• By: Topaz K. L. S. (me)






    Dedicated to my school friends who encouraged me to publish my ideas and take a leap of faith; Bailey, Oliver, Stephanie, Evan (both of them), Alisha, Kerrilyn, Joella, Jeffery, Jay, Kim, Nathaniel, and my English teachers Mrs. Tresch and Mrs. Lajoie

    Table of Contents

    Pg.3 Chapter 1 Good-bye
    Pg.8 Chapter 2 An Uncertain Future
    Pg.17 Chapter 3 Runaway
    Pg.23 Chapter 4 Blackberries
    Pg.29 Chapter 5 Lost and Found












    Chapter 1 Good-Bye

    When the tragedy occurred I was twelve, my brother Cyrus was eight, and our kid brother Thomas had just gotten out of his diapers. Mom and Dad worked at the Twin Towers, the World Trade Center, mom is the secretary for the CEO of a big company, and Dad works in public relations so as a family we were pretty well off. That is until September 11, 2001 when everything fell apart during an attack on the United States.

    “Good morning mom.” I said as I came down the stairs. She handed me a list of things I had to do on my way back from school. I took after my mother with her dark brown almost black hair and her hazel eyes.
    “Now don’t forget to pick up diapers for Thomas, though he’s almost potty trained I still don’t quite trust him yet.” She said as she gave me a hug good bye.
    “Come here Cyrus, you too Irene.” Said Dad with his arms open, we rushed into his arms and he picked both of us up and gave us a hug.
    “No more missing the bus Cyrus.” he said as he set us down. My brother Cyrus resembled my Dad in every way possible He had light brown hair and blue eye’s a unique combination that he got from Dad, he wore it longer and always had it parted of to the side.
    “But I was studying on the computer and looking over the schedule it’s all messed up because of conferences.” My brother vainly argued, Dad simply shook his head then pressed Cyrus’s glasses back up on the bridge of his nose.
    “No but’s, their disgusting to talk about” he said with a chuckle. Both of them turned and faced Naomi, Thomas’s baby sitter. “Thank you for watching him for us.” Mom said.
    “No problem Ma’am” Naomi replied with a nod and a smile. Mom and Dad left after that and shortly after Cyrus and I left for the bus stop near Third Street. We had no idea that we would be home early or that the good-bye’s we had said to Mom and Dad had been their last.
    Social Studies had started when the teacher Mrs. Conner received a call on the school phone telling her to turn on her TV. The students sounded exited at the unexpected interruption to their boredom. The murmur died as soon as the news came on and on it was the World Trade Center, the Twin Towers. The North tower had just been hit. I couldn’t stand watching it so I ran outside, as I stepped out the door, not sure what I was thinking at the time other than the overwhelming feelings of emotional pain and agony. The Second plane struck the South tower and a new wall of terror slammed into me knocking the breath out of me.
    “Mom!! Dad!!” I yelled to no avail, my voice hoarse with new found panic. I ran as fast as I could towards the Towers but soon found my self running the opposite way, the South Tower had collapsed sending out a plume of toxic dust. I ran as fast as I could. Cyrus had gone out side the school to watch with the other students, he stood mesmerized at the sight. As I passed I grabbed his sleeve and tugged him along with me back to the apartment looking back only to see the cloud engulf our school. All I heard out of him while we made our mad dash back home was “What just happened?” and “Was Mom and Dad in there?” being screamed in my ear over and over again by my brother. I wish I could have answered him but to be honest I didn’t know either.
    “What are you two doing back so early?” Naomi asked as we ran in the door all my constant tugging had knocked his glasses loose and they toppled to the ground and shattered as I slammed the apartment door shut behind me. By her asking this I assumed she hadn’t watched the news on CBS. I snatched the remote from the coffee table and tuned on the news switching it from some stupid early morning sitcom. She stood stunned as she watched the North tower collapse in the video clip being repeated again and again, watching it hurt because I was literally watching my parents die again and again.
    “Your parents were in there” she said with a hopeless tone “your parents were in there” she said again as if just to assure her self of what she just said. I just nodded as a tear streaked across my face. Naomi walked over and gave both Cyrus and I a hug.
    “I’m so sorry… so sorry” she said her dark brown hair resting on our shoulders seemed to remind me of Mom and completed the embrace that she gave us. We had the rest of the day off from school as well as the rest of the week; we spent it caring for Thomas and finishing the chores on my list even if there was no point in doing so. We had already decided Naomi would spend the night through out the week. She felt awful about leaving us even tough I assured her that we would be OK if she left us. The main reason was to allow us to get our things in order. The next morning she would take Thomas, Cyrus, and I to the Orphanage where we would wait for our Aunt Mary and Uncle Richard to pick us up, that could take some time considering they lived in Buffalo, New York clear on the other side of the state. That night we called all of our friends to tell them that we would have to move to Buffalo. That night I cried my self to sleep in my dark bedroom that I would see no more. And even though I knew Cyrus wouldn’t admit it I knew he did the exact same thing because even Thomas was sad and he was too young to even understand what loss meant. But he knew and I knew that we were alone with no one but our selves for a long time.







