Most of the kids here had strange nicknames. Achilles was one of them, and he was the worst troublemaker in Laketuh House. He always had on this pair of black roller blades and enjoyed silently rolling up behind people to scare them. Like a mischievous monkey you would see him climbing, jumping and screaming everywhere he went. Achilles had extraordinary dark blue hair with a yellow clump in front, sparkling blue eyes and sharp features. If he could just calm down a bit I would admit he was actually a good looking boy. Sadly, all I could gather when I looked into his eyes were “I’m going to make your life as miserable as possible! ”.
Achilles’ best friend, Einstein, a short Asian boy, was no better. He always carried a scary expression on his face, a scowl and a piercing sinister stare. Whenever he looked my way it would make me terribly uncomfortable. Einstein had a snide remark or a backhand comment about every little thing he sees. This chatter was like the irritating cawing sound that a crow made that would wake you from a deep sleep in the morning. Besides poking fun at others, Einstein had another hobby, collecting small pieces of garbage anywhere he could and transforming them into even bigger pile garbage. He called this his art. While all the other kids agreed that it was indeed just another pile of garage I was always secretly impressed by the care and dedication he would put into this strange hobby.
Achilles had a younger brother, Caterpillar, who was small, skinny and weak. It was no wonder why he was given such a terrible nickname. Poor Caterpillar was constantly being picked on by his older brother and Einstein. They once hung him upside down by his legs on the branch of a tall tree for hours on end, and no matter how hard he cried or begged no one came to help. I especially hated being woken up by the painful shriek he would make when they jumped on him while he slept. The sound of that shriek was like something out of a horror movie.
Achilles and Caterpillar had another sibling, an older sister, they called her Popcorn. She had beautiful long dark blue hair and sparkling eyes just like her brother. Popcorn was the most mature kid in the entire orphanage and she was the only one who could make the other kids behave, but it seemed she never cared enough to do so.
Then there was Da Vinci, Nightingale and Moon. They were like the Three Musketeers, inseparable and always off in their little own world. Da Vinci was a chubby boy with red hair. He was often seen in a fringed vest, jeans with patches and sandals. He looked like one of those hippies from the 60’s I once saw on TV. Everywhere he went he was singing a tune or dancing like he didn’t have a care in the world. Nightingale was a black girl with slender features. She was intelligent, aggressive and always had to win no matter what she did. She was the only kid here who dared to challenge Einstein and these two never seemed to agree on anything. Whenever they started to butt heads everyone would immediately walk away, because no one wanted to be dragged into one of their never-ending arguments. Moon was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Her green eyes shined like a full moon and her stunning long blond hair along with her light skin made her seemed like a princess from the pages of a fairytale book. Her soft and sweet voice could melt even the coldest of hearts. Boys here at the orphanage fought over her constantly, especially Einstein, who would brag that he was going to make her his future wife. I liked Moon a lot. She was kind and always had a smile when she sees me.
Two months had passed at the Laketuh House and I still didn’t know where exactly this place was. Sometimes I wondered if there was anybody else around. We didn’t leave the orphanage and we didn’t have any visitors, it was always just the 15 kids and the two staff members that took care of us.
The lady that greeted me when I first arrived was Ms. Crystal. She was probably in her early 30’s and always had on a pair of old blue jeans and leather boots. She was the supervisor here and basically ran the orphanage. Besides the general administrative duties, she also cooked, taught classes and grew fruits and vegetables in a small clearing not too far away. Every day in the early morning and afternoon, Ms. Crystal and Charlotte, the other staff member, would go and take care of this small farm. We also had two cows and some chickens that provided us fresh milk and eggs.
Every morning at 9 AM we were required to attend class taught by Ms. Crystal, and after lunch break the class would continue for another hour or so. Kids here were mischievous but surprisingly in class everyone was on their best behavior. I guess this had a lot to do with Ms. Crystal. She was a great teacher and had a lot of patience when dealing with all the silly questions that the kids would ask. After lunch break she would usually spend about half an hour discussing ancient history and another on current world events. She would always say that it was important to understand the past as well as the present. Ms. Crystal and Charlotte were quite easy on us kids and didn’t discipline us much. The odd thing was sometimes a kid would disappear for few days and they would never seem to be too concern about it. Very odd indeed.
