Chapter Text
When the first rays of sunlight made their way through the only small window that was located in the tiny room, the raven-haired girl was on foot for at least an hour. The girl’s name was Akali, and she was forced to call that tiny space her home since she was 5 years old. For her, every day seemed like a copy of the previous ones. She felt like a trapped inside an endless loop, as if she was trapped in time, forced to witness the same day time after time.
With a deep sigh, Akali returned to her usual routine. Inside her mind, she liked to call it a ritual of her own. It helped her clear her mind after a more or less sleepless night, or nightmare that she could not remember after wakening. As was mentioned before... every day seemed to be the same old story that some old people are used to tell. She usually woke up early in the morning. It was not a rare situation if the Sun was not yet up when her eyes opened. It meant that she had a lot of time to proceed with her plans. The very first bullet point of those plans was always to pack for classes. As soon as it was dealt with, Akali liked to exercise in silence. It started many years ago with just a couple of squats, situps and pushup… but, as time passed, the routine was modified at least a couple of times. With every modification, the difficulty of the training was noticeably rising. Every single time, the young girl chose the goal to be out of her reach, or at least initially. She wanted her exercising session to be challenging, to give her a clear goal toward which she could press on. After everything was done, it was high time for a quick shower to wash the sweat off of her body.
Soon enough, the sounds of the running water died out, and the teenager exited the bathroom wrapped in a bit too short towel of brown colour. One of the few benefits of having a room on the top level of the orphanage was that the bathroom was near all the time free to use. To be perfectly honest, during her time in the organisation, she bumped into someone there less than 5 times. She did not have to carry changing clothes with herself each time she wanted to take a shower, after all, her room was just a couple of steps away from the restroom. Of course, if someone would be wandering on the top-level currently, that person would see her nearly naked. As she was used to by now, she quickly closed the gap between the bathroom and her tiny space.
The moment, the heavy door clicked behind her, she sighed. Every single time she was going out like that, she had a feeling as if someone was watching her. Akali knew that she was a pretty attractive young woman, and some boys would eagerly want to abuse her, want to sleep with her. But… Akali would not have any of it.
The process of changing clothes took her maybe a minute or so. As soon as she was fully clothed, she sat down on the old bed that she claimed hers and took a small mirror that was originally located on the nightstand. It was slightly broken. In the very right top corner, the small cracks could be spotted, but she did not care about that. She chose to proceed with her daily ritual.
“I am Akali Winter,” she began slowly. “I was born 15th of June 2002, I am 17 years old. I was put here because my only family – my parents – had a car accident when I was 5,” she continued to whisper. “I was the only one who came out of that accident alive,” she added after a moment of pause in a sad, low tone. “I do not remember my parents, my past… anything. The first memories that I posses are associated with this place. About my past before the orphanage, I was informed when I was 10. When I reach the age of adulthood… I am going to be removed from here… I will be alone… I will have to take care of myself,” the raven-haired girl ended her monologue in a sorrowful tone.
She was repeating the same words each morning since she was informed about the truth. She was repeating them because she did not want to forget who she was, or at least she did not want to forget those few details about her life she knew about.
The employees of the orphanage told her that it was a miracle that she survived the crash. They told her that she was taken to the nearest hospital as soon as possible. There… her not realistically serious wounds were treated. At the meantime, the social care organisations started their job. As far as she was informed, those people searched for information whether she had any relatives left. As you might already expect, there was none. As soon as the hospital told the employees of the social system that she was free to go, she was taken to the building of some governmental organisation. After that, further events happened rapidly. Akali was directed to the orphanage where she was still living.
The orphanage’s staff quickly found out that they were to deal with someone special, someone unique. The black-haired girl never cried, she was never the cause of problems, she was a quick learner, she obeyed all the rules. Across her peers, those traits were rare. Her systematic and conscientious approach to education resulted in numerous awards, winnings in competitions and earning high scores.
To some, she was an example of a living ideal. However, for most of the people, she was regarded as a freak. Jealousy is a nasty feeling that can be caused too easily, unintentionally, in most cases. Because Akali was archiving successes, she was not liked among her peers. The raven-haired girl was not only successful in the educational field, no… she was a much bigger deal. The sport was not a foreign term to her. It did not matter whether it was a football, an athletics, martial arts, or other manifestation of physical activity, she was keen to give it a try. The problem for the others was that she was just too good right from the very start.
