The Orphanage (Open!)

Astrid Aribarri

Nowhere to run; nowhere to hide…

Had she been the least proud to listen she would be safe in the comfort of her house, without fear and without the closeness of death next to her. In the midst of her delirious despair she tries to seek a moment’s serenity to think about her recent encounter with the peacekeepers. She remembers having seen a blueprint that could very well be false but nonetheless realistic enough to be taken into consideration. It calls for a plan to conduct a new experiment on the people of District Nine. As the images in the paper pour onto her mind like clean water falling on a glass jar, she lingers in her mind to change the reality existing in her mind: the reality that District Nine might see people disappearing soon. But, to prevent a cruel fact from happening she must wake up because if there is one chance to change that reality, this is her chance. Live; don’t die!

I have been standing for what seems to be hours. My legs feel very stiff and I’m not sure whether I might be able to move them anymore; they want to be frozen in time. Besides, they deserve it because of all that running. But then, I begin to realize that not only my legs are beginning to fall asleep, the rest of my body is starting to grow still. “This is not good”, I think fearfully. What if I have to run out at a moment’s notice and can’t even control myself. So, I try to fidget my hands a bit to not collapse on the floor, but even doing that is difficult since they are growing cold. “Yeah, I need to rest but I guess that will have to wait”, I whisper in my mind.

Feeling hopeless I gaze around the dark place, and suddenly my attention is placed in front me. I quickly focus my eyes onto a door which slowly opens, whispering to go inside it. Am I losing my mind? No, it’s probably someone inside there trying to get me into the other room in order to be captured. But, what would a person be doing inside another dark room, hiding at this time? Nothing good probably, but who am I to judge. I have just broken inside an orphanage while bleeding to death and having peacekeepers on my trail for being a criminal whose only crime has been to overthrow a totalitarian regime.

Nonetheless, I slowly tilt my head and try to see beyond the darkness of the place. To enter, I need to see a face who has nothing but a good intention written all over it. But, seeing none I stay still. I’m not falling into a trap, but staying here still isn’t helping me either. “Do I enter?” I think to myself.

If you want to live you need to think fast, otherwise you won’t make it very far in life. Come on, you know that. Don’t you…?

I linger in the doubt of whether going inside past the door is prudent, but a quick noise from upstairs renews my beating heart and takes the coldness out of my hands. Now that I have been knocked into consciousness again, I rush to the door as I have no other alternative. It is either the peacekeepers outside that will make me an avox, the noise from upstairs that probably lives here and is mad, or a stranger hiding for unknown purposes. So, I think that going with the third is best. You always go with the one you know has a case like yours or are unidentified because that is how you are: unidentified by the people in this place.

As I get inside the room, I find another person, a male next to me. And just as I am about to ask him who he is, I find a trail of blood signaling where I went to hide.

The lights are suddenly turned on and I see both the male’s face as well as that of a girl smaller than I am, looking at us with fear. She asks: who are you two? I can see that she doesn’t want to let anyone else know about this event. So, with fear I walk out of the door and arm myself with courage to say “I mean no harm”, and I soon touch my wound to hint that there is no way I can hurt her or anyone else here. How could I? In this condition I would look pathetic wielding a knife which I carry at the back of my belt.

I take one more step towards her and slowly say while pressing my wound with my left hand “Before you call anyone else, you need to understand that I’m not a criminal and that if you don’t want to get in problems you will not call the peacekeepers because they will put you on trial. You know how they are. Don’t you?” It’s too much talking for both of our sakes, but I’m trying to protect myself as well as my family and these two strangers who have nothing to do with my actions. I know that the peacekeepers are pathetic enough to put a bunch of innocent people on trial to impress the Capitol as well as other supporters in this district.

“I need help, if you can give me some sterile bandages I’ll be fine and leave as soon as possible” I momentarily pause and stand upright, lowering my tone, “I promise”. I then look at the guy behind the door and hope that he will come out slowly or else she will become too scared if he stays there or comes out too fast.

