Twin Realities (SV)

Chapter 1: Twin Realities

King continued to stare at the photos until he looked at the year '2005'. The plaque was there, but there was no picture. The photo was set to be taken in just a few weeks. King knew he and the others that were currently staying there would be in this photo. Something that he was unsure about how he felt. He knew so much about this building, even how many people would be in the photo thirty-seven people in all. Twenty-two boys, fourteen girls, and Mister Williams himself standing to the side.

When King reached the end of the hall where the path split into three different directions. King wasted no time in going right and eventually came to a small set of stairs that he began to slowly walk up. It took King roughly a minute to reach the top of the steps, and he opened a door. When he did there was a rather noticeable shift in how clean the floors were. There was a constant layer of dirt on the upper floor, almost always being dirty in some manner.

A fact that wasn't helped by the large amount of kids that didn't take off their shoes as long as they had a say in the matter. King eventually walked into a room with several beds all lined up against two of the walls. By each bed, there was a small briefcase filled with each child's belongings. Most of which consisted of a set of clothes, and a toothbrush. The only other thing in the room besides these items was a large wooden box filled with some toys.

However, each of them had been donated so most were broken, or missing parts. King wasted little time walking over to his briefcase and pulling out a new set of clothes. A set of clothes that he often slept in. King knew he wasn't going to be leaving, so he didn't see a point in putting something else on since he'd just take them off later that night anyway. After gathering his pajamas King walked out of the room and began to walk down the halls once again.

When he did he made a sudden tear near the end of the halls and saw a rather simple bathroom. Three toilets and five showerheads. Each section had a clear cutoff most likely to prevent water from leaking into the main hall. King changed quickly and folded his clothes as neatly as he could before placing them on a bench near the entrance of the bathroom. He knew Williams would get it later so he just left them there.

After he had changed in walked into the same room as before looking around. After noticing that Adam wasn't in the room he began to walk over to his own bed and reached under his pillow to grab a small book. It wasn't much but it was the best King could do unless he wanted to compete with some of the others for one of the broken toys that some of the others were playing with.

King did this as often as he could. Escaping this place almost seemed like a blessing at times. King didn't like thinking about this place and it wasn't hard to see why. Parts of the room smelled often due to some of the children still wetting the bed. Either from past trauma or they hadn't been taught to break this habit yet. While others slept under their bed either by or in one case on top of the suitcase.

The beds were rarely washed, typically only being done when a new child joined them and was given their bed. King felt so disconnected from nearly everything and everyone in the orphanage. They lived together, ate together, played together, but it was obvious that no one was connected and that they were all alone, to the point where many would hear someone crying in the night, and if they did they just covered their head with a pillow and tried to sleep.

Everyone had found ways to fill their time, and this was King's reading and escaping this reality. Then there were the potential parents. While King didn't like the other aspects of living in this orphanage, he absolutely hated it when any adults came to visit them. Many children were excited at the chance to be adopted and taken into a new home. Any excuse was a good one if it meant they could finally leave this place behind. King, however, felt different, he hated being paraded around for them.