Life in Laketuh House was peaceful (when the kids behaved), and to my surprise none of the kids ever talked about being adopted like in the other orphanages. It seemed everyone enjoyed living here.
Today was Tuesday, the first Tuesday of the August.
The first Tuesday of the every month Ms. Crystal would go into town to buy groceries and run errands. We all loved this day because she usually brought us back surprises like books, toys, clothes or sweets. Today I was hoping she returns with a cake and candles.
Charlotte, a chubby lady with huge red glasses, was in charge of us today. She was an interesting lady, always telling jokes and had this very distinctive laugh. However, this morning she felt ill, her face was pale and her voice was weak. After lunch, she went back to her room to rest and left us in the classroom to read or draw. I decided to draw a picture of Mr. Golden, I missed him dearly and I hoped he still remembers me.
A big triangle for the head, two huge ears, two round eyes....
Wait…
When did Achilles move to the desk in front of me? And when did Einstein move to the desk behind me!!??
I always tried to sit as far away from those two as possible!
Everyone knew when the both of them were around something bad was about to happen. It seemed that whenever these two got together trouble followed. The last time they sneaked up on me and placed a small snake on my shoulder. Unfortunately for them, Mr. and Mrs. Bitton, my fifth foster parents loved to go hunting by the woods near their house and would take me along on their expedition. Mr. Bitton taught me how to identify all sorts of critters from bugs to snakes, more importantly he taught how to properly handle them. He would always say - Screaming and panicking will just scare them and make the situation worst. So to Achilles and Einstein’s surprise I calmly picked up the poor snake with my bare hands, walked outside and set it free. Einstein, clearly angry that their little prank didn’t work began calling me a witch.
I stayed in my seat but began slowly packing my stuff waiting for a chance to leave. It was my birth month after all and I wasn’t about to let them ruin it.
“Ouch!” I cried. Einstein yanked my hair violently. He pulled it so hard it felt like a huge clump of my hair must had been torn off. However, I remained calm, Mommy Taleah, my seventh foster parent once told me - The best way to deal with idiots is to ignore them. “OOUCH!!!”
This time Einstein flicked my ear. I immediately covered it with my hand in pain. I could hear him sniggering behind me, clearly taking pleasure in the reaction he was getting. My entire body shook with anger and I was clutching the pencil I had in my fist so tightly I thought it was going to snap in two.
“AAARRRGH!!!!!!”
Before I could do anything else, a hand forcefully pushed the back of my head causing my nose to slam against the desk. I wiped my nose with my hand thinking it had to be bleeding, but thankfully there wasn’t any blood.
I dropped my pencil on the floor and turned towards Einstein with my hand raised. It took every ounce of control I had to stop myself from slapping him in the face.
Oh dea
r Mommy Taleah, please forgive me, but I really want to slap his stupid face.
“WHAT THE? Hey… NO!!!!!!!”
I could feel my anger boiling over but then the feeling of a breeze across the top of my head suddenly caught my attention. Achilles just took my beanie!
“Hahaha, what an ugly beanie!” He twirled it on his finger.
“GIVE ME BACK! NOOOOOW!” I growled with both hands on the top of my head.
“Oh my god. You look like a famous actress without your beanie, like the female King Kong!!” Achilles laughed uncontrollably. He was quite amused by his own joke.
I trembled with rage while clenching my fists tightly. The whole class was silent; everyone was watching this spectacle unfold.
“RIGHT NOW!!! I… I MEAN…RIGHT NOW!!!” My high-pitched shriek was noticeably shaking.
“Really? You really think I’ll just give it…” Achilles said with a grin. “…to you like this?” He then proceeded to lick my beanie with the tip of his tongue, making sure he made the gesture as disgusting as possible.
“STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!” I screamed.
“And what are you going to do about it? You want to fight me? Don’t forget, I, Achilles was name after the great Greek hero and warrior. Don’t you read?”
