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Chapter 1“Renklan was a quiet little town. The roads were made of stone and the buildings near the center of town were stone as well. Most of the people lived in farmhouses on the west side of town. The farmers of Renklan produced many crops and sold them each week in the square. School wasn’t important. Oh we had one of course but few children went. They were needed on the farms. The children who didn’t work on the farms often didn’t have enough money to attend, so they stayed home.I was one of those children. I had no parents. The town orphanage housed me and feed me, as well as many other children who had no families. Most of the children there were found just sitting on the steps to the orphanage or church. We never wondered why people just left children like that; most of the time it was because the family was too poor to support another child. In this case the parents would adopt their children later when they were old enough to be a help on the farm. Usually you could tell who the parents were, buy the way that they would look over with regret at us when they walked by. The thing is no one knew who I came from. My vivid green eyes stood out in contrast to the town members’ usual brown eyes and blue. My hair was of a dark color which stood out against the fair colored hair of the town, and my height was surprising for one of my age. I was different, and the people were afraid of me. I didn’t realize this until late in my life, I had always thought they just hated me for no reason. When I was nine years old….” I could hear the children laughing and playing outside. I should be with them, but no I had to be stuck with chores. Always me…. Alright are the beds made? I asked myself. Yes. I looked around. The room seemed to be in perfect order. On each bed there were clean sheets all tucked in and smooth, and the windows were spotless. That would not stop there from being something for Mrs. Funod to ridicule me about. She always seemed to find something. What was it last time? Oh right, a jar in the cupboard had been broken. I had to wash the floor. I hadn’t even been near the cupboard that day! But of course it must have been my fault. It’s always Andrea’s fault. I sighed. Why was it always my fault? It can’t be my age, I told myself. I’m not the youngest here and I’m not the oldest. Why me then? I’m always the one to blame and the one stuck with extra chores while the other children played outside. I sat on one of the beds and thought to myself. No one wants me. Who would want a girl anyway? I can’t be much help on a farm. That’s what the boys were for. Then when they did want a girl they wouldn’t want me, oh no. I’m the “trouble maker”. I’m just a misbehaved thing not worth the trouble. I could hear the others as they came in laughing and talking. Soon I’d be in trouble again, I could knew it. Of course I’d be in trouble again. The punishment from last time has almost ended. Any second now there would be some new reason for scorn. Somewhere someone yelled and a plate shattered against something hard. Not again I though. I’m not going to move. I’m not going to be there this time when Mrs. Funod finds out. No not this time. I’m just going to sit here; I didn’t do anything so why should I move? “Andrea! You naughty girl! Where have you gone to? Andrea!” It was Mrs. Funod. She came into the room in a huff. “Andrea there you are! You are a naughty girl. And don’t even pretend you didn’t do it this time as I have six witnesses saying they saw you do it.” “And what is it that I’m being blamed for this time?” I asked trying to maintain my innocence. “oh don’t act like you don’t know what you did! You smashed a good plate that’s what you did! Now I can see that chores aren’t enough to teach someone like you a lesson! This time you’ll just have to visit the closet and stay there until you learn that these aren’t your things to break!” “But Mrs. Fun-” “I don’t want to hear it! Now you come with me!” With that Mrs. Funod grabbed my ear and led me to the closet. ‘Well isn’t this nice,’ I thought to myself, ‘some alone time.’ I wonder if I’ll be in here long enough for one of the others to break something again and have no one to blame it on. What would they do without me to blame their pranks on? I smiled at the thought. I sat alone in the dark closet. What if I was never here? What if I ran away? Then no one could blame me for anything. I could live without doing chores. This sounds good I decided. Yes leave this place. Then I won’t have to put up with all this. I fell asleep leaning against the door. I could tell I had been there for a few hours by listening to the others voices. After awhile they were silent and I knew that they were all in bed. A knock at the door woke me with a start. How long had I been sleeping? I wondered. There was no light underneath the door so I guessed it must still be dark. The knock came again followed by a soft “Andrea! Andrea are you asleep?” It was Danny. “I was.” I whispered back at him. I wondered why he would be talking to me now, he never had before. “Um, sorry about that”, there was a pause, then, “I know you didn’t break that plate today. They were just trying to get you in trouble”, Suddenly I was wide awake. “I know that, but why?” This was the first time anyone had every said anything about it not being my fault and I was anxious to find out the truth. “You know, I promised them I wouldn’t say anything. But I didn’t know they would go so far as to make her lock you up.” “Well why are they doing this to me?” A pause “Well?” I asked. “I can’t say, I’m not too sure