The Flame Within The Mind

Lost Lamb

As the car drove off into the distance, the child stood there in disbelief as their parents had abandoned them, hoping someone else would take on the child.

As the years went by, the young girl had noticed something peculiar.

As caretakers of the orphanage as well as the other children spoke. The little girl would hear their voices saying something different and more often than not this would confuse her.

As time went on, she found a way to focus more intently on someone's "inner voice"  and could even see faint glimpses of their memories if she focused hard enough.

When Yule came around, the other kids at the orphanage did not like her presence one bit, so decided to start tripping her up at first.

Then came being shoved out of the way, and one night something caught the girl's attention.

"That mouse I trapped inside the box should be dead by morning, I can't wait to receive such a gift from the redheaded reject." 

Sneaking off to the bathroom and diverting to the lounge where a large fir tree sat in the corner of the room, stockings hung up with a picture of the person they belonged to attached at the top.

Finding a small box that had been wrapped up and at the top of the stocking belonging to one of the other children who bully her, she picks it up and takes it outside.

She could "sense" some sort of life panicking to get out, the redhead tore the box open and placed the box on the floor and waited.

A small head poked out from the opening and seemed to calm down after emerging seemingly relieved at the breath of fresh air.

Scuttling away but stopped briefly before turning its head back to her, turning to face forward the mouse scuttled into the fields behind the orphanage.

Decided she couldn't be out in the snow too long, the redhead returned to her bed and slept until morning.

The following morning, the older girl kept thinking about how she would act when she found the dead mouse.

There was, of course, nothing to be found as the young redhead had disposed of the box and set the creature free.

As the day rolled on, the girl was called to see the caretakers.

She was responsible for giving the older bully a black eye.

"That's not true!" She denied it of course, "I have been playing football in the snow with the other children."

"We asked the other children and they have all said that you weren't with them at all." The caretaker responded.

The orphanage often allowed people to visit the children to see about adoption yet no one wanted the redheaded girl.

"Is red hair really bad?" She thought before a flurry of voices came from everyone else.

"Why should we help an abandoned reject like you?"

"Does anyone even want you?"

"No one wants you here, just go away!"

Thus, she was punished for something she had never done.

Later that afternoon, the older bully and her friends pushed her down a set of stairs which resulted in an injury.

The girls claimed that she threw herself down the stairs for attention and that they tried to stop her.

Utter lies.

After having her knee examined by the caretaker, the girl decided to read her "inner voice" only to discover it was probably better that she hadn't.

"I wish this girl would stop causing trouble for everyone else. No wonder people don't want to adopt her. That and she has that unruly hair colour."

Something inside the redhead snapped, running out of the room and into the foyer where the other caretakers were gathered.

Their thoughts were alike, filled with disdain and discontent for the little redhead.

"I'll show all of you!" She screamed as loud as her tiny voice would let her.

Before she bolted out the door that the caretakers left open which allowed her to roam the streets.

Streets that were being ravaged by a chilling blizzard.

She kept running, for what seemed like miles.

Until her tiny body finally collapsed from exhaustion.

She laid there, completely unconscious, as the blizzard started to worsen.

Eventually, she came to and was wrapped up in blankets as a fire burned to keep her warm.

Two people were using the fire to stay warm as the blizzard came down with a vicious chill.

"Who are you?" She demanded as the two strangers looked at each other with curiosity.

One of them was an elderly gentleman.

Who looked quite young for his age, and was sitting on the floor around the fire.

Accompanied by a young woman who went to check outside briefly.

The girl seemed to be in an abandoned building, where the ravenous storm couldn't reach them, but the cold air certainly could.

"My name is Zhao, we found you unconscious in the snow. Would have taken you to the nearest hospital but the blizzard has started to worsen since we found you." A calm and gentle voice flowed from his mouth.

"Why did you save me? You should have let me freeze to death." Her voice was as cold as the winter weather.

"Child, I saved you because it was the right thing to do," Zhao admitted.

"No one wants me, I wish I could change the colour of my hair!"

"Why? I think your hair colour is unique, yes, but a child should not think that the colour of one's hair decides their worth."

"I wonder what this poor youth has been through to be so distrusting of others."

All the girl could read were thoughts of concern and worry for her well-being.

The pair sat in silence before the woman returned, "Zhao, the storms easing up. We should think about heading back."

Zhao turned to face the girl and smiled before standing up and putting out the fire.

"Well, let's be on our way then shall we? It'll be dark soon, and I could hear your tummy rumbling for food." Said Zhao as he picked up the blanket he had been sitting on.

"Where are we going?" The girl asked hesitantly.

"Back to the shelter, of course, it's much warmer and you'll have somewhere to sleep too," Zhao informed the girl.

"I won't go back to the caretakers. No one wants me there, guess I'll play along for now." The girl thought as she followed Zhao and his company back to the shelter.