From Home to House

Mornings at the Hapless Children’s Home were always of much hustling and yelling (by children and administrators), and dressing and eating and assembling, and chore-doing, before the children were allowed to return to their rooms or go into the monstrous BigRoom filled with donated playthings (this was long before king Dunnilon of Cray established standards for orphan-homes, and even before any king ever ruled from the nether Triad of Davia).

The sun began his tedious climb over the rolling hills beyond Green Meadows just as the children began their dutiful hustling and following events. Young Daquell stood in front of his bed, still as a stone jutting out from a rushing waterway. He realized that he no longer need participate in the fray. He had always hated the mundane routine of the day, anyway. He still hated it. He hated it deeply. He hated- before the threatening tears started rolling down his face, he swung his bag up over his shoulder and crossed the dingy room and the front halway. No goodbyes were said, and if anyone saw him leaving, certainly nobody made any motion to help or hinder him. With some difficulty, he shoved open the heavy oak door leading outside.

Sunlight streamed across his face and flooded the room behind him, his figure casting an ominous shadow back across the mass of children. None of them appeared to notice. One administrator cast an annoyed glance in the boy’s direction as a small breeze entered the room. Daquell felt as though he stood on the edge of a towering cliff, as though one step off the threshold would send him plummeting helplessly into a void. Although he had been outdoors on alternate days throughout his many weeks at the Children’s Home, the landscape looked a rugged one, surely filled with bogies and goblins hiding under shadows.

“Close the door. Immediately.” The administrator’s voice sounded as if from a dream, but it jolted Daquell back to his senses. He took a deep breath and turned to take a last glance at this tumbledown, noisy, and yet suddenly beloved home. Then he stepped over the threshold. The door closed with a thud at his back, blocking out the noise and previous life behind him. He was alone.