myself.” “Can you at least tell me who they are?” I asked desperate to find out anything. “Well- EVERYONE! They are all against you. I was even with them but I can’t stand to see what it’s doing to you.” There was sympathy in his voice. I wondered why. “Well you don’t have to see. You get to go outside. You never see what they do to me.” “They’d do the same to anyone who doesn’t stay quiet about it. They’d do the same to me if I didn’t.” “Well what do you call what you are doing now?” I was getting angry now. He was making it look like he was the victim in all this. “I wanted you to know that I got nothing against you. Just don’t tell them I said anything ok?” I thought about that a minute. If I told them that he told me their little scheme then they would do the same thing to him… but no it wouldn’t work. They’d just be like what scheme? What are you talking about? I heard soft footsteps as Danny walked back to his bed. For a long time after that I didn’t sleep. It had always seemed to me that the world was out to get me, now I knew it for certain. It would be so much easier if I was just not here. If I ran… but where would I go? Where could I go where no one could ever find me? I thought a moment then the scariest thought crept into my head. The Forest! Do I dare run into the forest? With all the dangers I may find death in there easily. Yes death would be a quick way away from here. I fell asleep planning my escape from the world. The towns people are afraid of the forest. Every so often something close to the forest dies. Cattle from the farms on that side always went missing and sometimes people who lived on those farms would die without reason. There are strange tales to explain it. People say that at night they can see large creatures flying around. When they are asked to tell what they are they just shake their heads. Everyone says there is something dangerous in the forest and it should be stayed away from. No one would dare go in there for any reason. I was lucky. The next day Mrs. Funod let me out but she made me fetch the water. This was a difficult job which Mr. Hink usually does for us. It involved carrying two large buckets to the well down the street, lowering one on the rope down to the water then cranking it back to the top. This was the hard part because the bucket would be heavy with water. We needed 4 buckets at the orphanage, so I had to make two trips. It wasn’t until I had begun cranking the last bucket that I remembered my plans from the night before. I hadn’t thought I’d be able to do it because I was never let outside but now… I smiled and looked around. There wasn’t anyone on this stretch of stone road. I could see the forest in the distance through the houses. It was like light shining between the shutters into my darkened world. I finished cranking the bucket to the top and set it on the ground. Looking to be sure that no one was around I began to walk down the street. I couldn’t go down the main street which leads directly out of town. That road was watched and they would send me back. I walked down Dunley Street. It led to Farms Road, a road which went in an arch around part of the town. As I guessed it had farms on it. I walked around until I came to the farms closest to the forest. I could see the forest better now that I was past the tall buildings. I should have been back at the orphanage by now. If I had of turned back then I’d have gotten in a lot of trouble. So I went on. At the edge of a cornfield I stopped and looked to see if anyone was watching before I climbed the low fence and disappeared behind the tall stalks of corn. Then I began to run. It was a wonderful feeling, running through that cornfield. I knew I was getting away. Away, away from the people, all the people who were mean to me. Away to some place without people. I wasn’t afraid of the dangers I was running to, I was looking to find them after all. I was filled with an energy that I could not describe or explain. All I knew is that it felt good. As I came near the end of the field I could see the forest looming over me on the high hilltop. It seemed to stretch on forever in both directions. It was truly beautiful. As I came to the far edge of the field, I noticed there was a high fence on this side. I stopped and looked for a away over. It was a very high fence, at least twice my height and would be very difficult to climb. Of course there was a high fence at this end, it was so near the forest. Farmers had to protect their crop and these fences seemed to do the trick for the most part. There didn’t seem to be a way to climb over. I almost began to despair, but I was so full of that odd energy that I felt I couldn’t give up. I began following the fence looking for anyway to pass. After a few steps I noticed something odd. One of the straight pieces of wood was not straight. It was warped, leaving a small hole in the fence. The only problem was it would be a tight squeeze to get through that, a very tight squeeze. I looked at the hole again. If only I could make it bigger. I began pushing and pulling and kicking at the wood around the hole. No use. Finally with one last desperate kick the warped board cracked. The hole was now slightly bigger. It would still be a tight squeeze but I tried it anyways. After a lot of squeezing, pushing and a moment of panic in which I though I was stuck, I finally got through. The forest was just above me now on a steep hill. A little climb brought me to the edge. Peering inside it looked dark. All of the ghastly stories ran through my head as I walked into the forest.
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