Brunch on Venus | Patrick Braden [Preview]

Chapter One - Lost and Found

Chapter One - Lost and Found

The thirteen year old girl sat on the park bench outside the orphanage that she had lived in all her life. Her clothes were baggy and dirty and her curly brown hair was down past her shoulders.

Her icy blues eyes skimmed over the book in her hands.

"Hey, Mrika, lose something?!"

The girl yelped as her book was ripped from her hands by a boy a few years older than her. He proceeded to boot the book over the fence that surrounded the orphanage grounds.

Mrika proceeded to stand up and stomp roughly on the boy's foot, causing him to curse loudly and attempt to hit her, but the girl was quick to run.

She bolted across the grounds and out of the gates, bumping into someone roughly.

She fell backwards onto the ground and so did the woman that she had bumped into. Mrika looked up and saw the blonde woman that she had bumped into, being helped up by a priest and a woman with darker skin.

The blonde woman reached out a hand to Mrika, who peered at it for a moment before hesitantly taking it.

"I'm terribly sorry for bumping into you, ma'am... I just came to find my book..." Mrika apologized sheepishly, and the woman smiled.

"Oh, no need to apologize, dear, we were just looking for someone misplaced."

"Well, there's a lot of misplaced children at this orphanage... I've been here all my life." Mrika informed her, as the priest handed Mrika her book, which he had found on the ground.

"Do you like it here?" The woman questioned, and Mrika shook her head.

"Not at all... no one understands me."

The woman looked sympathetic.

"I know how you feel... my names Patricia Braden, though you can call me Kitten. These are my friends, Father Liam and Charlie." The woman introduced, and Mrika smiled sheepishly.

"Nice to meet you all. My name is Mrika, its a pleasure."

At Mrika's words, shock fluttered across Kitten's face, and she exchanged glances with her companions, just as the woman from the orphanage called Mrika's name.

She quickly waved goodbye to the shocked newcomers before turning and running back through the gates.