Aetheran Child (2 page)

And so, despite the boy's pleas, the transfer was arranged and within a single week of his parents' death, Alexander moved to Golden Sunshine Orphanage.

II

The day had come. Alexander packed all of his things. The Attorney informed him to bring two bags at most and told him to make sure he had enough clothes. The orphan packed some ten books, many of his clothing, though most of them were only for summer. He packed a couple of drawing pads, pencils, and markers. He brought his portable gaming system; he never left that alone at home. If worst came to worst, he could still get on-line with it and do as he pleased. Finally, to top the kilos of electronics, he packed a couple photos with his parents, a small statue his father loved, and his mother's favorite earrings. He wanted those as mementos so that he would never forget and they would always be with him.

About an hour later, Alexander arrived at the orphanage, which was located on the other side of the city. He has never actually seen it before because he surely would have remembered the large “Golden Sunshine Orphanage” sign above the main building. It had a boy on one side and a girl on the other, smiling as a picture of the Sun gleamed above. He had a feeling that he would spend a long time there.

As they entered, Alexander saw all kinds of kids, as young as seven and as old as sixteen. After checking in, he was given the rulebook with his class schedule. He would definitely not miss school, as the receptionist said. The campus could hold about seven hundred kids. It was shaped like a square-cornered horseshoe with the lunchroom and classrooms at the north side while the west wing occupied boy dormitories and the east wing was for girls. The middle area, which the building surrounded, was a rectangular park that held dirty swing sets, sand boxes, net-like domes for climbing, and numerous benches. A few trees over-looked the area. A fence, along with the office and the entrance, enclosed the playground and connected the end-points of the horseshoe.

Alexander was told that the playground served as the only common area where the boys and girls could meet together. Supervisors walked the perimeter at all times and made sure everyone behaved. The whole place looked depressing as the sides of the building had drawings on them; the siding on the walls was coming off. The trees, though lightening up the place, morbidly hung with long sharp branches.

The boy felt a turbulent feeling of fear as he over-looked the whole area. The Attorney his parents had hired was filling out paperwork and did not mind him. The fear grew as he watched kids fight and the supervisors run to them to break them up. He grit his teeth silently as he saw older girls pick on the younger ones, pulling their hair, throwing mud at them, laughing.

Impatiently, and nervously, Alexander flipped through the rulebook while he waited to be told about his sleeping quarters as well as other arrangements. The rulebook stated that showers would be taken in groups and they would be scheduled. What else will be scheduled? He thought. He almost started crying again as he missed his home and the comfort. Lunches were scheduled, he noticed, as were the classes. The classes changed every 45 minutes with 5-minute breaks. The kids in classes and dormitories were grouped by their age, as were all other activities.

Each dormitory had two bunk beds for total of four kids, the rulebooks stated. It had one closet and one bathroom included with only toilet and a sink. The dormitory ranks were sorted from those who stayed the longest to those new like him. The newer kids were usually placed in temporary quarters ignorant of age and only after few months, they would be moved elsewhere.

“Here,” The secretary handed Alexander a piece of paper. The turned away from the book and the window, “You will be staying at the dormitory designated on this paper. You better wait for the boys until you unpack to find out which bed is yours. You will not be stationed at the temporary quarters,” the secretary smiled meekly, “It's your lucky day, one boy left the premises a couple weeks ago and we have a spot open for permanent housing.”

“Okay…which way do I go now?” Alexander asked cautiously. He did not see any luck in that statement. Does that mean he'll stay permanently?

“Go through that door and turn left,” She pointed, “you will see the main door that leads to the boy's dormitories.”

“Thank you.” He politely responded, he waved goodbye to the Attorney and left.

III

Alexander did as instructed and he found himself in a hall full of doors. The darkness inside was barely extinguished by dim, flickering lights on the ceiling. No windows were present to let in the sunlight for some reason. The numbering and lettering of the doors was barely visible as the signs were written by a black permanent marker and were easily smudge able. Most of them were actually gone but within minutes, the boy found his destination.