    Chapter 2 an Uncertain Future

    We arrived at the Orphanage at 9:00 and for the longest time we were lost and confused about where to go. We wandered around for at least an hour and we took turns carrying Thomas. We must have looked pretty stupid wandering around an Orphanage considering how many people stopped and stared at us as we wandered its corridors. Finally we were stopped by one of the staff members who guided us to the office and told us we would speak with Ms.Esinger.
    “So,” said what I assumed to be the director of the Orphanage “you are new here because of the attacks yesterday?” she asked, her vulture like appearance was intimidating and for some reason I was unable to answer. The woman let out a cackling laugh “I know it’s a bit scary coming to a new place without your folks but surely you have a guardian of some sort here to help you get registered right?” I merely shook my head
    “No,” I said “our baby sitter had to take us here our closest family is in Buffalo.”
    “Well, we’ll figure something out, the little one will go in our infant care room and you two will go to be with the rest of the orphans” said Ms .Esinger. “I’ll see you two in a little bit” she said with a grin that sent chills up my spine.
    Cyrus and I were assigned our beds which were right next to each other. The room was grey and bleak. Portraits of the previous directors hung on the wall. The floor was covered in slate tiles which had a bluish hue to them. The walls were covered in a grey painted plaster. The room was spacious and open with the beds lined up along the sides with windows in between them. Each bed had a small chest of drawers next to it and depending on if it was a girl or boy’s bed it had either pink or blue sheets.
    “Who was she to take Thomas away? We’re a broken family that’s been through a lot we should be sticking together!” Cyrus ranted he wasn’t one to lose his temper easily but something about Ms. Esinger just set him over the edge.
    “You shouldn’t be so hard on her she was just doing her job.” I said trying to comfort him but it was too late there was no stopping him, he groaned but I could relate with him her decision annoyed me too. She was not a judge, she was not a government official, nor was she a child care specialist but she made decisions that people in those professions should be making, not a manager at an orphanage. It just wasn’t her job.
    “th-th-that… woman really ticks me off!” the next sentence was yelled in to the pillow so it was muffled to a point wear I couldn’t hear it but I assumed that it was not composed of happy words. I did all that I could and sat down next to him and patted his back.
    “Thomas will be O.K these people will take care of him even if you don’t trust them. Look on the bright side”
    “There IS no bright side don’t you get it Mom and Dad are dead, were stuck here in this terrible facility and all you can say is look on the bright side?” after he said that I knew there was nothing I could do to make him feel better so I gave him a hug and left him on his bed. I decided it would be a good idea to explore and get to know people since we were to be here for a wile. And knowing my Aunt and Uncle it could be a long wile. I eventually found my way to the dinning hall were I saw a girl sitting alone with what looked to be her little brother. I walked up to them,
    “Hi.” I said
    “Hi” answered the girl weakly sniveling through her tears. She didn’t seem like she wanted to talk at all but I pressed on.
    “My name’s Irene, what about you?”
    “Anna.” She answered in a soft tone. At that point I decided continuing to talk was pointless so I went to bed. I had been through a lot so taking a nap sounded really good to me. When I woke up it was dinner time I woke Cyrus up and we went to the dining hall, he sat to my right and Anna of all people sat to my left.
    “I’m really sorry about earlier.” She said breaking the silence in the dining hall.
    “It’s O.K” I said “everyone here has been through a lot I should have expected that.” I said with a laugh
    “Who’s that?” Cyrus asked quietly
