Escape

A little girl was sitting beside the window in her room, looking blankly down at the nearby road located right outside of the orphanage, as the rain kept pelting down. Her eyes were always soulless and nobody had ever seen a smile on her face since the first day she came. She was listening to the patter of the steady rain, then let out a sigh.

"It's another rainy day," she whispered to herself.

She placed her hand on the window-pane, wondering whether this town was cursed, because every time she raised her head to gaze up at the sky, those same bland greyish clouds kept blocking the view. Wasn't the sky supposed to be blue with blazing sun in the day and full of sparkling stars with the big moon at night? She had never felt the warmth of the sun or seen a starry night once since this town was always overcast. However, every night in her dream, she always found herself walking in the middle of a field, under the dazzling sun. Where could that be? That wonderful world she hoped she belonged to.It was so real that she still remembered the feeling of the gentle breeze, the smell of the grass surrounding her. The sky there was so beautiful that she wanted to reach out her hand and touch it...

"It's time to take some medicine."

Yet it was just a dream - a wonderful dream she wished one day, she would never wake up. That voice again. The same sweet voice sickened her every day. She languidly turned her head around to see the nurse who was carrying a tray with two small blue pills on it. They said she had a "mental disease" that made her become emotionless. Therefore, this nurse had been taking care of her for a long time. Despite all these years, even the best doctors here couldn't find a way to cure her, and yet she thought the one that should have been given treatment was that nurse, who always wore a fake-smile on her face.

"I'll take it later," the girl said coldly, staring at the water dripping down the window frame again.

"Okay."

The nurse put the tray on the table and left without any hesitation. Such a two-faced woman! How could she call herself a "nurse" when she never paid any attention to her only patient? But the little girl wasn't concerned by this anyway. That nurse was just another one of those terrible people out there, who always treated her with contempt or were afraid of her because she was an "abnormal orphan". Yetthe way she saw itwasthateverybody in this town was nothing better than her. They were just the same - a bunch of hypocrites whose eyes were blinded by their own desires. It was funny that they wanted her to show some affection towards them, while they didn't know how to care for each other. The apathy among them kept spreading like a terminal disease and made them look like living marionettes, yet they considered her the "weird one".

"I hate them." Those words slid into her head as she was heading for the pills. "These disgusting pills that I have to swallow everyday are just like the people here. They are sickening me..."

When she looked at the pills in her palm, thoughts continued seeping through her mind.

"The bitter taste of this medicine, which still remains even when I try to wash it away, is just like this horrible world. It makes me want to vomit..."

She raised her palm closer to her face.

"Please... I want to escape from this nightmare..."

"You're not going to take those pills, are you?"

A stranger's voice echoed across her room. It startled her and she dropped her pills. It came from the door. She turned around and saw a boy near her age looking at her with a mischievous smile.