*Five Months Earlier* Inside the cabin, boys and girls of all ages milled about, quietly doing their assigned chores. A frazzled, but stern looking woman stood in the midst of them, bouncing a baby on her hip and she delivered orders. The woman looked to be in her late-forties, and had streaks of gray throughout her otherwise, black hair. She appeared startled as the big boy slammed open the door, dragging in Hope still kicking and yelling at him wildly. "Thomas!" said the woman sharply, "Now you know that's not the way to treat a lady." "This ain't no lady Ma," Thomas whined, defensively, "This here's jest Hope!" Sighing wearily, the woman walked over to Hope, who was still being held by Thomas. "Release her Thomas!" said the woman, whose name was Mrs. Palmer. Thomas did so, reluctantly. Hope shoved him and stuck out her tongue glaring around fiercely. Mrs. Palmer reached out and took hold of Hope's arm gently at first, and then tightening it as she spoke. "Now Hope," she began "You know the rules well. You are not allowed to go outside unless I say so. You could be hurt or get lost. We wouldn't want that to happen, now would we?" "No ma'am" Hope said meekly. "Good," Mrs. Palmer began "But I just wanted to see the sunrise" Hope interrupted. Everyone in the room froze, and turned to watch the scene unfolding before them. " Hope," said Mrs. Palmer briskly, " While you are under my care, you will do what I tell you and nothing more. Is that understood?" "Yes ma'am" Hope replied softly. "Good" said Mrs. Palmer sharply, " Now to help you remember you will do not only your own chores today, but take care of Mandy's as well. She took ill with a fever. "Yes ma'am," Hope repeated, softly as before. Mrs. Palmer stepped back and surveyed her torn apron critically. "What happened to your apron?" she demanded. Hope's eyes regained their fierce glare as she turned and pointed to Thomas, saying," He ripped it, dragging me up onto that horse of his!" "Thomas, is that true?" Mrs. Palmer asked. "Yeah, Ma" he replied sullenly. "A big strong boy like you had to take out a horse to bring this little girl back? Especially after I told you not to?" Thomas said nothing, but stared at the floor, shuffling his feet a bit. " You will answer to your father tonight." his mother informed him, walking into the other room and closing the door. Thomas paled, certain that his father's belt was in store for him, but Hope placed her hands on her hips and grinned triumphantly. After a rather ferocious glance from Thomas, Hope lifted her chin and walked off to continue working on her chores. Fifteen year old Thomas was overly-large proportioned boy and enjoyed tormenting the younger children, especially Hope. Seven years ago, when Hope had first come to the orphanage, they had been playmates. She liked Thomas at first, but as the number of children grew, Hope played with another boy more and more often. His name was Jedediah. Three years older then Hope, Jedediah protected Hope. Hope began to feel closer to him because he, like her, was an orphan also and understood her situation and feelings better than Thomas ever could. Seeing Hope's affections turn to Jededian, Thomas grew jealous and made life as difficult for him as possible. This of course did not make Hope like him any better, but actually less. Hope was busy straightening up the room when Jedediah came in. At fourteen years old, he was tall and lean, with dark brown hair and eyes and had an always-ready soft smile. In his right hand he held two rabbits, trussed up. In his other had he held a well carved bow and across his back was slung a quiver of arrows. "Out sneaking 'round and hunting with that pitiful stick you call a weapon?" Thomas taunted. Thomas was of the opinion that all brave men should carry a gun, and nothing else. "He always comes back with more catch then you, you fat old-" Hope began, but Jedediah interrupted her gently, hushing her and ignoring Thomas' stinging remarks. Thomas' anger was aroused now though, and saying "Oh yeah?" to Hope, he grabbed the bow and tried to snap the wood. He grunted as he put all his pressure against it trying to break it over his knee. He was not rewarded. More humilitated than ever, he flung the bow to the ground and stomped outside, slamming the door. As soon as he was gone, the angry look on Hope's face was replaced by one of sorrow and meekness. She hurried to the place where the bow lay and gingerly picked it up, carefully handing it to Jedediah. "I'm so sorry Jedediah, I shouldn't have made him so angry!" He grinned ruefully inspecting the damage to the bow. "Oh, it's alright, just a few scratches and splinters. At least he didn't snap it." he reassured her with a comforting smile. She rewarded him with a sweet smile of her own and turned back to her work. * Well, there's the second "chapter". I didn't really divide this up while I was writing it, so it's kind've hard to know where to stop! I guess that's good for now. I'll try to post more soon! Please leave me a comment telling me what you think. I truly want your advice! -Christine
Comments
Dec. 16, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Lillian
IT WAS SO GOOD!!!!!!!!! PLEASE POST MORE!!!!! Oh it was really really really good! Their characters are wonderful. Had you ever written anything before this? Oh and where is the story taking place again? I forgot.
Thanks so much for posting it and please post more soon!
~Lillian
P.S. I loved their names!
Dec. 25, 2008 - hey
Posted by aliveagain13
I love it! You did an excellent job! I'm already loving the characters--except for the bully of course ;)
I'll try to send moi second chapter when I can
bunches of love,
Katy <3
Jan. 21, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
aha! finally found it! sounds like a good story:) keep up the good work!
onedaymore
Feb. 26, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by soccergirl
That was great, better than the book I'm writing I think.
*Lindsay*
Aug. 2, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Arwen95
Marvelous! So she is living in an orphanage in Wisconsin? I used to live in Wisconsin.
Arwen (Andrea, Andi, or Jo Jo)