    “Oh, this is Anna I met her wile you were taking your nap.” I replied
    “How did you get here?” he asked her. Anna paused for a moment, then as I shot Cyrus a dirty look for asking such a rude question she answered.
    “Both my brother and I are immigrants from Great Brittan; almost as soon as we arrived in New York our father fell terribly ill. We took him to the hospital but we were too late by the time we got there it was too late to save him. He died thee days after. Then soon after that Mother followed him, the doctor who cared for her and Father said ‘she died from a broken heart’ there was nothing me or my younger brother Joey could have done to help either of them.” A small red-haired boy who I assumed was Joey tugged at her sleeve.
    “Anna that person across the Hall is scaring me.” He said softly he spoke like his sister, quiet most of the time unless he wants to be heard.
    “Who, oh you mean Ms. Esinger?” I said “she’s not that bad just a bit creepy that’s all.” Joey smiled at me and mouthed the words ‘thank you’ then ran off. The next few weeks at the Orphanage were the worst they were quiet, dull, and full of nothing but chores. To keep the orphans busy we were all assigned various chores and unimportant tasks. I hated it and so did Cyrus. We were assigned tile duty which involved scrubbing and sweeping the slate tile throughout the Orphanage almost constantly. Anna and Joey were assigned kitchen duty and had to take care of all the dishes from all the meals. The days rolled by bringing the same thing over and over again as if on permanent repeat. One thing the days didn’t bring though was Thomas; we never got to see him.
    * * * * * *
    “Hey Irene?” Cyrus said late one night after he poked me in the side of the head to wake me up. “I just had a thought we’ve been here for about a month now, it doesn’t take that long to traverse New York does it?”
    “No,” I replied wondering how this was worth waking me up at three in the morning.
    “What if the Orphanage never called Auntie and Uncle? What if they’re tiring to keep us here for the rest of our lives?” Cyrus said. I laughed for a moment the paused.
    “Oh my gosh… that would explain why they keep us busy all the time and why Auntie and Uncle aren’t here. Cyrus pulled out his laptop, “How long have you had that with you?” I asked
    “A wile I packed it before we left now if I can just hack the phone line and pull up a record I can see if they have told Auntie and Uncle that were here.” Five minutes passed and the only sound in the room was Cyrus’s rapid typing. “I got it” he said just as my patience was beginning to thin, “It’s just as I thought they haven’t informed them. They haven’t made a call to any family for any of the orphans in three years.”
    “Well that explains a lot” said Anna she had walked in with Joey in tow and had been looking over both Cyrus’s and my shoulders for a few minutes. Joey gave a questioning look to Anna.
    “Why would they do that?” the five year old asked.
    “I don’t know,” said Anna “hey Cyrus see how long Ms. Esinger has been director.”
    “I don’t see what that has to do with anything but O.K” Cyrus began typing furiously again, “It says she’s been here for three years.”
    “How long has it been since they made a call to an orphan’s family?”
    “Three years…hey I get what you mean. But that would mean that all of this is Ms. Esinger’s fault.”
    “And that it is,” Anna said with a very proud tone in her voice.
    “So what do we do about it we just can’t walk up to her and say ‘hey can we talk to our folks’ they’d just blow us off.” I said I was beginning to really hate Ms. Esinger right about now. Anna put her arms on our shoulders.
    “Irene, Cyrus, I say we escape from here, make the travel on foot. Say to heck with waiting here, the food stinks any way, and we can go to your Aunt and Uncle’s and from there we can find my grandparents and we’ll never have to worry about this place again.” And so we had decided to escape from the Orphanage and runaway across the state of New York to Buffalo. This was the beginning of our grand adventure, an undertaking for the record books.




