“C-I four,” he spoke silently, holding both of his heavy bags. He shuffled around uneasily under the weight. The sign spoke to him with familiarity somehow. CI4? He thought but could not make a connection. It seemed strangely important but Alexander did not see how or why it would be. It must be this place, he thought. He felt deep down that he would spend a long time here and it would be hardly pleasant. Shaking slightly, he stood in front of the door, simply afraid to open it and accept the truth of what was happening.

Eventually, he did open the door and the room looked identical to its description except for the clothes on the ground and a strange smell. Alexander sat on one of the beds and waited for the other boys to get there. Before he could sigh in desperation and enjoy a minute of silence, the boys came in.

“Whatya doin’ ere?” asked one of them using very slang language.

“I was told by the lady up front,” Alexander started, “I'm new. She told me..Is this CI4?” He said nervously.

“Yah, it is, so you're our new roommate, eh?” the boy asked, “Well arright, take the top bunk where you're sittin'. I like the bottom,” he laughed and turned to the other two, “Stole it from poor Walley, when he left three weeks 'go.”

The boys actually varied in age. The one that spoke must have been at least fourteen.
 
A chubby, round boy stood next to him.

“Alright, finally someone closer to my age!” he exclaimed, “How old are you?” he asked Alexander.

“Twelve,”

“Oh darn, I'm still the youngest,” he frowned and jumped on the bottom bunk of the opposite bad.

There was something odd about the third boy. He was shorter than Alexander but well built, very active.

“Welcome to Golden Sunshine,” he said sarcastically, “I hope you enjoy your stay. The bathroom is right over there,” he pointed toward a door on the side, “The showers unfortunately are out of commission for the moment so you will have to use the public ones down the hallway. Only at certain times of course.”

The boys laughed together.

Alexander motioned to his bags and the last boy pointed toward a closet. The space was limited; the boy would not be able to fully unpack.

“So, whaz yo’ name?” The first boy asked.

“My name’s Alexander, how about you three?” Alexander answered and sat down on one of the beds, despite his better instinct.

The first boy with the strange dialect started, “The name’s Taylor. This chubby little fella, that’s Dominik. And the funny one over here is Nangern.”

The other two nodded in agreement. Alexander asked, “So how old are all of you?”

Taylor took the lead once more, “Aye’m foeteen, oldes’ one ‘ere.”

Dominik, “I’m ten.”

“Twelve,” Nangern chimed in, “What brings you here Alexander? Parents dead?” The three of them laughed at the inside joke.

“Actually yeah,” Alexander went silent and then looked up, “Just recently.”

“Doehn’t worry ‘bout it, we’ve all got a story like that,” Taylor started, he was tall and skinny, “Muh parents are actually still alive, them bassards. They left me when I was born. I was their mistake, they say.”

The chubby short boy, Dominik, answered next, “My mother died about three years ago. I don’t know where my father is.”

 
Nangern cleared his throat, “I’m on the same boat as you. My parents died of a tropic disease when they went to Africa. I’m stuck here with my sister.”

Taylor winked at Alexander and nudged Nangern, “Quite the looker, too. If I was a couple years younger…” then he laughed.

The four of them spent the rest of the afternoon talking. Nangern and Dominik did their homework while Taylor went outside to the playground for a while. Alexander spent his time in his top bunk, playing some video games to remind him of the good old, month old, times.

IV

In the past, scientists have thought it impossible to conquer a galaxy. They were convinced and mathematically have proven that it is impossible to colonize that much space. According to them, it would take fifty years simply to terraform a planet, and at least hundred more to create a self-sustaining and growing society. Speed of light was another barrier that could not be broken. Scientists have spent years in classrooms and seminars, wasting chalk to prove this.

Albert Einstein proved it with the theory of relativity. If a person moved at the speed of light, the time would stop for them, they would become infinitely heavy with a non-existent length. If the speed surpassed the time would, theoretically, go backwards. Of course, the speed of light is an unbreakable speed. Though again as repeated many times in history, laws proven to be solid and unalterable were actually false. When people thought it was impossible to touch the skies, move faster than trains, or harness the power of the sun, they were proven wrong.