“Yes!” I snarled resentfully. “Achilles was a brave Greek hero, but you’re not named after him, you’re named after that tendon on a smelly old foot!”
“What?” He frowned. “A tendon??”
“DON’T YOU READ!? ACHILLES TENDOOOOON!”
“Pu-.” Nightingale made a sound and then covered her mouth to hide her laugher.
Achilles’ face turned red, obviously embarrassed by what I just said. He raised my beanie higher to regain control of the situation. He was shocked because no one in the orphanage dared to make fun of his name.
“Catch it!” He called out to Einstein then threw my beanie in his direction. I quickly jumped up to grab it but with no success.
Then the other kids started joining in this game of keep away. For the next 20 minutes my beanie flew all over the classroom and in the frenzy other items such as books, pencils, rulers and who knew what else began flying all over the place. It was quite dangerous and all the girls scrambled out the classroom as quickly as they can. However, even in this chaos my eyes were fixated on my beanie as I follow it from one side of the room to the other. I could feel my anger rising higher and higher, and the adrenalin was pumping through my veins at a rapid rate.
Moments later, Achilles jumped on a desk and began roaring and twirling a broomstick like a manic. He probably imagined himself to be some great warrior atop a mountain, brandishing a mighty sword. However, to me he was just that mischievous monkey dancing on a desk with a banana in his hand. From the corner of my eye I could see Caterpillar across the room about to throw my beanie to his brother. He was clearly happy to be participating and for once not on the receiving end of the bullying.
Then without warning…
“BANG!”
Everything went dark.
Achilles was so into his twirling that he wasn’t ready to catch my beanie, and without looking he threw the broomstick. My attention was still fixated on my beanie and I didn’t notice that the broomstick was flying towards my head.
“Hey. Hey. Beanie.”
Someone was calling… But… who was it?
“Hey. Hey. Wake up!”
Who was it? Wait? Who am I? Where was this? Was I dreaming?
“Is she okay? YOU STUPID CATERPILLAR! Look at what you did!!!”
“I… I…”
“You KILLED her! The police are going to come and take you to jail!”
“NOooooo… Not me! It was Achil…Ouch, Ouch! Sorry… Sorry… Stop hitting me… I don’t want to go to jail!”
I could feel someone gently shaking my body and patting my cheek. I slowly opened my eyes but could only make out a few blurry faces in front of me. After a few moments of confusion I was able to gather myself and focus my vision. The first thing I saw was six eyeballs two inches away from my face staring at me.
ACHILLES!
EINSTEIN!
CATERPILLAR!
“GO AWAY!!!!!!”
I quickly got up and gave each of them a cold stare. Caterpillar had this look of horror on his face as if I was a zombie that just rose from the dead. I grabbed my beanie from Achilles and ran out of the classroom.
“Arrrrrgh…” I put on my beanie, squatted in a corner and rubbed my forehead in pain.
At that moment the bell rang and the class was dismissed. I sat on the ground with my head wedged snuggly in between my knees. Among the noises of the other kids laughing and playing I could hear someone approaching me. I raised my head slightly and took a peek. In front of me I could see a pair of muddy black roller skates with grayish shoelace. There wasn’t a soul in the Laketuh House that didn’t recognize those roller skates. I inhaled nervously and put my head back down.
“Hey.” Achilles called. I remained still, pretending that I didn’t hear him.
“Hey.” He patted my head. I instantly put my hands around my beanie thinking he was going to take it again.
“Oh! Good, still alive.” He laughed as he squatted down next to me.
“I like you. You’re my girl now. Everyone fights for Moon, but I don’t. She’s not my type.” He leaned forward and whispered.
“And if you become prettier when you grow up, I’ll even consider marrying you. But you have to change the way you talk to me. I’m your king and you have to show me respect.”
I slowly lifted my head and glared at him with anger in my eyes.
“SEE! That’s what I’m talking about! Bad attitude.” He shook his head.
“Okay…Okay… I get it. You girls need a kiss from the prince first, right? Forgive me, I forgot.” He closed his eyes and pursed his lips.