    Chapter 3 Runaway

    We planned the runaway for weeks with our very little spare time, it would have gone faster but the Orphanage seemed to fascinate in keeping us busy. Since Anna had kitchen duty with Joey she was in charge of collecting silverware we had planed to use this as a grappling hook should we need it. One of Anna’s friends Noel was in charge of laundry duty she was to collect rags to use as rope. Both Cyrus and I were in charge of making a map of the building so we could free as many orphans as possible, this included Thomas. The work went quickly and the rumor of the breakout spread to every orphan in the facility. Every night we sacrificed our precious resting time t assemble and hide the rope and grappling hooks. Soon our map was complete and added to our collection of trinkets. The breakout’s date was set to Halloween the perfect time because it would be confused as a prank instead of a justified conspiracy; the only disadvantage was the bitter cold we would have to face.
    Halloween came and at midnight we began to move. We woke up all the orphans as silently as possible. Anna grabbed the rope and hooks. Noel was in charge of reading the map, her Dad had been a map maker so it was only natural that she was an expert on reading our scribbles on the page.
    “Look,” I said “the Baby’s room.” Cyrus picked the lock and we entered “we can’t take care of all of them, most will have to be left behind, we grabbed Thomas from the toddlers area who by the time we got back to the main room was still sound asleep.
    “The windows are all broken, Anna what are you doing?” I said in shock as I looked at the broken glass shards on the ground and felt the cold late autumn breeze come through what use to be the windows.
    “Well aren’t we going through the windows?” Anna asked
    “No,” I said “we’ll only get scratched up from doing that and the last thing we’ll need during our escape is injuries, they’ll only slow us down.”
    “Then how do you suggest we get out?”
    “Through the vents” I said pointing to the air duct to my left.
    “Oh,” said Anna “sorry.” I was beginning to think that Anna’s red hair fit her fiery personality. I threw up one of the grappling hooks and took down the Vent filter so we could get in then threw up the hook again to use as a rope to climb. One by one the orphans piled into the vent and eventually collected in the woods just outside the Orphanage. Soon it was my turn and I was the last to go out I removed the rope and replaced the filter so the Orphanage personnel couldn’t tell how we had gotten out so easily.
    By the time we had walked a mile from the Orphanage in our rather large caravan day was beginning to break. And even tough we were a mile away we could still hear the blood curdling scream let out by Ms. Esinger when all the empty beds were discovered. We all then took a minute to laugh. It was our treat to our selves to hear the woman who put us through a living nightmare get what was coming to her, a whole lot of trouble.
    All the orphans got into groups depending on what direction we were going, my group was composed of Cyrus, Thomas, Anna, Joey, and Noel. It was a smaller group but that just made it easier to cover a lot of ground quickly. Noel was going to be stopping in Kingston about half way to our destination of Buffalo; we would have to cross the Hudson River, Catscale Mountains, and the Denesee River. It would be quite the painful journey but any thing was better than staying at the Orphanage. We began our expedition that day and we took turns carrying Thomas and Joey since they were too young to be doing this kind of a trip of foot, even more so in the late autumn weather. We walked five miles from our starting point, the Orphanage woods, without a word from any one of us until I broke the silence.
    “Anna this is a stupid idea.” I said even though I shouldn’t have, it was foolish of me as it sparked our first unneeded argument. “Your going to get us all killed it’s the first of November and it’s only thirty degrees out at the most.”
    “Oh and we were doing any better at the Orphanage? Dare I remind you that the heating was out and we were forced to work almost twenty-four seven!?” she yelled back “with minimum food due to tax cuts and the uncomfortable beds that even gave Noel here back problems.”
    “Hey don’t go dragging me into this I don’t want any part of this feud.” Said Noel; scooting towards Cyrus to prevent getting punched in the arm by Anna. Both Anna and I argued back and forth for a good half an hour wile Noel shot us dirty looks for arguing in front of the little ones.
    “STOP IT!” Cyrus yelled both Anna and I shut up fast. “Fighting each other won’t get us to Buffalo any faster so stop fighting your scaring Thomas.” We had been yelling so loudly we hadn’t even noticed that Thomas had started to cry about half way through. We stopped for a rest a half mile off the road in a small clearing surrounded by blackberry bushes. Both Anna and I faced away from each other. I wouldn’t look at Anna and she wouldn’t look at me.



















