Dark Friends (9 page)

              “So this is a girls-majority orphanage? Do you have any boys?” Steve asked.

              “Yea, a few. They work the more physical jobs, either in the kitchen or the yard.”

              “I want to see some boys.” Steve said off-handedly. Ellis turned and looked at Steve, raising his eyebrows.

              “They're working.” Ellis said in a tone that implied it would be impossible to see the boys while they worked.

              “Show them to me now.”

              “Did I do something to piss you off? Why are you and your wife so...fascinated? These kids are poor as dirt. They have no families and nothing to look forward to. They find comfort in the regularity of their work, not in having people stare at them like this is a zoo. Seeing you will only upset them.”

              “You know what, Ellis? I don't like you. You're dirty. Your office is too clean for how busy this orphanage must keep you. You feel uncomfortable around adult women, like my wife. You've made it very difficult for me and my wife to find a child that we might adopt, and now you're acting obscenely sanctimonious. So no, I don't like you. Now, show me the male orphans you keep here or I'll have the State Department on the phone so quickly...”

              “OK, OK. It's just fun and games, right?” Ellis interrupted Steve, hoping to prevent a call to Ellis' superiors. He gave Steve a friendly grin and a chummy punch on the shoulder: “Let's go to the yard.”

              Steve followed Ellis to the yard, his mind exploring explanations for Ellis' behavior. He clearly didn't want more adults at his facility. Could he be abusing the kids? When Ellis was defending why Steven couldn't see the boys, he had seemed...authoritative. He must have forgotten that he was speaking to a grown man. He probably felt immensely comfortable in his habitat, content to leave the outside world to its devices. Steve felt an incredibly strong suspicion that Ellis had a horrible secret.

              Catina waited until the men left the room and the door shut, then she fixed her gaze on Amelia, wondering what to say.

              “Amelia, you've been in this office before.”

              “So? I clean it as punishment sometimes.”

              “What do you do that warrants punishments.” Catina said, wondering if Amelia knew what 'warrants' means. The question threw Amelia off-track, at least momentarily.

              “I forget to make my bed, or do my work fast enough. Sometimes I talk back to the counselors.” Amelia said, hoping to shift the blame onto herself.

              “What other punishments do the counselors administer?”

              “Um, more work. Sometimes we get spanked.”

              “Hard?”

              “Hard enough.”

              “Amelia, one time Steve punched me.” Catina lied, hoping to confirm her suspicions.

              “OK.”

              “No, it's not OK. Men aren't allowed to hit women. Ever. Not even if they have a reason.”

              “OK.”

              “Amelia, what do you want to do with your life?” Catina asked.
That
question threw Amelia into a loop. Nobody had ever asked her what she
wanted
. In truth, she had never truly thought about it, either. She knew that one day she would grow up and have to care for herself, but she never thought about the details. Her mind flooded with possibilities: Doctor, lawyer, teacher, retailer,  writer, singer...

              “I want the opportunity to do whatever I want.” Amelia responded, leaving Catina slightly exasperated.

              “Well, you have an opportunity, right here, right now, to get on the path to self-fulfillment” Catina said grandly, hoping to impress.

              “For females, self-fulfillment primarily derives from the completeness of their relationships. Men are more prone to experience a sense of fulfillment from their careers and achievements.” Amelia said immediately, quoting a book on gender differences and dynamics that she had read nearly two years ago.

              “That's...very true.” Catina responded, her mind whirling. Who was this young girl that was so quick with her thoughts and words?

              “Amelia, do you employ defense mechanisms, such as your intellect, to hide the fact that you've been sexually abused?”

              Amelia said nothing, contenting herself to stare into Catina's eyes. She didn't like this older, stupid woman. She just had some
quality
about her that threw Amelia off, made her feel uncomfortable. Had Amelia been older, she would have recognized Catina's worldliness and experience with children as the source of her insight.

              “You can try to stare me down all day, Ms. Amelia, but it doesn't change the fact that you're going to be my daughter.”

              After ten minutes, Ellis and Steve returned from their tour. Steve was convinced that Ellis was abusive toward his orphans. Every child there had seemed emaciated and terrified. Steve had followed Ellis all around the orphanage, watched Ellis walk with bow-legs and an exaggerated swagger. He had seen Ellis' hungry eyes, looking at the children akin to the way a lion would look at an antelope.

              “We're back, ladies.” Steve said.

              “I want her, Steve.” Catina said. Steve looked at Catina, noting her defensive body posture. Legs crossed, arms folded. Her chest wasn't square to him, but was angled, like she was pointing her shoulder at him. She looked him in the eyes, daring him to deny her this girl.

              “Well, let's do the paperwork, then.” Steve said, instantly causing Catina to uncross her arms. Steve smiled. She could keep nothing from him.

              “No.” Ellis said, not looking at anything.

              “What? Sir, if you don't release this child into our care, right now, you're gonna have serious problems.” Steve said, hardening his voice.

              “But...no...” Ellis said, looking at everyone in the room, pleading with his eyes, “She's all I have.”

              “Too bad.” Catina said.

              Ellis wordlessly pulled out several forms from his desk and laid them in front of the McCrees.

              “Fill these out, then leave.” He walked out of the room.

              “Hi Amelia, it looks like I'm gonna be your new dad.” Steve said cheerfully, extending his hand. Amelia ignored him. Her heart had wanted her to be freed. Her mind had never believed it would happen. Now she was just confused.

