickles? I'm just gonna assume that they're not talking about jelly or pickles with Leo. The door finally opened, and I fell because it was unexpected. "Ow," I said as Leo walked out of the room. He raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay?" he asked, helping me up. "Yeah…" I said. Then, I asked:
"What did you talk about with them!?!? I felt like you were in there for hours!" He put his head down. "They are… kicking me out of the orphanage." Leo explained to me that the matron told him that he was too big of a hassle for them to have to take care of. Leo had to pack his things and never come back. I listened, surprised that they would kick him out. When he finished, he apologized. "I'm so sorry, Luna. I should've listened to you and not allowed my anger to control me," Leo said. "Leo, we were going to be kicked out in a few days anyway! You know, wherever you go, I will always follow. Let's pack our things, and we will be out by tonight." Leo looked up and smiled. "Okay," Leo said. I knew that since I wasn't kicked out and was still under 18, they wouldn't let me leave, so Leo and I made a plan. Leo was going to leave and wait outside of the orphanage until night time, then I would make my run for it.
Leo went to our room, and I watched Leo pack his things. As I watched him, a tear fell down my face. I could tell that he noticed because he immediately turned to me. "Luna, I promise we won't be separated for long. Your escape tonight will go exactly as planned, then we will do what we have always wanted to do. You and I will go visit the places we never could before." I nodded. I knew he was right; I was just nervous that they would catch me, and I'd have to wait days before I could see Leo again. We had never been separated for longer than a few hours before, and even then, a few hours felt like the worst hell on earth. There was this one time when we were younger, a foster family wanted to take me in but not Leo. I screamed and cried the entire time they were dragging me out of the orphanage and on the car ride. Eventually, the foster family rolled their eyes and took me back to the orphanage. I hugged Leo so tightly that day, and ever since then, we haven't been separated like that again. This was the first time we'd have to go through separation again.
Leo finished packing and looked up at the wall, then over at me. I could tell he was also scared to be alone, but he tried not to show it. I mentioned earlier that I could never hide how I was feeling from him because he always knew, but the same thing goes for him. He could never hide anything from me. "Leo? What's wrong?" I asked him. "I just don't want to leave you. Even if it's for a few hours." "I know, Leo, I know," I replied nervously as well. He grabbed his duffle bag, hugged me. We walked to the entrance together, talking about where we would meet and where we'd visit first. Once we got to the entrance, caretakers were waiting there to make sure I didn't try to run away with Leo. I hugged him again and whispered in his ear, "See you in a few hours." I hoped that this would give him some relief because I knew he would be nervous and reckless without me. Leo left as I tried to hold in my tears, nervous as to what would happen that night. I ran back into my room as the caretakers watched me do that. I put my duffle bag in the closet and started to secretly pack.
Sometimes, the caretakers would barge into the room unannounced, and I would be sitting on my bed looking like I was crying, and when they left, I'd go back to packing. There was this one caretaker who almost caught me packing. When they asked what I was doing, I lied and said I was getting ready for my 18th birthday. They hesitantly nodded and left. When night came, I knew I had to be sure I avoided all the caretakers or they would for sure catch me, and I wouldn't get another chance to escape. I finished packing the rest of my things, and I just had one thing left. A picture of Leo and me sitting on a hill. I put it to my chest, hoping that everything would work out according to plan, then put the photo into my duffle bag. I was ready to go.
I waited until 10 pm, when I knew everyone would be sleeping. I knew there would be fewer caretakers out around this time, and I got ready to go. I put on a change of clothes. I would've kept my normal clothing on, but I felt like they would be suspicious since the caretakers kept checking on me. I knew since it was so late, they wouldn't check on me because they thought I was asleep. I grabbed my duffle bag and a hat and started to leave. On the way out, I saw a few caretakers, and I ran into a room to hide and then continue trying to escape. I knew Leo would be waiting for me, so I had to be quick. I got towards the exit and saw a caretaker going directly at me, the caretaker hadn't seen me yet. I looked around to see where I could hide and found a door to my left. I ran into it and closed it shut. I leaned on the door with my eyes closed, gasping for air. When I finally opened my eyes, I saw Gareth staring directly at me. He grinned. "Miss me that much, did you?" I walked up to him. "Shut. Up. Please don't say anything. I'll give you anything." He smiled creepily. "Anything…?" I rolled my eyes. "Yes, yes, almost anything. What do you want?" He looked down and smiled so widely. This guy was a creep. "I want your boots." I was a little surprised and looked down at my boots. "Uh, my boots? They're worth like nothing?" I said, lifting up my feet and showing him my boots. "Yep, I want your boots." He said, basically cracking up by now. I then knew why he wanted my boots. Garthe wanted my boots because then I'd have to be barefoot.
I sighed. "Fine!" I took my boots off and threw them at him. "There you go, happy?" I said, more annoyed than I had ever been. "You could've been nicer about it! But yes, I'm very happy." I went into my bag and put another pair of socks on my feet, just in case. I knew it wouldn't protect me that much, but it was better than being completely barefoot. I walked out of the room. As I turned around to close the door, I could see the biggest smile on Garthe's face looking at my boots and laughed. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. He was the worst. I got to the gate and made a run for it. I couldn't run fast because I felt like my feet were being stabbed since Garthe had stolen my boots.
One of the caretakers saw me running and started to go after me. I ran as fast as I could but it wasn't enough. Eventually, I tripped and banged my head on the concrete hard. I felt like the world was spinning, I couldn't get up. I knew that the caretaker would catch up to me. I tried to crawl away, but I could barely keep myself going. The last thing I saw was a man fending off the caretakers and then coming up to me. I saw his eyes were a piercing sliver that I felt like I had seen before. Then, I passed out.