In every field, she did have successes. Her passion, her diligence, her regularity, all were driven by her inner idealism. For her, it was like a matter of fight inside of her mind. She wanted… no, needed to improve her performance until she would end up at the very top. Up from there, she could see all of her peers left far behind. As you might expect, such life-style does not bring happiness, all it brings is suffering, slow and steady burnout. Akali’s case was not an exception, her strive did not bring her joy. The perfectionism, the idealism… they were killing her day by day, destroying not only her mind but also her body. As soon as she noticed that destructive path, she wanted to stop, but… she could not, she was too deep in that. The black-haired teenager could not relax because she knew that only by her blood, sweat and tears, she would be able to achieve her goal. To be perfectly honest, Akali had one true goal in her mind, and it was to be adopted.
If someone was to think about her situation for a moment, that person would nearly immediately come to the same conclusion as Akali. It was so strange that no family wanted to adopt her. After all, she was a near-perfect child, but still, no one came. Every single time one of her peers found a new home, a new family, Akali’s heart was being shattered into billions of small pieces. It was as if someone willingly put a sharp knife into her heart. Someone would come to the conclusion that after a couple of such incidents, she would adjust, she would get used to it. Sadly, it was not a case. Every single time, it hurt the same, if not more. Each time, Akali found herself struggling to overcome the need to run away. All she wanted to do in such situations was to run away, to hide someone, preferably in her room, crawl into the darkest corner, and cry. The teenager could not do it, after all, she did not cry. In fact, the reason behind that was entirely different from what people thought, Akali just did not have any tears left in herself. Her eyes no longer had any tears to shed, her heart could not be broken more. Each time, one of her peers was farewelled by the staff, she struggled to hide her emotions. After the lucky kid left the orphanage’s building with a new family, one of the employees always came to her. Every single damned time, it was the same sentence, but it still hurt her.
“Look… it’s not that bad, you still have a chance. If you try harder, I’m pretty sure some family will decide to adopt you.”
It was always the same words every time, the same lies. The problem was that these words would still ignite something inside of her and would give her hope. It gave her hope to live long enough to find what she was looking for those long years.
As you might expect already, it was not true in Akali’s case. Unfortunately, year after year, she was not being chosen. It felt like she was not even on some kind of list for the adoptive families to look at. It felt wrong, it felt ridiculous, but it was all true. Year after year, she was inexorably maturing, which was only further reducing her chances of adoption. Thanks to her results, thanks to her achievements and rewards that she managed to win, she could afford some additional activities. It was not hidden that most of the cost of these activities was paid out of Akali’s pocket. After countless tries, begs, the employees of the orphanage opened a bank account for her. A small percentage of each prize she won was stored there.
Why only a part you would obviously ask? Akali was provided with the same answer each time, she asked about her money. The facility’s employees told her that everything that was being stored into account was the remnants of her prizes. They used it to pay for her education, her typical activities, her additional activities. To be frank, the dark-haired teenager did not like that idea, but she could not do anything with that. She agreed on the facility’s terms, in the end, she did not have a choice. From time to time, she was allowed to look at the account’s details to learn how much she had stored for herself. To be perfectly honest, every single time, she had such an opportunity, she was only a couple of moments away from tearing up openly. The number that was displayed for her was meagre. It was difficult for the girl to believe that it everything that should be stored here. Immediately she thought about the prizes that rarely was below a couple of hundreds of dollars each. There was no way in Hell that it was all. She was being cheated. But… in the end, what could she do? She blurred her eyes every time, cough up a couple of times, then left.
She ultimately lost hope one she reached the age of 17. One more year and she would be forced to leave the walls of the building that was her home since she lost her family. Give an insufficient amount of money stored on her account, her lack of education, her choices would be limited. The girl thought about the future with horror before her eyes. She was not able to imagine her life when she reached the age of adulthood. Of course, it would be possible for her to find some casual work. Even if it was physical work, it would be better than nothing. The problem that remained was that she was not entirely sure whether it would happen. Unintentionally, her heart started to beat faster again, began to despair again. The pain caused by the masses of stored thoughts inside her mind was barely bearable. Akali remembered that she could not find the peace that night. She did not sleep even for a couple of minutes, wriggling upon her small old bed. The very next day, she did all she could to pretend that she was fine.