              Once the paperwork was completed and resting on Ellis' desk, the McCrees prepared to leave. Normally, adoptive parents might meet a child several times before they brought them home. But Steve and Catina had already gone through all the background checks, home inspections and interviews that were required. They had filed an official petition to bring a child home immediately from Lisson, considering the distance they had to travel to get there. Their petition was granted and now they waited for Amelia, who had gone to her living compartment to gather her few personal possessions.

              Amelia didn't have much. Other than a few ratty clothes and shoes, she had the brief autobiography that she had written the night before. She stared at that paper, wondering what to do with it. After awhile, she came to a decision. For years, Amelia had daydreamed and imagined what it would be like to get adopted, and now that the time had come, it didn't seem real. Once her possessions were gathered, Amelia went back to Ellis' office, expecting to have a good-bye. But he wasn't there, just Steve and Catina McCrees.

              “I'm ready” Amelia announced.

              “Good, let's hit the road, it's getting late” Steve said.

              “Do either of you have an envelope and a stamp?” Amelia asked.

              “Sure I do, in the car. Do you need it?” Catina said.

              “Yes.”

              The three family members departed Lisson Orphanage, never to return. Amelia never said good-bye to Ellis, and she figured he was probably inconsolable at that moment. She considered the pain he was in, and she thought about not mailing her letter to Child Protective Services. Then remembered the beating, rapes, starvation and verbal abuse. She remembered her hopelessness, her fear. Amelia imagined that Ellis might vent his pain on some unsuspecting orphan on that very night, hardening her resolve to drop the letter in the postbox before the car pulled out onto the open road.

                                                                                    PART 2

                                                                                    Freedom

             
Fluffy cotton balls, innocently hovering in the sky were gently being pulled apart by the wind, stealing their ability to protect Earth from the harshest beams of UV light. The colors of the sunset were now able to be seen with blistering clarity, creating an all-natural kaleidoscope of purple, yellow, orange and red. The deeper the sun descended in the sky, the darker the colors became: dark blue, brown, shades of gray and increasing puddles of black. Amelia watched the sun set in the West over distant mountains, permitting the cool vibrations of night to reign over the land.

              Tired but alert, she listened to the McCrees conversation with diminishing interest. They were undoubtedly smart people. She had been in the car for an entire hour and had not heard one curse word, one insult. They spoke in lengthy, complex sentences, using a plethora of academic words that formed the thread of their conversation about how to parent an orphan. Amelia knew they were talking about her, but she was content to let them think that she didn't understand.

              “All children develop differently and the degree of freedom that a child experiences should be dependent upon their character, not their age” Steven lectured.

              “I agree. However, who makes such a determination? For large numbers of kids with minimal direct supervision, general guidelines are necessary. Those guidelines are developed by experts who know that children sometimes outnumber adults.”

              “True, but ultimately irrelevant to our current situation.”

              “I disagree. When someone has been brought from the masses into a more intimate dynamic, they have inevitably developed at a comparable rate to the masses. In normal social conditions, this can be likened to peer pressure. To maintain consistency, we should apply the institution's rules until we are comfortable enough to break them.”

              Amelia listened to the McCree's go back and forth, wondering if she was an individual or a product of the orphanage system.

              “Now it's my turn to disagree. I think it's too early to set any strict rules, at least until we gauge the girl's maturity.” Steven countered.

              “It is early”

              “But we did it! We have a child to teach, to inspire, to
nurture
.”

              “I'm not a child.” Amelia interrupted, causing Catina to turn around in her seat. How long had Amelia been listening?

              “No, you're not. But you're not an adult yet, either.”

              “I never said I was an adult. I'm pretty sure there's nothing you two can teach
me,
though.” Amelia said.

              Catina frowned. She held a bachelor's degree in psychology from a respected university and Steven was a doctor.

              “Well, maybe you'll change your mind in time.” Catina said, trying to defuse the situation and maintain her authority.

              Amelia shrugged and looked out her window at the world zooming by. She saw fields, cows, cars and people. There were huge signs along the side of the highway, offering various products and services. This world was so different from Lisson, it was so...innocent. Honestly, the whole adoption experience so far felt fake. She thought it might all be a dream, and she would wake up at any moment in her compartment, surrounded by other orphans who also dreamed of being adopted. Or maybe this was a test? Maybe Ellis would pop out at any moment and reveal that this was all a trial to gauge her loyalty to him. Amelia didn't feel the exhilaration that she expected to feel when she finally left Lisson. She felt...detached. Ethereal. With the gentle motions of the car lulling her, Amelia fell asleep.

                                                                     
Chapter Fifteen

              “She's asleep”

              “Should we wake her up?”

              “Of course, Steven. Do you want her to sleep in the car all night?” Steven shrugged and Catina rolled her eyes, wondering how any man could possibly care for a child without the guidance of a woman. The McCrees got out of their car and reached their hands to the dark sky, stretching deeply. After too many hours on the road, they were finally home.

              Steven and Catina McCrees lived in a quaint, three bedroom house in suburbia heaven. They mowed their lawn, waved to their neighbors and knew the police officer who lived across the street from them. They had lived in their home for most of their marriage, over fifteen years, and they were comfortable. Of course, it was past midnight and there was nothing going on outside, save the chirping of a few lonely crickets. Rounding the rear of the car, Catina opened Amelia's door and nudged her gently on the arm,