Sometimes honesty and trust can help you, but other times it can be your demise. Be careful…

I feel too much weight on my back that I take my backpack off and let it free-fall to the ground, taking my jacket off with it. But, thanks to my black shirt, they can’t see how bad the wound looks. Not even I can see it. And I better not because I get really scared with those things. Even thinking about a wound makes me remember when I had that deep cut in my upper arm which made me faint of hyperventilation. But then again, I was younger; now I’m more self-controlled enough that I know I won’t faint. Yet, I know that seeing a wound is going to make me hyperventilate at least a little. But in the meantime, I keep pressing against my wound, hoping for the best.

Astrid Aribarri

This is the last time…

When the rays of the sun took a glimpse of the earth, she knew that her life would never be the same again. There were feelings, reasons, and words rejected that morning that left her uneasy, restless. She left her house without looking back; she was determined to help the others in their mission, a pathetic illusionist mission. By midday, she was in the Peacekeepers’ hideout where she learned of the plan. In a moment’s notice, an eerie feeling went across everyone. Soon enough, she was running for her life. She fought, but the separation put her to a disadvantage in which she fought with people she couldn’t see. By nightfall, she was lucky to be alive. She never pays attention, that’s why she ends up bad all the time…

I see how everyone is feeling cautious and suspicious of everything, and I’m not the exception. I distrust everyone and everything right now. However, the circumstances that brought me here as well as that of my condition can’t give me the luxury of showing my distrust. A false move and it’s all over. But, despite my worries, I realize everything is flowing smoother that what I would imagine. Perhaps it’s just in my head where only bad things can happen.

I hear the girl say that she is willing to help me out, but at the same time she seems suspicious of the other guy. If he comes out doing a false move, I’m prepared to run. But, in the meantime I don’t try to move. As my thought keep being focused on the environment, I hear that the girl takes alcohol and other equipment to clean my wound. And when she tells me to go to the table, I listen.

As the smell of alcohol becomes prominent my nose begins to itch and my eyes almost become teary. I’ve never been able to stand alcohol, and it’s not because I’m afraid of it. No, I’m allergic to its smell. A lot of people are. But, as she gets the bottle closer to me, I take a long deep breath and prepare myself because it’s going to hurt. Normally, people get drunk first before someone even touches their wound. In my case, I can’t do that, so I have to be strong. It’s a deep wound, and I guess we’ll see how resistant I really am.

Don’t push your luck because it’s a luxury you’ve never been able to afford…

As the girl cleans and stitches the wound I feel an acute pain rushing through my stomach and up to limbs. It hurts, how could I deny? But, the pain is so much that the wound area literally becomes numb. This means no yelling for me. And to make matters better I place my sight on the guy who is taking my backpack as well as jacket away from the place to walk out. I suddenly feel as if the wound has never existed and that the only thing in this world besides me is that guy and the door. My heart begins to accelerate a little and I become extremely hesitant and anxious for his next move.

It turns out that the guy has been hiding from the peacekeepers because of his kills. In that instant I feel a lot of sympathy for his situation. It brings so many memories back to me just as that time when I first hunted with my father… But, reality brings me back and his comment about the peacekeepers makes me want to leave as fast as possible. So, I quickly asses how treated my wound is, where my backpack is located, how much blood I’m going to clean up – because I can’t abuse of the courtesy and can’t let them clean this off, as well as where everything is to clean it up.

As I get everything in order I give a big sigh of relief. I don’t know why but it feels like the worst is over. But I know it’s not. My wound might be closed, but if I start agitating in the rain outside, it will open again.

I hear the girl offering the guy a place to stay and I soon realize that she must feel sympathy for him as well. How could one not? While the Capitol indulges their selves with food like savage beasts, we are put to suffer and eat scraps of food which isn’t enough to feed at least half of the district. Nonetheless I smile even though the invitation is not for me; because it is incredible how these acts of kindness can endure when we all know how dangerous it is to protect a stranger with game.

How can we repay all the damage done when the odds are against us…?

Seeing that I’m already good to go I stand up and clean the mess and go get my backpack which feels less heavy than before as well as my jacket. I put my hoodie on and say “Well, thanks for everything. Do you know of a route that’s less frequented in this place? These peacekeepers are searching me –“

Suddenly a loud bang is heard from the outside front door. I stand still cold and quickly turn around look at the girl. I slowly place my hand where my knife is. “They’re here” I say exasperatedly.