5th Avenue

Walking down 5th avenue, the crisp, fresh air blowing through the trees. The leaves cascading from the trees one by one. Feeling the refreshing breeze through my stringy brown hair. Daintily making sure not to step on a crack or I will “break my mothers back”. Walking away seems like my only hope to escape, escape from… life.

My world may seem perfect, except for the fact of living in an orphanage. Being the oldest in the house sucks. Everything thing I do, everything I say, seems to make Mrs. Johnson mad. I live with 20 other girls from the age 16 months to 10 years old. Although I do get to live with my younger sister Lily, she is about 7 years younger than me years younger than me at the age of 7. We both have my mom’s brown hair and my dad’s green eyes with a few freckles splattered about our faces. Our mother is an alcoholic and our father died in a car accident, that’s why they took me away from at the age of 6. Lily never met our mother, let alone our father, ever since then I’ve been more than a big sister to Lily, more like a mother… I read her books before she goes to bed, and I pick out her clothes for the day. One day my sister found a stray dog in the park
and snuck it into the orphanage.

“Lily! Mrs. Johnson will see him! Give him to me right now!” I whispered harshly
“No! You can’t take Brownie, he will starve without me!” Lily complained
“Lily you will get in trouble, now give!” I yelled as I snatched the dog out of her arms.
“N-” Lily was about to yell before my hand cupped over her mouth. As I turn out of the room Mrs. Johnson is standing there with a disappointed look on her face.
“Miss Christine you know you are not allowed to have pets in the house!” She scolded
“But... but”
“No buts Missy, give me that dog and go to the basement!”
“Yes ma'am.”
Cold, and dark the basement is no place for a kid. living conditions are not good whatsoever, leaky street water, rat feces, and the the cool fall nights chill the room. The only light comes from a little window. This is what I get for being a protective older sister...
Lily and I take walks down 5th avenue, and down to an abandoned lot where we hang out before Mrs. Johnson comes home from work. The abandoned lot consists of a decrepit house that burned half way in a fire. Its walls are a dingy color, and the floral wallpaper is crinkled and curled. The floors creak at every step, spider webs are in every corner, and cracks make up the windows. Even though this may seem bad. It is a lot better than being cooped up with 18 little girls. We enjoy ourselves with a game or 2 of charades and making toys for the stray cat that hangs out around here. We seem to get attached to stray animals, Lily named the cat princess. Even though the toys are made out of long weeds, sticks, and bird feathers, I think she likes it. But one day Lily and I were happily making flower necklaces, when Mrs. Johnson got done from her hair appointment early and drove past. Shortly her Mercedes Benz backed up and stopped parallel to us. We froze. Then she came marching,the next thing I know we are being dragged by the collars of our shirts into the backseat.
“What are you girls doing?! Going out of the house WITHOUT my permission!” Mrs. Johnson yelled.
“We don’t like you!” Lily screamed
“Haha no no Lily we just wanted some... um fresh air?” I quickly added to cover Lily up.
“Well that only means one thing, it’s the basement for you two!”
“That’s so unfair! We didn’t do anything wrong! Especially Lily!”
“Fine then have it your way, Lily you are free to go, But as for you miss christine you can spend the night alone and that’s that.”
I pulled my hood over my head to cover up my tears that fell from my face.

That night I sat up against the cold brick wall and watched the stars of the night sky. I saw a small dot moving across the sky, I closed my eyes, and wished. I wished and wished and wished. Maybe it could one day come true.
The next morning we had to get up and perform our daily chores of scrubbing the floor, dusting our room, and washing the dishes. As I scrubbed the floor, Cruella Deville decided to show up for once.
“Christine darling you missed a spot” she said as her pointy witch shoes made a scuff mark.
“No!”
“Excuse me? What did you say to me?”
“I said no! All you do is boss me around! Only me!”
“Christine you are just embarrassing yourself, now settle down and get back to work!”
I threw the sponge of the ground and ran out. At this point I don’t care about stepping on a crack, or the tears running down my face. I have no place to go but that abandoned old house. I stopped in my tracks. Only thing that was left was a wooden door. No more crisp wallpaper, no more burnt walls, and no more creaky floors. I ran up to the door and yanked it open to a world where houses lined up next to each other and the people were pleasurable. I couldn’t help but to step into the world.
It is like I have just stepped into a home where I have lived all my life. Wait a home? I have a home? The house what looks to be a normal two story with family portraits lining the walls. A big golden retriever came running toward me, and knocked me down. I soon got a dog lick facial.
“Hello?” I yelled.
“Oh sweety your home! Come here, the pictures from Florida finally finished getting developed!”
A woman yelled back.
“Who are you and where is Lily?”
“Haha Christine what do you mean?”
“I mean how do you know my name. And where and am I! And where is Lily!”
“Honey calm down. Did you hit your head? Or fall? Maybe you need a rest.”
“Can you help me to my room?”
“Um sure” she said as she guided me to my so called room.
“I HAVE A ROOM! ALL TO MYSELF! YAY!” I exclaimed and jumped on my bed.
“Yeah I think you better get some rest, let me get out your PJ’s”
I fell into a deep sleep effortlessly. My dreams though, they brought me back to the orphanage. I saw Lily sitting in the basement, alone. I woke up to a jerk, and I finally realized what happened... my wish came true. My wish to be in a loving family where I was loved, lived in a home, and I was treated like a human being. But I was being too selfish, I did not mention poor Lily and now she is left with that witch. And the lady who acted like I have lived with her all my life... is my mother, and the dog is my pet! And we are actually allowed to have a pet! I’m so dumb!


The next day I came to know that I have a family of 4. I have a brother named Sean at the age of 16, a sister named Emma at the age of 10. My mom’s name is Debbie and she is 43, my dad’s name is Paul and he is 45. Oh and my doggie’s name is Hunter. All that is missing is Lily...

As I lay in bed that night I look out my window and see a small dot moving across the night sky. I closed my eyes, and I wished.


I wake up to a small little girl jumping on me yelling, “Get up! Get up! Get up!”
A grunting sound came out of my mouth and I pulled the covers over my head.
“Christine! Get Up!” The little girl exclaimed
“Lily go away! Wait Lily!!” I jump out of bed and give her a big hug. I can smell the cool refreshing breeze of fall through her stringy brown hair. All I know is my wish came true...