Burning Shadows

Chapter One

"Adara Sitsvech! Please, you need to do this. It's for your own good." Mrs. Chime called into my "bedroom". Hardly call it that. It's barely serves its purpose. My bed is the size of a noodle and the window takes up half the wall. Shame, because it lets in too much cold air. The wall itself is the color of raw deer meat.

Anyway, I called back, "I don't want to, I am perfectly fine here." Mrs. Chime comes and sits on my bed.

"Please??" She whispers. I roll my eyes. Slowly I drag myself out of the chair and walk out the door.

"Just so you know, this will be my 75th interview." I walked in the room. Sitting in the tiny little chairs behind a desk, I saw two most enormous people in the world.

I walked back quickly. As I past Mrs. Chime I said only one thing.

"No."

"Just once could you try to impress a couple? This is getting ridiculous!"

"Maybe you should bring in a family that fits my personality and I will!" I snapped back at her. "Preferably a family with a better diet." I added.

"Adara, you're never going to be adopted." She leaned up against the wall and placed her head in her delicate hands. "You know when you're 17, you have to leave, we can't keep you here forever!"

I looked at her at sat down in a wooden chair with no cushion. The hall seemed more quiet than usual...

"I know." I whispered. "I know."

I sat on my bed and readjusted the black band on my gold watch. Then I looked at the time. 10:16 pm. In 44 minutes it's lights out for the 13+ dormitories. I'm 15. I'm only here because I have no family. My parents died in the 1986, Snipe 808 plane crash. There were no survivors. No one.

I snapped myself out of my thoughts. I needed to get myself together. I walked into the bathroom connecting to another dorm room. Empty. The girl that used to sleep there, Lilis, was adopted last week. Only one thing of hers remains. A poster that she didn't want to keep, of this stupid band called Rock Hard Boys. She loved them. Now the poster hangs there, left, abandoned. Like me.

"Enough." I tell myself. I look in the mirror.

My hair hangs down to my hips, and the bright red highlights show against the dark and natural black shine. My nose is long and slender yet fits me well. My teeth are in line perfectly. I'm about 5 feet 6 inches, and as skinny as Taylor Swift. Only one thing stands out. Under my control, my light brown eyes can turn bright orange. The only time I can't control it is when I'm really mad, but my sarcasm usually can save that anger issue.

I sighed. I don't know why I came in here. I look no different than the last time I looked in a mirror. Might as well go to bed, I think. I look down at my watch. 10:24. I still have 36 minutes till lights out, but I'm exhausted.

I walked out of the bathroom and turned the light off. Then I quietly slid into bed. I looked up at the ceiling where I had placed a sticky note up with tape. It wouldn't stick on its own. It reads, Sweet dreams, in my terrible handwriting. I roll over. Softly, I drift to sleep.

The dream started like this. I was in darkness. Only a light mist danced around me. I heard a voice, low and with a hint of an accent speak.

"Well, well Adara. Aren't we a pity? No friends, no parents. No knowledge of what is happening outside of you." A man stepped out of the darkness. Golden eyes, and black hair, tall and thin. Dressed completely in black, I looked like a weakling in my volleyball pajama pants and tank top. He laughed a cold laugh.