Raw Sugar

S: Damien and Majandra were two orphans who met at an orphanage when they were 12 years old. They created a strong bond until Majandra was adopted. Five years later at a convention the two meet again will love blossom?

Chapter one:

I remember being twelve when my parents died. It was stupid really; they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, I suppose. I was home alone when it happened. The lights were all off and I could see police lights flashing through the closed blinds. I remember my mom telling me not to open the door under any circumstances and whoever was there would surely go away. The lights did eventually go away and when they did I sat in the living room staring at the blank TV screen.

My parents were rarely home so being home by myself wasn’t anything spectacular. I usually just watched TV until I fell asleep and went to school in the morning, something I would have done if they were home. I didn’t really know much about my parents; they were sort of just there. And when they weren’t, I didn’t feel a thing.

The moments that defined leaving my home and entering the orphanage are simply forgotten, probably because I don’t want to remember it. I just remember walking down the hallway of that cold lifeless orphanage in the middle of the night and being told to sleep in the boys’ dormitory because there was no room in the girls.

I slowly rested my head on the bleached white pillow and closed my eyes. There was only a thin sheet to cover myself with so I wrapped myself tightly within it. I stared at the ceiling covered in glow in the dark stars and simply wondered what would happen next.

The next morning I awoke to find I was alone in the barracks that I would soon call a bedroom. There were beds on both sides of the room, about ten on each side. Each bed was nicely made with a thin baby blue quilt covering each bed.

I slipped out of the covers and put my feet on the cold floor. I had a sudden lapse of memory of where I was for a second then collected my composure. I noticed a door opened a crack. I contemplated for a moment whether or not to go forward and open the door. My curiosity had gotten the better of me and I went forward and opened the door.

When I opened the door I was surprised to find out two things. One of which was that it wasn’t a door but it was a closet. The second was that I was not alone in the room but there was a boy sitting inside the closet as well reading a book. It took him a while to notice my presence but when he did he simply stared at me.

For a while it felt like all I could do was stare at the boy. I wanted to say something, anything, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I sat down next to the boy and stared out the open closet door as he continued to read as if I wasn’t there.

From time to time I would glace at his features and read what he was reading. He was reading Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carol, I recognised the title from a movie but had no idea that it was a book. When he finished reading the book he put it down and stared out the closet door as I had done moments before.

As we both stared out the closet door I could feel a melancholy that we had both shared, yet both didn’t show. At the time I thought it was strange that we would share such sadness because I wasn’t sad, as I had tried to convince myself.

His knees were raised to his chin while my legs were neatly crossed beneath me. I watched his eyes bore into the portrait in front of us and wanted to ask his name. I blushed at how intruding it would be to just suddenly ask his name, he seemed to notice and laugh.

I slowly turned my head to ask him. I opened my mouth to speak words but then a tall figure appeared before of us.

Her tall slim figure and bony fingers scared me for a slight moment. Her defined face and beady eyes looked into my soul and I felt like she was taking every happy memory I had. She was that face I saw in my nightmares, yet as she spoke so sweetly I froze in my body. “What are you two doing here?” she asked. She smiled and I could almost see my parents turn in their graves at the disgusting sight, “you should be having fun with the rest of the children.”

I was befuddled, how could an outwardly rank person sound so kind? The boy stood up holding his book and walked out of the closet without a single word.

“You must be Majandra.” She said smiling again.

I nodded not wanting to speak to her and followed the boy. He walked slowly down the hall and turned into a room that had some noise coming from it. When I walked into the room I noticed him in a corner reading the book again. For some reason that I couldn’t understand, I was drawn to him so I sat down next to him. He gave a small smile and introduced himself, “my name’s Damien.”

“My name’s Majandra.”

"I know," he replied.