"Emma? Come up here." Miss Anderson's gentle voice snapped me out of my reverie. James patted me on the back. Lizzy, Sophia, and Jake smiled at me encouragingly.
I stood up warily and walked over to Ms. Anderson, who put her arm around me in a way that was supposed to be comforting but I just tensed and struggled.
"It's Emma's birthday today."
"Happy birthday!" The kids yelled, their ages ranging from 5 to 20.
I reached up and covered my ears with my hands. I hated loud noises, but people were worse. Much worse.
"We found something your parents left behind for you. They meant to give this to you when you were 16."
I was 16 now. I had been at this foster home for 3 years now.
I looked at her, curious, but tried to hide it. "What is it?"
She smiled and looked over at James, who stood up and walked over to me. He drew out a parcel and placed it in my hands. "Happy birthday."
I looked at him as he grinned from ear to ear, and then at Ms. Anderson before eagerly tearing it apart to reveal a small velvet cloth.
I raised an eyebrow as I unfolded the cloth to reveal a necklace with a ruby pendant.
Underneath it was a letter from my parents.

Dear Emma,
Happy Birthday! Today's a very special day for you! You're turning 16! We know this isn't the best birthday gift but we hope you'll like it. And remember this. We'll always love you.
-Mom and Dad and Mark!!!

I smiled a little, for the first time in a long time. A tear fell down my cheek and I pushed it away.
"Thank you," I whispered, my voice barely audible.
I felt sad. That's all I was feeling. But suddenly, rage coursed through my veins.
I wanted to leave this place even more. I had to.
I ran into the surrounding forest. I didn't care if anyone tried to follow me or not.
More tears fell down, landing onto my dusty sweatshirt. Why did my family leave me? Why didn't I die with them?
I felt a hand on my back and turned around to see James. "Hey, are you alright? I know that today isn't the best day for you."
"Not the best day? It's the day my family died! I hate this! I hate you, and everyone at this stupid place!"
I took a deep breath and turned away.
"There's something nobody knows," James whispered softly. "Except me."
I turned and looked at him, my eyes almost glowing with anger. "What is it?" I shook my head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be getting angry at you. You did nothing wrong."
"It's alright. My parents also died on my birthday. I lied. I didn't want anyone to know."
"Oh," I said, quite shocked. I looked at James with hope. The only person who could possibly relate to what had happened to me.
"I want to leave this place," I said, confessing.
"So do the rest of us. We all want to."
"The rest of us?"
"Sophia, Jake, Lizzy, and I. We always talk about leaving. When you're asleep."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Sophia and Jake never trusted you."
Hearing the cold, hard truth broke my heart.

I growled in anger and ran back to our room, leaving James alone in the woods. Slamming the door shut, I yanked my necklace off and threw it onto my bed.
I reached under my bed and grabbed a bag, stuffing my belongings into it. I was leaving right now. With or without my so-called friends, I didn't care.
The door flew open and James entered the room, Lizzy on his heels.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm leaving."
"You can't do that!" Lizzy shouted.
"I can, and I will," I grumbled and shoved the necklace into the bag and shoved it under the bed.
"I'm coming with you," James said sternly.
Lizzy looked at him, shocked. "You ca-"
"Just hurry up," I said, growling, impatient.
James placed his belongings in his bag and so did Lizzy, to my surprise.
"I thought, you said that this was a bad idea," I hissed.
"Well, I want to leave this horrid place too," she replied coldly.
"Fine by me. But we leave today after curfew."
Curfew was at 9.
They both nodded and shoved their bags under their beds.
"Time for my party. Yay."
James chuckled a little and patted me on the back. "Cheer up, Emma. Now let's go."
I pretended that I was enjoying myself during my party. I had to. James, Lizzy, and I kept exchanging glances but other than that, there was no talk of our plan.
We had cut the cake and played games and opened presents.
And soon, it was time to go. The sun had set and night had fallen.
It was curfew and Sophia and Jake were fast asleep. I slowly climbed out of my bed and grabbed my bag, signaling for the other two to follow.
We got out of the room and the foster home, unnoticed. Now we had to escape  the forest.
The city limit wasn't far.
James and Lizzy followed me as I walked through the dark quietly. And carefully.
At least I thought I was being careful. I tripped on a rock and hit the dirt path, face-first.
Pain coursed through my mouth as I spat out the dirt that was in my mouth.
"Are you okay?" Lizzy reached down to help me up but I pushed her hand away.
I groaned in pain and reached up and touched my bloody tooth. It was uneven, chipped.
Oh God. Why did everything bad happen to me on my birthday?
"No. Does it look like I'm okay?" I snarled. I didn't hate Lizzy, she was actually my best friend here. Other than James. I was just irritated.
"No," she said, turning away as James helped me up. This time, I didn't refuse help.
"Your tooth is chipped," he pointed out as I steadied myself.
"I know that," I growled. I shook my head, the wind whipping my hair, the cold autumn breeze restless. "Let's just leave."
My tooth hurt so much and so did everything else but I had to keep going. I wouldn't give up.
I started walking and bumped into a tall figure. "Where do you think you're going?"