    Chapter 4 Blackberries

    “Noel how far away are we from the Hudson River? “ Cyrus said
    “Ten miles, we could easily be on its banks by night fall. Crossing it would be the hard part.”
    “We might as well eat some of these blackberries wile were here, it would make the trek to the river less painful that’s for sure.”
    “Blackberries aren’t in season yet.” both Anna and I said almost at the same time.
    “Unless someone planted them.” Said Anna, “But who would want to plant a bunch of thorn bushes?”
    “Who ever lives in that house over there.” I said, I had peeled back a branch of thorns and sure enough there was an old house in the middle of the woods. The group walked over to the residence and knocked on the door. An elderly lady answered the door,
    “Can I help you children?” she asked
    “Um… can we have some of your blackberries? You see were traveling and we didn’t get a chance to grab any food we left in a bit of a hurry.” Said Cyrus, he was always best with words and dealing with strangers than me. The lady opened her door wide and motioned us in.
    “Please have a seat I’ll help you get on the road, but if you don’t mind me asking aren’t you a little young to be walking alone on the road.” Both Cyrus and I exchanged glances then I looked at Anna who had completely forgotten our feud.
    “I don’t see any harm in telling her.” I whispered to Cyrus, Anna, and Noel. They nodded in agreement.
    “We’re traveling from the New York Orphanage to Buffalo.” I said to the aged lady.
    “My, my, isn’t that a bit far to be walking?”
    I shook my head “Not when we had to escape from the Orphanage.”
    “Who’s the current director?”
    “Ms. Esinger, why do you ask?”
    “I knew they shouldn’t have promoted her, they even said that her mental health was lacking. You see I use to be the Director of the Orphanage back when I was younger but eventually my age caught up with me and I had to retire. I wouldn’t have left if I knew she was next in line to be director.” Said the lady lost in her memories. Then I remembered seeing her face on one of the portraits in the bedding hall of the Orphanage. Her’s had been labels Mrs. D’Alene she was one of the founders of the Orphanage. It must have pained her to hear that it was being run so viciously. I know it would have pained me too.
    “We had to escape from the facility because they refused to inform our remaining families, so we broke out a day ago and we’re taking matters into our own hands” said Noel. Mrs. D’Alene shook her head.
    “Shame what happened to my beautiful work.” She got up and went to her refrigerator and pulled out a five gallon tub filled to the brim with blackberries. “Eat to your heart’s content.
    “When I was director the Orphanage had just been built. The newcomers had bright and shining faces despite their hard ships. I doubt that those feelings of new and renewed hope exist anymore. Then again I don’t see why I’m still talking; you kids probably just think that I’m a rambling old lady.” Mrs. D’Alene said with a small giggle as she looked in our direction. We had all fell asleep and the blackberries were gone. We had done exactly as she had instructed us to do we ate to our hearts content.
    Mrs. D’Alene threw a blanket over Thomas and I we had fallen asleep on top of each other and Cyrus was curled up next to us. Anna and Joey were on the other couch resting in a similar manner to that of me. Noel had fallen sound asleep on the armchair. Mrs. D’Alene smiled
    “I wish I could help you more than this but old age has a funny way of affecting how one lives and thinks.”
    When we woke up several hours later we were all well rested.
    “I see your up” said Mrs. D’Alene “I wish I could drive you to your destination but I can’t, I don’t have a car but I do have a boat to get you across the river you can borrow it, and if I can rummage it up I have spare sleeping bags to give you as well as other supplies. It will take some time but you can stay here in the meantime I’d hate to see you sleep on the unpleasant, frost-bitten ground.” She said with a smile, and why would we argue an open invitation like that?
    “Thank you so much ma’am” I said we stayed at Mrs. D’Alene’s house for three days before setting out again. During those three days we got to know Mrs. D’Alene quite well and she got to know us. Most of the time we earned our keep; we helped her with chores and helped keep the house intact. One of the stories she told was about her husband.
    She was a widower; her husband was a fisherman and she fascinated in charity work. One day Mr. D’Alene set out on a fishing journey in the Atlantic Ocean. Ignorant to the weather forecast’s storm warning, he set out anyway and when the storm struck his ship it sank and dragged both him and his crew to the bottom of the sea. No one survived the terrible accident that occurred, and no one knew why Mr. D’Alene had decided to leave port that day. Consumed with grief for the children whose fathers were among the doomed crew, Mrs. D’Alene opened the orphanage using her retirement fund; she thought it was the only fair thing to do.
    * * * * * * * * *

