January 29469
Harry's
For a long minute, a minute she would want to last forever, Jen closes her eyes, and tries to pretend that her life is different... that it has always been. She wishes that Cyrus and Heiji are still alive, wishesthat she has never been forced to live at the orphanage, wishes that she has parents to take care of her. The passing weeks are all more horrible than each other, and she fears that the situation will only degrade now, and never improve anymore. Unless she finds a way to definitively get out of this circle they have imprisoned her in.
Not very far from her, although she is standing on the outside of the little crowd they're all forming, the other orphans are looking at the various vendor booths, at the merchandises displayed on the screens. It's Sunday afternoon, as as every Sunday, they are allowed to go to Harry's and buy themselves a few things with the little pocket money they are allowed. That isn't much, that never has been, and the credits are held for them by the employees who're due to watch their group, so that none of the children will run away and buy himself a ferry ticket... and yet, it's still better than nothing. A little moment of semi-freedom, before going back to the regular class schedule of the week.
And Jen is bored.
There is nothing she wants - and what she would like, the employees of the orphanage will never buy it for her - but she has to make them feel like she's liking this afternoon too... just a normal young girl, thinking like any other 15-years old would have. She honestly doubts that anyone having gone through years at the orphanage can ever feel like a kid again. They all have their hidden wounds... abandoned by their parents at birth, mistreated by their families, having lost their mothers during terrorist attacks, having lost their fathers in these mean little skirmishes that were still arising here and there, regularly... Some have been adopted, but rejected by their new families too. And some are too old, or too strong-minded, to be adopted. There is no doubt in which case Jen herself is; no couple has ever even wanted to simply meet with her...
"Markarian? MARKARIAN! Is there something you want from this shop? And before you ask, no, I won't buy you any nano-program!" The other children turn to her, laughing; the supervisor today is a young employee going by the name of Rod Evans, and he never misses an opportunity of making a fool of her. Jen very well knows that it's not exactly her fault, that this isn't the job he had wanted, and that he'd have preferred a more important place on omni-Prime directly, but she doesn't like him either. She has a feeling that his sarcasms can go further; when Barry McCallagher and his stupid friends had tried to force her to follow them behind the school building, long after the classes were over, Evans had called her a liar when she had complained to him, saying that it was her fault, and that she should behave more properly if she wanted to avoid trouble. Since that time, Jen has simply decided that she would despise and avoid him, no more, no less.
The girl swallows her bitter words, and simply points at a cheap necklace on the screen, not even caring about what it really looks like. She would actually have needed tools, real tools, but it isn't through the supervisors that she will get them, and it's high time for her to escape again now - to escape for good! She pretends to be interested in the displayed items, in what the other girls around her are saying, yet she never really keeps her eyes off the other customers. When their group moves toward the exit of the shop, crossing the path of a small team purchasing some tools, Jen seizes her chance, acting quickly, discretly, as she is used to now. It's the same, in town as well as at the orphanage. You want something, you have to steal it; you want to keep something yours, you have to prevent others from stealing it. Aiming at a tall Opifex in a coat almost too large for her, she dives her hand, finds a pocket, finds the credit card, and takes it without even a glance toward her victim. Her trained fingers can already feel that the card bears no other name than the bank's that has delivered it, and she represses a smile of satisfaction - an anonymous card, not a personalized one. She will be able to use it in any booth, provided there are still credits on, but the group had entered barely a few minutes before the children left, and who would go to a shop to purchase some items if there is nothing left on their cards? Jen accepts the risk. She'll find out later on how much she has at her disposal.
The shuttle that is to bring them back to the orphanage is already outside, waiting for them near the Bronto Burger stand. Evans proceeds to the usual roll call, giving them their items when they answer their name. It could be one of these right moments Jen is waiting for - she knows that he won't call them again before entering the shuttle; what decides her though is being given this contemptuous look by Evans, and, a few seconds later, meeting the eyes of
barry, full of dirty promises for whenever he would catch her alone again. No. Never will she go back there. Never.
Jen is feeling oddly calm and quiet, staying silent now, not attracting any unwanted attention on her. She watches them get in the shuttle, one by one. She watches the bushes and buildings nearby, the silhouettes dulled by the night having already fallen. She thinks of her dark, plain uniform of the orphanage, and for the first time blesses the Director for forcing them to wear such ugly clothes. She will blend in the shadows quite well with this outfit... quite well, indeed...
When the shuttle departs, neither Evans not the driver notice that Jenae Markarian wis missing. Jenae, the thin and angry girl, who is running, not toward the ferry, but toward the Grid terminal.
Jenae, who will now go further than she ever has done... where they will never find her.
- AO webcomics for the sake of being silly
Your writing is so beautiful and captivating, Dem ]