A deep voice asked me. A boy's.
I adjusted my eyes to the nighttime to see the figure. Everything looking black and white than in color like I was a nocturnal animal.
It was just one of the kids who hated me at the orphanage. Carl.
I went back in time, trying to remember why he hated me so much.

July 27, 2012

I walked along the dirt path, absentmindedly staring at the ground.
It had been a year since my family had died. I was 14 now, more mature than I had been a year ago,
It was a spring day, the Sun shining brightly in the sky,
I looked up and around. Crunch. I heard something snap. I looked down to see a golden pocket watch lying in the dirt, caked with dust.
I reached down and picked it up, curious.
The time was wrong, off by an hour or so.
I studied the beautiful clock hands and numbers. The pocket watch pulsed in my hand as if it had a heart of its own.
I turned the pocket watch around to see two letters carved into the back. CM.
Initials, probably. One of my fingers ran over something sharp as it caressed the glass of the pocket watch.
My finger stung and I moved my pocket watch to my other hand, blowing on the hand with the cut.
"Ow, ow, ow." I rubbed the wound, smearing the blood. I started to tend to the wound.
Taking the piece of glass out was hard work, which involved a lot of pain, and trying not to scream, but eventually, I got it out.
I sighed and dropped the piece of glass to the ground and pulled the pocket watch back out.
"Hey!" someone yelled. It was the voice of a boy, perhaps a year older than me, 15 or so.
"What is it?" I didn't put the pocket watch away when I turned to look at him.
"That's mine!" He ran over and snatched it from me and noticed the broken glass.
"You broke it!" He growled angrily and started towards me, fists clenched.
I turned around and started to back away. "N-no! I didn't!"
"You broke it!" He yelled after me, as I started to run.

I shook my head, returning back to the present. "What was so special about that pocket watch anyways?"
"Huh?"
"Your pocket watch."
"My parents gave it to me. And you broke it."
"So what? Get over it."
He shook his head. "Never mind that. What are you doing here this late?"
"Nothing. You?" I replied with the same harshness.
"I asked first."
"Too bad." I stuck my tongue out at him and started sprinting, hoping the two of them would follow.
Carl was fast, just like me. He was on my heels, reaching out to stop me but I kept running, pumping my arms and breathing through my nose.
You can do this, I thought. Just keep running.
I zigzagged through the trees, trying to lose him. And it was working. His footsteps disappeared.

The city limit was visible. I hid behind a tree, pressing myself flat against it. After a while, I climb into a huge hole in it, big enough for a human to climb in.

I closed my eyes momentarily and caught my breath, and my pain slowly vanished.

