16 | who are we?

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"looking into the past

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"looking into the past."





This week at school, all the students had to do research about their ancestory and where their origins were. It was interesting to learn everyone's backstories and where the different families originated from. Aliya and Anne struggled with the assignment, but decided to just give a simple answer if one were to get called on. Sitting class, the ombre'd haired girl was talking to Diana about her plans this weekend after school lets out and that's when she heard something that caught her attention.

"Aliya Shirley-Cuthbert." Ms. Stacy spoke. It was her turn to share her family history, that is, the lack there of. The girl looked over at her sister, quite nervous, and stood up from her seat. She looked around at her fellow classmates and saw Gilbert with his arms crossed, waiting for the girl to speak.

"I am a mystery, shrouded in an enigmatic riddle. The end." Aliya said, then sitting back down at her desk. The class looked at her in silence, as if there must of been more to say. "I'm an orphan, along with Anne. I don't have any information about my linage. The only thing I could talk about is my life at the orphanage, but I prefer I didn't. Just skip to the next person." Aliya said, looking at the teacher. Miss Stacy agreed and moved on to Charlie, which made Anne smile.

"Aliya, please come to me." Muriel asked, before heading to the back room. The girl got out of her seat and followed, closing the door once it was fully closed. "I can imagine that was hard for you just now. I'm sorry about that." She said.

"Oh, that's alright. Although, I confess I've been wishing more and more that I did know my history. Or anything, really, about my family." Aliya replied to the woman.

"You're sure you're not upset?" The teacher asked, making sure what just happened was okay with the girl.

"The very kind milkman at the asylum once told me that I was resilient. And I expect he was right." Aliya stated, rememebering the one person in her past was kind to her during a rough time in her life.

"I wonder if they know. The orphanage. They must have records about you." Ms. Stacy said to her. She stood in her place in silence, knowing that she too had that thought going in her head.

During study hall, all the students were suppose to be reviewing everything that they've learned over the years to get prepared for the Queens enterance exams. However, Aliya could not focus due to the fact she heard the girls giggling and ripping paper off their pads.The girl rolled her eyes and looked over to the boys side to see if anyone over there was actually studying. The only one she could focus on was Gilbert. He was reading a vocation's book she let him borrow and seemed as if something he was learning something that interested him. She shook her head and continued on with her studies.

The bell eventually rang and all the girls rushed out of the classroom, except for Aliya, who took her time packing up all her items and heading out of the door to see where they all went. When she made it to the cloakroom, she noticed Gilbert was grabbing his things in the corner and decided to strike up a conversation.

dark sunshine | GILBERT BLYTHE |Where stories live. Discover now