"Do you remember when this all started?" A feminine voice asked.
"Do I, we were just kids back then but I remember every moment of it." A male voice responded.
"So you remember when we first met?"
"Of course I do, it was the day Mr. Frewin first brought me home."
This is the story of how five orphans saved the world.
The rain pattered down on the metal roof of the building in New York City. Four children played excitingly in the living room as a woman cooked their dinner in the kitchen right next to the living room.
"Give the princess over! Unhand her you foul beast!" A blue haired boy exclaimed while wearing a cardboard knight helmet and wielding a stick somewhat shaped like a sword.
"Help me brave knight!" The princess exclaimed. She wore a princess dress and a princess' cap that could barely fit her long dirty blond hair.
"You're getting no help from this coward! I am too mighty and witty for such nonsense!" The girl in the dragon themed outfit exclaimed with the utmost confidence.
"Uhh.. What does witty mean?" The knight asked with utter confusion.
"You idiot!" The dragon yelled "Have my wrath!" she yelled as she charged towards the knight.
"Be careful my love!" The princess yelled.
This comment not only made the knight flustered, but also made him lose his focus, leading him to bump headfirst into the dragon charging straight at him.
This head on collision caused the dragon to stumble and fall straight into another girl who was reading on the floor.
"Hey! Be careful!" The girl exclaimed. Her book on the different plants of North America almost fell into the fire pit but the girl was able to catch it just in time.
"I only knocked into you because this idiot doesn't know how to walk right!" The dragon pointed at the knight with annoyance and frustration.
"Hey Vida, you don't need that book anyway, you got all the plants you could ever want to know in your hair already." The knight pointed at the various leaves stuck in the girl's dreadlocks. He started to laugh as the princess tried to hold in her chuckle.
"Don't get me started on that messy mop stuck to the top of your head Chase!" The dragon pointed at the blue hair adorning the knight's head.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Chase asked while rolling up his sleeves and charging towards the dragon.
Chase and the dragon began their usual wrestling matches, while the princess stepped out of her blanket prison to cheer on Chase. This wrestling match was soon interrupted by the rustling of keys at the front door.
"Everybody pause your game to go say hello to Mr. Frewin." The woman said while cleaning her hands off.
The door opened as a tall man with thick, long dreadlocks stepped through the door, guiding a small boy through the door with him.
"Hello, love, and who is this young man?" The woman said while untying her apron that said in bold letters 'Family is Found Everywhere'.
"Hey love, the cooking smells good, doesn't it?" The man with the dreadlocks looked down at the boy while asking this question. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"
The boy stayed silent, looking around the house skeptically and more afraid than anything. The woman bent down to the boy's level as she began to speak
"Well, your government-given name isn't what we go by here anyways. I'm Mrs. Frewin, and the man that brought you here is Mr. Frewin." She turned to the living room where the kids were playing. "Everyone, come introduce yourself to your new friend!"
The kids rushed over, stumbling over each other while exclaiming a quiet 'Hey!'. Chase began to speak with a confident air.
"Hi! My name is Chase, don't forget it. This princess with me is Amora."
Chase put an arm around the shoulder of Amora. Even though she was flustered from this, she was able to let out a polite "Hello!" to the boy at the entrance. Chase continued.
"This meathead right here is Akilah." Chase pointed at the girl adorning the dragon head.
"What did you just say, you idiot!" Akilah reached over Amora and choked Chase out, while Chase was able to get an "Uncle!" or two out between Akilah's hands.
"And I'm Vida!" The girl holding the botany book exclaimed while holding her hand out.
"C'mere, let me show you around!" She continued to hold her hand out at the scared boy. Eventually the boy took her hand. Vida quickly dashed off with the new boy. Mr. and Mrs. Frewin smile at each other as Mrs. Frewin begins to speak.
"Why don't you kids go help Vida show your new friend around? Me and Mr. Frewin need to talk about something, dinner will be done soon so don't go too far."
"Yes, ma'am!" The remaining kids exclaimed as they dashed off to catch up with Vida and their new friend.
"This place is gonna be your new home. This is the living room, this is the kitchen and the dinner table, this the backyard where we play when it isn't raining haha." Vida joked. The boy stayed silent as Vida continued. "Let's go upstairs, that's where our room is."
The kids collectively stumbled up the stairs as they all followed Vida to their shared room.
"This is our room! How do you like it?" Vida asked.
"He's not gonna answer you, dingus. He hasn't spoken a word since he got here. He doesn't even have a name yet." Chase interrupted the wholesome moment.
"Be nice, idiot." Akilah said while giving Chase a fist to his gut. Chase stumbled back as the new boy surprisingly began to speak.
"Thank you for taking me in." The new boy said with a quiet and scared demeanor.