    In the Morning we set out across the Hudson River in what Mrs. D’Alene thought was a boat. It was a small inflatable raft that was barely stream worthy. It looked as though it had been forgotten about in an attic for ten years, for all we know it was, but it would have to work. Shortly after we shoved off water began to splash over the edges soaking the six of us quite thoroughly. As the bitter chill set in I began to wonder if it was all worth it. I wondered if we would all see the end of this journey. Soon we had reached the half way point
    “Almost there!” I said trying to keep our hopes going. The rushing water was the only thing we heard. Then my worst fear was realized, the boat capsized and we were dragged under by the current of the River. The cold of the water was my only sense telling me that I was still alive, that I was still conscious. The River was dark and I couldn’t see either of my brothers. I then began to worry about Thomas and Joey as I flailed around hopelessly trying to grab hold of something, anything would do, the boat, Cyrus, Anna, even Thomas. Then my feeling went numb and I heard my body being dragged up on the shore, the opposite shore I hoped and just as I thought my senses were coming back, I blacked out. Despite my struggles, my hopes, my dreams I thought the end was here and that I would soon be gone.



    Chapter 5 Lost and Found

    When I came to I was in a camp. The smell of rotting meat was overwhelming. I sat up quickly with a cough and a gasp for fresh air.
    “I see the girly is up.” Said one of two men huddled around a campfire they were rugged looking, and from the looks of their camp they were hunters. Three deer corpses hung from a near by tree. I heard a groan to my right it was Cyrus. He got up too fast and like me, gasping for air and greeted by an unpleasant scent of rot and who knows what else.
    “Where are the others?” I asked as politely as I could. The two men chuckled and pointed to my left. I looked and everyone was there and from the looks of it still alive. I gave out a sigh of relief, “where are we?” I asked. Again the men just chuckled.
    “We’re about three miles of the shore of the Hudson River. Now it’s my turn for a question. What were you doing tryin to cross the river in a rubber raft? Didn’t you know it’s dangerous?” my eyes drifted away from the campsite to the surrounding woods, I couldn’t tell them the truth they would probably take us back to the Orphanage. The last thing I wanted was to go back to the living nightmare of fear and isolation. I sat and pondered what my answer would be, I couldn’t say it was a dare that would mean that there was still someone on the other shore, I couldn’t say that we were on a hike otherwise we would have used the bridge. Then I came up with the answer.
    “We were fishing.” I said
    “I didn’t see that you had a fishing rod.” replied one of the men.
    “I dropped it into the river; we decided to go to the shore to see if it would wash up.” Cyrus said, and right on time too they two hunters were giving me a suspicious look. The two men then busted up laughing.
    “Sorry for the interrogation, you see the local orphanage had put up a notice about a break out they had not too long ago.” said one of the men.
    “We were just checking to make sure you weren’t one of the lost kids.” Said the other, Then there was a long pause.
    “Come here for a minute Dave” said the first man. They both stood up and walked to the edge of the camp, I couldn’t hear what they were saying but I had a feeling that we would have to run again. Wile the two men were talking Anna and Noel woke up. They gave Cyrus and me questioning looks but I motioned them to stay quiet.
    “Pick up Joey and Thomas. I think were going to have to move soon.” I whispered. Anna looked around and then figured out the situation as she saw the two men glancing back towards us every now and then. We took advantage of their chat and wile they were looking away we made a mad dash into the woods. We heard a shout from behind us and the snapping of twigs being stepped on by the unstealthy hunters. After a few minutes of running they gave up the chase and we were gone from their sight.
    "That was a close one," Noel said as she gasped for air. "Thank goodness they didn't shoot." we all laughed for we knew good and well that the Orphanage would want us alive simply because that's how they get their state funding.
    "Psychopaths, the lot of them." Anna said glareing back into the woods where we had come from. "why can't they just leave us alone?"
    "Because that would make it easy for other runnaways and if the press got a hold of how far we've come...well what do you think would happen to the Orphanage?" Cyrus awnsered with a smirk. He took out a map and his compass and found the direction we needed to head, pointed to a trail we could take and we were off With the roaring waters of near death behind us.