Chapter 54: Last day on Earth
Arora yawned tiredly as her eyes slowly blinked open, the familiar sounds of the orphanage gradually filtering into her consciousness.
"Hehe, did she really say this about me? How mean!" An all too familiar voice drifted into her ears as the words instilled a terrifying thought in Arora's mind.
She rose up quickly as her gaze shot towards the room's wardrobe. Around it, five of her roommates sat in a loose circle, each of them holding a couple of letters. In between them was a small wooden box adorned with various Christmas decorations.
Her small wooden box.
Their ring leader, Beth, held up the cleanest looking letter. She was reading it out loud dramatically for the other girls, her tone filled with ridicule.
"Anyways that's most of the big stuff, I'll be writing everyday till Christmas, like always"
Arora's eyes widened as she realised the girls were currently going through her letters with Santa.
"No, stop!" she shouted as she jumped off the bed and rushed over to retrieve the letters.
The others noticed her immediately, as they stood up swiftly, doing their best to keep the letters out of her reach while she desperately grasped at thin air.
"Dang it, looks like our 'loneliest girl in the world' finally caught us," Beth said, struggling to contain another fit of laughter at the phrase.
Arora's cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she heard the nickname she had given herself.
"Stop it! G-give them back!" she pleaded, tears already beginning to well up behind her glasses.
"Please... just give them back," she muttered, reaching up frantically as some of the girls held her back with casual, dismissive pushes.
"Oh, what's wrong, Arora? Am I being too mean to you again? Are you going to report me to Santa in your next letter?" Beth taunted as all the girls burst into laughter.
A desperate expression crossed Arora's face as she watched Beth squeeze one of Santa's letters to her.
She dropped to her knees without hesitation, groveling in front of the girls.
"Please, Beth, just give me the letters. You can do whatever you want to me afterwards. I'll do your chores for you all month if you want. Just please, please give them back to me."
Beth scoffed, enjoying Arora's humiliation.
"Oh my, how generous of you, Arora. I'm a bit disappointed though. You're already resorting to groveling? I thought you might actually grow a backbone when you saw us messing with your precious little letters."
She sneered, her tone dripping with contempt.
"Did you really think we didn't know about your little letters to your imaginary friend? We've kept quiet because of how hilarious it was to read them every December. I still can't believe you thought you were actually talking to Santa this entire time. How dumb can you be? We're teenagers now, Arora. We're not kids anymore. Santa Claus isn't real. he never has been and never will be."
"I wonder who's playing such an elaborate prank on you though, I'd really like to meet them."
Arora's eyes widened at the revelation that they'd been secretly reading her private letters all this time. A lot of past events and whispers suddenly began making sense to her.
She remained silent for several moments, gritting her teeth as rage, frustration, and embarrassment coursed through her.
"Why?" she finally exploded. "Why won't you just leave me alone, all of you! What have I ever done to make you hate me so much?!"
The girls stopped giggling as they watched Arora's pitiful form trembling on the floor.
Beth frowned.
"Oh, don't be such a crybaby. We're just having fun. You'll make Ms. Ann think we're actually bullying you again." she said, gesturing for the other girls to hand over each letter.
Beth then walked up to Arora, outstretching her hand to return the letters.
Arora looked up at her with a puzzled expression as she slowly brought her hand up to receive them, stunned by Beth's sudden change of heart.
But before she could take them, Beth grinned cruelly as she quickly tore the letters to pieces, the fragments dropping to the floor in clumps.
"No!" Arora screamed, jumping up to stop her, only to be shoved hard to the floor by Beth.
"Trust me, this is for your own good," Beth said matter-of-factly. "You're already stuck with those glasses thanks to your terrible eyesight. You'll be even harder to adopt if anyone finds out about your Santa Claus delusions, especially at your age."
"You can thank me at a later date when you're done moping." she added with a laugh as she walked out of the room, the other girls following closely behind
Arora stared silently at the remains of her cherished letters scattered across the floor, slowly moving to pick up each precious fragment.
"No..." she said through quiet sobs, as her tears flowed freely from behind her glasses. Her sadness, anger, and hatred for everyone in this orphanage reaching heights she had never known before.
'I hate you, Beth. I hate you so much' she thought resentfully, as she carefully gathered up the pieces and placed them into her wooden box.
She shut the box before bringing it to her chest and clutching it tightly. 'I want to leave. I don't want to be here anymore.'
________________
"Ha! I won! That means you have to do all my chores for the rest of the week!" Shawn shouted in joy, his laughter echoing through the common room.
Sam, the boy he'd been playing against, grumbled in defeat.
"That's not fair! Let's make it best three out of five!"
Arora sat quietly by the common room's window, watching them with an unreadable expression etched on her face.
The Xbox was one of many presents Mr. Raymond had brought to the orphanage over the years. Shawn had always claimed exclusive rights to it, despite Ms. Ann's lackluster efforts to make all the kids share.
Arora didn't care about it much anyways. No one would play with her whenever she got a turn.
She had remained silent for most of the day, not even bothering to report the morning's incident to Ms. Ann. She knew there was no point.
She'd just tell them to apologize and move on with her busy day.
Most of the other kids were either running around the room or lazing around the room, doing nothing productive.
She turned her gaze back to her letters as she carefully stitched them together, piece by piece with tape.
After several minutes of this, she decided to take a break. She turned to the window, watching the streets of 'Chicago' below as men and women of all kinds walked by on the busy street outside the orphanage.
Some wore everyday work suits and casual wear that reminded her of dresses she often saw in the old timey 19th century movies they were forced to watch every Saturday. She had seen those ones quite often. Others were more recent, and those stood out to her more. She saw some men sporting ruffled high-collar coats, others wearing flowing robes tied at the waist with golden decorations adorning their faces. Some women wore tightly laced dresses with layered skirts, and a few even wore nothing but animal fur.
She liked to come up with elaborate stories about their lives based on their clothing, expressions, and walking pace.
It was a hobby she had developed as of recent to distract her from her monotonous and depressing life.
Just then, something caught her attention. She noticed an all too familiar black Hyundai Tucson SUV pulling up to the orphanage's entrance.
Seconds later, a middle-aged man in his early thirties with dirty blonde hair and bright orange eyes like hers stepped out. He was dressed in a brown Double-breasted suit, sunlight glinting off his polished shoes. A genuine smile appeared on his face as he turned and gazed up at the orphanage.
Arora's eyes widened in pure joy as her melancholic expression vanished almost instantly.
"Mr. Raymond!" she shouted, springing up from her spot and running out of the common room, heading straight for the orphanage's front door downstairs.
Mr. Rogers, who mostly lounged at the receptionist desk all day, immediately noticed Arora as she bolted past him.
"Arora? Hey, where are you going!" he called out, leaving his post to stop her from running outside unsupervised.
Arora quickly unlocked the door as fast as possible. She yanked it open just as Mr. Raymond approached, surprising him since he hadn't even rung the bell yet.
"Mr Raymond! You're finally back" she exclaimed joyfully as she hugged him tightly, his expensive German cologne making its way into her nostrils.
Mr. Raymond stared at her silently for a few moments with a complex expression. Then he smiled warmly as he returned the hug.
"Yes I am, Arora. It's good to see you too."