As you know, she was not. It costed her great pain to pretence throughout the entire day that nothing happened, where in fact, her world crumbled once again. From that day on, the raven-haired girl began to behave more and more like a robot. Even though people all around the orphanage were used to her robot behaviour, they were shocked when the intensity increased noticeably. Deep inside her mind, Akali knew that no matter what she did, it would not do her any good. The only thing that kept her from going down, committing suicide was her perfectionism. Because of it, she kept working at her 200%.
With every single passing day, her dream, her hope, her vision was fading. All she dreamed about was to be adopted, but sadly, in the end, it might not happen. On the remnants of the old vision, the new arisen, this time much darker. The thought that she would end up alone on the street without the means to exist. With every passing day, it seemed closer and closer. It was what Akali truly feared. The teenager tried to fight with that overwhelming thought, but it was an exhausting fight against stacking odds. She began to plan her life ahead of time. The very first thing that she did was to start looking for job offers and cheap accommodation. Every single time, she was in the school’s library, she was checking the newest job offers, etc. With those two aspects at least partially thought out, she needed to think about other minor and major aspects of adult life. She would need to think about what she would need in the future.
That event had a great impact on her life. During the next couple of weeks, she slept rarely. In most cases, her slumber did not exceed 3 hours a day. Every moment of her free time, Akali tried to harness to its fullness. The young woman began working even harder than she has ever. Soon enough, it turned out that insomnia had become an integral part of her.
When everything seemed to be a foregone conclusion and only a matter of time, unexpectedly, a change came. As if someone in Heavens above them recalled about her existence. It was an early evening. Behind the closed windows, the storm has ruled the world. The heavy raindrops rumbled over the shutters. The black-haired teenager was sitting at the common dining room. On her laps, a few sheets of paper could be spotted. A lone opened textbook was lying before her. She was slowly reading through filled pages, from time to time, marking an interesting paragraph.
Akali heard the loud clicking of heels in the distance. She ignored that detail, a lot of employees here were wearing such footwear daily. Instead of raising her head and taking a quick glance at the source of the sound, she opted to keep reading.
“Akali?” a feminine voice called her name. “Could you visit my office now? I’ll take only a moment of your precious time,” the woman said.
“Of course,” Akali replied immediately, closed the book and picked up the lone sheets of paper.
The girl stood up and walked away from the large pine table. She quickly located the woman who was calling her. Her deep brown eyes feel upon a middle-aged woman who was wearing a blue shirt and casual jeans. The employee was slightly obese, and her clothes only emphasised that fact. Her long, hay-coloured hair was tied up in a messy braid that flowed down her back. The eyes of a mixture of brown and gold were the only detail of the woman that was intriguing Akali. The young woman had the impression that Miss Thomson’s gaze was always piercing through her as if she was stating into her very soul. Her name was Emilia Thomson if she was not mistaken. She was probably thirty-five years old, or at least she was looking like that.
“Miss Thomson?” the teenager called.
“Yes?”
“What is going on? I did not do anything bad, or at least I do not think I did,” the brown-eyed girl asked.
“Let’s talk about it in my room,” the orphanage’s employee started her response. ”Still, I can assure you, it’s nothing bad. In fact, it should be pretty good information for you,” she added with a broad smile.
“If you say so,” the so-called ‘ninja’ of orphanage replied cooly.
The black-haired girl followed Miss Thomson to a small office that had been designated to her. In Akali’s opinion, the room was not impressive. It covered the area of approximately 20 square meters. Inside, there was a small bookshelf, a desk, two chairs, a laptop, and a small table. On the surface of the last furniture, an amber substance in a decanter could be easily spotted. Walls were in the colour of deep blue while the floor was in the colour of the night. The rest of the furniture was made out of wood painted in ash-grey colour. The room did not have any windows, so even during the day, the light must stay on. Without uttering even a single word, Emilia Thomson walked in. After a couple of seconds, she sat in front of her computer. Noticing that the girl did not follow her, took the middle-aged woman a moment. As soon as she saw it, she pointed out on the remaining char, inviting the black-haired girl in.
Akali nodded with her head, then slowly approached toward offered seating.
“What did you mean by – ‘it should be pretty good information for you,’?” the brown-eyed teenager asked after a couple of moments of silence.
“Oh, my dear girl… let me put bluntly,” the orphanage’s employee started. “There is a woman interested in adopting you,” she added. “She called us today in the morning, and to be frank, she was delighted after we presented you briefly.”
“Is it a dream?” the black-haired teenager asked. “If so… it is not funny,” she pouted slightly.