“DISGUSTING! GET AWAY FROM ME!” I pushed him back with a shriek.
“God... You girls are…” Achilles stood up and moaned. “Unbelievable!”
“I know this was not a romantic place for a girl’s first kiss. I’ll find a better place next time. Okay, baby?” He rubbed his hands and grinned.
“DON’T CALL ME BABY! YOU STUPID PIG!” I yelled.
“Come on, not this again! Respect. Okay?” He tried to pat my head again but I was able to push his hand away.
“Fine…Not cute. Maybe I have bad taste...”Achilles finally gave up and sat down next me.
”Anyway, it’s time for us to go.” He took off his dirty roller skates and slipped on a pair of dark blue sneaker that he was carrying around this shoulder.
“Go where?” Even though I was angry I was still quite curious because none of the other kids ever invited me to go anywhere.
“Our first date, baby.” He winked at me.
“I’ll make sure you’ll like it. Come on, let’s go.” Achilles jumped up and reached out his hand but all he got in return was a suspicious stare. He rolled his eyes; I could tell he was getting impatient. Then without warming he bent down, grabbed my wrist and forcefully pulled me up whether I agree to go or not.
We ran into the forest, jumped across fallen branches, tree stumps and rocks. The sunlight filtered through the leaves and made dazzling patterns on the ground like a kaleidoscope. The cool breezes slid over our skin and ran through our hair. Throughout the forest I could hear the distinct sounds of children running and laughing. Achilles and I ran faster and faster all the while with him holding my hand. He then turned back and gave me a smile, a lovely smile that momentarily made me forgot all the awful things he did. My body relaxed and I felt a sense of joy flowing into my heart.
“Almost there!” He exclaimed.
After running through what seemed like an endless expand of towering trees we emerged in front of a lake. The water was so clear and serene I could see the perfect reflection of the surrounding hills, trees and sky as if I was looking into a mirror. It was so beautiful I wonder
if there was another world beneath the lake.
“Laketuh Lake!!” Achilles shouted while gasping for air.
“Laketuh? Lake?” I was also short of breath, but I just couldn’t believe that I never knew there was such an amazing place was close by.
Popcorn, Einstein, Caterpillar, Da Vinci, Nightingale and Moon were all already there.
“Me first today!” Caterpillar raised his hand eagerly.
“You wish!” Einstein slapped the back of his head. Caterpillar moaned and rubbed his head in pain.
“It’s either me or Achilles that goes first. Puhahaha.” He let out an arrogant laugh.
“Achilles, you want to go first?” He looked at us sideway and grinned with one of his eyebrows raised.
“No, you go first. I need to take care of my baby today.” Achilles, still holding my hand lifted it up for everyone to see. I grunted.
“You love birds…” Einstein sniggered.
“Moon, do you want to hold my hand as well?” He offered his hand to Moon like a gentleman.
“You’re such a gentleman, Einstein. But maybe next time, okay?” Moon rejected him in her usual sweet voice and lovely smile. Einstein blushed.
However, the first one that made a move wasn’t Achilles or Einstein, it was Popcorn. There were few rocks extending from the shore to the center of the lake so she jumped from one to the other until she reached the last rock. Meanwhile, Einstein and the others began preparing to follow Popcorn by stretching their arms and legs. Then Popcorn started to do something very strange. She started moving her hands and fingers in front of her chest like she was playing some invisible piano.
What was she doing? - I wondered.
OH MY? I couldn’t believe it? I could hear music! The music was coming out through her fingers! She was actually playing an invisible piano!
“A…Achilles??” I stuttered.
“I know. Amazing, right?” He tilted his head.
The music was marvelous. I had no idea Popcorn could play the piano so well, but was it her talent or was this unseen piano generating this beautiful music on its own? It didn’t matter. My mouth remained opened as the performance went on.
However, the surprise didn’t end there, soon after the peaceful water around her began to dance with the melody. The ripples grew in front of Popcorn and gradually turned into a swirl. It swirled faster and faster creating an ever growing vortex. I was completely mesmerized as it grew bigger and bigger, eventually creating a large opening in the center of the lake.
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