Blood Sacrifice

Chapter 3 (Revised)

The boy’s presence didn’t bother me like I thought it would. He sat beside me, silently if he could help it. I wondered if he could tell that I was uncomfortable being around other people. I didn’t know why, but it was oddly comforting.

 I stayed in the tree until the sound of the metallic doors clanged open once more. All attention was instantly focused that way. The game of kickball was abandoned as quickly as it started. We knew that sound was the signal that we were to come inside. I glanced at the boy on the branch below me. If he was right, it was an adoption day. It definitely wouldn’t be wise to be late to it. The Matron would take careful note of everyone that was.  

I carefully hopped down to the branch that he was perched on. I looked at him as I prepared to climb the rest of the way out of the tree.

“Do you want me to help you get down?” I asked him.

I watched him through uncertain eyes as I hung on the bark, carefully anticipating his answer.

He looked at me for a long minute. “Nah, I think I wanna hang out here for a little while. I don’t think I’ll be missed anyways.”

“If you’re sure,” I said.

He nodded and rested his head against the tree.

I looked at him for another moment before I heard May calling for me from the field below. I hurried to the ground, brushed off the dirt that had gathered on my shirt, and rushed up to her. When she spotted me, she gave me a look of relief.

“Where were you?” she asked. Then her gaze clouded. “You weren’t climbing in the tree again, were you?”

I could see the sadness in her eyes as she looked my uniform over for any dirt or tears. I knew that she had seen me getting punished for breaking the orphanage’s rules before. She had witnessed me getting whipped and beaten. She hated it. I knew she did.

“I can’t help it,” I replied. “There’s just something about getting to look over the walls that makes me feel a hundred times better.

She looked down at the ground sadly.

I frowned. “I know it’s hard for you to understand because you’ve never been beyond the orphanage.”

“That’s not an excuse.”

I sighed before I pushed her chin up gently. “Don’t worry about me, alright? I know what I’m doing, I’ll be okay.”

“I worry about you sometimes,” she said. “I’m worried that the Matron-“

“Don’t,” I said cutting her off mid-sentence, “it’s my job to worry about you,” I said playfully though in my heart I knew it wasn’t a joke. No part of the orphanage was.

She smiled a bit at my comment.

“There we go,” I said. “You need to cheer up, May. Today’s an adoption day.”

Instantly, a light blazed in her blue eyes. “Really?” she asked excitedly.

I nodded. “I heard it’s a couple coming this time.”

She smiled, she was so happy she was nearly beaming. I took in the light in her eyes and the color in her cheeks. For the first time in a while, she looked genuinely happy. I smiled back at her, not wanting to discourage her. I knew that the odds of us being picked to get adopted were slim to none. Especially like the boy had noted, kids my age weren’t likely to get adopted. The fact that May and I were a package deal greatly hurt her chances of finding a family. I wanted to remind her of that so she wouldn’t get her hopes up, but I didn’t have it in me.