“Oh, dear… it’s not a dream, it’s reality,” Miss Thomson assured the ninja. “Your legal guardian will come tomorrow to complete all the remaining formalities, and then will take you to her house. If I was you, I’d start packing as soon as possible. She’ll be here early in the morning.”
For Akali, it seemed as if time has frozen. “It can not be true, it is just another cruel and ridiculous joke,” her mind assumed. “Wait… wait, it is what you were waiting for your whole life,” the heart of the girl exclaimed. For a couple of moments, the internal fight between the mind and the heart of Akali was taking place. Soon enough, it ended. As you might know, the usual outcome of such battles is favoured toward the heart. And… that situation was not any different. After a moment or so, the mind was forced to take a backseat at that time. The black-haired girl felt that one lonely tear was running down her right cheek. Akali did not wipe her out, she allowed her to leave a trace all over her skin. She let the tear to leave a sign that in fact, the brow-eyed girl was a human being, not a robot.
“Thank you,” the teenager whispered. She tried to focus her bloodshot eyes on the woman who was setting in front of her.
“The credits don’t belong to me,” the woman chuckled. “There is no point for you to thank me for anything,” she added with a slight smile.
“Miss Thomson?”
“Yes, dear?”
“Could you tell me something about my soon-to-be legal guardian? Like anything?” Akali asked.
“To be frank, I don’t know much,” the woman said honestly. “According to what the head of the orphanage told us, she’s 25 years old. She’s working as a lawyer, but I heard that she teaches from time to time, but not daily,” she started to answer the question. “Her name is Evelynn Smith, and she comes from a very very wealthy family. It intrigues me how a woman in such a young age was granted the right to adopt you. Still, in the end, it’s none of my business,” the woman added, lowering her voice slightly. “But… hey, I’m glad that you finally achieved your goal, Akali. You’ve waited for that for far too long,” she added in a cheerful tone.
“It does not really matter now, Miss Thomson,” the brown-eyed beauty whispered quietly. “I will have a home and a family. I will have everything that I have dreamed about for so long,” she added with evident, undisguised joy in her voice. A second later, she felt that more and more tears were gathering at the corners of her eyes. In any moment they threatened to run down.
“That’s right. I’m so happy about you, our little primus,” Miss Thomson giggled a little. “What truly intrigues me is that Miss Smith is the only person to be interested in you, ever,” the woman change her voice’s tone to natural. “Or… at least, it’s the only person about whom we were informed by the head of the orphanage. As for me… it’s a bit strange, considering all of your achievements, but hey… as I said before, it’s none of my business.”
“I understand,” Akali replied while nodding with her head. “Thank you for everything. Can I go now, then? I would like to pack?” she asked.
“Yes… of course, dear,” the orphanage’s employee replied. “Akali, wait,” she called the girl before she was able to stand up, “congratulations,” she added quickly.
“You do not even know how much all of this means to me, Miss,” the raven-haired teenager whispered.
“You’re not wrong,” the woman agreed immediately. “I’ve never been in a situation as you did. To a small extent, I feel like I should know what it feels like to be orphan. But frankly, I don’t have a clue. I’d never wish anyone to know or go through what you did,” she added with sympathy in her voice.
“Thank you,” Akali whispered once again, then stood up, and left the tiny office.
As soon as the wooden door was closed behind her back, she smiled. Without wasting any time more, she rushed toward her room. She needed to pack, after all. “Tomorrow… I will start a new life,” she reminded herself deep inside her mind. “A new, better life,” she added quickly. With a wide smile playing on her lips, she allowed herself to run. No matter what would await her tomorrow, the next chapter of her life would begin. Her life would be started from the very beginning, it would be built from the scratches. To a new legal guardian, to every new person she would meet, she would be a clean book that awaits to be filled with the context. This time, she wanted to be a writer herself, she would want to be in charge of her life. Hopefully, her guardian would see the world in the same lights as she does.
Even though she did not have many things that belonged to her. The packing took her way too much time, or at least in her opinion. When she was finally done, it was a late evening. That day, she decided to go to sleep earlier, she would not want to be late to meet her saviour. She would not want to be late for the beginning of the new chapter of her life.
She fell onto the old bed. Akali did not care that it made a pinchy sound as soon as her weight collapsed on its surface. She was smiling like some crazy maniac in cartoons, but she could not help it. The raven-haired teenager felt as if she was capable of moving the mountains, in that very moment. Before she could even realise, she fell asleep. It was a dreamless sleep, probably for the very first time in a long time.