"That's something you should be saying to Mr. and Mrs. Frewin, not us! They take care of us like their own. We're all super thankful for them. You'll fit right in here, don't worry." Vida said while still holding the boy's hand.
"You're welcome kid." Chase said jokingly while being helped up by Amora after Akilah's gutwrenching punch.
"Dinner's ready!" Mr. Frewin's voice echoed from the bottom of the stairs as the kids rushed downstairs. The new boy was being pulled by his hand.
The five kids and the two adults gathered at the table, all with empty stomachs and smiles on their faces.
"Kids, I guess we're having Mrs. Frewin's signature spaghetti today!" Mr. Frewin said with a joking surprise. The kids cheered as Mrs. Frewin brought the hot pot onto the dinner table.
"Th-thank you" The new boy whispered just loud enough for Mrs. Frewin to hear him as she was serving him.
"No problem baby." Mrs. Frewin smiled her signature cheery smile at the boy, bringing a slight smile to the boy's face as well.
While the kids were eating, the rain outside stopped. The sun quickly came out as the ground, left sopping wet from the down pour, began to dry up as the sun's rays replaced the droplets of clouds.
This was a great sight to the four kids. Chase, Amora, and Akilah quickly moved their medieval set up outside as Vida brought her botany book outside to once again compare the plants in the Frewin's garden to the plants in her book. The new boy followed slowly outside, watching everyone play.
"Come look at this!" Vida once again grabbed the boy's hand and rushed over to the spot in the garden she was examining closely.
"This is a Daffodil, did you know that? They're also called Narcissus. And they look super pretty." Vida's face lit up as she continued to dart back and forth from her book and the flower in front of her. The boy stared at Vida's face, as confused as he was intrigued.
"There's stuff in your hair." The boy said quietly as he began to pick leaves and flower petals out of Vida's dreadlocks.
"Oh, thank you.." Vida blushed.
The kids continued their miscellaneous activities until it began to get dark outside. The regularly scheduled police helicopters began to hover overhead, their lights looking for any stragglers causing trouble after the national mandatory curfew.
"Time to come inside kids!" Mrs. Frewin's voice came from the open backdoor that she opened to see the kids.
The kids rushed inside as the sirens rang at the moment 9:00 PM came. When they came inside, all the kids ran upstairs and into their shared room as Mrs. Frewin followed. The new boy followed with less haste, but as he was about to enter the children's room he heard a faint noise coming from Mr. and Mrs. Frewin's room. He followed the noise. As he got closer, he heard a beautiful arrangement of noises of varying pitches. When he turned into their room, he found Mr. Frewin playing a guitar.
"Hey kid, you like how that sounded?" Mr. Frewin said as he was caught off guard.
"Yeah." the boy said in a quick and quiet manner.
"You ever played a guitar before?"
"No."
"Come here I'll show you." Mr. Frewin gestured the boy over to the chair next to the bed he was sitting on.
Mr. Frewin started to play his guitar. It was a fast song, with raw and sometimes gritty vocals that sang of raw emotion and problems with the system that the singer lived under. The boy's eyes lit up for the first time since he entered the Frewin's home.
"Oh you liked that? No wonder I found you in front of those speakers. You must love music. Well bring this back to your room with you, maybe you can practice it whenever you're bored." Mr. Frewin handed the acoustic guitar over to the boy as the boy's eyes showed both surprise and appreciation.
"Hmm. I'm still looking for a name for you. Those government given jumble of numbers won't do under our house." Mr. Frewin pondered as he looked around the room. His eyes hit a rack above his dresser as his eyes sparked.
"Have you ever heard of a man by the name of Jimi Hendrix?"
The boy showed confusion.
"Ah, that's alright, he was before both of our times. In the 1900s he was one of the greatest guitarists alive. That's a guitar player." Mr. Frewin said as he noticed the confusion coming from the boy's face. He continued. As he looked through the rack containing old and tattered vinyl records. "He made a lot of great songs, I think you'll like him a lot."
Mr. Frewin handed the boy a vinyl record with a yellow and orange picture of a man. The record showed clear signs of wear and tear.
"This one is called 'Electric Ladyland' you should give it a listen. Hmm. Yeah, that's what I'll call you."
Mr. Frewin gestured the boy over to the children's room as he followed. They made it to the door with the boy holding the wooden guitar in one hand and Electric Ladyland in the other as Mr. Frewin began to speak.
"Everyone, meet your new friend, Hendrix!"
"Hi Hendrix!" The kids exclaimed while waving their hands from under their tucked covers.
The boy smiled as he joined them in his own bed.
"Goodnight kids, see you in the morning." Mrs. Frewin said as Mr. Frewin smiled next to her. They turned off the lights and headed to their own room.
"That's a cool name, Hendrix! Probably better than your government given one, anyway." Vida whispered through the dark room.
"Not as good as mine." Chase said with nothing but confidence. Amora giggled at the exclamation.