Hold Me Close

Where It All Began, Twelve Years Ago....

Emily sat at the steps of the orphanage, weeping quietly. She had been here for three years, ever since her parents’ death when she was only five. She had no other living relatives, so she was taken by child services and placed in the orphanage. This orphanage wasn't the best in town, more like one of the worst. The people who worked there were volunteers, and most were forced to do what they didn't want to. Most of the workers were mean and horrible, and didn't treat the children well. She only had very little friends in The Orphanage. That was what people call it, 'The Orphanage'. The children who stayed there called in The O. Everyone in town knew what it was. "Haha! Look at what we have here! Its Milly the WORM!" jeered the older boys. Em(her nickname) ignored them and wiped the tears gently off her face. "Milly! We're talking to you! Look at us!" they shouted, sounding closer than before. Before she could say a word in defense, she felt a hard shove pushed her off balance and she fell to the hard stone pavement, hitting her face. As she fell, she twisted her ankle, and her mouth opened letting out a small cry of pain.Her body ached and she whimpered in pain. "Stop it!" she cried, her soft and gently voice barely making a statement. The boys pulled her up from the ground and smiled devilishly at her. "Look, if you listen and do what we want, maybe, we'll be nice." the bigger one said, smiling at her. It was no kind, gentle smile, in fact, it was menacing, as though daring her to challenge him. "O-o-okay..I'll...do it." She said softly, clutching her arm. It was slightly bruised, but her face was worse. It was scarred, and she could taste the blood on her lips.

"Great. Now, kneel down and clean my shoe!" He said, sounding satisfied as he pushed her to the ground. Emily steadied herself and kneeled down, her head bowed down. "But..but I have nothing to wipe it with." She said, looking at the ground. She heard the boys scoffed, and heard the leader speak again. "Well, what do you think? Use your mouth you dumb, worthless girl!" he said, laughing loudly. She winced at his words and felt a shiver of disgust run through her entire body. Bending down, she held his shoe, her face close to it. Just as she opened her mouth reluctantly, she felt something pull her back, hard. "Stay back Emily." a voice ordered as a tall figure(for a child's age) stood in front of her, protecting her from the bullies. "Leave her alone, Edgar." He said gently, though it sounded like a threat to her. Emily forced herself up from the ground, and she staggered a few steps back.

She heard the boys grunt and then heard footsteps retreating. "Watch your back! We'll be back with more next time!" she heard them shout as they ran back into the building. The boy who had saved her turned around and smiled kindly at her.

"Are you okay?" she heard him ask.
"Yes. Thank you." she said stiffly as she started to back away from him, limping slightly. She never made friends with boys. She knew that they meant harm.
"Don't worry. I won't hurt you." he said, moving closer towards her.
"How do I know that you're telling the truth?" she asked skeptically.
"By what happened just now. I protected you. From those.....jerks." he said, the last word full of disgust and anger.
"I......Alright. Thank you." she said again, not lifting her gaze to meet his.
"Come on, I'll take you inside and get you healed. You don't look too well." He said as he finally moved in front of her.
"Okay." She said, still looking down.
He chuckled and he put an arm around her shoulder, supporting her.

Five Years Ago
JAMES’S POV
James smiled at the lady after he took a tray that contained his dinner. It wasn’t all that appealing, at least spaghetti wasn’t. He liked spaghetti, just not the one the orphanage served. It was too salty and the pasta was definitely too hard. It was like eating plastic. Worse of all, it was cold. But he’d almost gotten used to it. After all, he’d been here for as long as he could remember. He had no memory of his parents at all. The only thing he had was a gold wedding ring which had engraved initials on it. He turned around and headed towards the long wooden tables and benches. He looked around for Emily, trying to spot her smiling face in the crowd of kids and teenagers. Finally, his eyes rested at the far end of the room as he spotted her there. He hurried towards her, a huge grin already formed on his face.

“Hey Em!” he said happily with a huge smile on her face as she slid into the seat opposite him and placed her tray on the table. When she didn’t seem to hear him, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he waved a hand in front of her

“Hellooo?? Earth to Emily? Earth to Emily?” he said, dragging each word slowly, trying to catch her attention.
“Oh! Hello James… Sorry…Lost in thoughts.” She replied after a while, giving him a sheepish smile.
“I thought so,” he muttered under her breath as he stared at her.

She didn’t look right today. As a matter of fact, his best friend looked troubled. His eyes flicked downwards and saw that she didn’t even touch her food. Not even a bite. Something must be wrong…

“Hey, Emily. Are you okay?” he asked this time, his tone softer and much more serious.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” She told him, giving him a half smile.

But James knew better than that. Her eyes totally gave her away. And her voice too. Or maybe it was just because he knew her for so long that he could tell when she was sad or happy.

“Not a chance, Em. I’ve known you for ten years. I wasn’t born yesterday. Come on, tell me.”
“No.” Was all she said.
That caught James off for awhile. “Why not?” He asked after a pause, feeling genuinely curious.
“Just no, alright?” she said, her voice strained as though trying to control her frustration.
“Okay, Em. Chill.” He told her, trying to lighten up the mood.

It made him feel slightly guilty that he couldn’t help her with whatever problems she was having. He lifted his fork and started poking at the food on the tray. He twirled it around the spaghetti and put it into his mouth. While he was chewing, he heard the bench creak and looked up. Emily seemed to be getting ready to leave.

“Where are you going?” he asked.
“Back to my room. Sorry James. I’ll…I’ll see you later, okay?” she said, turning around to look at him.
“Oh… Yeah, sure. Feel better.” He told her, flashing her a smile.

He was glad that she returned the smile, but then after that she walked out of the hall without another word. He stared after her, feeling a little hurt and curious. She never left like this before. Usually they would laugh and talk while they ate, then resume to talk again as they made their way back to their rooms.

Emily's POV

Tears started to fall down her cheeks as Emily made her way back to her room. She couldn’t bring herself to tell James that she was leaving tomorrow. She knew that she liked him more than a best friend, and it would be even worse if she told him. He might be mad at her, and she didn’t want to leave their friendship at that. But most probably he wouldn’t. He would just be sad. And it would make it even harder for her to leave. It was her choice though. No one forced her. It was either stay in the orphanage in the middle of nowhere in Surrey and become a teacher at some public school, or go to LA to develop her skills and become an actress like she always wanted. Well, of course she chose the more logical one.

She slipped into her room and shut the door tightly behind her. She leaned against the door and sank down on the floor, clutching her legs tightly to her chest. She sobbed almost through midnight, but finally stopped. She wiped the tears away from her tear stained face and took out her bag from the cupboard. Tonight was going to be her last night here, and she knew that she would definitely miss the orphanage. A lot. Not much of the orphanage, just the very few close friends that she had made. She only had a few clothes to pack as a matter of the fact. She had a knee length thin strap white dress, a pair of khaki shorts, a pair of jeans with a few holes in it, a white t-shirt, an emerald halter top, ragged old pants and shirts. For footwear, she only had a pair of slippers that were getting to small for her feet and a too-big pair of runners.

Em shoved it all into the bag and managed to zip it close without any problems. She hid the bag in the cupboard and went to the toilet to wash herself. The water was a little cold, but she was already used to it. She took her time, letting the water wet her dark brown hair then her body. Finally she turned off the tap and got out of the shower. She wrapped a towel around herself, shivering slightly from the cold. It was winter, the season she hated the most. She loved everything about it, but the freezing cold spoiled everything. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she closed the bathroom door and plopped herself down onto her bed. She knew she had to get some rest. Tomorrow will be a long day.