I opened my eyes, to be blinded by the bright light of the Sun. "Ow. What happened?"
"We found you here, asleep," Lizzy sighed, shaking her head.
"Where are we?" I asked as I shot an annoyed look at Lizzy.
James' voice replied back to me. "Come out and see for yourself."
I rubbed my eyes and stepped out and looked straight ahead, as the sun began to rise higher in the sky, suddenly forgetting all my worries.
We had reached the city.
The faint outline of tall buildings was visible. Night lights shone brightly, from green to yellow to blue.
A small smile crept onto my face, the first one in a long time.
"Tell me I'm dreaming."
"You're not."
"We're here. Actually here."
I couldn't believe it. I was free.

September 13, 2014

3 months later....

I sat on the chair in our apartment, resting my chin on the polished oak table.
"Why is calculus so hard?" I complained to myself as my head fell on the textbook, the binding falling apart and the pages torn.
No. Why was 11th grade so hard?  I thought to myself.
"Need help?" I lifted my head and turned around and saw James, grinning at me.
"Yeah. Why is math so hard?"
He chuckled. "You'll get it soon enough Let me help you."
"Where's Lizzy?"
"Working."
"I see, When is she coming back?"
"Late, Well, let's get started."
He sat down next to me and started explaining, but my mind slowly started to drift off as his words went through one ear and went out the other.
It had been a month since we had left the orphanage. No one had come after us, to take us back. Which saddened me a little, I thought my existence to them was more important. Well. Not everything could be perfect.
The three of us, Lizzy, James, and I, shared an apartment. We paid for it by working part-time jobs, taking turns paying the rent.
We also went to school. James turned out to be the smart, straight A student, kind of kid. Lizzy turned out to be nicest and most popular, in the school.
And I, well, I turned out to be the sporty kid. The jock. I liked all sports. Studying? Not so much. My dream was to be a professional athlete. Which sport,  didn't care.
That's why I didn't understand why I was stuck in school. But I would deal with, and it would be fine. 
I wasn't very good with math. Correction, I was terrible at it.
I had changed a lot in the past month. I was much nicer and had opened up more. But I wasn't as nice as Lizzy, She was one of the nicest at school.
When I left the orphanage, I thought living in the real world would be hard.
And it was, because I had my friends by my side, to encourage me and lift my spirits.
So I was free. I could live like a normal person. Leave my wretched past behind.
It could be nice. I could learn to accept the fact that they're gone. My family. And that they're in a better place.
So that's what I did.

June 13, 2016

2 years or so later…

I looked around the high school, taking in the place we had studied in so long for. Turning to my side, I saw James, his arm around my waist.
“I’m so proud of you, Emma.”
I tilted my head and looked at him, pecking him on the cheek. “No. I’m proud of you.”
Lizzy walked over to us, groaning. “Break it up, lovebirds. We’re all amazing.”
It had been two years since we had left the orphanage, two years since my 16th birthday.
I was 18 now, and today was my birthday. Again.
“Let’s get some ice cream.” James kissed me gently before pulling away and smiling at me and Lizzy.
James and I had started going out somewhere around the beginning of our senior year. Lizzy wasn’t with anyone officially, not yet.
We had graduated from high school a day ago, and we were all heading to Stanford. I had no clue how we were going to pay, though.
James had decided to go into medicine, his love for academics had led him down the path. Lizzy would be majoring in law. And despite my love for sports, I would be studying software engineering.
We all walked towards the parking lot and climbed into our black Honda, James in the driver seat, Lizzy in the back, and me in the passenger seat.
James was the only one out of us three who had his driver’s license.
He drove us over to Baskin Robbins, where I ordered cookies-and-cream ice cream, James mint chocolate chip, and Lizzy vanilla.
I was happy. Very happy.
Sure, my family may not be in this world with me. But I still had my friends.
They would be here with me every step of the way, until the end of my life.
So I was happy. Life was perfect.
My boyfriend and my best friend were heading over to the same college as me.
We would all grow up, marry, and have children. We would all live happy lives.
Even though my family wasn’t here with me, life was perfect.
Because I had my friends by my side.