That does not mean that getting from one place to another is limited to speed and time. Many theoreticians presented that the black holes, mathematical and universal anomalies, might be portals to other dimensions and universes. Other thinkers thought that there might be white holes, the complete opposites of black holes. Objects that are absorbed in a black hole are, according to them, spat out of the white holes. Nevertheless, all of these were discarded as daydreams and nothing more.

Universe is like a 4-dimensional piece of cloth. The mass and size of the objects bend and warp this cloth. The black holes are a phenomenon made by large masses forced into a small point in size. This mass tears through the cloth into another universe, as deducted and conversed.

Now to transport, some might say, you have to tear through the universe’s cloth into another universe, usually called hyperspace, which has different set of physical laws enabling faster speed of easier travel or different time speeds.

V

Time passed by slowly for Alexander. Every day, he felt worse and worse and no matter how much Dominik, Nangern, and Tyler tried to cheer him up, nothing worked. They sympathized, having gone through the same experience, but could not help him. The days dragged on and Alexander stayed inside, reading his books, doing homework, and all in all he became anti-social. It was difficult for him to deal with the change of environment, seeing new people, and the absence of his parents. The boy almost never went outside in the courtyard and when he did, it was almost always at two or three in the morning when everyone was asleep.

It has been a month though and the boy was recuperating. Nights through which he cried lessened in frequency and he laughed a couple times. People still did not give him a second glance, nor did anyone try to talk to him except for bullies that wanted to bother him. Taylor always stepped in then, he was among the older kids. Alexander appreciated especially since he loved to stay quiet and think about life. He thought about death and life; he tried to find his purpose. He tried to find a substitute for his parents’ guidance inside his mind. What would they have done?

The one afternoon, after the month has gone by, changed everything, Alexander’s whole perception on life and the world. Alexander ventured out into the courtyard. It was a desolate piece of dirt. Small patches of grass covered it along with sparse trees. The swings and other playground monuments were bright in color but their paint was peeling off. Kids played everywhere; most of them huddled in groups of a few. The bullies were picking on random kids as always but today, they messed around with the wrong kid.

The bullies were a gang of six or seven kids aged between fifteen and seventeen. Their figures were massive with fat and muscle they gained through perpetual beatings they administered. Nangern’s sister was in middle of the commotion. The older bully held her in his right hand, almost literally. He held her neck and thrashed her around. Her face was frozen still except for little round droplets of salty tears crossing her round cheeks. The fear she felt radiated all around. A circle formed around the group but even they kept their distance. The bully hated everyone, and everyone knew. He threatened Nangern’s sister, and wanted her to leave forever. Of course, she could not but he did not care. From the way the bully screamed at her, it was obvious the girl knew something the boy did not want anyone to know. Consequently, she knew what would happen, a beating.

“GET OFF MY SISTER!” Nangern yelled, his face red with anger. His fists balled up. He ran up to the main bully and tried to attack him. The boy simply turned and knocked Nangern backwards.

“Get the fuck out of here you little shit!” the bully’s voice rammed into everyone’s mind, there was no one that could not hear the tremendous anger and power in his voice.

Alexander's blood started to boil as he saw Nangern on the ground. He was his best friend, and he could not stand such injustice. As he walked toward the bully he yelled, “Let her go!” and felt a wave of energy pulsate through his veins.

The bully laughed out loud, “Eh, now you need a help from a newbie? Some damn snobby kid,” the bully mocked Alexander and put his fist up, “'let her go!' whatever kid, get the fuck out of here.”

Alexander ran closer to the bully and punched him. He started beating on the boy, punching and kicking as hard as he could. He desperately screamed at him but the boy did not seem to care. He laughed and swatted off Alexander with his enormous arm. He let go of Nangern's sister by throwing her on the ground. The bully grabbed Alexander by his throat and started choking him with a fierce look on his face.