Alice

chapter one

           After the disaster, the rescue men found Alice unconscious in the cellar. They salvaged what ever they could from the rubble of her home, and put it in a suitcase they also found. They had taken her to the police station, while she was still out. She wasn't wounded, she just had a bruise on her forehead, and a scratch on her cheek. Her teacher, Mr. Zach, heard of what happened to his student and her family, so he rushed to the police station to stay with her. He sat next to her in a leather chair, stroking her dirty hair.

         "Shh, it's ok Alice," Mr. Zach said. His gray hair buzzed.

         Alice was still weeping. The images of her parents being torn to pieces by debris repeated in her mind, which made her begin to sob. Her thoughts were overwhelming her. What is to become of me? what is going to happen? she thought. She buried her face into Mr. Zach's chest and wept more.

         Police Chief Donald Moore suddenly walked up to Mr. Zach, and sat beside him with a cup of coffee in his hand. "Mr. Zach, I'd like to talk to Alice alone please," he said in a gruff voice.

         Mr. Zach nodded, and sat on the other side of the lobby, letting Moore ask his questions.

         "Hello Alice,"  said Moore.

         Alice looked at Moore with tears swelled in her eyes. "H-hello," she spluttered.

        "Could you tell me what happened?" Moore asked.

Alice didn't want to tell him. She didn't even want to talk. Knowing that her parents were gone forever left a scar on her heart that shall never fade. But she knows no one could help her if she kept quiet, so she answered Moore's question. "I was sleeping," she began. "Mom and Dad were downstairs. Then they came up, and told me a tornado was coming. We ran out to our cellar, but...but mama got hit in the head with...with a piece of wood, and...and my dad...I didn't look. All I saw was his bloodstained body being lifted away."

"Dear God," Moore muttered. "I feel horrible that a girl at your age had to go through that much horror."

Alice turned her head away, and hid her face so the police chief couldn't see it. "Please, leave me be," Alice sniveled, then she started to cry more.

Moore respected her pain, and walked away towards Mr. Zach, who sat on the opposite side of the room, smoking a cigar. The police chief thought hard on what he should do: he considered an orphanage, but he did not yet know if she had any kin that could look after her. As he approached Mr. Zach, he pulled out a cigar of his own, and reached for the silver lighter in his pocket. He gripped the cool steel, and lit it up, a small flame danced in the air. He set his cigar in the flame, then it began to smoke. He stuck it in his mouth and put the lighter away. Then het took a seat next to Mr. Zach "Good news," the chief began. "She's ok, no wounds."

Mr. Zach cast a glare at the chief, he already knew Alice was ok. It was obvious. "What is to become of her?" he asked.

"First, before I answer that, does she have a relative that lives close by?" Moore asked.

"No," Mr. Zach answered. "Richard and Abigail were only the only children their parents had, and both of their parents are dead."

"If that's the case," Moore started. "We must send her to a facility for parentless children. An orphanage."

Mr. Zach blew out a puff of smoke, that lingered in the air for a few moments until is dissipated. "What orphanage?" he asked.